Day started with observation of the older folks class and then practice session. After practice headed outside for the obligatory coconut and straw. I’m building up quite a coconut habit – at least 2 a day now, it seems way more thirst quenching than mere water. They cost 30 rupees each (30p) and the seller will ask Mali?? meaning do you want a coconut where after you’ve drunk the water you can eat the soft flesh inside. So it’s panee if you just want water and mali if you want to eat the flesh as well. He has a machete type knife that he uses to make a hole in the top and then if you want the flesh, first he cuts a piece of the husk to make a scooping device, then he chops the whole top off so you can scoop out the soft flesh. Yum.
I was given a day off the tough stuff in class today – learning how to take the load off the brain. So supported poses with a helper fixing the occiput down steadily (or this could be achieved with the placement of a weight). I felt I could happily have stayed in dog pose a whole hour like this.
I had a real breakthrough with my sirsasana (headstand) – for years people have been trying to teach me to take the lumbar back, to no avail. The work Guruji has given me to keep the organ body drawn in and up can be done in sirsasana, only here as you’re upside down, you are actually drawing the pancreas towards the floor. Anyway this work done in sirsasana pulls the lumbar into the correct position – hallelujah!
After class headed to the oil shop with Lynda. What an amazing place – it feels as if it is unchanged for centuries. It’s like an old-fashioned apothecary, selling pure essential oils, perfumes and incense. Old wooden cabinets filled with mysterious glass bottles of all shapes and sizes. We were sat on chairs, offered chai and bottle after bottle of scent was brought out for us to try. The owner proudly told us that the shop has been in his family for 6 generations and each of his predecessors has a portrait on the wall.
I’m not a perfume kind of a girl, but Lynda slected three different scents (two types of rose and a frangipani) which were then meticulously decanted into teeny weeny glass bottles, placed in a special envelope and finally each put in it’s own small draw skin bag. All for the princely sum of 45 rupees each! (45P) So if anyone at home wants me to bring some back, let me know!
We had dinner at Rupali – a bustling Indian eatery and shared masala dosa and an onion uttapa, both gluten free savoury options.
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