I had a sudden and severe onset of sciatica pain on Wednesday night and it hasn’t subsided. As I tried every method on earth to fight the pain, my annoying phone kept buzzing with messages, all from one particular group- my teachers training batch from SVYASA Yoga university. We were batch 201 and our month long journey of learning started on this day, last year. Naturally all my fellow students and batch mates had become nostalgic and emotional. Everyone was exchanging messages about how it didn’t seem like a whole year had passed and how they all missed each other.
Now I am not easily pulled into anniversary celebrations and trips down memory lane, but despite the searing pain in my right thigh, I got to thinking about May 2019! I remember how, being a complete introvert, I was very apprehensive about chatting with people. I tried my best to avoid the seemingly noisy and raucous bunch in my dorm room, but gave in to their friendly smiles and chatter and joined them for a bit. My big plans to mind my own business and remain invisible seemed to bite the dust and I was in for a long journey of bonding, learning, and even some fun.
A month of sweeping halls, washing my own clothes, eating in a huge common hall, using public bathrooms and bearing the scorching summer sounds like hell as I look back at my month as a YIC ( Yoga Instructors Course) student. But there were many fun parts too. The group bhajan sessions twice a day, asana practice, teeny breaks where we rushed off to the canteen for some non-satvic food, cracking jokes mid-lecture, the happy assembly skits, and the games during Krida Yoga, all came rushing back to my mind in one long sweep and I managed to break into a smile.
After the course was done, I got back into my regular life very easily. I confess that I didn’t miss anybody or anything and began teaching yoga the very next month. I have been learning as much as I have been teaching and it has been a wonderful year. I even managed to make some amazing friends from YIC batch 201 that I didn’t interact with during my month long stay at Prashanti Kuteeram. Yet somehow, today as everyone on the group was getting nostalgic, I too gave in and journeyed back to that month I spent rediscovering myself and forging a new me. I admit that it was a beautiful month and I will cherish it forever, as I will cherish the handful of friends that I have made. Yoga will always be in my heart, soul and breathe as will the memories of the summer of 2019!
Nitya Yoga Anushasanam 