Finally, an asana class that kicked my butt!!

While I did end up thoroughly enjoying and appreciating my weeklong stay at the yoga university, the specifics of an asana class were a bit...imprecise. We did a lot of jogging in place, and like I said this is great for a culture of people who have only recently become sedentary. However, being a yoga instructor trained in the USA, I have a keen eye for alignment. And keen toes, fingers, knees, femur bones...for alignment. And so it was quite the practice of acceptance to perform a pose with externally rotated hips and internal rotated torso, not to mention knee flexion beyond the ankle, oh my! I wish I could say this was the first time I jogged in place in an Indian yoga class but alas, 'tis not. I do love instructions such as "Put a beautiful smile on your face, and keep it there the rest of your life," which I've only heard here, as well as "Feel the heatness", and "Be continue". :) Every place is a bit different, some more and some less properly aligned...but it's been very rare and only Iyengar-inspired that's hit anywhere near the mark for me as far as the asana goes. One girl told me that the most packed yoga class in Rishikesh ("Yoga Capital of India") was a vinyasa flow led by an Australian woman. I am quick to remind myself that the poses are merely one of eight limbs. The other aspects of the path remain alive and well here in India - breath work, meditation, devotion, concentration, a focus on non-violence...and if you're really truly a yogi, this is the good stuff - the poses are just a (fairly remedial) stepping stone. That being said, I was so fortunate to attend a class for instructors a couple days ago with my Indian sister-cousin, Aswathy, whom I'd met in 2006. She took me to her teacher's class at Aayana Yoga, which was a brilliantly-sequenced, super-challenging asana class. It was so much fun!! I was able to get my body into shapes it's never seen before - and again, that's totally not what yoga's about, but did I mention how much fun was had?!! I feel like I finally found the asana class that quenched my thirst...I woke up joyfully sore the next morning and proceeded to attend Aswathy's vinyasa class. Once more, well-sequenced, challenging, properly aligned asana. Hallelujah!! I can't even tell you how much time I've wandered this country in search of satisfying asana; only to be reminded again and again that the most important part of our practice is santosha, the art of cultivating contentment no matter what our external surroundings may be. And it often seems that once we let go of grasping for the thing we want, it falls ever so gently and perfectly into our laps.