The Exuberance of Youth.... (Nov 12)

We decided to take the morning yoga class at Kailas. These yoga classes are on a large balcony in the sun, overlooking the valley. There were two young men and 3 young women in the class with us. There were all traveling together from Australia and had never taken yoga before. They were using this class as an introduction. Since the kids (as I like to call them) were only in town a few days, the teacher (Sivadas) was giving them a crash course and showing them various poses along with advanced variations. Being kids, they always wanted to jump right into the advanced version. I know some of our yoga teacher friends are probably cringing at this thought (we were even doing headstand). One saving grace is that I think they were young enough that they wouldn't hurt themselves... much.

I was a two hour class and, like Vijay, was done in a kind of sing song voice and included breathing exercises. We found out that the school also has a 6 day Ayurvedic Massage course. I'm going to take the massage course while Brad looks into cooking classes.

We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and had some most excellent hummus (yes, hummus again – what can I say, it was good!) I tried out the ATM and took out some cash but Brad’s card wouldn’t work.

I went back to Kailas to start my massage class. I’m taking it with a young Russian Kundalini teacher named Natasa and Sivadas’ girlfriend Joanna. Joanna is originally from Dublin. The massage is Kerala Ayurvedic and I think it will be pretty interesting. We covered some basic theory and the opening relaxation and head massage today. I’m sure Brad is going to enjoy my new skills!

While I was in class, Brad wandered around town peeking into shops and testing various tea stands. He also showed some amazing restraint while in a bookstore and managed to exit without buying an armload of books! He tried the ATM again in the afternoon with his two alternate cards and managed to blow up the machine. He claims it wasn’t his fault, of course.

We met after class for dinner and a movie. We caught the Corpse Bride this time. Very Tim Burton.