YOGA SCHOOL

  Palolem, Goa, India
Monday, March 8, 2010

I’ve been joined in Palolem by Turon, a Norwegian girl I met at the ashram. It’s great to have her company, and together we are determined to keep up our yoga practice. When I first arrived here I tried a couple of Hatha Yoga classes, similar to the classes in the ashram, but I was not very satisfied with the teaching. Plus doing yoga on the beach is not as great as it might sound. Inevitably you end  up not just hot and sticky, but covered in sand too. Not very comfortable.

So a few days ago we found Kranti, who teaches a fast-paced Ashtanga Vinyasa (advanced
yoga) class every morning on a rooftop near the beach, shaded by palm trees. It’s
very picturesque, but the metal bars sticking out the concrete and all the trip  hazards would not exactly pass a health and safety inspection back home!  We have to be careful where we position ourselves in case of a fall.

The  classes are a tough 90 minute work-out, and we joke that we are at Boot Camp and have the aching muscles to prove it. But the pocket-sized Kranti is a good teacher (with great hair), who adjusts us into the correct poses. He shouts at me often to “shut my mouth”, meaning I need to remember breathe through my nose, and his favourite way to scold Torun is to tap her “bootocks” and tell her “don’t cheat".  

And he does not mind too much when we occasionally collapse in fits of giggles, or stop to take pictures of each other. 

Kranti  promises me that after five classes I will be able to touch my toes, which I am doubtful about, but today (the third class) I did a headstand for the first time (with his help)!!

It’s a great start to the day, and I do feel a slight improvement already in my strength if not my flexibility. And the best part is when we all sit around and chat at the end, with a glass of fresh papaya and banana juice, followed by  breakfast on the beach and a swim in the sea.