When I went to Australia I know that there would be much American influence including watching the ABC nightly news with Peter Jennings, but I didn’t expect so much influence here in India, at least not yet. If you turn the TV on, they do have their own stations, and usually they will have a Hindu station, a Muslim station, and a Christian station, however they also have CNN India, and the most common channels are Discovery, Travel, and National Geographic.
Looking out the window of the hotel, and we can’t see very far in either direction, but I can see Music World, Van Heusen, Domino’s Pizza, Subway, and those famous golden arches that seem to be everywhere but the moon! Of course the bottled water I’m drinking is called Kinley – a product of The Coca-Cola Company, and I can see advertisements from ING, MetLife, and Merrill Lynch. This main intersection reminds me of a very small Times Square.
So those of you that know me well, make sure you are sitting down before you go on reading this…are you down? Take a wild guess where I ate for lunch? It would be the last place you would ever see me!!! Okay, so I just had to try a McVeggie! Of course I got the meal with fries and a drink, but I didn’t get a soft drink, instead I got an iced coffee. The McVeggie actually tasted really good. Of course it did, I don’t think we can count high enough to list all the chemicals that were in it, so it goes without saying it better taste good. The fries were, well, what can I say – McDonald’s. And the coffee was incredible which leads me to believe that there wasn’t even real coffee in it!
The menu was extremely limited. They had four sandwiches to choose from. Remember, we are in India where cows are considered Holy, so they had the McChicken Big Mac, which was two all chicken patties (Yeah, right!), special sauces, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun – are you singing yet? They also had the regular McChicken Sandwich, a McSalad Sandwich, which was literally just lettuce, tomato, and mayo on a bun, and the one I had which was the McVeggie. Not really sure what they thought was in the veggie, but it did taste good. They did have a large selection of ice cream. Indians love ice cream, not only because it’s sweet but also because it comes from a cow.
We had thought about going to a Subway as well, but we have ran out of time, so McDonalds was the only American restaurant we went to. We are only in the city of Bangalore for a day and a half, so not much time, plus our dinners were at restaurants that had been time tested, local and very good. One is the Taj hotel which is an Indian chain of up scale hotels, and the restaurants are upscale as well, and the other one called Olive Beach is a local art deco type restaurant that is completely western. When I refer to upscale, in the US the food would be about 20-30 dollars a plate, here 8-10 dollars a plate. Both of these restaurants had great food, but by this time because I know I’ll be home in a day or two I can’t help but think about food back home, and so I’m getting tired of this food and being careful about what I can eat and what I should think about before eating! I have been sick 4 times now on this entire trip which isn’t that bad considering how sick some people get. I have no complaints and all four times it was very minor, and lasted only a day or less. Airline food at this time is starting to sound good!
PS – you should try to write something about McDonald’s, using all the words that begin with Mc, and then have spell check try and fix it! That was a project in itself!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
The Mall
We are spending our last day and a half in the city of Bangalore, or Bangaluru by traditional name. This is our port city so we decided to come one day early so that we could tour this city, one of the largest in India, and be ready for our 7 am flight back to London then home.
We are staying at a hotel called The Monarch which is not a bad hotel at all and it is located right in the heart of the city. The two main roads here in Bangalore are Brigade and M.G. road. It seems that every city/town in India has an M.G. road, which stands for Mahatma Gandhi. This area is where most of the shopping is both for local middle class and the tourists. Here in the city of Bangalore they have at least two malls that we know of. They are very western in thought, and are similar to what we would call a mall, however their size for the whole mall is what we would think of as just one department store, say Macy*s.
The one we visited yesterday afternoon actually had 5 floors and half of the top floor was a movie theatre, very new, and appeared to be very clean. They had the electronic signs telling you the movies, show times, and even if the movie was selling fast, or sold out. There were 6 theatres and they were showing 2 American movies, Rambo 4 (please!), and Enchanted. The other side of the 5th floor was Staples. What else would you put next to a movie theatre but an office supply store? On the directories for the mall, they only put down the stores located on the floor you were on. So if you don’t know which floor the store you want is on, good luck, and head for each floor!
Here in India they number things a little different than we do in the states. This goes for hotels, office buildings, etc. The ground floor is just that, the ground floor. The next floor up, which we would consider the 2nd floor is the 1st floor. In the elevators the ground floor is 0, not ground or Lobby, but 0. Plus, our hotel has a parking garage underneath so our elevator has the buttons for -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. No parking level or Lobby here, just -1 and 0. This means that if you are staying in room 103, you are on the second floor, room 3. We are in room 312, on the 4th floor.
In the middle of this mall we were in was an atrium that went all the way up to a glass ceiling. Right above the ground floor was a huge net across the whole atrium. Daren and I joked that it was to catch people who are trying to commit suicide, but then came to the conclusion that because there are no doors at the entrances to the mall that it was to keep birds from coming in and flying up to the upper levels. For kicks and giggles we asked a security guard what the net was for. His answer, and I quote, “to catch children falling from the upper floors.” My questions is how many times did that happen before they thought of putting up the net? We won’t even go into where the parents are.
As you entered the mall we were required to go through metal detectors. If the system went off you were asked to step aside and they would then wand you. They were not set very high as I got through with my camera, belt, etc and it didn’t go off. Not sure of the reason, other than fundamentalists don’t like the western ideas coming to India so these places could be targets.
While we were in the mall the power went out several times. The first thing that came to mind was, “Oh, the palace lights must have been turned on!” This makes sense if you read the blog; Mysore. However, business went on as if nothing had happened. The employees continued to work and not even miss a beat, and so did most of the customers, they didn’t even stop to look around. This happens often here in India, and even in Kovalam Beach the power was actually scheduled to go off once a day for an hour (not because of the palace, that is in a different state), so they don’t even think about it.
The last thing that was fun to watch was the people, especially the mid to older ones. I’m talking about 40 and up. The main source of attraction for me was the escalator! When we were in the airport in Trivundrum heading to the Maldives, we needed to take an escalator down to the ground floor, sorry, the Zero floor, and many of the locals, especially women stopped, looked at the escalators, and would walk over to the stairs to walk down. This mall didn’t have stairs so they needed to use the escalators! I really hate to say this, but to watch them, watch the steps go by and try to calculate stepping onto the stairs was funny, and just think what went through their heads when getting off, because they can’t stop and think about it! I know this is mean, but I guess if they want to be more like westerners then they must ride escalators!
Some places are very western in thought and practice and others try to be, but just don’t quite make it! There were a few places that if you were just placed there, it would be difficult to say you were in another country, and others would take long at all. My favorite example is a coffee shop called Coffee Day. This would be our version of Starbucks. It truly is a knock off of Starbucks, right down to selling whole bean coffee. However, they don’t open until 9 a.m.! Explain that to me please? Plus, we were one of the first customers of the day and both ordered drinks. We only had a 500 Rupee bill, that is what the ATMs give out, and our bill was over 200 Rupees, but they didn’t have change. This would be like us spending about $12 at Starbucks and trying to use a $20. No change - They sent one of the workers out somewhere to find change! This happened several times in the mom & pop stores, which I can understand, but this should be a western thinking place, with change!
