Sounds of Sigh-lence

Lots of new folks at Volleyball Guy's this morning (at least new to me)--a fellow recently returned from India, a fellow returned from a multi-year lay-off, and the two Bikram gals.

Bikram Teacher was next to me. This morning she taught me why Mysore practice is silent. Throughout her entire practice, she made comments about her performance (which she was not particularly pleased with), about the poses (many of which, she feels, are awkward or difficult), and about the practice in general. Nothing awful, just a leaking out of her internal monolog. Volleyball Guy made a couple of jokes about how we don't say, "this hurts," but, rather, "this is interesting," which brought a few chuckles.

Bikram Teacher also sighed and moaned a lot as she moved through her practice. Pretty much every move. Which made me realize we don't usually hear too much of that. Usually it's a grunt here or there, or a bit of a moan if someone is sore or coming off an injury--but it's generally confined to a pose or two--not a running sequence of noises or comments about how hard things are.

Yes, I felt irritated. But also interested from the perspective that the practice really does work (eventually, I hope, in this case) to silence the mind. All of the thoughts about difficulty, pain, pleasure, etc., are eventually subsumed by the breath, bandhas and driste. You realize that all of that good/bad, pain/pleasure business is draining energy from the practice itself. And by rights, my irritation with all of Bikram Teacher's noise ought to be something I can work through and past. While her practice will likely bring her to new places, mine ought to get me past all this, too.

All that said, it was a great practice. Faster than when I work at home--and the speed gives some insight into the full scope of the movements, of the whole shape of the practice. Managed to keep some of the improved breath- and bandha-awareness that I've worked on in the past couple of home practices--which is heartening. Seems like it's a process of learning things at home/bringing them to the shala, learning things at the shala/bringing them home kind of deal. I'm good with that.