And viola.... Just like that, my practice has taken off. Free and alive, I again learn the potential of giving into time and patience. Giving up the fight, I found space to let moments and body parts unfold (or I suppose, in some instances, fold) without attempting to control them all. My brush with death-by-Ashtanga has healed itself into a balanced sea of strength and agility. Finding a slice of equanimity amidst the frustration, I grabbed a hold of the calm and come-what-may-attitude and came back to myself--or rather, the self that I knew was still there. Certainly there are days where my asana flow isn't quite--well, flowy--but a couple of surprisingly good practices and strong posture holds have reminded me that nothing is permanent, and that good things are always waiting for us. I'm beginning to get used to the cycle of ups and downs with my practice, and no longer get so frustrated from "bad" practices, for I know the "good" is eventually around the corner. This of course is bound to happen when we stop searching so much and give in (kind of like meeting someone special or falling in love, huh?). Letting go of expectations and allowing moments to find me free of anticipation has been a difficult but productive lesson (which I will, no doubt, have to continue relearning for the rest of my days here on this earth). So productive in fact, for both Liz and myself, that we've decided to finish out our last weeks in India here in Mysore. (Mysore, for many of us has become a vortex that sucks you in without letting you leave--I myself equate it to a blissfully happy Hotel California). We are more in love with this place and practice than either of us ever imagined, and don't want to leave our teacher and shala until we absolutely must. So with the exception of our last two days, we are going to stay here and practice with Ajay (and yes, the first photo here is of us with the man who stole our hearts). On July 21st--my birthday!--we will head to Bangalore where we will celebrate our last two days until we begin our journey back to the states on the 23rd.

In other news...well, I'm not quite sure about other news. I wanted to write about everything we've been doing besides yoga, but I admit that I'm having a hard time figuring out what to say. Writing about "nothing" isn't really exciting, but that's pretty much what we do most days. Actually though, this week is pretty busy--so busy in fact that last night, Liz had to make a list of what we have to do this week! Of course when I reviewed the list, I laughed (and then thanked all gods, energies, people and the universe for my life), for our list contains the following appointments: astrologer, massage, acupuncture, Tue night dinner, another massage, day trip, Wed lunch. Yes indeed, this week is super-busy, hence the list (and hence, my love affair India).

On days where we get out, various run-ins with animals is common as you can see by my photo with the cow, but that's hardly a rare event, as the cows (and goats, sheep, monkeys, ox, dogs, etc) are everywhere--in this picture we were merely walking to the market. The other day, as I was peeing behind a tree, I noticed a family of monkeys directly in front of me and laughed--not because I was peeing with monkeys, but because I realized how normal it felt. When we're not marketing or using the bathroom with animals, we spend a lot of time reading, writing, laughing, doing bucket wash, planning meals, playing guitar, singing songs, and sitting on the balcony. I must say however, that since getting our Scooty, getting out is more of an option--and I'm a natural at driving here (helmet picture for the fans) even though I started off somewhat intimidated. Still, I'm getting quite good at it and am enjoying it a lot. The main idea is to not hesitate and go for it; it's a good thing that India is so full of various religions and gods to which one can pray, because on these roads, a girl needs all the help she can get. I also count on Liz, as she is the best passenger a Scooty driver could have, and wears many hats: a hand-signaler, direction giver, and pep-talker. But I'm doing good--especially since learning the rules of the road: the key to driving here is knowing who has the right-of-way...and she who has the right-of-way is she who takes it.

When we're not helmeted and driving around, we spend most of our nothing-doing on the porch. Liz and I have become the 227 women of the neighborhood. For those of you who missed this most entertaining of 1980s US sitcoms, 227 was a show about a group of women who sat on a stoop while watching and gossiping about their neighbors while making horribly false speculations about everyone's lives, with a few bad jokes scattered about. Essentially, this is what we have become. Its fun though. One of our neighbors has a man come to iron his clothes once per week, and the iron-man does this with a coal-filled iron on top of a wagon. The mysterious (but incredibly attractive) woman across the street who leaves her house every morning at 445am never says hello and we have several theories as to why. Last week a monkey tried to get in her window which helped to explain why we all have bars on the windows. Another neighbor across the street changes his clothes quite often, but doesn't seem to have a regular schedule, though he averages about 3-changes per day. It keeps him looking sharp, though neither Liz nor myself care for his new mustache. The vine he and his wife attempted to grow on the roof is blooming quite nicely, and we are happy for them, as it took them some time to situate it so that it wouldn't keep blowing away.