By this time in the trip we stopped asking the questions why or how come, and just smiled, bobbled our head and laughed! The head bobble is something Indians so to each other while they are talking. A waiter will bobble his head when you place an order, or you are asking for directions, etc. However, this head bobble does not mean anything! It doesn’t mean yes, no, maybe, okay, anything. It’s just a head bobble. There were several times I would be somewhere watching two guys talking and bobbling, and I would just break out laughing!
We are staying at a hotel called The Monarch which is not a bad hotel at all and it is located right in the heart of the city. The two main roads here in Bangalore are Brigade and M.G. road. It seems that every city/town in India has an M.G. road, which stands for Mahatma Gandhi. This area is where most of the shopping is both for local middle class and the tourists. Here in the city of Bangalore they have at least two malls that we know of. They are very western in thought, and are similar to what we would call a mall, however their size for the whole mall is what we would think of as just one department store, say Macy*s.
The one we visited yesterday afternoon actually had 5 floors and half of the top floor was a movie theatre, very new, and appeared to be very clean. They had the electronic signs telling you the movies, show times, and even if the movie was selling fast, or sold out. There were 6 theatres and they were showing 2 American movies, Rambo 4 (please!), and Enchanted. The other side of the 5th floor was Staples. What else would you put next to a movie theatre but an office supply store? On the directories for the mall, they only put down the stores located on the floor you were on. So if you don’t know which floor the store you want is on, good luck, and head for each floor!
Here in India they number things a little different than we do in the states. This goes for hotels, office buildings, etc. The ground floor is just that, the ground floor. The next floor up, which we would consider the 2nd floor is the 1st floor. In the elevators the ground floor is 0, not ground or Lobby, but 0. Plus, our hotel has a parking garage underneath so our elevator has the buttons for -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. No parking level or Lobby here, just -1 and 0. This means that if you are staying in room 103, you are on the second floor, room 3. We are in room 312, on the 4th floor.
In the middle of this mall we were in was an atrium that went all the way up to a glass ceiling. Right above the ground floor was a huge net across the whole atrium. Daren and I joked that it was to catch people who are trying to commit suicide, but then came to the conclusion that because there are no doors at the entrances to the mall that it was to keep birds from coming in and flying up to the upper levels. For kicks and giggles we asked a security guard what the net was for. His answer, and I quote, “to catch children falling from the upper floors.” My questions is how many times did that happen before they thought of putting up the net? We won’t even go into where the parents are.
As you entered the mall we were required to go through metal detectors. If the system went off you were asked to step aside and they would then wand you. They were not set very high as I got through with my camera, belt, etc and it didn’t go off. Not sure of the reason, other than fundamentalists don’t like the western ideas coming to India so these places could be targets.
While we were in the mall the power went out several times. The first thing that came to mind was, “Oh, the palace lights must have been turned on!” This makes sense if you read the blog; Mysore. However, business went on as if nothing had happened. The employees continued to work and not even miss a beat, and so did most of the customers, they didn’t even stop to look around. This happens often here in India, and even in Kovalam Beach the power was actually scheduled to go off once a day for an hour (not because of the palace, that is in a different state), so they don’t even think about it.
The last thing that was fun to watch was the people, especially the mid to older ones. I’m talking about 40 and up. The main source of attraction for me was the escalator! When we were in the airport in Trivundrum heading to the Maldives, we needed to take an escalator down to the ground floor, sorry, the Zero floor, and many of the locals, especially women stopped, looked at the escalators, and would walk over to the stairs to walk down. This mall didn’t have stairs so they needed to use the escalators! I really hate to say this, but to watch them, watch the steps go by and try to calculate stepping onto the stairs was funny, and just think what went through their heads when getting off, because they can’t stop and think about it! I know this is mean, but I guess if they want to be more like westerners then they must ride escalators!
Some places are very western in thought and practice and others try to be, but just don’t quite make it! There were a few places that if you were just placed there, it would be difficult to say you were in another country, and others would take long at all. My favorite example is a coffee shop called Coffee Day. This would be our version of Starbucks. It truly is a knock off of Starbucks, right down to selling whole bean coffee. However, they don’t open until 9 a.m.! Explain that to me please? Plus, we were one of the first customers of the day and both ordered drinks. We only had a 500 Rupee bill, that is what the ATMs give out, and our bill was over 200 Rupees, but they didn’t have change. This would be like us spending about $12 at Starbucks and trying to use a $20. No change - They sent one of the workers out somewhere to find change! This happened several times in the mom & pop stores, which I can understand, but this should be a western thinking place, with change!
By this time in the trip we stopped asking the questions why or how come, and just smiled, bobbled our head and laughed! The head bobble is something Indians so to each other while they are talking. A waiter will bobble his head when you place an order, or you are asking for directions, etc. However, this head bobble does not mean anything! It doesn’t mean yes, no, maybe, okay, anything. It’s just a head bobble. There were several times I would be somewhere watching two guys talking and bobbling, and I would just break out laughing!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Pictures
Just a quick FYI, pictures are being organized on Flickr, and will be ready soon to view. I'm putting about 100 of the 500+ pictures I took while on the trip. I'll let you know as soon as it is ready!
Mysore
The town of Mysore is about a 3-hour car ride from Bangalore which is the city with the closest airport, and also our port city to leave India. The car ride from the airport to Mysore was not as bad as all the other rides because once we were out of the city, the new highway is actually a divided highway with two lanes in each direction. I didn’t think this was possible. This however didn’t stop all the honking, as I found out that it’s a law that you honk your horn when you pass someone. Plus they don’t have drive on the right; pass on the left or any kind or organization like that. And you still need to deal with everything including carts being pulled by ox.
When you pass through the small towns, in the states we always lower the speed limit on the highways to something like 30 while you drive through town and then pick speed back up. Even though they have limits posted on the road I’m not sure the people know what those mean, so slowing down to go through a village is not something they would normally do. The way they get the cars to slow down is they put up barricades in the road. They use three barricades, two placed in one lane, and one in the other lane between the other two so it forces all the traffic down to one lane and you must zigzag through the barricades. They put these up right before the crosswalks, usually only one per village. Crosswalks by the way are called Zebra’s because of the white strips. They also like to use speed bumps, and these speed bumps are more like mountains than bumps and if you hit one very fast, not only would your car or rickshaw be wiped out completely, it could kill you, as we read in the paper about a guy on a motor bike that hit a speed bump going to fast!
