Akshata’s Engagement Party

Click on the post title link to view the gallery of photos from the event.

Today was certainly a packed day. We didn’t have Sanskirt or Sutras class today because there was an engagement party in the family! Akshata, is the young and beautiful daughter of Dr. Jayashree’s brother-in-law’s sister…I think. Today we celebrated her engagement to Praveen. The event began at 10am this morning with breakfast at a hall just down the street across from Jaganmohan Palace. Soon afterwards we all made our way into an adjacent room that was decorated with flowers. Flowers are a big part of every day life in India. Mysore is known for a special variety of jasmine. It’s very popular for women to decorate their hair with garlands of jasmine and most of the lady’s in the ceremony today did just that…the garlands were really quite beautiful and smelled fantastic.

Ok…the electricity just went out…completely. I’ve heard of this happening in India but this is the first time since I’ve been here that it’s occurred. It’s VERY dark outside…and inside. My computer went to battery power. The house seems pretty normal…no one is making a fuss about it.

30 minutes later…

So…I went downstairs and the family was gathered in the main indoor living area around a lamp just casually visiting. Obviously, no big deal. Lights are back on. Where was I? The engagement ceremony!

The ritual was very beautiful. Each family gave gifts of fruits and sweets to each other as well as an incredibly beautiful silk sari, thickly woven with gold covered thread, to the bride and a silk kurta (long shirt) to the groom to be. The couple left and changed into their new clothes and when they returned the ritual continued. Fathers and Mothers placed thick garlands of jasmine and roses around the necks of the daughter-in-law and son-in-law to be and then each family signed a contractual agreement, confirming that they were committed to the upcoming wedding arrangement. (I don’t know what happens if someone doesn’t show.) The ceremony was followed by an elaborate lunch served on banana tree leaves…more mixing and mushing practice, although one nice gentleman offered me a spoon…I guess I still have room for improvement.

The other exciting bit of the day was that I had my first yoga asana practice at the Sri K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute (KPJAYI) with the late Pattabhi Jois’ daughter, Saraswati. I had really had no idea what to expect because I’d never been to a “Mysore Style” class. What is known as Ashtanga Yoga in the US is a vinyasa (coordination of movement and breath) series of postures/jumps, famous for its rigor. Most Ashtanga classes in the US are led classes with everyone doing the same flow (or modifications of it) at the same time. In a “Mysore Style” class, each student moves through the series at their own pace, and only goes through as much of the sequence as the teacher approves. Some find it chaotic because everyone is doing something different and others find it meditative because it supports a very quite environment except for the sound of the breath, and the soft sound of the teacher’s voice as he/she provides assists to individual students.

With all of the NFA craziness before embarking on this trip, I honestly hadn’t practiced the Ashtanga primary series much and so I was a little concerned about remembering the sequence. Saraswati was very patient as she gently, but firmly, reminded me what was next when I’d forget. The best part of the class was by far the personal assists. I won’t go into detail here, but if you come to one our shared practices when I get back, I’ll show them to you.

I wasn’t sure how far I’d get through the series before being told to stop, but I made it through all of the sun salutations and the entire standing series. I was sweating so much by that point she may have thought I’d had all I could take. I was relieved not to have to get into all of the jump-throughs right away…since mine are more like scoot-throughs.

The highlight of the class was getting fully into bound lotus, baddha padmasana, for the first time. Lotus is the traditional yoga pose that you see in many ads for yoga…sitting with legs crossed, feet above the thighs, left over right. The bound part of the pose requires that the left arm/hand go behind the back so the left fingers can take the left big toe (which is on the right side of the body). Similarly the right arm/hand goes behind the back and the right fingers take the right big toe. I’ve never been able to reach my toes before…until today! Saraswati did assist by pulling my arms around my body and pressing my torso forward. She held me in place for the first 5 breaths and the 2^nd 5 I held in place on my own. It felt great. I love hip openers, heart openers and forward bends…bound lotus hits them all at once.

I was allowed to rest in savasana for a minute at the end and that’s when it hit me…the feeling of coming home, and not coming home in the physical sense…it wasn’t about coming to India at all. It was coming home, again, to something much greater than that. And the tears came…and it was a perfect moment.