I contemplated on and started my yoga lessons for the
obvious reasons…. I was looking for calm and peace and embedded within
that very sky high dream was the very obvious – a better posture and maybe a leaner , healthier me.
It has been quite a
while now and I not only love what I am doing but I crave for that one
wonderful hour in the morning taking me deeper into my journey into myself.
Yoga feeds my soul like nothing and nobody else – It definitely is the science
of the soul. At this juncture in my life, Yoga has been a blessing for me. The
way it is portrayed and practiced – It does have a serious approach to it but
here I write it on a lighter vein about the people – yogis ( or rather yogi
wannabes!) I have encountered. I have loved and thoroughly enjoyed my yoga
sessions everyday as much as I have enjoyed the crazy people whom I meet at the yoga studio.
Without much ado let me get straight into the matter.
The Weatherman :
One look at him and you know what time of the year we are sitting at. Come
Winter and you have this guy walk in
with what looks like the larger version of the skull cap. Suprisingly and
funnily it sits on his head from the opening prayer to the closing namaskar. It
sticks on all the time- during the bridge pose , the forward bends and all.
Winter is gone and yes as you guessed it, the cap disappears and funnily his
socks disappears too. He is there, ten
toes ( not a nice sight) and all welcoming the Spring with his floral printed
tees. Shorts and whites in the Summer, rain slippers during the rains and when
it is very rainy he disappears! He is as serious in the fall, all dull and
brown and all set for the skull cap to make its vengeful return as the year end nears. All he needs is
a wind vane on his head to complete the picture!
The Snotter :This
guy who is perpetually down with a cold and a perennially runny nose. How I
dislike that noise when he draws his mucus inwards! With every suryanamaskar
his nose goes on a frenzy as gravity wrecks havoc. Even Rahul Sharma on his
soothing Santoor is defeated and
drowned. Does he even realises that he is snorting? How can we blatantly help
him out of this nosey business.
The Show-off : Nike,
Adidas, Urban Yoga- you name it and she advertises all . She glides in at six in the morning as chirpy and
talkative. She has stories to narrate. She is sitting on the fringes of being a Page 3 socialite. Yoga for her is
upselling herself – she shouting out to the world that she is a Yogi . Yoga -every
socialite vouches for it, how can she
miss it. She dreams of starting her yoga school in the sunny beaches of California someday.
The
Ms.Know It All : Why on earth is she here? She knows better than my soft
spoken, calm and collected yoga guru. A step ahead always, contradicting and
giving her unwanted inputs. Can you shutup and do your ‘yoga’. If you knew it all you would not be here,
would you? But ignorance is bliss-
people are laughing at you, you silly yogi, look around and do what you are
here to do! No , but she continues with what she knows best- brag!
The Stiff Corporate : There are quite a few
that come under this category. Invariably they all have a chronic back problem, frozen shoulders
or a combination of both. If that was not enough they are over -weight and stiff
due to all those mad hours of sitting and gazing at the computer or living
artificial lives. With every movement you can hear the bones crackle and buckle.All
in all they are well behaved and follow
instructions well ! Forward bend and touching the toes is the biggest challenge
. Mission not accomplished! Some conquer , some give up. This particular guy
says, “ At the end of the day I need to feel good and be healthy!”
The Patient :
Someone braving depression and anxiety- this yogi is very focused and serious
about his yoga classes. He comes to class with a dead pan look -obviously
battling sleepless nights , on anti depressants and what not. He sits there with a noisy mind and manages
to cut it all out. He is a brave guy and fighting his mind devils head on and
he is in the right place.
The Foreigner :In
India, almost every yoga class has a white or a yellow yogi and mine is no different. A Far East
Asian girl is trying hard to be a yogi.
She is very flexible and I guess she must have been a contortionist or a gymnast in her far away land. I hear a
chain of yeses and see head nodding to
the instructions and to new asanas and mudras.
Hello young lady, Welcome to the land of
the Yogasutra.
The Absentee : I
find her more active on our Whtsapp page than on the mat! Excuses, travel, sick kids, vet trips, road
trips, Delhi belly – you name it and there she has it on her list to stay away from
the class. Mind you, but she is a yogi! I didn’t see her in class today. She
was travelling, God knows where.
The Confused guy : He
is confusion in itself. He is a
etiquette challenged, unkempt and untidy, always late and very loud. He barges
into the class and stares at people. One day while doing his ‘kapalbhati’ he
triggered off holy moly hiccups so bad, that he had to leave the class. He
froze in one asana – only to explain later that he was in deep thought! Hello
are we supposed to be in ‘deep thought’? On another occasion he got into an ego
hassle with another guy , fighting in
class . More than the yoga classes he needs grooming and life skills lessons.
And then there is me- an observer. I look around and I
see faces all so different yet so similar. I wonder if my fellow yogis laugh at my oddities. Do I
have any? We are all looking for that
moment of Peace and Happiness. An hour
of belonging to yourself before you go out and give yourself to the world – in
the endless quest of Happiness and
Success in this crazy world.
Bring out the mat and head to your nearest yoga studio ! Its
fun , laughter, entertainment and more.
Claudia Joshi
20, November 2014
