Day 2

Good morning. It’s 6.30 am here in Pune, 8 pm in DC, and 5 pm in California. I had a good and interesting day though I woke at 3 am and was not able to go back to sleep which is quite difficult. You can see from the photo of our walk to the Venue the haze in the air. At the end of the day, my scarf smelled of smoke. It’s just really thick. Pune isn’t nearly as bad as Mumbai or Delhi.

Prashant led classes again. He was gentle in his demeanor, humorous and insightful. We worked mostly on Utthita Trikoṇāsana. In between each triangle pose we did another pose and observsed it’s effects on Trikoṇāsana. It was fun and interesting. Everybody is in good spirits and open minded. There is a large contingency of Chinese participants, a whole quadrant full. They have a translator and all wear earphones to hear the class. They are so beautiful. Next to them is a group of Russians, also a large group. They also have a translator. Each day, we move to a different spot in the arena, except for the Chinese and Russians who will stay in their spot.

I sat with Lois Steinberg for lunch. It was casual, and we talked of things other than yoga mostly.

In the afternoon, Geeta appeared finally. She is using a walker. It brought tears to my eyes. She and Prashant talked some about the future of Iyengar Yoga, and mostly expressed their opinion against having teacher training programs that push out teachers fast. They prefer a traditional mentorship or what I call an apprenticeship which is exactly how John trains his teachers at Unity Woods, and how I have learned to teach yoga.

I am just getting settled into the rhythm of the day. I have been tired, but I have now had a solid nights sleep, I should be more functional. I haven’t taken a lot of photos to share but more will come as I venture out into Pune in the next couple of days.

Peace to you all.