Oh, Canada

Had my first face plant in asana class this afternoon. I was almost in crow pose, a balancing asana, and I leaned just a tad too far forward. Luckily I landed on my forehead so no apparent damage. It’s early days though, so stay tuned.

Evi and I have boycotted the morning asana class for yoga “vacationers” as the call us. The teacher is a Canadian who, despite being old enough to know better, does not listen to her students. She tried a few times to get me to attempt headstand after I explained that I wasn’t ready for it. A teacher who doesn’t pay attention to that kind of feedback is not someone from whom I can learn.

Having the morning free, we walked into the small village not far from the ashram. It is refreshing to see people going about their daily routines after the tourist mecca that is Goa. People are naturally curious about us and want to talk, to know where we’re from and why we are in this tiny place, but they don’t – as far as we can tell – want to marry us or separate us from our money.

Our afternoon teacher is also a Canadian! Unlike the morning one, Uma is attentive and careful about challenging us but not pushing beyond our limits. She has saved the country’s reputation, and I’m grateful to her😀

Regardless of my efforts to keep things simple, the contents of my backpack have grown to the point of embarrassment. I’m going to take a chance on the Indian postal service and send some things home by mail. This will be our weekend adventure as we try to find a post office and someone to stitch a covering for the box. That’s how things are done here, partly to keep the tailors in business and partly because the cardboard boxes are the pits.

The advanced teacher training course that is currently underway ends on Saturday when the students write their exam. Most if not all of them will be gone on Sunday and we’ll prepare for the influx of fresh faces registered for the course that starts on Feb 18th. That’s the day I leave for Thrissur….more to come on that….