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In some disciplines of yoga, it is customary to practice back bends without countering them with forward bends, until the back bending sequence has been completed. If a student tries to practice a forward bend during a deep back bending sequence they may be reprimanded. The teacher may compare this to the action of bending a paper clip back and forth, which can snap in half if it’s bent back and forth too many times.

In other disciplines teachers are adamant that you must practice ‘counter’ poses (forward bends) during your back bending sequence. Here a teacher may compare the spine to the snake portrayed in Sanskrit texts. We should be able to fold back and forth and twist like a cat.

So who is right? The answer is…it depends.

Yes, I agree our spine is made for movement, just look at how a baby moves – no movement is inaccessible. The back and forth action is play for a baby. However, as we age some of that ‘freedom’ in our spine may have been lost and has to be coaxed back. Many of us have imbalances in our spines, some congenital, others created by habits or lifestyle. Some of these imbalances are minor and others are more serious. Some examples include, scoliosis, kyphosis, hyper lordosis, vertebral compression (which may include herniated or bulging discs). For these individuals, the spine can act more like the proverbial paper clip than the serpent.

So for all but the most ‘serpent like’ students, when I teach backbends I save the forward bends until after the back bending sequence has been completed.

Savasana means ‘corpse pose’. In this asana the object is to imitate a corpse. Once life has departed, the body remains still and no movements are possible. By remaining motionless for some time and keeping the mind still while you are fully conscious, you learn to relax. This conscious relaxation invigorates and refreshes both the body and mind. It is much harder to keep the mind still than the body. Therefore this apparently easy posture is one of the most difficult to master.

Technique:
• Lie flat on your back, keep the hands away from the thighs with the palms facing up.
• Close the eyes. If possible place a cloth (or eyepillow) over the eyes. Keep the heels together and the toes apart.
• Begin by breathing deeply (through the nostrils). No jerky movements should disturb the spine or the body.
• Concentrate on deep and fine exhalations, in which the nostrils do not feel the warmth of the breath.
• The lower jaw should hang loose and not be clenched. The tongue should not be disturbed (Meaning it should not be pressing into the roof of the mouth). The pupils of the eyes should be kept completely passive.
• If the mind wanders, pause without any strain after each slow exhalation.
• Stay in the pose between 15-20 minutes. (Most yoga classes practice Savasana between 5 and 10 minutes. When practicing at home try to find time to practice for at least 10 minutes to gain all benefits).
When the nerves become passive, one feels energy flow from the back of the head towards the heels. One also feels as if the body is elongated.

Benefits:
• Chapter 1, Verse 32 of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika states ‘Lying upon one’s back on the ground at full length like a corpse removes fatigue caused by the other asanas and induces calmness of the mind’.
• Chapter 2, Verse 11 of the Gheranda Samhita states, ‘lying on the ground in Savasana destroys fatigue and quiets the agitation of the mind’
• The mind is the organ of the senses- the Prana or the “breath of life.” Steady, smooth breathing in Savasana is the best antidote to the stresses of modern civilization.

Additional Benefits:
• Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
• Relaxes the body
• Reduces headache and insomnia
• Helps to lower blood pressure

Okay, I’ll just pay the surcharge.
There is no surcharge maam you must take 9 kilos out of your suitcase and come back in line to reweigh it.
What?!
Yes, maam go over there.

Over where?
Over there in the back of the line.
What!?
Yes, over there.
I have to wait in this line again?!
No, No, just come back to me.

I proceed to take my overstuffed suitcase to the side and empty it onto the floor taking out books and other souvenirs that added weight to my suitcase. I stuff as much as I can into a small plastic bag, my backpack and my computer bag and return to the front of the line. A passenger yells at me not to cut, but I have a ‘very annoyed’ look on my face and he closes his mouth.

