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<p>Jenny and I are back in Pune for January 2018 but I&#8217;ve changed blogging platform to <a href="http://www.iyengaryogaonline.org/blog" rel="nofollow">http://www.iyengaryogaonline.org/blog</a></p>

<p>I think last night can safely join my top twenty worst night&#8217;s sleep EVER poll. Somehow ended up with no AC though I&#8217;d booked it, so it was stinking hot and by the time I worked out I could remove the duvet and just sleep under the cover, my neighbours decided it was time to [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Made the most of our last stress-free, travel-free day with a good practice in our apartment. We are so well set up here with everything we need; plenty of space, chair, bolsters, ropes, balcony that doubles as a trestle for supported standing poses etc. We leave with regret, our lifestyle here is extremely comfortable and [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Once again the women&#8217;s class was taken by Raya. The numbers in the great practice hall are beginning to dwindle as a steady trickle of students depart for home. Today the class was pranayama preparation and again Raya&#8217;s main theme was to teach us to refine the postures so that we are not grossly overdoing. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>I felt it was just a tiny bit cooler today &#8211; a bit more manageable, or perhaps we are acclimatising to Pune&#8217;s early summer. I enjoyed the warmth in the air as I had my morning cuppa and of course the flexibility improves when the heat gets into your bones. Jenny is heading straight back [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Hot, hot and hotter. The water coming out of our &#8216;cold&#8217; tap here is hotter than the water coming out of my hot tap back home. It&#8217;s not tepid, it&#8217;s actually hot! Woke late after staying up till 1am putting together information pack for holiday I am teaching in the Maldives this November. I just [&hellip;]</p>

<p>What an absolutely outstanding class – backbends with Abhijata. Her teaching is completely focussed; she gets through the poses, gives clear and relevant teaching points, paces herself perfectly so that there is time for all the inversions but still gives plenty of reference to yoga sutra and philosophy. She pushes you hard but is not [&hellip;]</p>

<p>It’s getting hot in here. Very, very hot. Even at the start of Raya’s class, before a single word had been spoken, I was drenched with sweat. Trying to keep the fluid level up to cope with the fluid loss is a challenge. Backbend week – I made it! I seem to have spent an [&hellip;]</p>

<p>I was surprised how good my body felt waking up this morning – we didn&#8217;t do much in Rajalaxmi’s class last night, but what we did do was deceptively powerful. We headed off for Women’s class on a very warm and close morning – I think the temperature is beginning to creep up as we [&hellip;]</p>

<p>I enjoyed planting up my pot this morning to brighten up our balcony – the white rose smells exquisite and the scent wafts around in the heat. Lovely. I still need a bit more earth though &#8211; one of my blog reading local indian friends has offered to help with that! Every time I’ve come [&hellip;]</p>

<p>As I went into the institute I bumped into Zoe who I hadn’t seen for a few days, she explained she’d been having terrible problems with her knee and had an MRI scan on it, giving her the good news that it was an injury that could heal, rather than arthritis. As I took my [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Indulged in a very long practice this morning – what a luxury to have our time freed up like this for yoga. No cooking, no cleaning, no children to attend to, homework to help, no lessons to plan or classes to teach. Just lots and lots of yoga! I am so happy to be finally [&hellip;]</p>

<p>&nbsp; A blissful day &#8211; I love waking up in my room here with yesterday’s yoga radiating around my body – there are a remarkable array of birds and they are very vocal! Also we have had an incredibly long bout of wet and windy weather back in the UK so it’s just so uplifting [&hellip;]</p>

<p>&nbsp; A blissful day &#8211; I love waking up in my room here with yesterday’s yoga radiating around my body – there are a remarkable array of birds and they are very vocal! Also we have had an incredibly long bout of wet and windy weather back in the UK so it’s just so uplifting [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The day started with Women’s Class, once again taught by Abhi (link to full sequence below). Today she taught jumpings – from Adho Mukha Svanasana to the standing poses and all in the inversions repeatedly one leg up, one leg down – lots of fast, light sequences – which gave the opposite effect to that [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Awoke feeling fantastic after Raya’s strengthening class last night and thoroughly enjoyed my personal practice. I love the process of investigating the possibilities of a new environment – tomorrow we have ropes being delivered for the grille that surrounds our balcony.  Part of my programme for Diabetes is a very straight pinca mayurasana and to [&hellip;]</p>

<p>&nbsp; As I sit here and catch up with today’s blog I am feeling a deeply pleasant sort of sleepiness – the kind where you could just curl up and fall into a delicious, deep and restful sleep. We’ve just come from Raya’s Intermediate level 2 class. This was by far the hardest class I [&hellip;]</p>

<p>We headed across the park for Women’s class starting at 9.30am quite early, as previous years have taught us you need to get there in good time if you don’t want to be squashed up at the back on a threadbare mat, struggling to hear over the sound of the traffic. I had a panic [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Delicious smelling spices &nbsp; Today we left the relative peace and quiet of Goa behind for the busy, noisy and traffic choked city of Pune. The journey went smoothly aside from one false start when the taxi driver realised he’d left Jenny’s case behind at the hotel. Some beautiful scenery as we made our way [&hellip;]</p>

<p>I have enjoyed a few days cycling around Benaulim on a rickety old bike. It&#8217;s always worth taking a couple of extra days in Goa or Kerala to recover from the flight so that you can arrive in Pune rested and ready for classes.</p>