My first practice

So finally, today I got to practice at the RIMYI for the first time in my life. Since I first had to register in the office, I missed the morning class and the first thing I got to do was a self-practice in the yoga hall. Each morning, from 9 to noon, you can go into the hall and do whatever you want to do, with all the props available but no guidance at all. 

And I was thinking, what a huge responsibility this is! You are together with others, including the not so advanced practitioners as well as the "superstars" of Iyengar yoga. 

What are you going to make of your time? Are you going to start doing something and then peep over to the others and turn off your trail and do something like they are doing? Or do you have a previously prepared programme that you are going to follow, no matter what? Not considering your present state of mind and body? You are just preparing for an exam or experimenting with a pre-set sequence or something that has worked for you before? 

Although I'm used to practicing on my own, being at home and doing something that comes spontaneously or that I have worked out for myself is totally different. There you get up, check your emails or washing machine, whatever takes your mind off the path of yoga. But here, in this "temple", it is different. You have a set time for you, you need to make the most of it.

Outside, it is 35 degrees, you hear the noises of the street (all the windows are open and the constant tooting of cars and three-wheelers create an asymmetric and yet music like noise) but inside, in spite of the noises created by the practitioners, you feel that there is a total silence, people looking inside and observing themselves from within, everybody doing something different and yet searching for something similar. It is a powerful and worthy experience.

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