Why am I here?

The Ramanani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune India, is in celebration mode. It’s Prashant Iyengar’s birthday which this year falls on Guru Purnima, and the Institute is humming.

We hear stories of the early days when RIMYI was first opened in 1975, when there were a handful of foreigners and even fewer locals. We hear about the evolution of ‘Iyengar’s son’, Prashant, the gifted violinist who skipped school and questioned convention. There is love in the room, it’s palpable and when he finally gets up to speak, I feel the room lean forward.

It’s been ten years since I studied at RIMYI, this is my fourth visit. It’s weirdly very familiar, a kind-of already a-given within me. I’m blessed to be here on this auspicious day and owe all respects to the teachers who have tread this well worn path. To Alan Goode in particular who showed me the delight of uttapam when our paths crossed here. Today will be my first class with Prashant since that time.

Prashant is renowned for his word play, his tongue tying linguistic twists and head spinning philosophical turns, as one long time student reflected “he will not tell you which way is East, he will say the sun comes up in that direction go that way”.

I feel the sun starting to surface, it’s 4.30am in Pune, my body clock is reorientating it’s 7 in WA.
Now, having written this, it’s time to breathe in quiet India time, then seek out uttapam to honour a brand new day.

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Miss you (not :)) Ann