Leaving Mysore, 12 things I learned in this trip

Ah, February! It is time to come back home to the freezing North East, and I am very grateful for the opportunity of this trip. Gratitude to the Gods!

On the right there is the picture I took this morning before practice, with Saraswatti.  Her friendliness always amazes me.

These are 12 of the many things I learned this time:

1. Breathing for dropping back must be much more intense than I ever imagined. I need to breathe as if I am grasping for life, very deeply. And then some more
2. I have filled with air certain parts of my body I did not know I had
3. I have practiced with the intensity equivalent to all the time I spent practicing before in my whole life
4. Do you have a question? Any question? the answer is: "Do Yoga", the right answer will come to you
5. "Do yoga" does not mean do poses or asanas, it means connect with God, in whichever way you understand God
6. The 8 limbs system, or "Ashtanga Yoga" is a great lineage, I am still working at understanding and learning it all, I appreciate it and I am grateful it came into my life
7. Mysore has changed, it now has internet in almost every home, easy plug-in cards for wireless services, garbage pickup systems, and an array of new food places (last time I was here was 2008)
8. Practicing at the shala is highly recommended, everything people say about the energy there is true. It is a fantastic opportunity to focus on the practice and go deep.
9. My husband has become more popular in the Ashtanga world than anyone I know, because of his post on how he was completely humiliated by yoga.  After Kino posted it on her Facebook page it became a sensation. 
10. Emirates is still my favorite airline 
11. Vipassana has returned as a daily practice thanks to OvO, Jen and Martina, and I am very grateful to them
12. The last practice was intense, a sense of death and renewal filled me, there is a post coming in about it, I think that is Shiva in action

I am grateful to Sharath and Saraswati and to all the assistants in the shala, and to all the people I met.  And grateful to the Mysore napper for helping me find a home, and a great home.

I am also grateful for the opportunity to meet bloggers in real life, Skippetty, Jill, Ovo, Kino, David Garrigues, Martina, David, Napper, Jen, Laruga,  wonderful yogis who blog, I am sure there are more that I may be forgetting, guess I am jet lagged already!

I am also grateful to Pattabhi Jois and Krishnamacharya.

See you soon Mysore!

Oh, and by the way, if you have a friend coming, I now have Mysorepedia.com which is easy to remember and directs to the post with everything there is to do in Mysore, it is quite helpful and I will keep adding, so feel free to share with your friends.

Also, if you post something about Mysore with info, let me know and I will link to you.

Also:

3 Surprises in This Trip To India
You Can't Always Get What You Want