योग

Two summers ago, I regularly juggled in the colloquium room of the Physical Sciences building at the University of Oklahoma.  It was an air-conditioned room with high ceilings, so I had been using it as my own personal juggling gym, when it was empty.  I had a key.  One day I was in the middle of an intensive juggling workout, trying to achieve the elusive ७-ball cascade.  Unfortunately, even though I had warmed up, I got a sharp little pain in my chest.  Right then I decided it was time to start doing yoga, to take better care of my body. 

There was a little Ashtanga yoga studio which I had often passed on Campus Corner on my way to a restaurant.  The next evening, and pretty much every day for the next few months, I attended one of the classes there.  I learned lots of delightful poses, like a baby finding his feet for the first time.  Yogaing also added to the company I could enjoy at the nearby Earth Cafe.  Eventually, I settled into 6:30am morning classes which were held freestyle; students ran their own program with the advice of the instructor, Jennifer.  It was named after the Indian city Mysore, which evidently has yoga classes in this style.  I got to know the Mysore crowd pretty well.

Come winter, Jennifer (and Mysore buddy Stacy) had left the States for a few weeks, to tour India and some other Asian countries.  Using the internet, Jennifer boasted to me that she was learning to juggle there.  This made me remembering all the fun juggling I used to do, and so I started to develop "JYoga".  This portmanteau, coined by juggling aficionado K. Joy McKee, refers to the practice of yoga asanas which incorporate juggling.  Here are some sample pictures and a sideways video of that, from the States:

Classic JYoga

AcroJYoga

I developed JYoga occasionally during Mysore classes, and eventually taught a workshop and added it to some public shows.  It's a lot of fun, obviously, and I think it's a better direction to go with my solo juggling program than just adding more objects.  Moreover it's a memento, to never forget my time in Norman.

Anyway I got seriously into yoga in Oklahoma.  Of course, my Ashtanga friends were excited for me to go to India, and it was imperative that I continue taking yoga lessons, and that I tell them all about it on this blog.  So here we are.

As DAI readers know, I had a false start with a "class" here at TIFR.  I didn't go back to that.  Instead I asked around, assuming that there had to be some yoga class in Mumbai for me.  I was directed to Devika, a grad student whom I met earlier.  I caught her during lunch at the canteen, and she told me   right away that I should start going the next morning.  You see, the next three months of yoga classes started the following morning, and so I needed to catch the 6:30 bus to go to the 7:00 class with her.

I went downtown that evening with my officemate Frank, to get some dinner and an alarm clock.  (In the previous post I show a video I took during the taxiride back.)

The yoga class is part of the "Health Club" at a high-rise building called the "Maker Building".  Many wealthy people live there.  I've been there three times so far.  After the bus we walk several blocks, past the "World Trade Center in Mumbai".  Then we walk past some guards, into a pleasant room facing a grassy playground.  There is a large system of ropes tied to iron rings on the right wall, a cabinet full of blankets and blocks, folding chairs, and a basket of straps.

This turned out darker that I wanted.

Any problem you face can be solved with props.

We show up about ten minutes before the rest of the class, who are mostly folks in their mid-40's and yes it's coeds.

Class starts with this mantra:  That's right, to the King of All Nagas; we don't mess around.

The instructor's a big athletic guy who clearly loves his work.  He goes into detail about the direction in which our flesh should be moving, and what our bones are doing.  He chides us individually if we're not yogaing right, maybe slaps our limbs sometimes or taps them with his toe to show us the way.  He has a pet name for me:  "Baba"  (pronounced like "Bubba").  He'll say for instance, "What are you doing Baba?  You should be locking your knees no matter what."

The course is challenge, since I'm not used to keeping my legs so straight, and they hold their daily headstands for several minutes, sometimes with tortuous leg motions.  They have an elaborate blanket origami which I don't comprehend, and tie themselves up with straps in particular ways.  Today we were to lie backwards on an aluminum folding chair with blankets on the seat, put our legs through to touch the walls with our toes, and slide our arms through the folding chair leg parts in some fashion.  That's Iyengar-style.

But it's fun.  No matter where I sit, the other students give me tips when I mess up.  They speak to each other sometimes in English and sometimes in local dialects which are not Hindi.

(Patience...it is not yet time to show them JYoga.)

That's Intention #7... What would you like to see next?