So that's the big news on 7th cross (our street) in Gokulum (the town where we're living in Mysore). What's nice about "nothing" though is that you don't really have to do "something" in order to feel like you have a productive day. In fairness, lots of quiet, very little distractions, lots of power outages and "nothingness" makes for a whole lot of up-in-your-head time, which is far more difficult than one could ever imagine. In some ways, my most productive pastime is getting over myself and getting out of my head, and learning to sit in silence (or as is often the case with Liz, in laughter), with peace and contentment. Most days I do a pretty good job. During acupuncture the other day, my friend Sean pointed out that in India we all basically have one meal and one plan, and that about covers our day (again, hence the list for this week--so much to do!). Any more than one plan per day is a big day out. Like today for instance: internet, acupuncture, dinner and beers later tonight with friends. Since tomorrow is moon-day (we don't practice on full moon or new moon mornings) tonight is essentially a holiday for us and the big beer/dinner event is a rare but exciting occurrence. In some ways, this turns our big day into a rather extravagant one. If there is power for hot water, we may even shower and head downtown early to stop at the market or bookstore (here is a pic at the market with a guy showing me how he makes incense). We are busy, busy kids I tell ya.

I suppose though, that we did have some other big days. Our Saturday day trips are always exciting and when I have more time (again, big day so I'm crunched for now), I'll post some videos of this for you. Last week, Liz and I took a trip to Nagarhole National Park, where, it turns out, that out of one billion people in India, we were the only two to have any desire to go. After searching for our bus, which consists of briskly wandering around the bus stand asking random drivers, "Nagarhole? Nagarhole?" and them waving you on to the next platform (read: other end of the big parking lot), we took a three hour ride to the national park. Thinking we'd find a place to eat when we arrived, we were literally dropped off in the middle of nowhere, where we were eventually fed by some nice strangers in a small mess hall, and joined by a deer (they fed the deer a thali as you can see). We then spent most of the day sitting quietly--and surprisingly, doing nothing--under a canopy. Because we were the only two people to show, our plans for a safari didn't quite turn out (a minimum of ten was needed), but we did get befriended by the thali-eating deer, which protected us from a pack of wild monkeys, and had some wild elephant and spotted deer sightings.

Yesterday we took a trip to MM Hills to visit a temple on top of a mountain. We assumed we were going to the Sandalwood Forrest, but have given up any notion that when we plan a trip that it will turn out as initially planned. Still, the temple was incredible and the ride through the mountains was well worth the trip. We began this journey from the "private bus stand" instead of our usual "city bus stand," so the experience was somewhat different. It was easier to find the bus this time, and upon our connection, we ended up on a raver-style-Hindu-music thumping bus that eventually showed Bollywood films during the drive. It was the bounciest, speediest bus we've taken so far, which was fun, except for the fact that we ended up flying up and down the mountains for quite some time. For someone who gets a little nervous driving on high bridges or next to steep cliffs, this was an intense lesson in trust. But how does one learn to trust if there is nothing to fear, right? We got seats next to the front window on our way down the mountain which somewhat doubled the scary, but also made for fabulous scenery, and a bus full of Indian eyes that got to stare without us having to interact.

Oh right...the staring. Indeed, we are famous here. No, really, we are. We draw crowds wherever we go, and are regularly followed around by children or teens who want to practice speaking English with us. We're regularly asked to take pictures with people (as you can see here), and though we're not exactly sure why this happens, from time to time its rather entertaining and in my mind I sometimes secretly pretend I'm the rockstar I always wanted to be. Sometimes of course, it's a tad bit awkward (and the politics behind this are somewhat unnerving but that's another blog all together, and I'm on holiday damnit!), but overall allows us to interact with and meet a lot of people. Questions and conversations often begin with, "What country you from?", "What is your good name?", "How long you stay?", and "How do you like India?" and end with a little awkward silence and some head wobbling. A favorite topic of conversation is in regards to the "sticker" or "painting" on my arm which makes me doubly famous. When we mention that we're from the US, people often mention Michael Jackson or start singing Bruce Springsteen's, "Born in the USA." On occasion they respond with, "Obama!" at which point I realize that I have no idea what is going on in American political culture right now and am happily content with remaining that way for as long as possible.

All in all, it appears that lots of nothing gives me plenty to say. In other random news, since Tim left, band practice hasn't been quite the same, and Martin is a bit lonely. We did make some videos before he left and I will do my best to get them up in the coming week or two, as well as videos from our various day trips (the one with Liz and the deer is just too great to not share, and I've also got some from the infamous puja-rave-mountain-bus ride). If you're lucky, I'll attempt to put up a 227 moment, but I'm not sure that I'll get to that--one plan per day is all I can muster at this point, and I don't want to get ahead of myself. In the meantime, I enjoy that people here don't need to constantly ask, "whatcha doin?" because it's not assumed that we have to be doing much at all, and I like that if someone was to ask, that saying "nothin'" would finally become an a truthfully valid response.

From your famous, cow-lovin, nothin'-doin', Ashtangi,
Sending you peace, love and all things good.