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<p>Lay in bed until 9am, happy not to be getting up early for Prasant. Though of course I heard afterwards it was a wonderful class &#8211; backbends; brick setubanda and padmasana, chair back arch -legs in padmasana, rope sirsasana, standing backbend (preparation for drop back), ustrasana, urdhva dhanurasana, ending with bharadvajasana. The rule is, you [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Another lovely day off. Started with practice &#8211; I am really noticing the influence of the work we are doing here. Standing poses now much more dynamic &#8211; buttock bone below the thigh in the bent leg poses &#8211; no more hovering! Also I think before I came here I was 90 per cent in [&hellip;]</p>

<p>&gt; What a full on day! Right I want to start by correcting an earlier inaccuracy that is nagging at me. Right at the beginning I said the teaching hall at the Institute was smaller than Yogawest, but I&#8217;ve come to the conclusion it&#8217;s actually much bigger. It&#8217;s a really strange shape with lots of [&hellip;]</p>

<p>&gt; Class wasn’t until 6pm today so we had the day for ourselves. Practiced at home, working with each other on forward extensions. Great to have a (real, live, willing) yoga buddy!Unlike my normal press-ganged &#8216;volunteers&#8217; As my poor long suffering partner and children will testify. Enjoyed transforming my space in the apartment with my [&hellip;]</p>

<p>10 hours sleep! After snuggling up in bed and skyping with my step-daughter Aggi (in first year at Portsmouth Uni) last night had a full 10 hours before Jenny felt compelled to come and check I wasn&#8217;t infact in a diabetic coma! Right so today is the day for a really thorough practice, feeling a [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Started class thoroughly disgruntled after arriving 45 minutes early and still losing my space at the last second. Ended up sharing a mat that had seen better days right at the back window. The demand for absolute concentration began from the second the class began. Don’t sit down sit UP as if you are sitting on [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Barely managed to drag myself out of bed bleary eyed at 6am, still dark as we set off through the park from our flat to the institute. The weather is unusually cool for India at the moment and shockingly I had to dig out a cardi from the depths of the suitcase. It was a [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Another 6am start, must get to bed earlier! Sequence – Uttanasana, Baddangullyasana,Sirsasana Trikonasana x 6, Rope Adho Mukha Svanasana, Marichyasana 3, Swastikasana bend forwards, Savasana in Supta Swastikasana. The main themes I picked up from his discourse were: Pragmatism not dogmatism – using discretion when to apply force, determination and when not. We say “I’ll [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The institute is completely closed on a Sunday, so the day was ours to fill as we pleased. I opted for a morning practice followed by afternoon at The Mariot Hotel at their rooftop swimming pool. Have spent the evening skyping partner and kids. I have really started to miss them badly and its hitting [&hellip;]</p>

<p>We arrived 45 minutes early to class and had that sinking feeling as the shoe racks came into view already full to bursting. It was with some relief we realised that the shoes were for Prashant&#8217;s class that had started at 7am. Good! The crowd would be split, unlike the previous evening. Guruji and Abhijata&#8217;s [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Holy Moly! I reckon there were 200 plus people in class in a space smaller than main studio of Yogawest. First we were told to go mat to mat, then we were told to fold our mats in half and use every spare inch. The organisation done by Gulnaz with microphone took 20 minutes before [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Today we had a choice of classes; Prasant at 7am or Gulnaz (timetabled as Abhi) at 6pm. We opted for the later class. We arrived at the institute at 9.30am for the personal practice session but found there wasn&#8217;t room anywhere. We bought a chair, pranayama pillow and blanket from the shop and headed back [&hellip;]</p>

<p>What a day! Class began at 9.30am and after yesterday&#8217;s experience of being at the back with all the traffic noise, we made sure we arrived 45 minutes early and chose a good space. Abhijata took the class with a microphone and relayed instructions directly from Guruji &#8211; it was amazing! I was so moved [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Class started at 7am with Prashant. We arrived  with ten minutes to spare, of course all spaces were taken by this point, but somehow we managed to squeeze in right at the back. January is the busiest month at the institute and the room was packed. Among the students were Rajiv and Swati Chanchani. We [&hellip;]</p>