DAY 3 - Beginning Practice

I'm up long before my alarm this morning, nervous and excited for my first practice at the shala. The streets are dark and very quiet on the short walk and when I come around the corner to the entrance I see about a hundred yogis sitting on the steps and ground. They are exceptionally busy here right now and I've heard that people are practicing in the lobby and the locker rooms, and every day more students arrive! I run into Emma from North Carolina, who I met at the Richard Freeman workshop in Detroit last October. It's so nice to see a familiar face and today is her first practice, too. When the doors open it's a mad rush to get in and I end up finding a spot in the lobby to the side of the main room with several other students.

We begin Surya Namaskara A and it is really hot already! I spend the first few minutes totally distracted and taking in my surroundings, but soon that all fades away as I fall into the familiar rhythm of breath and movement. As we move into Utkatasana toward the end of the standing sequence, I'm shocked out of my zone when Sharath comes over and tells me to come into the main room. He moves some people over and makes a place for me near him. I have no idea why and spend the next few moments worrying about what is going on before I catch myself and realize, who cares! This is awesome! And then I focus back in on my practice. It's insanely hot and super-intense but I make it through the whole series and get one correction from Sharath in Upavishta Konasana B: "Take your feet, not your toes." When we finally collapse into Savasana I'm exhausted, trembling and ecstatic after my first practice here in Mysore, and so happy that I'm here.