With the exception of the lug of a guy I met from Alabama in the German Bakery, and the cows on the road that didn’t want to move, the trip to Pune was without incident.
We left six hours early to allow for any unforeseen delays and made it through the twisty mountains and the Hill Stations in the estimated three and a half hours. There was a light rain and the air was pleasant.
When we arrived, I scouted out the Iyengar Yoga Institute and I took pictures of the yoga sculpture in the garden. On the property, I met the retarded cousin or brother or friend who hung around greeting guests and making them feel at home. He was warmer and more friendly than the yoga teachers I ran into inside from my classes in Mumbai. They were cliquish and aloof. They greeted me by name but neither spoke or acknowledged me until I went over to say “hello”.
I keep getting surprised to find “ego” in yoga. I imagine that it is a spiritual and egoless practice and that once you are a teacher, you are beyond the trappings of it. Such is not the case. Why on earth would it be? We are born and live by the ego, to lose ego would be to lose self. Alright, keep the ego but say hello to a lost soul in a new city. Not a chance.
