Yoga Time

While I love yoga, you usually wouldn't find me at a 6am class, but since India is the birthplace of yoga, and jet lag had me waking up at 5am I thought I might as well give it a try.  So for the past week I've been waking up with the sun, walking down my deserted road (where rickshaw drivers doze in the backseats of their autos) and enter the courtyard of a small yellow building in a dusty yard.  Here in the open courtyard with its crumbling yellow walls and stone floor I spend an hour breathing and stretching with  a dozen middle aged Indians from the neighborhood, the men in their trousers and button up shirts, the women all in bright saris.  

There are no frills like most of the yoga studios I've been to in the US.  Just a few scratchy wool blankets and the sound of the parakeets flying overhead.  There's none of the usual silence and reverie, instead everyone seems to laugh, chat and giggle as we move through our routine.  All the instructions are called out in Hindi, until I do something wrong and then someone will call out in English "no, no...slowly your hands must touch the floor," or whatever correction is needed.

This morning I spotted movement on one of the walls and looked up to see a large peacock strutting around in its full glory....as we began to chant "Ommmm" the peacock joined in with a few loud "caws" of his own before wandering away with a swish of his tail.  

There is one practice that differs widely from any yoga class I've taken in the US.  That's the burping.  Actually it's not just burping, but a continuous symphony of bodily noises.  Belches, farts, caughs and burps are all there.  I can't quite figure out if this is a mandatory part of the class, but I'm still working on mastering this technique.

At the end of the session I walk across the street to my local dhaba (roadside stand) where the rickshaw drivers who are now awake have gathered for their morning chai.  I sip my cardamom spiced tea as we all nod our greetings with a wobble of the head.  Now it's 7am and my days about to begin.