Day 6 (Aug 26)

Morning practice was beautiful. Right after our meditation, we were "serenaded" by Jack with his version of Sarvesham Shanti Mantra. I was feeling rather tired and the music was just what I needed to soothe me. I slept past midnight uploading photos and finishing my entry last night. But I just love doing the things I love.

Still (and somewhat surprisingly), practice was very good. I was pleased with the quality of both breath and thought. We - me, my breath and my unusually cooperative thoughts, stuck together just working through the latter half of the series and really relishing the moments. I've become friends with Marichy D (as I did in Teacher Training). I hope this time it flies home with me to Manila and doesn't leave me when the teachers aren't around. Sirsasana seems to be more unfriendly (why do you stay with me for just 5 breaths? Don't you love me anymore?)

Oh, but I've been working on opening my heart more now so maybe I'll give my head a rest for a bit.

This afternoon was rather funny. I decided to take a catnap 10 minutes before the Sanskrit class and promptly fell asleep until I heard Mathias' voice ringing in my consciousness. I went to class and caught up very quickly (and without much of a choice). It was consonants with vowels. ka, kaah, ki, kiih, ku, kuuuu, kr, krrh, kl, ke, kai, ko, kau....(and they come with their own strokes). Ah, it just keeps getting better.

Now, the word I got for the day is Cuckoo. Yes, pikah. I attract these things, right? Others get crow or monkey but for me it's Cuckoo.

Dinner was very nice - summer rolls with shitake mushrooms (A. would love this!). Brown rice and pumpkin curry. Jack has been sitting with us during dinner time and  he asked me my first difficult question for the day. Or my second, if you count Prof. Rao's question (Him: Madam, can you read this? Me: uh, pika-ha. Him: good. do you know what it means?). So anyway, the question was: What's the latitude of the Philippines/Manila? The answer: Give me 1 minute then... 14'35 N and 121 E. Thank you, Wikipedia. Thank you, Steve Jobs. Thank you, intermittent but now okay WiFi. We all had a good laugh. A good reason to have gelato (and a veggie cupcake for me).

So then for kirtan/singing, we got to sing one of Jack's originals and ended with the Sarvesham Shanti Mantra. I have a thing for full circles. Beautiful.

As I was writing this, Ivana decided to ask my last difficult question for the day. She starts with "May I ask a question" which always makes me nervous. Here it goes - Why is the letter r a vowel in Sanskrit?

Oh dear Lord. Give me 1 minute...

* * *

My photo of the day:
On my way back to the room, the birds were eating the banana offered during the agni puja...

In the notebook:

Today, we are still hunters and gatherers - only more sophisticated.
We are at the threshold of the savage and the Divine
Yoga can be interpreted as the process or the state/result. Joining together is the process. The state of equanimity is the result.
Fear is the basis of aversion of choice.
Society has built safety factors coming from conditioning.
We need to know why we need what we need and truly understand what drives this.

Fire Ceremony

Day 5 (Aug 25)

Happy Moon Day!

We started with the morning fire ceremony but on this special day, we spent half the day for 1,008 Gayatri Mantras by the fire. 108 aloud...

After my chores and a wonderful conversation with Amra, a Financial Controller also on the crossroads, I spent some quiet alone time just contemplating and deciding whether I should choose this view.

Or this.

But from where I was, I could see both and so I reflected on gratefulness.

Next stop. Sanskrit Kindergarten class. So now that we sort of know our vowels, dipthongs, consonants (guttarals, palettals, cerebrals, dentals, labials), semi-vowels and sibilants, we were going to read Sanskrit words (pop quiz??)

Here are the words I got: Elephant (ibhah). One (ekah). Pot (ghatah). Nine/New (nava). Monastery (er...). Loan (rnam, with dots under r and m). If I got this in a fortune cookie, it would read something like: You have an elephant in one pot and nine new monasteries on loan.

Very interesting but not very useful when I want to go looking for a toilet as I travel around India. I'll get there...

Here's what I was able to get right before Professor Rao decided to erase the board.

We had our usual dose of lectures and chanting that ended with a beautiful mix of Irish folksong and a well loved chant. Welcome, Jack Harrison. Om Namah Shivayah!

Finally, I capped my day with one more slice of (veggie) chocolate cake. Happy birthday, Simone! What a remarkable day!

Day 4 (Aug 24)

I did not get enough sleep last night. It was too hot (Ivana and I had not figured out how to use the A/C yet), and my thoughts were on the sad news on the hostage tragedy in Manila. When I finally got some sleep, I had two nightmares. By the time I recovered, it was time to shower and so I did.

