The Guru was back

Today was a mixed bag. Have almost recovered from the flu, except for the lingering cough and eye infection.

That said I dropped my MIL off at Bikram Yoga San Jose, earlier this morning. That was probably the hardest thing I have done. Get to the door and drive back!

The family had told me in simple terms "you can go to yoga class today but if you come back all exhausted and looking dead and sleep through the rest of the day like yesterday, then don't come back!" .  They know that there are times when I push myself to the limits, especially when it comes to trying things while still not being a 100%. Gave them the assurance that when I come home, they will see the same guy who left the house.

I was reminded of the off airport parking worker, who walks around my car and notes down the dings and blemishes before driving it into the parking lot. Kind of did that check in front of wife and kids and said "see this dude.. he is going to come back the same in 4 1/2 hours".

With that deal made, and with a lot of resolve, went to Jim Kallet's 4 hour special class. It is no secret that I respect this teacher immensely for his breadth and depth of knowledge and his abiilty to communicate what he has learned from personal experience to people in a way they can understand it. 

It was mostly teachers in the audience and he was like an irate VP of Technology, beating up guys in the technology transfer department on "following the specifications to the letter" (As a person who transfers technology, was able to relate to that personally!)

In between his "don't change the spec" topics, Jim was soft and mellow and addressed folks like me with very specific do's and don'ts.

One doesn't need to know how a CD player works on the inside to enjoy music, but knowing how to put the CD into the player the right way is a requirement!

Yoga is kind of like that. As long as you do the basic stuff right without hurting yourself, the results come. You don't need to actually know which body parts are being expanded or compressed in which pose for it to have the right result.

The class was like drinking from a fire hose. My brain could not grasp everything he showed or said in the last hour (notes or otherwise) but my usual goal of  "get at least 5 takeaways that you can remember from this class and put it in practice", was met! 

Over the next few days to months, will have to put those changes into the practice. He even gave us exercises to do while sitting on the couch and watching TV. That was interesting. Have already started doing "couch-a-yoga" as of this evening. In fact doing couchayoga while typing this post! 

There was a regular 90 minute class Jim taught, after the 4 hour class. One of the teachers told me "you can do it. stay for the class". Could have probably done it, but given what I would have had to face, if things didn't go as planned, decided to drive back home. 

One thing Jim said that resonated with me this time? 

"This Yoga helps you with your day job and with your family. That is what this is about. Does it matter if you can do everything the way everyone else can do it? No. The only thing that matters is that you try the right way."

When driving home the second time today from the BYSJ, had a smile on my face. Had given it everything I got, made the right calls w.r.t. family and myself and learned a lot. 

ps. I lost horribly on a game of Ticket to Ride with the MIL and kids after coming home, but I lost with a big smile on my face! That is Yoga in the works.. 

Guru

The word Guru means "remover of darkness", someone who lights you up with knowledge. The darkness in this case does not mean literal darkness but the lack of knowledge!

If you go to Wiki, you see that Westerners manage to take a very important word and associate a negative connotation to it. That is really sad!

In days when word of mouth was the only way knowledge was transmitted from teacher to student for generations, a guru was everything to a student. We are taught at an early age in India "Maata, Pitha, Guru, Deivam" or  "Mother, Father, Guru, God" to put things in perspective for kids. We are also taught

Guru Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwaraha

Guru Shakshat para Bramha Thasmaye Shri Gurave Namaha

which means "I salute my guru who is the embodiment of the Trinity of Creater, preserver and destroyer (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva)"

Most kids in India that I grew up with would treat our teachers with deference. Teachers word was gods word. That helped a lot till the Ph.D started, at which point my thesis advisor promptly said "I am not always right. You seem to agree with everything I say. Your job is to question me and come up with answers on your own!" 

That was enlightening in its own way. Be your own guru?! Was that the message?

Once that phase was over and a new balance was achieved in taking your teachers word as gods word with an amendment  that said "the guru is always right except when the guru says otherwise"!

My teachers appreciate me obeying them implicitly when they give instructions that are to be followed as part of the learning process. Be it my Guitar teacher or a teacher in any training class or Yoga class!

Bikram yoga works using a dialogue. It is called a dialogue because the teacher talks and your body does what the teacher asks you to do with your body. It is a dialogue between the teachers voice and your body. So if there is one thing that is still pretty much following an oral tradition of teaching, it is Yoga. 

This weekend some of us got an amazing treat. A chance to spend the entire day with Jim Kallett, a senior Bikram Yoga practitioner and teacher who actually does the Teacher training. 

This is like meeting your thesis advisors advisors advisor! It was an amazing experience as he shared his experiences of learning Yoga from Bikram, his wisdom and "trusting the process". 

He took apart every posture in the series with clinical precision and helped those in the room  one by one! After doing Yoga for almost two years, I finally learned what the dialogue "relax your shoulders" meant. 

One thing with the oral tradition is that the teacher says something, your ear hears it, your brain processes it based on the sum total of its vocabulary and experience and different people will still "interpret" the dialog. 

Jim pushed, pulled and stood on people (yes, at one point he stood on my back to prove that my body could do a pose with external help and it was up to my mind to get there on my own.. wish I had a picture of that) to make folks realize one very important thing..

Your body is capable of doing things that you cannot realize are possible. Everything is in your mind!

Now there are pages of notes from the all day yoga session, little reminders that go a long way in improving the practice. Based on what Jim said, in another 4-5 years, things should be a lot better! 

The whole day was truly enlightening, a series of light bulb moments. For many of the questions his answer was " I am not here to give you permission to take the easy way out. If that is why you are asking the question, do not even bother! You do what it says in the dialogue, no more, no less and that is the only way!"

At the end of the day, after talking and demonstrating non stop, he got up and taught a class! Do not know how he has that kind of energy. He said after a few years of practice I will also have that energy and that is good to know.

Jim Kallett is a Guru in the true sense of the word. 

He did an awkward pose where he stood on the tips of his toes. I can stand on my toe and was proud of the accomplishment till I saw him stand on the tips of his toes.

Apparently that is what the dialogue says! Nothing more, nothing less.. 

When we were done for the day, I instinctively touched his feet to take his blessing. He smiled and said "Good luck to you and your family!". That made my day!

Now Jim has piqued my interest in meeting his thesis advisor, Bikram Choudhury! Who knows, that also happen one day..