I'm writing this post from the dining hall of Lalita. The cooks are talking in Spanish in the kitchen, a few of my fellow yogis are chatting to their boyfriends via Skype, and a few of the more diligent students are working on their homework. Something I need to buckle down on in a few minutes.
I've been attending my yoga training program for ten days now. I am mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. This is my typical schedule:
five o'clock-- Try to turn off my blaring alarm before it wakes up Maria, Ingrid, or Mette, my three delightful dormmates. Using the light of my iPhone, try to locate my tiny towel and yoga clothes, plus yesterday's dirty clothes. Make my way down the stairs, doing my best not to wake up Doug or Marcus as they try to sleep behind a thin sheet that separates them from the rest of us. Take a cold shower and wash my clothes as quickly as humanly possible.
five forty-five-- walk down to the dining hall. Journal, study flashcards (even though I'm not supposed to do anything at all until after breakfast -- not even make eye contact with a fellow student), and eat the piece of fruit I saved from yesterday's breakfast.
six thirty -- tea time. Do my best to finish tea by six forty so that I don't have to pee during meditation. Or during yoga practice.
seven o'clock -- Meditation. Do my best not to run over Sanskrit terminology, listen to the bellowing cow, the crowing rooster, or the vociferous rumbling of my stomach.
seven thirty -- Yoga practice. Do my best to forget how sore and tired I am, and really try to push my edge. Do my best to NOT compare myself to the rest of the super flexible yogis in the room.
nine thirty -- Breakfast. Eat a heaping bowl of fresh yogurt, local honey, cheese, and tomatoes. Save a piece of fruit for pre-practice breakfast in the morning.
ten fifteen -- Memorize Sanskrit, assists, anatomy, and write yoga routines.
eleven o'clock -- Yoga teacher training and philosophy. This is where I learn how to tweak people into doing poses properly and that all good yogis must be vegetarian. Humbug.
two o'clock -- Lunch. Salad, beans, rice, and fruit. After days of explosive indigestion, I have resolved to steer clear of all grains and legumes. Which means I'm getting almost zero protien. Which is causing serious problems with my health, given all my physical activity. I wake up in the morning with a headache, have indigestion ALL DAY, have spasms in my ribcage and lower back, my mind is foggy, and I nearly faint in the morning during practice.
I want to eat a cow.
two forty-five -- HOMEWORK
four thirty -- Anatomy with Jenny Lee. This is a fantastic class, but the students here who are not native English speakers have a very difficult time understanding Miss Jenny Lee. She's from Boston and speaks VERY quickly. She's a very dynamic, hands on teacher, and I've never had such a marvelous time memorizing anatomical terminology.
seven thirty -- Dinner
eight fifteen -- Homework
nine o'clock -- Optional yoga class with Christine. This is my favorite part of the day. The class is an hour long and it is very intimate, as most people are way too exhausted to even think about doing more yoga. So it's perfect.
ten o'clock -- stretch my hamstrings and practice various poses
eleven o'clock -- homework
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| A typical lunch. Usually accompanied by some dismal looking soup. |
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| The grasshoppers are everywhere. |
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| This would be Alex, were he a dog. |
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| Arm balances wreak havoc on the triceps |
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| Roomies. Maria, Ingrid, Madeline (we adopted her into the loft), and Mette |
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| In Coria. This is where people hide when the bulls go racing through the city. |
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| Coria |
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| Antonio would make a fine matador |
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| Castle yoga |
That's my schedule five days out of the week. I get two afternoons off, during which I do MORE homework and contact Alex. Today was my whole day off (which means that I only had to do yoga and meditation), so I met up with Antonio (a friend from Pueblo Ingles), and he took me out for tapas and lunch in a lovely little castle town called Coria. I took some yoga poses pictures in front of the cathedral, and he showed me the bullfighting plaza. I got back just in time to reach Alex on Skype, so I had a wonderful end to my "free day".
Tomorrow starts our teacher trainer testing. We each have to teach a seventy five minute class to four other students. The students evaluate us on our whole class, and the instructors critique us on the few minutes of our class that they had the time to watch. I teach Sunday morning and Tuesday afternoon. I've developed a fantastic "homeschool mom" class, which is all about really gentle joint movement and stress release. Especially in the neck and shoulders area.
Mailing letters is even more expensive than internet here. I mailed Alex a letter a few days ago and it ended up costing me over four Euros. So I won't be sending any more letters from Lalita, but I'll make sure to post a blog again (and return all your emails/blog post comments) as soon as I get back to Madrid. Given that I don't perish from indigestion before then.
I've hit a wall in my practice. I'm not getting any better -- just more and more sore. My balance is off, my muscles are tired, and my morning headache makes it difficult for me to maintain any sort of calm. I shed a few subtle, frustrated tears in the practice session this morning. Every part of my body hurts -- and not the good kind of hurt. Not the "I'm so sore because I worked out so hard" hurt. The "I strained a muscle/am pulling on a ligament in an extremely unhealthy fashion" hurt. The sharp, stabbing, wincing hurt that makes you wonder if you know what the hell you're doing.
I want a warm bath and a steak and some of my mother's onion tea and a cuddle session with my boyfriend.
Well... I have to go work on my splits now. They are my nemises in most poses, so I'm going to do my best to conquer them. I love all of you and I'm sorry that I've been so out of touch.
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