I put the suitcase on the scale again and she tells me to go back and take four more kilos out.
No, I say, I am doing it right here.
No maam you can’t.
I ignore her, open the suitcase and proceed to throw any article of clothing I think I won’t need ever again onto the floor.
Maam you can’t do this.
How many more kilos? I say.
Two.
I throw more clothes onto the floor.
Maam you can’t leave those clothes there.
I’m not, I am throwing them away.
What?
I have too many kilos and something has to go.
How many more?
You’re fine now.
Thank you. Did my waitlist for Business Class come through?
No maam.

I proceed to the immigration area…lovely…it’s a one hour and forty-five minute wait to get through the line. Thank goodness my flight has been delayed for three hours.

I get through immigration and proceed to the next line – Security. This line is short, only about 30 minutes. The woman security guard spent an additional ten minutes making sure I wasn’t an Irish terrorist.

It is now 1:30AM my flight doesn’t leave until 3:10AM, I’m tired, but the road is leading home.

When I arrived in Pune, she was still on her honeymoon and went directly to China with Guruji. So, I’ve had only two classes with her.

During the Saturday morning women’s class she made us work on the proper action in the shoulders and legs in Adho mukha svanasana. She wanted us to become aware of action of the knees. Both sides of the knee have to move back. In all of us, one side of the knee has a tendency to either move more forward or back. As students we have to look and create the appropriate action. She had us press the base of the palms into the floor, lift the fingers and take the inner groins back. I found this action very helpful. She had us take the heels up and stretch the outer edge of the feet straight back (lengthening the outer foot) and slowly take the heels down. This action engages the thighs and moves them back.

In Prasarita padottanasana she had us take the outer bone of the feet and press them down strongly so the inner arch would lift. Then she asked us to roll the inner groins back. We used our hands to help get this action of the groins. This encourages the torso to release downward.

In Sirsasana, I moved toward the wall near Guruji. Sirsasana has always been my nemesis and I knew being near Guruji would get me feedback. He said something to the effect of, “Fix her.”

I know in Sirsasana my floating ribs protrude forward and my pubis drops. However, I can’t seem to fix it without thrusting my thighs forward. Two assistants are at my side, one adjusting my ribs and the other adjusting my legs. I knew what Guruji wanted me to do but my body just couldn’t make the connection.

Today in the women’s class again Abhi worked on the actions in Adho mukha svanasana taking the inner groin back but also finding which side is dull. What side is more forward, which eye is more forward, what armpit is more forward….I don’t know. Does everyone else feel that inaction in their body? I struggle to see these connections and to feel them in my body. Sometimes I do fleetingly, sometimes I don’t.

Guruji was in a fiery mood. He said to the class, “You listen but then you do what you want! In China they listen and then they do! Here I am ashamed!”

I understand his frustration. He said our brains get in the way of our action and we need to put our brain in our back pockets.

He became fiery again when we were working on Prasarita padottanasana. Abhi used an analogy. She told us our tailbone is the tail of a plane and our head and shoulders are the front of the plane. When a plane takes off the tail stays down and the front lifts. He wants us to find this action in this pose. “Keep the tailbone down and move the lower flesh of the buttocks straight back, bend the arms and bring the shoulders forward to lengthen the latissimus dorsi muscles, lift the head and straighten the arms.”

He yelled, “Why don’t you do this! If you want to do what you want, why don’t you stay home? Why do you come to Pune? So you can say you have been to Pune?”
“Again!”

Abhi instructs us again and I start to feel the action.

“How is it now?” He asks Abhi.
“It is better.” She says.

Again I play with this action to find the connection he is looking for – it’s coming.

Now it is time for Sirsasana and I know Guruji is in a fiery mood and consider not going to my spot near him. But I came here to learn, so up I go.

I hear him yell for an assistant to adjust a student in the middle of the room. The student falters and he yells, “You have no sense of direction. Go to the wall.”

Now his focus is on me. “You with your ego go with that student. Raya, show them what to do.”

Raya takes us to a square column and places his hands on either side of the column with the base of his palms touching and the forearms in Sirsasana position.

He tells me to do this and to come up with one leg at a time. He instructs me to bring the inner ankles to either side of the column. Then instructs me to take the entire spine onto the pointed edge of the column.

