A day at yoga school

Since Dave and I split up our blogging skills have severely diminished, as I'm sure you've noticed. My excuse is I've been very busy learning to bend and twist, I'm not sure what Dave's excuse is-based on my experience of him around beaches, he has no excuses and is just being lazy.

Here's what an average day looks like for me:

5:30 am- I get up, yank on running clothes and head up the road. It's dark, so I don't run on the beach, I stick to the road where there's a few street lights to illuminate the semi-wild dogs who get a big kick out of barking at me and chasing me down the road. I yell at them to leave me alone, but all I get is weird looks from the local people who stand at the ends of their driveways brushing their teeth and waiting for the man who sells vegetables from his bicycle basket.

7:00-8:00 am- After a frantic shower in which I worry about whether my roomate will one day slit my throat in my sleep for showering every morning right when she wants to brush her teeth, I rush to meditation. As most of you know, I am notorious for being late- another constant worry as I try to shower quickly- but, or perhaps because I am so afraid of coming in late, knocking something over and interrupting everyone meditating, I haven't been late yet (fingers crossed this continues).

Meditation isn't my strong point. My problem isn't, as you may assume, clearing my head of thoughts. No, my problem is I can't stay awake. It's as if my body has an automatic switch, if I sit still, doing nothing, for more than 10 minutes, I fall asleep. So everyday is a struggle, not to clear my mind, but to stay sitting upright at least look awake. Even on days I don't run this is a problem, so I don't think getting up too early is the issue.

8:00-10:00 am- After my generally unsuccessful meditation practice, we have two hours of asana class. In the first two weeks we were guided by various instructors, but since Monday, we have had to lead our own self practice. Initially I thought "oh god.... two hours of yoga... I'll get so bored!!!!" But the time actually flies by, and I've really enjoyed practicing on my own.

10:00-11:00 am- When 10:00 am arrives, it's finally time for breakfast. Everyday we're given fruit salad, porridge, yogurt, museli, toast and juice. I can't eat porridge or yogurt, and I don't particularily like museli, so my options at breakfast are limited to tropical fruit salad and toast. This morning during meditation I wrote this blog in head (it really helped to keep me awake) and when I got to the part about the fruit salad, I thought I would say I was about to go mental if I ate another bowl of papaya, pineapple, banana, apple, orange and some awful brown fruit I always pick out- BUT, luckily, they added strawberries and pomegranite to the usual mix- so I haven't gone mental, and I'll live to eat another bowl. (It was madness this morning when people caught on that there were strawberries- people were hiding around corners ready to bounce when the staff put a fresh bowl out- everyone wanted to be the first to pick through and make off with the strawberries).

11:00 am-1:50 pm- Breakfast is followed by one or two classes; this week we've done teaching practice everyday immediately after eating (which always makes me feel like I'm going to have to see the fruit salad all over again) but last week we mainly had anatomy or learning to teach classes. Practice teaching involves us splitting into groups of 3 and each taking a turn to "teach" for 20 minutes to half an hour, then sharing feedback with each other. Over the last couple days we were evaluated by our instructors, a process some people found nerve racking.

1:50-2:10pm- After our morning classes we are given twenty minutes before lunch to meditate, swim, run, walk, dance or do whatever we want that doesn't involve too much thinking (no reading, writing, talking). After sitting around all morning or patiently enduring teaching practice, I generally do handstands.

2:10-4:30pm- After our little meditation/celebration time we eat lunch. Lunch is always a salad of cucumber, carrot, tomato and occasionally avocado and lettuce, all cut into geometric shapes. You may be thinking, oh how nice, I'd like a salad for lunch everyday too! But, I urge you to think for a moment about raw carrots cut into geometric shapes and what that would be like to eat, day after day, mixed with nice soft cucumber and lettuce. After a while, it becomes all you can think about- will they grate the carrot, will I have a pleasant lunch, or will they cube the carrot, causing me to chew like a rabbit for half an hour? In addition to salad we get rice, dal and curried vegetables. Unlike the geometric salad, the dal and vegetables are prepared differently everyday.

After lunch we have a break until 4:30 pm. I usually eat quickly (as is possible given the shape of the carrots) and go to the beach to swim and lay in the sun. Sometimes though, I make the arduous journey 200 meters up the road to use the internet, which generally doesn't work, before returning to the Ashiyana bubble.

4:30-7:00pm- Following our break we have another one or two classes. Apart from anatomy and teaching practice, we study philosophy, the subtle body, bhakti and practice karma yoga. Philosophy is lead by our instructor, and owner of Ashiyana, Chris. The classes are based on Patanjali's sutras as interpreted by someone else. I find the classes interesting, and I don't worry too much about things I don't understand or agree with. Other people, however, get quite heated when they don't agree or understand what Chris is saying. It doesn't help that in response to nearly every question Chris says "I want you to examine where your question is coming from. You may find that when you do, you'll find it is only your disturbed mind talking, and the question becomes unimportant." A bit of an easy way out for him I'd say.

7:00-8:00pm- Once we've all been told we have disturbed minds, we're given dinner. The geometric salad makes a reappearance, along with more rice, dal and curried vegetables. In addition, we usually get something a bit more "non-Indian" like pasta, grated potatoes with spinach puree, chicken or fish or sometimes, if we're very lucky, pizza. We also get dessert, something we all look forward to all day. It generally doesn't live up to expectations, but, like pizza days, sometimes we're lucky and it's something delicious like chocolate balls.

8:00-9:30pm- Dinner is followed by a final activity, usually a sharing circle, chanting, dancing, or a movie. When we finish this activity we're not supposed to speak until 11:00 am the following day, so we all slip of to bed in silence, ready to do everything again the next day.

I hope this helps explain why I haven't written in so long! I have to rush now, to make it back for Karma yoga. Today I might have to do beach cleaning, since I put off doing it the last few sessions.

Love Alice

ps. I saw Dave on Sunday, we spent the afternoon together on the beach, but maybe he'll tell you all about it.