Pune2

Pune 2

Dear,
 
To the newbies with good intentions 😉 in our school I say “Welcome!” even though I am in Pune, India where the mother institute of our teacher BKS Iyengar is, together with the other teacher Anna. Anna is now entering her very last week before she flies back, and I am allowed to stay a little longer.
 
We are exhausted, after the intensive and the festivities of the golden jubilee year and then immediately hop on the train of normal life in and around the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. Our legs are heavy as lead and so we are looking for an escape outside to cool down this weekend, it is getting a little warmer in the city, 33 degrees in the afternoon. But here they find the winter cold this year.
 
People in Pune come across to us as fierce and direct, except when they say yes-no or maybe shake their heads. If you smile, they smile back, very friendly. Our neighbourhood is outside the old city centre, and green and spacious by Indian standards, but so much noise, honking, shouting, fireworks, night-time work traffic, dust because of the tearing down – and rebuilding – of entire apartment blocks… crazy India. Sunday all the children still must go to school because it is Republic Day. Then they salute the flag and sing. 
 
The lessons at the institute are remarkably often about finding your natural motivation/balance, as opposed to getting informed and practising with a fear of making all kinds of mistakes. There is a freedom that fortunately also appeals to young people. And Anna! Yesterday like a madwoman, she did 25 backward flips from Pincha Mayurasana and landed on her feet (the first few times were okay, but she quickly learned to stay up). The motto of that lesson with Raya was ‘Natural, not random’. Without that backward flipping, you can probably also imagine finding your natural balance, on and off your mat. Not letting things happen to you but choosing more where you go, and then making a pact with Nature again.
 
Pranayama lessons online have been condensed to a 45-minute session on a donation basis for now. If you‘ve already followed this lesson before, it is worth logging in, the line continues. As soon as I return to the country, I want to cultivate another strip card and a little more dedication. This becomes a course that you follow weekly. If you can come regularly – and by this, I mean weekly, not monthly – and you have been doing our regular asana classes for one or two years and are interested in the breath as a vehicle of your energy, then this lesson is for you.
Now let’s hope the WIFI holds up here.
Other quiet lessons where it is not so urgent to come weekly and when you’re doing asana class already one year long, are the Restorative lesson of Harriët on Wednesday evening, and the ‘quiet time’ lesson from 18:30 to 20:30 this Sunday -republic of India- day that Linda gives once a month.
Harriët has already settled in, I see. FransJozef also started successfully on January 21 (photo).
 
Until next time! Enjoy the Pune images below.
 
Warm regards!
Also, on behalf of Anna,
Kristien
-Sometimes when we are standing with a cup of tea after class, what you always wanted to ask just evaporates and only when you get home do you remember what it was. You can always contact us via the contact page of the website.
-And, writing a review about our school, the classes, the certified teachers, Iyengar yoga itself, what it gives you specifically in your life, is always welcome! Here is the link.