I'm really enjoying the morning ritual and I love being able to practice with Paul around. Having a small number of people in the class gives us more time with him. I got adjusted in my Supta Kurmasana (very hard to run away when you're a turtle trying to get into a shell, Paul...) and Supta Padangusthasana and I had to redo my roll up to Ubhaya Padangusthasana. :)

My headstand was too short and not quite there but I let it go. I felt very mellow after practice. The lack of sleep begun to set in. I had a rather late lunch by myself after showering, laundry and email and got to talk to 2 more people (Natalie from Perth and Amra from Bosnia). I love that I get to meet so many people from around the world. It's fascinating to connect with people along the journey. At the end of my lunch, I had a cup of organic tribe hill coffee and promptly fell asleep in the lounge, curled by a big triangle. I woke up just in time for Chanting at 2:30.

It was another good class and I can still hear Professor Jayashree's beautiful chanting in my head now as I write this (remembering her eyes full of expression and how we always smile at each other). After we chanted the Gita, Professor Rao gave his lecture on the passages. He teaches with so much passion, like an orator who has perfected commanding the audience.

Meditation (jnana) is bringing the same thing in front of the mind again and again.
The soul (atman) is pure - never tainted. It is the mind/intellect (buddhi) that needs to be cleansed and purified.
What we want is to make the citta completely inactive - not harm, hurt or destroy it. Like a candle flame without wind. We use the mind to make the mind inactive.
In jnana, there is no fear - we find everything in ourselves and ourselves in everything.
Place the mind in your Lord.

After chanting the sutras (we're up to 20 already) with Professor Jayashree, Professor Narasimha shed lght on the practical aspect of yoga. I like his very candid, very practical, humorous approach. He shared the debate between the theories and the applications (where Professor Rao talked about following strictly the steps - yama first then niyama then asana....as prescribed by the Gita). In the practical perspective, ashtanga is defined as limbs and not necessarily steps and so, "as in a table we are trying to drag to ourselves, we pull the leg closest to us."

Though the "Truth in the Gita remains to be the harsh and ultimate truth", he sums it up by saying -

Wherever you are, yoga catches you and puts you in the middle. Back to yourself.

Day 3 (Aug 23)

I'm liking the sound of Svaa-haaa after each Gayatri Mantra during the fire ceremony. Maybe I can come in extra early tomorrow so I can do my Pranayama...5:30? Let's see.

Practice was beautiful today. I finished rather early despite doing 3 Urdvha Dhanurasanas, preps and then 3 dropbacks. Ah, the beginnings of love. I also was able to bind again in Marichy D quite happily. I must bring that feeling home for when I do my practice. Paul helped me with my Supta Kurma and then decided to have a conversation with Mathias (beside me). I had to remind him that I was still in my shell after a while...I thought that was funny.

Anyway, I need to work on my Chakrasana. I keep rolling on my left side...I tried the up and down Halasana Jon taught me but I may need extra energy (or someone to lift) because I lifted my legs up, down and....rolled onto my left side. Practice, practice.

Now, for my magical story of the day. After Tricia (new friend from Taiwan) left for her Reiki, I was left by myself in the dining area. Michelle (another new friend from Taiwan) joined me. We got around to talking about her leap of faith out of the corporate and into teaching - despite the many objections from the executives and panic from her parents. She now works 18 hours a week earning as much as she used to doing HR consulting. Enter another Michelle (new friend from HK) who was in IT Consulting but now doing freelance IT projects AND part-time yoga teaching. It takes not 1 but 2 Michelles to get me thinking about what to do next. We swapped stories of mantras and tattoos and magical moments in YT and Paul. We talked about so much more and I think it's wonderful when the sign posts that God send actually talk with you. Here they are :)

***
We got introduced to the Sanskrit alphabet and got deeper into the philosophies.

The days are flying by and I just feel so very blessed to be here.

The world has enought to fulfill one' needs but not enugh to fulfill one's greed.
Yogis make their hearts larger.
For the "beginner" yogi, action. For the one who is "there," calmness.
Everyone is a residence of God.
If one is a yogi, God is in his heart.

There is a subjective world and an objective world.
We were trained not to believe in our own subjective experience. In objectivity, the greatest casualty is the mind.
Science has taught us to doubt everything and so we move from doubt to doubt.
In the process of this never ending process, there is no satisfaction.
Scienc created wonderful objects to suit our needs but ignored the subject (and so we create more problems).
In yoga, we need to bring the head and the heart in matching coherence.
Our citta vriti (mind conditioning) becomes more and more complex with experience - but confined in our own domain.
At the heart of citta vriti is our dependence on our ego (personality). When our personalty is fixed, we are not capable of learning (and we start complaining).
It is the citta vritis that make us old an inflexible.
We need to regain our HARMONY.
Stability. We have to be what we are. But everything changes constantly and so we need
Adaptability. So we can be stable in changing conditions. When these match, we have
Integration. In this, the undesirable aspects of stability (rigidity) are removed and we go through
Purification.

When this comes, growth is natural.