Mysore is considered the birthplace of Ashtanga Yoga, the place where Sri K. Pattabhi Jois started his studio. He is the one that taught our teacher, Lino Miele. The town itself has about 80,000 people and is growing fast as people are moving there to get away from the city of Bangalore. There is not much to do in Mysore; it’s not really a place you would visit as a tourist unless you were there for yoga or passing through. We had a teacher named Ajay (AH-jay) while we were in Mysore who I felt was an incredible teacher and I would like to come back to Mysore and study with him over going to Kovalam with Lino. Both are great teachers, but Ajay I felt had a better connection to his students. In support for Lino however, Ajay had 24 students, Lino, 150. Lino has been doing this for almost 2 decades, where Ajay only several years, however I can say that he will go far.
We did travel to several temples while in Mysore, including one on tip of Chamundi Hill, which is one of the 8 sacred hills in India. On the way up the hill they have large signs that say “No plastic Zone” meaning they are trying to reduce the amount of trash being thrown around on the hill. Indians don’t understand the concept of trash cans – partly because disposable products/packaging is relatively new to them, and they don’t have the money to pay for someone to go around and empty the garbage cans. When we got to the top of the hill, almost ALL the vendors that were there selling product were selling at least one type of plastic toy! Some vendors that is all they had was plastic! Of course not only was the item plastic, but of course it came in a plastic bag of some kind as well.
The market was another place we went to while in Mysore. This would be similar to what we would call a farmers market, only this place went on for blocks and was the main course of food for the entire city, weather for families, restaurants or hotels. It was truly something to see. All the fruit and vegetables all of course in season and nothing is out of season. They don’t ship fruits and veggies around the country like we do. You eat what is grown locally or you don’t eat it! Flowers are very big here, and not for vases in your living room, but flower necklaces and the likes for the temple gods. The flowers at the market were incredible, and since they string them, they don’t have stems, so there would be piles of just flowers. They use a lot of Marigolds and I seen 50-gallon burlap bags full of just marigold flowers. Jasmine was the only other flower that I could name, but the displays were incredible.
The main tourist attraction for Mysore is the Mysore Palace, which is actually famous, and often it is pictured books about India. The Palace was built for the Maharajh of Mysore back at the turn of the century. (I guess now we need to be more specific about which century. The 19th century.) The building is huge, and does fit in with what we would consider a palace. It’s a cross of Indian and English architecture, and sits on about 40 acres. On the grounds are three Hindu Temples, which we visited and they still have elephants and camels on the grounds for festivals. I have some great pictures of the grounds and outside of the Palace, but of course no cameras allowed inside the palace or temples, sorry!
The Palace, on Sunday evenings for one-hour only turn on lights, which outline the palace, three main gates, and temples. This is the type of picture one would usually find of the palace in books. Think Christmas lights, or Main Street USA at a Disney park, but about 10 fold. Not really sure how many lights they use, but it is completely breath taking to see it all lit up. It brings thousands to the palace every Sunday night. Families come and just sit on the ground, no grass, just dirt, and look at the lights for the one-hour they are turned on. To get onto the grounds you need to go through a metal detector, and they have only one at each of the three gates. That means three detectors for thousands of people! Lets just say it takes awhile to get in.
We are in India, so get this. There is a local village near by, who for whatever reason they were chosen, lose their power for one hour, every Sunday night while the palace lights are on! There is not enough power to go around as it is, so that is the reason they only turn the lights on once a week for an hour, so these small villages nearby don’t lose theirs. Those of you who live in Salt Lake, imagine loosing your power once per week so that Temple Square could light up! That is just what they do.
We board a train tomorrow back to Bangalore for a day and a half before returning home. I might blog about the train ride, we shall see what its like. We do have first class tickets because that way we actually have a seat assignment, and the coach is air-conditioned. The tickets were only 600 Rupees each ($15 US). The train ride will be 3 hours just like the car but hoping the trip will be less stressful, and quite. Lets cross our fingers!
When you pass through the small towns, in the states we always lower the speed limit on the highways to something like 30 while you drive through town and then pick speed back up. Even though they have limits posted on the road I’m not sure the people know what those mean, so slowing down to go through a village is not something they would normally do. The way they get the cars to slow down is they put up barricades in the road. They use three barricades, two placed in one lane, and one in the other lane between the other two so it forces all the traffic down to one lane and you must zigzag through the barricades. They put these up right before the crosswalks, usually only one per village. Crosswalks by the way are called Zebra’s because of the white strips. They also like to use speed bumps, and these speed bumps are more like mountains than bumps and if you hit one very fast, not only would your car or rickshaw be wiped out completely, it could kill you, as we read in the paper about a guy on a motor bike that hit a speed bump going to fast!
Mysore is considered the birthplace of Ashtanga Yoga, the place where Sri K. Pattabhi Jois started his studio. He is the one that taught our teacher, Lino Miele. The town itself has about 80,000 people and is growing fast as people are moving there to get away from the city of Bangalore. There is not much to do in Mysore; it’s not really a place you would visit as a tourist unless you were there for yoga or passing through. We had a teacher named Ajay (AH-jay) while we were in Mysore who I felt was an incredible teacher and I would like to come back to Mysore and study with him over going to Kovalam with Lino. Both are great teachers, but Ajay I felt had a better connection to his students. In support for Lino however, Ajay had 24 students, Lino, 150. Lino has been doing this for almost 2 decades, where Ajay only several years, however I can say that he will go far.
We did travel to several temples while in Mysore, including one on tip of Chamundi Hill, which is one of the 8 sacred hills in India. On the way up the hill they have large signs that say “No plastic Zone” meaning they are trying to reduce the amount of trash being thrown around on the hill. Indians don’t understand the concept of trash cans – partly because disposable products/packaging is relatively new to them, and they don’t have the money to pay for someone to go around and empty the garbage cans. When we got to the top of the hill, almost ALL the vendors that were there selling product were selling at least one type of plastic toy! Some vendors that is all they had was plastic! Of course not only was the item plastic, but of course it came in a plastic bag of some kind as well.
The market was another place we went to while in Mysore. This would be similar to what we would call a farmers market, only this place went on for blocks and was the main course of food for the entire city, weather for families, restaurants or hotels. It was truly something to see. All the fruit and vegetables all of course in season and nothing is out of season. They don’t ship fruits and veggies around the country like we do. You eat what is grown locally or you don’t eat it! Flowers are very big here, and not for vases in your living room, but flower necklaces and the likes for the temple gods. The flowers at the market were incredible, and since they string them, they don’t have stems, so there would be piles of just flowers. They use a lot of Marigolds and I seen 50-gallon burlap bags full of just marigold flowers. Jasmine was the only other flower that I could name, but the displays were incredible.
The main tourist attraction for Mysore is the Mysore Palace, which is actually famous, and often it is pictured books about India. The Palace was built for the Maharajh of Mysore back at the turn of the century. (I guess now we need to be more specific about which century. The 19th century.) The building is huge, and does fit in with what we would consider a palace. It’s a cross of Indian and English architecture, and sits on about 40 acres. On the grounds are three Hindu Temples, which we visited and they still have elephants and camels on the grounds for festivals. I have some great pictures of the grounds and outside of the Palace, but of course no cameras allowed inside the palace or temples, sorry!
