Ashtanga Rishikesh

Here in Rishikesh I am practicing yoga with Louise Ellis, a certified Ashtanga teacher from the U.S. I've been putting off this post until I could get a few pictures of the Shala so today during practice I got up and snapped a few when the sun started streaming in through the windows.

Louise is a fabulous teacher. She has been teaching for 35 years and she is beautiful, wise, perceptive, strong, and calming. She is very knowledgeable, gives great adjustments, and has a cheerful energy.

The shala is small; just a two room apartment. With 20 or so yogis practicing each morning the room fits us like a glove. I have a similar feeling here as I do when I'm headed to practice at the Bandha Room in Olympia: coming from the cold dark morning into a glowing gem of a room...warm, calm, sacred. And when I leave the morning outside has become bright and sunny and fresh.

I am glad to be back to my normal schedule of early rising. It feels good after having such a late start time in Mysore (10am!) and then not having much of a schedule in Goa. I wake up around 5:15am and arrive at the Shala at 6:00 to do a few warm up stretches, beginning practice just before 6:30 and finishing around 8:30. I have Mysore-style practice Sunday-Thursday, led practice on Friday, and Saturday off.

Louise offers a yin yoga class in the late afternoon on Monday and Wednesday that I always go to. Yin yoga is a great compliment to Ashtanga. In yin yoga, passive postures are held for long periods while keeping the muscles relaxed and receptive, allowing the ligaments and deep tissues to receive the stretches. Though uncomfortable I am benefiting from the hip opening and meditative atmosphere.

I love practicing here.

yin yoga

mysore morning

there's Louise standing in the top left

the youngest yogi here is 10 years old!

me + Louise