Bye bye lbs!

Well I have lost 5 of those 12 pounds already. A couple things I attribute this to:
1)    I am stuck for the time being in sputa kurmasana, so Sharath is like Guruji and will leave you in that pose till you can do it. First you get a little bummed that you have to stop there, then you say ok, I am here and that is fine, now with this going on my 2nd week, the real work has begun. This is what they call the real inner yoga begins to work on your mind, body and soul. You start saying to yourself, alright what do I need to do to get this pose and be able to move on? The answer: get my hips to open more (which I am a really flexible girl already) and lose some lbs. in the hips so I can bind behind my back. My legs are bound over my head, so I’m halfway there.
2)    It’s hot here. No one wants to be wolfing down fattening food. So coconut juice, veges and some dosas are good. Oh yes, and must have my cup of coffee in the morning. I feel like I am eating more though, but it’s all healthy food.
3)    It is so hot in the shala. By time you finish the 4th sun salutation A you are dripping in sweat. You can’t help but lose a pound each morning.
4)    Ms Toddler has decided that she would not like to walk anymore and I am carrying her all over the place. It’s not easy in the heat nor the distance we have to travel sometimes. I understand more now why she has come to India with me – to help me shed the lbs. I feel it’s her dharma to help me lose the last 7 as she helped put on the 60 lbs. when I was preggers. (That’s right, 60! Ray says maybe I had one too many burritos during my pregnancy.)

Moving on. I am sometimes too nice of a person. My tailor made some great pants and dresses for me and did this amazing embroidery work. But he gave me the price, then asked for more for the embroidery. I was not happy about that, but then I agreed as it was a ton of embroidery work. He delivered the pants today and asked for even more money. I was not happy, but was stuck. He needs an operation and what I am to say, we are talking about $40 more dollars here. But I do not like doing business like that and if he just asked me to help with some money towards his operation, I would have. Most of you know that I would give anyone my shoes or clothes if they honestly needed it right there. So he is finishing some pants for Ray and we are done.

I think as he left with his additional $40, he must have told the flower boy who sells pooja flowers at the shala. Because he showed up 15minutes later with a bag of flowers and told me the whole story of his dad dying and he and his 4 sisters sell flowers. His mom is sick and everytime it gets too hot they have to fan their mom from hyper ventilating. He says he needs 2400 rupees for a ceiling fan. I gave him 100 rupees for the flowers and wished him well. This happened too when I was taking out the trash, a woman who lives on the streets took the trash can out of my hand, emptied it them asked for money.

Of course I would like to help everyone, many children and moms come up to me and other yogis and beg for money. They will follow you around and keep tapping you on the shoulder pleading, till you either give them money or sadly tell them no for blocks that they give up. It’s a hard feeling and really pulls at my heart.

I am waiting to hear about our trip to Bylakuppe for the Dalai Lama. Hopefully this will work out as I am hearing you need special tickets. Makes sense, but I think the trip is still worth going to see the Golden Temple.

I did a cooking class today and learned a lot. I am glad they are emailing us the recipes though as we did 3 recipes at the same time, so I am pretty sure I wrote some steps on the wrong recipe.

Other than that, I am struggling in Sanskrit and need to really study tonight. I started the class 4 classes late in the session and am catching up. I am 1 of 3 of the special need’s students who the teacher has now partnered me with 1 of the brainy, glasses student. She is my helper now and English is not her first language. So I feel a bit lower on the totem pole as she is working on language #3. Perhaps I will free myself from the remedial Sanskrit section next week.

Mags is doing great. Everyone knows her in town and they forget my name, but call out her name. She has friends everywhere and all Indians stop and pinch her cheeks and talk to her. She is starting to joke with them too which is quite fun.

Lastly, we saw our Momma dog! She was running down the street with a safeway size bag full of trash like it was a prize this morning. I was so happy to see her. We were in our rickshaw and I shouted, “Mags, there is momma dog!” She screamed cow and threw an apple out the window to her.

I need to be up at 4:45 for the led primary class. Good nite everyone!