The Palace, on Sunday evenings for one-hour only turn on lights, which outline the palace, three main gates, and temples. This is the type of picture one would usually find of the palace in books. Think Christmas lights, or Main Street USA at a Disney park, but about 10 fold. Not really sure how many lights they use, but it is completely breath taking to see it all lit up. It brings thousands to the palace every Sunday night. Families come and just sit on the ground, no grass, just dirt, and look at the lights for the one-hour they are turned on. To get onto the grounds you need to go through a metal detector, and they have only one at each of the three gates. That means three detectors for thousands of people! Lets just say it takes awhile to get in.
We are in India, so get this. There is a local village near by, who for whatever reason they were chosen, lose their power for one hour, every Sunday night while the palace lights are on! There is not enough power to go around as it is, so that is the reason they only turn the lights on once a week for an hour, so these small villages nearby don’t lose theirs. Those of you who live in Salt Lake, imagine loosing your power once per week so that Temple Square could light up! That is just what they do.
We board a train tomorrow back to Bangalore for a day and a half before returning home. I might blog about the train ride, we shall see what its like. We do have first class tickets because that way we actually have a seat assignment, and the coach is air-conditioned. The tickets were only 600 Rupees each ($15 US). The train ride will be 3 hours just like the car but hoping the trip will be less stressful, and quite. Lets cross our fingers!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Scuba Diving
Diving is something you really need to experience to get the full effect, kind of like jumping from an airplane. The feeling of weightlessness, being able to breath under water and moving with the schools of fish is things that just really can’t be described.
I started with a course called “Discover Scuba Diving” This is the first thing they put you through for you to decide after that weather you want to continue with the training or not. We spent about an hour learning the basics as to how water and air behave together, which is completely different that what I thought, and how your scuba gear works. By the way scuba stands for self contained underwater breathing apparatus.
So we lean how the scuba equipment works and head over to the beach. Sounds easy, but the scuba equipment on land weights at least 30 pounds, very awkward, and we had to walk through sand. The walk from the school to the beach was about 100 yards, and the whole time I felt like I was going to fall backwards with all that stuff attached to my back.
Getting into the water was fun in that the area we entered there were small sharks swimming around looking for food. These guys were tan and brown in color and about a foot to 18 inches long. They are completely harmless but stepping into the water having 6 or 7 of these guys swimming near by was interesting. They looked just like a great white, only smaller and we would laugh and either make the Jaws music, or scream shark every time we saw them! They would swim so close to the shore and to the surface that their dorsal fin would stick out of the water.
Once in the water up to about our chest the scuba equipment became very buoyant and we would start to float. Because of the equipment, we actually have to wear weight belts that allow us to descend under water. So here we are, water up to our chests and the instructor tells us to put our masks on, place the regulator in our mouth and look under water and here’s the important part – breathe! As easy as that sounds, getting your mind and your lungs to actually want to attempt to breathe under water is actually hard. It took some self-control and will power to inhale knowing your face is under water.
Once that excitement was over, knowing we could now breathe down there, we needed to go through some simple exercises in the event something happened. First we needed to flood our mask half way and clear it by breathing out the nose, then we needed to remove our regulator from our mouth and replace it, and third we needed to remove our regulator and take our buddies extra regulator and breathe from it. You always have two regulators attached to you. One for you and one for your buddy in case he/she runs out of air or something.
Then we got to swim around for a few minutes looking at the fish and other life at the bottom of the lagoon. This first dive we were only in water about 3 meters (9 feet) deep, so it wasn’t extra ordinary, but there was life down there. After the dive they then ask you if you are interested in going on with the course, or you can say you took part in Discover Scuba Diving and leave it from there. Now, I will say, that if you did this, say in Las Vegas, of course 90% of the time this course is offered in a swimming pool with no sea life, then you would think do I really want to go on with the training? Flooding your own mask and removing the regulator takes will power and its just more training that you need to do. However, there’s a catch when you learn to do this in an actual lagoon, with fish and sharks and tides and salt water and the list goes on, how in the world can you say No Thanks, I’m done! Of course you say, “Yes!” So the instructor hands you a very large textbook and says your next dive is tomorrow afternoon at 2, read chapters 1-3 before then! They always seem to forget to tell you this part in the beginning. So, off for a cappuccino I go, and forget about the rest of the days activities, as I need to study.
The next afternoon was great. I had finished reading the 3 chapters like a good boy, and because at the time I was the only person going through the course that spoke English, there were mostly Germans here on vacation at the time, I had my very own instructor for the next dive. Also, because I had been a good boy and read all three chapters like I was instructed to, the instructor decided that we would do dive 2 and 3 together. Usually you do three dives for the training, but the instructor needs to get to several people, up to 8, for each exercise and we can only stay under water for so long, so they limit the number of exercises per dive. Since it was only he and I and I had read the chapters and knew what was expected of me we went through both dives two and three. The main exercises were completely flooding my mask and clearing it. Removing my regulator and letting it go, then finding it again and replacing it. Taking my mask off and swimming around for one minute then replacing and clearing the mask. Completely removing the scuba gear both on the ground, about 3 meters down and at the surface, and putting it back on again. Learning how to release your weight belt and replacing it on the ground and at the surface. There were many more but you get the idea. All of the training is for “in case”. Diving itself is really very simple, pressurize your sinus cavity (ears), and breathe! The hard part is learning the “what ifs.”
Dive three was the next morning and it took me out into open water with the instructor on a boat with other more experienced divers. We were of course placed in groups, but I kept thinking we are in open water! One thing you learn in a swimming pool is how to get into the water with your gear on by jumping into the pool. You can’t learn that on a beach and just have to go for in from the boat! Very easy actually – hang on to your mask and regulator and breathe! Have you caught on to something yet? The number one and most important rule in diving is breathe. I know this makes sense, but when you go through the course and understand what can happen if you don’t breath, injuries may result including death, and it has nothing to do with drowning.
So, once we were all in the water, the dive master made sure we were all okay, and then gave the signal to descend. Panic would be a very correct word that I think most of us went through that first time, as you begin to go down, and realize that the bottom isn’t 3 meters below you, but you can’t see the bottom. Two of the students couldn’t get past that part and went back up to the boat. I hung out at about 4 meters for quite some time before the panic subsided and I was able to descend lower. I also had trouble pressurizing my ears so for that dive I stayed at about 10 meters (33 feet).
