Ray and Shelley Travel to India for Two-month Study at Iyengar Institue
Incheon, our favorite airport!
We arrived in Pune on Thursday, Jan 31, after 11 hours to Seoul, three-hour lay-over, 10 hours to Mumbai, 2-1/2 hours waiting for luggage and going through Immigration, and then a three-hour car ride to Pune. It was long and arduous, but quite uneventful (other than a woman fainting while standing in the Immigration line,) so all-in-all, no sweat! There’s always something about stepping out into the Indian night air from the airport…the smell, the feel of the atmosphere, the ambient noise, the ancientness, the people’s faces in the dark…it’s hard to put my finger on it, but you just know you’re in India!
The sun rises in Pune the morning of our arrival. View from Hotel Ketan where we stayed the night till our apartment was available for move-in.
Taking our time getting settled into our apartment (a GREAT flat, thank goodness!), registering at the Institute, and acquiring a “dongle” to get onto the internet in our non-wi-fi flat.
It took two rickshaws to transport us and our luggage to our apartment.
I’ve had two classes so far: Geeta’s pranayama on Friday and Abhijata’s women’s class on Saturday. Guruji is still doing his practice in the corner and telling Abhijata what to teach us, so it’s great. She’s his grand-daughter who is now pregnant.
Part of the class schedule at the Institute. We are given one class and one practice session a day. Sunday is everyone’s day off (except the kids who have their yoga class then.)
I’m happy to report that Guruji looks very well, though a bit older and smaller at age 94. They’ve built him a personal lift on the outside of the building, so he can get up onto the second floor of the practice hall. He still has a long and good practice. I marvel at and am touched by the courage he shows each day in his sadhana.
Tags: Iyengar, Pune, Ray Madigan, Shelley Choy, Yoga
