First Led @ AYRI: 1 hour and 10 mins

lunch with Nitta, Bela, Anguis, Liana

Liana is sick today. She was vomiting last night and before I left this morning for the second led class, she was extremely hot. I guess she must've eaten something. I didn't join her for breakfast at Tina's (indian lady) since I'm on a diet. I've resolved to lose weight to help me with my marichasanas. That's the only place I could think of where she may have picked up something because apart from breakfast, we ate in the same places - buffet lunch wtih Bela, Nitta (California), Anguis (Lithuania living in California) at Metropole hotel and buko juice for dinner at the coconut stand, the 'hippiest' watering hole in town. If her fever doesn't subside, I'm taking her at 5pm to Bela's landlord who is a doctor.

Now back to Yoga. The first led was last Friday. We got to the shala at 6:15 and it was already packed “mat-to-mat. I greeted Tokyo Yoga teacher Ken Nakamura at the foyer and he said “you better get in there fast.” I found a space against the wall, which can accommodate three-fourths of my mat. So I squeezed in and surprisingly, the girl next to me (Annette Forslund from Sweden) and everyone else in the row, moved. Liana found a space against the wall, but she was perpendicular to the room. Latecomers had to make do with the dressing room area and the foyer.

Guruji started on time at 6:30 with a command samastitih and started the opening prayer. The energy was amazing. I forgot about my knee and I was doing the poses and moving, breathing with the rest . Of course, I had difficulty with Garbhapindasana and afraid to head-butt my neighbors (Note: head butted the guy next to me today). In fact, I thought Saraswati was yelling at me to stop but she was looking at someone else. When Sharath's not in the shala, she’s the one telling people to stop. About six-eight people were asked to stop and were seated upright until the finishing sequence.

The whole primary series was carried out in one hour ten minutes. Note that after ulplutihi, we vinayasa-ed back and Guruji led the closing prayer. However, we had a very short navasana. After a minute or two, I heard Guruji say ‘thank you’ and when I opened my eyes, people were already making a beeline for puja. This is where the students pay their respect to Guruji by kissing his feet and now, includes his cheeks and/or a smack on his lips.

Today (Sunday), there were two primaries scheduled - 5am and 6:30am. It was Sharath who led the 6:30 class. Apparently he is more strict than his mum. I got to the shala at 6:15 to find everyone at Padaangusthasana. Sharath told the guys at the foyer to make space for me and I squeezed in the tight space. His counting is much looooonger. My arms were shaking at Sirsasana (15 upright and another 10 folded legs) and Utplutihi took forever.

After this weekend's led class, I guess I have to just keep practicing so I can keep up and overcome the challenges in a fast led class. Guruji keeps saying that everything is 99% practice and 1% theory. He said that the student will gain clarity of thought, strength of mind, and motivation to change. Well so far, I'm trying my best to go with the flow. Lets see how the week pans out.