This dive, three, and dive five were very similar in experience as far as aquatic life with the exception that in dive five I was able to clear my ears and actually went to a depth of 29 meters (96 feet) under water. To actually see Sea Turtles and more than one, getting within a couple of feet of them while they are eating, and swimming through schools of fish that when you look around you in any direction all you see is fish is something words just can’t describe. Several differences that I noticed with each dive comparing to aquariums is that; first, light is absorbed by the water so actually in aquariums the colors are more vivid because the water is not as deep and many aquariums use black lights to help improve the color of the coral, so that part was disappointing, second however, in aquariums the schools of fish are in the hundreds, in the open water, thousands is an under statement. You can get lost in the schools! To see eels, and stingrays, and of course Nemo (clown fish), and even a Dory or two, is simply incredible.
Dive 5 took place the following morning after dive three. Dive 4 that was the afternoon of dive 3 however was by far the most incredible and the one I will be talking about for years to come. With this time I was able to clear my ears for the first time with comfort and we only went to a depth of 20 meters (66 feet), but the location we went to was spectacular! The descend and first portion of the dive was very similar to dive 3 and 5, lots of fish and breath taking coral even without the vivid colors. However, near the end of the dive we entered into a channel between the Atolls (Islands), and lets just say it was feeding time. There was a small coral reef that crossed the channel and the current was strong enough that our dive master had us go below the reef so the current wouldn’t take us out to sea and swim over to the other side. We needed to get to the other side because there were about 30 other divers in the same place as us. Once we found a spot with no other divers with came up to the reef top and held onto the reef facing the current so we looked like flags blowing in the wind. Imagine 30 divers or so holding on to this reef blowing in the current, like a string of flags at a stadium. The reason we held on to the reef is so we could relax and use less oxygen so we could stay and watch the show longer. The show – feeding time. In front of us was countless forms of aquatic life far to many to tell you about here, but schools of fish and sharks were the main attraction. The sharks would swim within feet of us, only to turn and swim another direction, the schools of fish would swim around us, and then away, and so on and so forth.
Because of the current flowing through this channel it was the perfect place for the food chain to be. Algae were floating through the channel that attracted small fish, which attracted bigger fish, etc. We stayed in this one location for about 20 minutes and just watch in awe of what was going on. We would have staying longer but air was running low so we needed to finish the dive and head back to the boat. After we had surfaced, the first person of our group was getting back onto the boat and our dive instructor yelled “mask on and dive!” so like good students we did what she said and down in the water were at least 6 Manta Rays, about 10 meters down (33 feet), just hanging out on the bottom. Only 5 of us were still in a position to dive, so down we went, and I came within about 5 feet of one of the Manta Rays. These are such incredible creatures and the best way to describe them is to think of UFO’s that just hover above the bottom, very calm and graceful. They didn’t seem very alarmed that we were heading form them, but once we got with the 5 feet or so, they just slowly moved forward, not far, just enough to stay away from us. The sad part was we could only stay about 2 minutes, because our air was by this time running very low so we needed to surface again.
Once back on the boat we realized many of the divers that were already on the boat had grabbed their mask and snorkel and had jumped into the water just to see down below to get a look at the manta rays! Of course that was the subject of conversation on the ride back to the island, and all of the sudden our instructor yelled “starboard!” and off the side of the boat were three dolphins swimming along side!
We had dinner with the instructor the following night and she said it took her over 800 dives to get that close to a manta ray, and to see the feeding show like we did with sharks that close, the manta rays, and the dolphins in one dive was almost impossible – so of course it happened on only my 4th dive. It will be hard to live up to, but I’m sure going to try and out do that one sometime in the near future!
I started with a course called “Discover Scuba Diving” This is the first thing they put you through for you to decide after that weather you want to continue with the training or not. We spent about an hour learning the basics as to how water and air behave together, which is completely different that what I thought, and how your scuba gear works. By the way scuba stands for self contained underwater breathing apparatus.
So we lean how the scuba equipment works and head over to the beach. Sounds easy, but the scuba equipment on land weights at least 30 pounds, very awkward, and we had to walk through sand. The walk from the school to the beach was about 100 yards, and the whole time I felt like I was going to fall backwards with all that stuff attached to my back.
Getting into the water was fun in that the area we entered there were small sharks swimming around looking for food. These guys were tan and brown in color and about a foot to 18 inches long. They are completely harmless but stepping into the water having 6 or 7 of these guys swimming near by was interesting. They looked just like a great white, only smaller and we would laugh and either make the Jaws music, or scream shark every time we saw them! They would swim so close to the shore and to the surface that their dorsal fin would stick out of the water.
Once in the water up to about our chest the scuba equipment became very buoyant and we would start to float. Because of the equipment, we actually have to wear weight belts that allow us to descend under water. So here we are, water up to our chests and the instructor tells us to put our masks on, place the regulator in our mouth and look under water and here’s the important part – breathe! As easy as that sounds, getting your mind and your lungs to actually want to attempt to breathe under water is actually hard. It took some self-control and will power to inhale knowing your face is under water.
Once that excitement was over, knowing we could now breathe down there, we needed to go through some simple exercises in the event something happened. First we needed to flood our mask half way and clear it by breathing out the nose, then we needed to remove our regulator from our mouth and replace it, and third we needed to remove our regulator and take our buddies extra regulator and breathe from it. You always have two regulators attached to you. One for you and one for your buddy in case he/she runs out of air or something.
Then we got to swim around for a few minutes looking at the fish and other life at the bottom of the lagoon. This first dive we were only in water about 3 meters (9 feet) deep, so it wasn’t extra ordinary, but there was life down there. After the dive they then ask you if you are interested in going on with the course, or you can say you took part in Discover Scuba Diving and leave it from there. Now, I will say, that if you did this, say in Las Vegas, of course 90% of the time this course is offered in a swimming pool with no sea life, then you would think do I really want to go on with the training? Flooding your own mask and removing the regulator takes will power and its just more training that you need to do. However, there’s a catch when you learn to do this in an actual lagoon, with fish and sharks and tides and salt water and the list goes on, how in the world can you say No Thanks, I’m done! Of course you say, “Yes!” So the instructor hands you a very large textbook and says your next dive is tomorrow afternoon at 2, read chapters 1-3 before then! They always seem to forget to tell you this part in the beginning. So, off for a cappuccino I go, and forget about the rest of the days activities, as I need to study.
The next afternoon was great. I had finished reading the 3 chapters like a good boy, and because at the time I was the only person going through the course that spoke English, there were mostly Germans here on vacation at the time, I had my very own instructor for the next dive. Also, because I had been a good boy and read all three chapters like I was instructed to, the instructor decided that we would do dive 2 and 3 together. Usually you do three dives for the training, but the instructor needs to get to several people, up to 8, for each exercise and we can only stay under water for so long, so they limit the number of exercises per dive. Since it was only he and I and I had read the chapters and knew what was expected of me we went through both dives two and three. The main exercises were completely flooding my mask and clearing it. Removing my regulator and letting it go, then finding it again and replacing it. Taking my mask off and swimming around for one minute then replacing and clearing the mask. Completely removing the scuba gear both on the ground, about 3 meters down and at the surface, and putting it back on again. Learning how to release your weight belt and replacing it on the ground and at the surface. There were many more but you get the idea. All of the training is for “in case”. Diving itself is really very simple, pressurize your sinus cavity (ears), and breathe! The hard part is learning the “what ifs.”
