Adventures of a Desi KnitterKnitting (and now sewing!) keeps an Indian academic sane in the States. Almost.

Twists, II

§ August 2nd, 2008 § Filed under Life § 15 Comments

So, a high point of the last two months has been the neighbourhood yoga class I found. 5 days a week every morning for 75 minutes. Soon after getting here, I went to inquire at a nearby gym about their rates and hours. While a really portly instructor tried to sell me their “figure control” package (talk about bad advertising!), one of its members quietly slipped me the info about the cool yoga class next door. I did not stop to wonder about why she was still suffering there, and hotfooted it next door. The class takes place in a ramshackle hall adjoining a local temple, and the space is shared with everything from dance classes to lectures to thread ceremonies.

I last did yoga here when I was in school, so it’s fun getting back into it here again after so long. Apart from the tremendous energy and lightness it brings for the rest of the day, I’m having quite a good time thinking about its similarities with, and differences from, my classes back in Berkeley – both in terms of the actual exercises, and its social world. In terms of the actual asanas, I guess it broadly follows the Iyengar tradition, but it’s really just a garden variety yoga class without any interest in branding itself or defining an “approach”. Ever so often, however, the power cuts unwittingly turn it into a Bikram class! This is the daily schedule:

1) A 15 minute pranayama session, doing about 5 different ones every day interspersed with neck and eye exercises.
2) A 10 minute general warm up as you’d do in the gym.
3) A couple of prayers, followed by eight brisk surya namaskaars (sun salutations).
4) Then, what in inimitable Marathinglish, the teacher calls spiDche vyaayaam (speed exercises) – that remind me of those Canadian Air Force exercise plans we used to do in college.
5) Then a spate of standing/sitting asanas – every day is different. I now know that if we’re doing vrukshaasana (Tree Pose), it must be Wednesday. But these are not in a flow. You do each one, stop, shake out, then do the next.
6) Then, on-the-floor asanas – sarvaangaasana (Full Body); halaasana (Plow); dhanuraasana (Bow); etc. – that we do every single day, mixed with basic calisthenics and ab work that are a lot like a pilates workout. Here we are in sarpaasana (Snake Pose, similar to Cobra):

My teacher, Mrs. Adkar, is a 4-time national yoga champion, who, as she tells it, wandered into a class one morning in her late 40s to see if it would help her with her weight, never having moved a limb before to do any exercise. A year later she was participating in local competitions, and finally went all the way to the nationals in her age group. She’s quite wonderful, and does a great job of egging us on. She is still not that happy with my headstand, because while I can do it without a wall or someone’s support now, I still cannot get ramrod straight. But I am working on it…

I like that she’s not at all obsessed with some kind of authenticity or purity of the yoga practice, and freely mixes it with other kinds of exercises. That way, it’s a lot like those “yogalates” classes, except it isn’t called that. But she gives a lot of importance to alignment and holding poses – again, like in Iyengar. I also like the extended pranaayama, which I’ve hardly ever seen in any of my classes back there. It’s not really spiritually focused – more of a nuts-and-bolts health-benefits approach. I believe there are classes in town with way more chanting than stretching; I’m glad I’m in this one!

One big difference that struck me right away is that there’s no emphasis on Downward Dog, which I’m sure we could call the iconic yoga pose in the US, no? It’s part of the sun salutations, and that’s it. Also, every lunge is runner’s lunge. For the first week I was all, like, WTF, what about the downward dog?? Also, no shavaasana everyday. Everyone just sort of rushes off to go to work. On Friday, before the weekend, though, she talks us through a long 15 minute yoga nidraa (sleep) which is fantastic for improving your concentration on your breathing.

You can probably tell from the photos that it’s also not a place where Lululemon Athletica would find many customers. No mats, blocks, blankets, no “yoga pants.” The class costs me Rs.150 for 20-odd sessions, a total of about $3.75 for the whole month (yes, you read that right) at the current exchange rate. The difference in cost is enormous; there are many fancy-ass yoga classes in posh areas, but this is mercifully very basic, lower-middle-class and uncommercialised. And it kicks ASS! Most women wear kurtas and slacks, some t-shirts and slacks, and there’s one thin linoleum mat for all. My first day – an older woman came a bit late, in a saree. I was a bit startled, and worried about how she was going to do a Plow or Warrior in it. Then, she shocked me even more by furiously disrobing in full view of the class. Like Draupadi, though, all was well – she had a t-shirt and slacks underneath. Like many women of my mum’s generation, she will not be seen outside in anything other than a saree, and this is her comfortable way to walk to the class and back home.

It’s the social atmosphere that is so different. For one, it’s not as solemn. No ritual namaste (which is anyway just ‘hi!’ in many Indian languages, namaskaar in Marathi); no invitation to center and ground yourself before the class, no getting in touch with your breathing. Interspersed with Mrs. Adkar’s instructions is continuous conversation during the asana sessions – recipes, speculation about why some folks have bunked the class for several days in a row, bitching about the power and water crises, anything. A couple of women just won’t shut up the whole time. The sheer unstructured informality was a bit unnerving at first for me, but now that I’ve made a couple of friends there it’s more fun also.

So some of us went last week to cheer two of our star classmates who had entered a local tournament and to just see folks of different ages strut their stuff. Some of the kids were truly, truly amazing. This whole world of yoga competitions is still a mystery to me, but it is clearly a well-oiled and diverse national network; I imagine it’s connected to certification processes and such. I’ve made a mosaic below of some of the tiny pretzels in action – there were many more who really inspired me to reach, reach and hold for just a few seconds longer.

Finally, thanks so much for all the wishes on the tenure news, everyone – I’ve had a really good time celebrating with family and friends, and it was very nice to be able to share it with all of you!

Earlier in this series: Twists.