28.4.2008

Stillpoint

I haven't been able to hide my excitement of arriving at John's place; it sure was a highlight of my trip. As I travelled to Upper Mountere from Nelson which was about 40minutes, I had mixed feelings, as well as excitement there was the anticipated nervousness of the next 2 months, which will be very full on with studying.

As we arrived, that is me and Anne, a Danish girl studying in Wellington and here to relax for a week; John's dog Buzz welcomed us, followed by the man himself. He looked much slimmer than usual, but a warm smile, playful and just as excited. He showed me and Anne around he was very proud of what he had created, it was like a father showing his baby to people for the first time. And he had every right to be proud, as it had been hard work, and just beautifully designed. The nicest surprise was the hot tub that is on 24/7 with jets that massages sore muscles…It looked very inviting but as it was raining it had to be tried out on another day.

My room mate is Malin is a Swedish girl who had been living in Singapore for the past 3 years with her Aussie boyfriend. They are just about to move back to Sweden and she is here to do john's level 1 teacher training too. So we will be together for the next 5 weeks. She is very well spoken, very soft, caring and sweet but often repeats "I'm sure there will be a lot of tension next month as we study and live together". To me that's setting a negative tone as I don't predict such difficulties because we are in a huge farmland to get enough space as needed; and I have travelled long to know how to get on with people and give them space but we'll see if the attitude changes along the way.

As it was raining last night it was soothing to sleep with the sound of the rain falling on the roof of our room. It is painfully quiet here and by that what I mean is that there is a ringing sound you hear in your ears because of the quietness. But this morning that seem to have subsided and ears are getting used to the nature, and the odd car that may go past on the road far away…

So this morning I woke up around 7.30am. with the sun shining outside. It's been a glorious day, 20 degrees with fluffy clouds in the sky that the sun can hide behind time to time. I started my daily meditation again as the shala is literally 10second walk to our room.

There are 2 helpers around at the moment doing the gardens, Nicky from Birmingham and Laurence whom I haven't met yet. So John and Lucy practise at 6am with them and a local astangi Michael from Chile who is waiting for his knee operation before heading to India. Anne, Malin, the married couple (who don't really mix much with us) and I practised at 9am.

I realised once again how much room for improvement there is in primary series as John and Lucy were on us in every pose, breaking our bad habits and putting it all together again. It was good to arrive a week early to also see how John works in a mixed ability class, with injuries and anything else that can be thrown their way. He must have noticed that my ear was on him when the husband of the couple who is a complete beginner asked John "what is vinyasa" and I had a very broad smile on my face which John caught and said "Oz, learning is next week. Focus on your practice". But soon to teach me a lesson got me to count my vinyasa and do full vinyasa. By the time I got to navasana I was drenched in sweat and ready to collapse so he allowed me to finish. And that took 2 hours! Incredible…

Afterwards we had a big brekkie, chatted with the girls and went for a walk. So great to be around animals, sheep (obviously), cows, birds…the nature does bring something out on everyone. I took many photos as we walked around.

I cant say I have fully settled yet as I'm still discovering the area but looking forward to the next 2 months very much. I just want to soak up as much John as possible.

Oh by the way, just saw Mark Whitwell with John at their home too. Great yoga teacher also!

Off to cooking curry with the girls nowJ