Dive three was the next morning and it took me out into open water with the instructor on a boat with other more experienced divers. We were of course placed in groups, but I kept thinking we are in open water! One thing you learn in a swimming pool is how to get into the water with your gear on by jumping into the pool. You can’t learn that on a beach and just have to go for in from the boat! Very easy actually – hang on to your mask and regulator and breathe! Have you caught on to something yet? The number one and most important rule in diving is breathe. I know this makes sense, but when you go through the course and understand what can happen if you don’t breath, injuries may result including death, and it has nothing to do with drowning.
So, once we were all in the water, the dive master made sure we were all okay, and then gave the signal to descend. Panic would be a very correct word that I think most of us went through that first time, as you begin to go down, and realize that the bottom isn’t 3 meters below you, but you can’t see the bottom. Two of the students couldn’t get past that part and went back up to the boat. I hung out at about 4 meters for quite some time before the panic subsided and I was able to descend lower. I also had trouble pressurizing my ears so for that dive I stayed at about 10 meters (33 feet).
This dive, three, and dive five were very similar in experience as far as aquatic life with the exception that in dive five I was able to clear my ears and actually went to a depth of 29 meters (96 feet) under water. To actually see Sea Turtles and more than one, getting within a couple of feet of them while they are eating, and swimming through schools of fish that when you look around you in any direction all you see is fish is something words just can’t describe. Several differences that I noticed with each dive comparing to aquariums is that; first, light is absorbed by the water so actually in aquariums the colors are more vivid because the water is not as deep and many aquariums use black lights to help improve the color of the coral, so that part was disappointing, second however, in aquariums the schools of fish are in the hundreds, in the open water, thousands is an under statement. You can get lost in the schools! To see eels, and stingrays, and of course Nemo (clown fish), and even a Dory or two, is simply incredible.
Dive 5 took place the following morning after dive three. Dive 4 that was the afternoon of dive 3 however was by far the most incredible and the one I will be talking about for years to come. With this time I was able to clear my ears for the first time with comfort and we only went to a depth of 20 meters (66 feet), but the location we went to was spectacular! The descend and first portion of the dive was very similar to dive 3 and 5, lots of fish and breath taking coral even without the vivid colors. However, near the end of the dive we entered into a channel between the Atolls (Islands), and lets just say it was feeding time. There was a small coral reef that crossed the channel and the current was strong enough that our dive master had us go below the reef so the current wouldn’t take us out to sea and swim over to the other side. We needed to get to the other side because there were about 30 other divers in the same place as us. Once we found a spot with no other divers with came up to the reef top and held onto the reef facing the current so we looked like flags blowing in the wind. Imagine 30 divers or so holding on to this reef blowing in the current, like a string of flags at a stadium. The reason we held on to the reef is so we could relax and use less oxygen so we could stay and watch the show longer. The show – feeding time. In front of us was countless forms of aquatic life far to many to tell you about here, but schools of fish and sharks were the main attraction. The sharks would swim within feet of us, only to turn and swim another direction, the schools of fish would swim around us, and then away, and so on and so forth.
Because of the current flowing through this channel it was the perfect place for the food chain to be. Algae were floating through the channel that attracted small fish, which attracted bigger fish, etc. We stayed in this one location for about 20 minutes and just watch in awe of what was going on. We would have staying longer but air was running low so we needed to finish the dive and head back to the boat. After we had surfaced, the first person of our group was getting back onto the boat and our dive instructor yelled “mask on and dive!” so like good students we did what she said and down in the water were at least 6 Manta Rays, about 10 meters down (33 feet), just hanging out on the bottom. Only 5 of us were still in a position to dive, so down we went, and I came within about 5 feet of one of the Manta Rays. These are such incredible creatures and the best way to describe them is to think of UFO’s that just hover above the bottom, very calm and graceful. They didn’t seem very alarmed that we were heading form them, but once we got with the 5 feet or so, they just slowly moved forward, not far, just enough to stay away from us. The sad part was we could only stay about 2 minutes, because our air was by this time running very low so we needed to surface again.
Once back on the boat we realized many of the divers that were already on the boat had grabbed their mask and snorkel and had jumped into the water just to see down below to get a look at the manta rays! Of course that was the subject of conversation on the ride back to the island, and all of the sudden our instructor yelled “starboard!” and off the side of the boat were three dolphins swimming along side!
We had dinner with the instructor the following night and she said it took her over 800 dives to get that close to a manta ray, and to see the feeding show like we did with sharks that close, the manta rays, and the dolphins in one dive was almost impossible – so of course it happened on only my 4th dive. It will be hard to live up to, but I’m sure going to try and out do that one sometime in the near future!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The Maldives
So the last week in Kovalam we decided to go to the Maldives for about a week. Daren has been certified a scuba diver for years and wanted me to get certified as well. We had purchased our airline tickets during our last trip up to Trivundrum. Then the internet went down and we had no way of confirming reservations with a hotel in the Maldives so we just went and found a place when we got there.
So, trying to get airline tickets to the Maldives. The only airline to fly from Trivundrum to the Maldives is Indian Air. This is actually a government run company, and for years there were two different companies. There was Indian Air which was the domestic company and then Air India which was the international company. About a year ago the government decided to merge the two so there would only be one company to make it easier to travel. The new company is called Indian Air – creative, don’t you think? So we have the taxi driver take us to the Air Indian office (which had a sign next to the building advertising the new Indian Air company, but the signs on the door still said Air Indian. Of course we got there at lunch so the office was closed (remember where we are.) We wanted to visit a local Ashram so we went there while the office was at lunch. Once we returned to the Air Indian office, we were told that they don’t fly to the Maldives, we would need to go to the Indian Air office. Are you following? The international division doesn’t fly to the Maldives, which is another country, the domestic division flies to that country, and even though it’s the same company we couldn’t make an international flight reservation at the international flight division because we needed the domestic division!?! India!!! Don’t worry if this doesn’t make sense because I’m still not sure how we did it. And just for icing, the domestic division only issues e tickets for flights – we were at the domestic office, but received paper tickets!
It was a 50 min flight from Trivundrum to Male (Mal Lay), the capital city of the Maldives. We were served a beverage before takeoff and a complete hot meal during the flight, plus tea or coffee after the mean before landing. The flight attendant was very nice, but when it came time to serve us we had a choice of vegetarian or chicken, and she looked at us, knowing we are westerners and said “chicken” and we both said “no” vegetarian. I think we confused her for the rest of the flight!