We need to know what is causing the disharmony in ourselves...

Day 2 (Aug 22)

We did a a fire ceremony at 6.15 in the morning. It's a heartfelt way to begin any day, to start with a ritual offering to the Divine. I feel we lost the magic in connecting with the many sacred aspects of our lives in our mad rush to do the things we think are so urgent and important.

After the fire ceremony, we had a fifteen minute meditation using Gam as a mantra. I liked that I felt present, watching my thoughts, watching the shapes and colors behind my eyelids, coming back to the mantra, feeling engulfed with light, real or imagined. When it was time to open the eyes, I felt very relaxed and Prof. Narasimha was right. It took about 10 minutes to "recover" from the state. We listened to Jayashree chanting... the power of music and sound.

Then it was time for practice - my first Ashtanga session since I got here.  I was able to bind in Marichy D by myself without so much trouble - whenever Paul or Govinda are around I feel like my body obeys more. Elonne also helped me with my dropbacks the way Jon does back home. I am starting to love my Urdvha Dhanurasana ever so slowly. Although by the time I got sent to the wall, I was too tired to plaster my heart against it. Maybe tomorrow.

I showered, did my laundry and enjoyed my meal of vegetarian thai food - fried rice with lemon grass, green mango salad, tofu and scrambled eggs. For dessert, granola with yogurt and honey and pandan juice. I'm back in my room, contemplating a quick nap.

This place feels like home, somehow. The view is beautiful from my room.

I met my room mate - Ivana. She, like Veronique, is not a fan of airconditioners. I guess it must be colder on the second floor. I'm done cleaning my mat. I'm back on my bed. I think I should give in to a cat nap now...

---

In the afternoon, we chanted the first 6 sutras and the first 5 slokas of Chapter 6 of the Gita.

It is necessary in life to go to different Gurus. The full universe is our guru.
The guru teahes us to focus our eyes inside...to find the source within us
All the Himalayan pleasures of this world is within, if the mind is not confined to desire
Even those who have nothing but is always aspiring can be attached
But when the fruits of aspiration is there, we take the opportunity. Not the attachment.
If you want to be a yogi, be active.

Patanjali uses different aspects of the mind. His teachings are relevant because we are in the age where we are so conflicted.
If we know ourselvs and the objects well, there is harmony and happiness.
We are dependent on so many things because we are not self confident but if we know ourselves, we will not be carried away by the situation or the reaction. 

In the evening, I chatted with A. and the little princess. And had a wonderful conversation with Ivana.

Day 1 (Aug 21)

I've finally settled down. Pranayama and a led restorative class in the morning. Moved to my unit (still chose the "first floor") and did my laundry.

In the afternoon, I took more photos of the changes in YT from nine months ago...

There's now a wall by the wellness center (used to be wood)...

A detox bar...

A Shala board with anatomy charts...

A new place for the mats and lockers...

More room by the pool...

and the lotus is still in the works, I guess...

We met the teachers this afternoon. It's a small class and a beloved subject. I am looking forward to the coming days.


* * *

From the website http://www.yoga-thailand.com/advanced-training-course.html

M.A. Jayashree
A devoted student and teacher of Sanskrit and the arts all her life, she quietly taught in Mysore as she reared her family. Gradually over the years a few students started to hear of her and studied with her regularly. Paul was one of these. Her brother Narasimha would join in and offer philosophical discourse. She has now been recognized as one of the leading Sanskrit scholars and teaches it simply and beautifully. She has put many of these traditional texts to recording so we all can benefit and get it as originally intended. A sweet joy to learn with.

Prof. Nagaraja Rao
A gifted and very natural teacher, he is an expert in the field of Sanskrit where his primary specialty was Panini's grammar. He was chief researcher at the Oriental Institute in Mysore, India, visiting professor to both Chicago University and Jerusalem University, Israel. He has visited Yoga Thailand many times and his humble yet clear and knowledgeable way of teaching has always inspired students.

Prof. Narasimha
Brother of Jayashree and a devotee of meditation, yoga and Sanskrit all his life. He was a very close aide to the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and became a senior teacher of the Transcendental Method approach to meditation. He is also well versed in Sanskrit and the classical yogic texts. He lives as a Sannyasi and supports his sister in all the teaching events in both Mysore and around the world.

Jack Harrison
Jack Harrison is a yoga teacher, singer and folklorist. He has worked and studied in all three of these areas for the last 30 years and has recently begun to blend them together in his Spanda Yoga Music Workshops which include yoga, music and mythology. He has a Master's degree in Irish Folklore and is a lecturer in Irish Heritage at University College Galway, as well as the designer of exhibitions at the top Heritage Attractions in Ireland. Jack's musical talents come shining through on the classic album Wind Across the Sea, produced with and recorded live at Yoga Thailand. He has been coming here for years and always gives an amazing musical performance.