WOW. How different is that! So this is what Sirsasana is supposed to feel like!

Guruji is not done with me yet. “Her shoulders are dropping.” Press the wrists down, Raya instructs, and lift the shoulders.

This action was a little more difficult for me to access but now I know what I need to do to improve! It was an enlightening instruction.

Some people are offended by Guruji’s harsh words but I just embrace them, work on the connections he is asking us to make, and use them to grow in my practice.

Plans have changed. We must leave now.
Okay
There are 30,000 pilgrims coming through Pune and the police will be closing all the roads. If we don’t leave now, we won’t be able to leave.
Okay
Oh, we are going to my house; my wife is making us lunch.
Cool.

We get to Vikram’s house. I am so glad Lauren is with me because she has the ‘gift of gab’ (as my mom used to say) and I on the otherhand have no idea what to say! His family is so wonderful and his wife is an incredible cook. One thing I noticed in India is everyone really wants to continue to feed you long after you have become full. I had several servings of everything!

Lauren stays behind to wait for her driver to take her to the airport and I continue on my way to Diveagar. The scenery is incredible and Vikram stops many times for me to take photos.

When I asked Vikram to plan this trip, I asked to visit a non-commercial, rural area of the Konkan coast. The only criterion I gave him was I needed my own bathroom. In retrospect, I should have asked for a shower, soap and towels. However, after the initial mini-jolt of surprise realizing I had just a bucket and a faucet for my bathing facilities, I rolled with it.

The owners made an amazing fresh-caught fish and prawn dinner. It has taken some getting used to eating properly in India. Not using my left hand has proved most problematic (being a south-paw) and using chapati as a scoop to pick up food takes some practice. In more rural areas you eat your rice with your fingers. How is it possible that everyone around me stays neat without using utensils and I look like most two year olds after a meal?

Unlike the other areas I visited, most people are not happy to see a foreigner in town. They want the extra income of tourists because their crops can only sustain them for 4 to 6 months during the year, but they don’t want this quiet village to become another Goa.

Vikram showed me one of the nearby beaches. I asked him if the water was calm and he said, “Yes, yes, very calm.” So when I got to the beach and saw six foot waves somehow I wasn’t surprised. Since I wasn’t sure of the bathing suit protocol in India, I took off by myself as far away from others as I could get and jumped in. I can’t say it was swimming exactly, more like jumping up in the air every 30 seconds to avoid being knocked down by the large waves. The water was incredibly warm and the mountains surrounding the beach were beautiful.

When I came back from my swim Vikram said. “I saw you go under. I thought you were gone.”
I laughed.

The next morning I got up very early and went off by myself to explore the town and return to the beach. It was so peaceful. No car noises or horns, the air was fresh from the recent rains, everything was green.

I walked on the beach for a while then some men whistled to get my attention. When I turned around, they waved me over and made a hand signal for a camera. I didn’t really know what they wanted but when I got over to them they were pointing to something on the ground. It was a 3 foot (maybe larger) venomous sea snake. It had recently eaten a meal and was digesting it on edge of the shore.

I think the men expected me to scream, because they seemed very surprised when I started to take photos and were horrified when I got within a couple of feet of it. They were trying to tell me it was poisonous (this I already knew so I was being cautious). I would have loved to get a photo of me holding it, (they have very small fangs) but my brain kept me from doing anything too stupid and I was content to leave it on the ground to digest its food.

Later that morning Vikram took me to another beach and we found an unfortunate sea turtle. A predator, possibly a shark, took both its front flippers. Although the wounds had healed, the turtle had been unable to swim fast enough to catch fish and was slowly starving to death. It was so thin it was heartbreaking but there was nothing I could do to help it.

We drove further down the beach and Vikram hung out while I enjoyed the waves some more and watched the bald eagles fly overhead.

It was my last adventure in India and my mind is turning toward my return trip home. It’s been an amazing ride in this beautiful country and I hope to return in the not too distant future.