Once at the airport we talked to two different travel agents about hotels here in the Maldives and finally picked one called the Blue Lagoon. You can visit the web site at www.kuramathi.com There are three hotels on this island, and the island is smaller in space that the space the Bellagio, Ceasars and Mirage sit on. The highest point of the island is 6 feet! Pray for no tsunamis! We took a boat ride from the international airport to the island. It was about 60 kilometers away, and took about an hour and 15 min to reach. Everything here is on an island. The airport is an island by itself, etc Most of the islands only have one hotel on it, but because ours is so big they have three. They are however owned by the same company so its really like one big resort. We plan to take an air taxi back to the airport so it will only take 15 min. If your idea of paradise is a tropical island with perfectly blue water, palm trees, cocktails, and white sand then this without any doubt what so ever, paradise!
When we arrived at the island, there were about 16 of us on the boat, they were waiting for us with fresh fruit juices. They then shuttled us to our hotel, which was on the other side of the island. Being here is very similar to a cruise ship as there are coffee shops at each hotel, then there are four very fancy restaurants on the island as well. You have your choice to have bed and breakfast, room and half board, or room and full board. We choose the bed and breakfast because the majority of the meals are served buffet style and they tack on $70 per person per day for full board. This does not include drinking water as you must buy bottled. The water for the showers, etc is desalinated seawater and not suitable for drinking. Plus you eat when they tell you with full board, this way we eat in the coffee shops when we want to.
There are mostly Germans here at this resort. We are not sure why, but we think it’s a large group that all came together. The Maldives does have their own currency, but all the resorts only take US currency, so for the Europeans right now this is great for them. Just like on a ship, they don’t take actual cash except for tips, anything and everything you do is charged to your room.
The majority of our time has been spent diving which will be the next blog, but one of the neatest things for me here on the island is the nighttime bug control. It would be correct to say they have bats on the island. However, bats are small flying rodents, something similar to a mouse or maybe a small rat. (Just in case you didn’t know, they actually are mammals and are related to rodents.) What we have flying around here at sunset and during the night fit more closely to something along the lines of a tyradactle. I have been able to get some good pictures both of them hanging in the trees and of them in mid air!
The next blog will tell you about diving! That entire world that exists just below the surface. Pictures, TV, and aquariums don’t even come close to the experience you have when you are down there in the middle of a school of fish – not 40 or 50 fish, but thousands! I was very excited because they offer underwater cameras here, but the limit was 10 meters and most of my dives were between 20-30m meters (60-100 feet). So sorry to say I have not pictures of the sharks, manta rays, eels, etc that I seen while I was underwater.
So, trying to get airline tickets to the Maldives. The only airline to fly from Trivundrum to the Maldives is Indian Air. This is actually a government run company, and for years there were two different companies. There was Indian Air which was the domestic company and then Air India which was the international company. About a year ago the government decided to merge the two so there would only be one company to make it easier to travel. The new company is called Indian Air – creative, don’t you think? So we have the taxi driver take us to the Air Indian office (which had a sign next to the building advertising the new Indian Air company, but the signs on the door still said Air Indian. Of course we got there at lunch so the office was closed (remember where we are.) We wanted to visit a local Ashram so we went there while the office was at lunch. Once we returned to the Air Indian office, we were told that they don’t fly to the Maldives, we would need to go to the Indian Air office. Are you following? The international division doesn’t fly to the Maldives, which is another country, the domestic division flies to that country, and even though it’s the same company we couldn’t make an international flight reservation at the international flight division because we needed the domestic division!?! India!!! Don’t worry if this doesn’t make sense because I’m still not sure how we did it. And just for icing, the domestic division only issues e tickets for flights – we were at the domestic office, but received paper tickets!
It was a 50 min flight from Trivundrum to Male (Mal Lay), the capital city of the Maldives. We were served a beverage before takeoff and a complete hot meal during the flight, plus tea or coffee after the mean before landing. The flight attendant was very nice, but when it came time to serve us we had a choice of vegetarian or chicken, and she looked at us, knowing we are westerners and said “chicken” and we both said “no” vegetarian. I think we confused her for the rest of the flight!
Once at the airport we talked to two different travel agents about hotels here in the Maldives and finally picked one called the Blue Lagoon. You can visit the web site at www.kuramathi.com There are three hotels on this island, and the island is smaller in space that the space the Bellagio, Ceasars and Mirage sit on. The highest point of the island is 6 feet! Pray for no tsunamis! We took a boat ride from the international airport to the island. It was about 60 kilometers away, and took about an hour and 15 min to reach. Everything here is on an island. The airport is an island by itself, etc Most of the islands only have one hotel on it, but because ours is so big they have three. They are however owned by the same company so its really like one big resort. We plan to take an air taxi back to the airport so it will only take 15 min. If your idea of paradise is a tropical island with perfectly blue water, palm trees, cocktails, and white sand then this without any doubt what so ever, paradise!
When we arrived at the island, there were about 16 of us on the boat, they were waiting for us with fresh fruit juices. They then shuttled us to our hotel, which was on the other side of the island. Being here is very similar to a cruise ship as there are coffee shops at each hotel, then there are four very fancy restaurants on the island as well. You have your choice to have bed and breakfast, room and half board, or room and full board. We choose the bed and breakfast because the majority of the meals are served buffet style and they tack on $70 per person per day for full board. This does not include drinking water as you must buy bottled. The water for the showers, etc is desalinated seawater and not suitable for drinking. Plus you eat when they tell you with full board, this way we eat in the coffee shops when we want to.
There are mostly Germans here at this resort. We are not sure why, but we think it’s a large group that all came together. The Maldives does have their own currency, but all the resorts only take US currency, so for the Europeans right now this is great for them. Just like on a ship, they don’t take actual cash except for tips, anything and everything you do is charged to your room.
The majority of our time has been spent diving which will be the next blog, but one of the neatest things for me here on the island is the nighttime bug control. It would be correct to say they have bats on the island. However, bats are small flying rodents, something similar to a mouse or maybe a small rat. (Just in case you didn’t know, they actually are mammals and are related to rodents.) What we have flying around here at sunset and during the night fit more closely to something along the lines of a tyradactle. I have been able to get some good pictures both of them hanging in the trees and of them in mid air!
The next blog will tell you about diving! That entire world that exists just below the surface. Pictures, TV, and aquariums don’t even come close to the experience you have when you are down there in the middle of a school of fish – not 40 or 50 fish, but thousands! I was very excited because they offer underwater cameras here, but the limit was 10 meters and most of my dives were between 20-30m meters (60-100 feet). So sorry to say I have not pictures of the sharks, manta rays, eels, etc that I seen while I was underwater.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Homework!
Hello all, Sorry for the delay in putting a new message up. India's internet went down for almost a week and we didn't have the chance to do anything. We are taking a vacation from our vacation and are spending 7 days here in the Maldives. The reason for the title is we have been here three days and I have had my face in a book almost the whole time reading and taking tests... However, tomorrow I take my final test and my final open water dive and I will be certified as a scuba diver!
We head back to India up to Mysore on Monday and continue with the yoga. Mysore is where Ashtanga Yoga was started. Our instructor there is named Ajay. (AH-jay). Not sure what the internet will be like once back in india, however, at the very least I will update this as often as I can, and will finish it up when I get back to the states.
I hope all is well with all of you, and look forward to seeing everyone when I get home.
We head back to India up to Mysore on Monday and continue with the yoga. Mysore is where Ashtanga Yoga was started. Our instructor there is named Ajay. (AH-jay). Not sure what the internet will be like once back in india, however, at the very least I will update this as often as I can, and will finish it up when I get back to the states.
I hope all is well with all of you, and look forward to seeing everyone when I get home.
The Practice
I'm now in my fourth week of the practice, and sad to say this is the last week for the practice with Lino. The type of practice that we have been doing does not come easy and even as an instructor I find myself doing the same things that students do all the time. That is think I can do it all and push myself sometimes harder than I should. In my classes I'm always saying "Its all about the journey, not the destination." So I keep telling myself to practice what I preach!
For the first several weeks one day I would feel really good, warm and loose so I could go very deep into the poses, then of course I would be sore from that practice so the next day I'm tight and hurt, so that practice wouldn't be as good. Week three I learned to take advantage of the journey, and not worry about the destination. Getting to that thought process has helped me move farther into the practice sometimes without thinking about it.
In Ahstanga Yoga practice, there are four parts to the practice. Surya Namaskara A & B (Sun Salutations) In the west we consider these the warm up for many of the yoga classes. We preform A five times, then B from 3 - 10 times depending on how you feel and how cold/warm it is. Because of the temperature 3 or 4 is usually enough. Next come the standing asanas (poses). There are several of these asanas that are coming along great. The hardest one for me is reversed side angle. (Utthita Parsvakonasana B)
After the standing asanas, you move into the seated asanas - I am practicing the primary series. There are actually 6 different series in Ashtanga yoga. Getting through the second series takes years and actually getting to 6 is a lifetime. The seated asanas is what changes as you progress through Ashtanga Yoga. It wasn't until the third week that I was able to go all the way through the seated asanas. The way Ashtanga is taught is you go to the point where you can no longer do the asanas, then you move onto the finishing asanas. I was so happy the day I went through the entire series by myself I felt like I was walking on water. My personal greatest accomplishment in the asanas is Marichyasana C, (seated, bound spinal twist). I just never thought that pose would come as fast as it did. Now, I still need help getting into it, but once there I am comfortable. I'll continue to work on that one so I can get into it by my self, hopefully before I return home.
The finishing sequence is designed to restore you. Shoulder stand, head stand, and several other inverted asanas. The finishing sequence is just as hard as the seated because you do about 60% of the asanas upside down! The majority of these asanas are not taught often in western classes because of risk of injury if not done correctly. However, they are very beneficial once you learn how to do them.
The last pose of the seated sequence is Urdva Dhanurasana (wheel pose, or full backbend) In the perfect series you go into the back bend from a standing position and return to a standing position. As you are learning this pose you go in and out of it from laying on your back on the floor. After taking my third back bend, as you do the asana three times, 5 breaths each, Lino came over and told me I was ready to try the standing portion, assisted by him. So I was able to do Urdva Dhanursana with the help of Lino, but from standing and back to standing!
Friday's are a led class by Lino, very western in thought as we all go through the asanas as Lino leads us. During the whole practice we have been doing half vinyasas between the poses. Basically going through up-dog down-dog asanas. This Friday is a full vinyasa class, which means between every pose we do a full vinyasa or Surya Namaskara. The practice will take about 2 1/2 hours to go through and I think we will all head back to bed after that!
I have learned much from this practice that I can't wait to bring back to the states not only for myself, but for my classes! It seems like its been a very long time since I was the student, and being assisted into asanas, and not having to think about what everyone is doing in each pose has been very beneficial to me. I am however, looking forward to teaching once again!
For the first several weeks one day I would feel really good, warm and loose so I could go very deep into the poses, then of course I would be sore from that practice so the next day I'm tight and hurt, so that practice wouldn't be as good. Week three I learned to take advantage of the journey, and not worry about the destination. Getting to that thought process has helped me move farther into the practice sometimes without thinking about it.
In Ahstanga Yoga practice, there are four parts to the practice. Surya Namaskara A & B (Sun Salutations) In the west we consider these the warm up for many of the yoga classes. We preform A five times, then B from 3 - 10 times depending on how you feel and how cold/warm it is. Because of the temperature 3 or 4 is usually enough. Next come the standing asanas (poses). There are several of these asanas that are coming along great. The hardest one for me is reversed side angle. (Utthita Parsvakonasana B)
After the standing asanas, you move into the seated asanas - I am practicing the primary series. There are actually 6 different series in Ashtanga yoga. Getting through the second series takes years and actually getting to 6 is a lifetime. The seated asanas is what changes as you progress through Ashtanga Yoga. It wasn't until the third week that I was able to go all the way through the seated asanas. The way Ashtanga is taught is you go to the point where you can no longer do the asanas, then you move onto the finishing asanas. I was so happy the day I went through the entire series by myself I felt like I was walking on water. My personal greatest accomplishment in the asanas is Marichyasana C, (seated, bound spinal twist). I just never thought that pose would come as fast as it did. Now, I still need help getting into it, but once there I am comfortable. I'll continue to work on that one so I can get into it by my self, hopefully before I return home.
The finishing sequence is designed to restore you. Shoulder stand, head stand, and several other inverted asanas. The finishing sequence is just as hard as the seated because you do about 60% of the asanas upside down! The majority of these asanas are not taught often in western classes because of risk of injury if not done correctly. However, they are very beneficial once you learn how to do them.
The last pose of the seated sequence is Urdva Dhanurasana (wheel pose, or full backbend) In the perfect series you go into the back bend from a standing position and return to a standing position. As you are learning this pose you go in and out of it from laying on your back on the floor. After taking my third back bend, as you do the asana three times, 5 breaths each, Lino came over and told me I was ready to try the standing portion, assisted by him. So I was able to do Urdva Dhanursana with the help of Lino, but from standing and back to standing!
Friday's are a led class by Lino, very western in thought as we all go through the asanas as Lino leads us. During the whole practice we have been doing half vinyasas between the poses. Basically going through up-dog down-dog asanas. This Friday is a full vinyasa class, which means between every pose we do a full vinyasa or Surya Namaskara. The practice will take about 2 1/2 hours to go through and I think we will all head back to bed after that!
I have learned much from this practice that I can't wait to bring back to the states not only for myself, but for my classes! It seems like its been a very long time since I was the student, and being assisted into asanas, and not having to think about what everyone is doing in each pose has been very beneficial to me. I am however, looking forward to teaching once again!
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