The Cure…

My practice has settled into carefully making sure that my sprained ankle never turns laterally or medially. So, I am modifying all half-lotuses on the right side and per Sharath I am stopping right before garbapindasana. Rolling around in lotus with a sprained ankle would be...unwise. As with most injuries, this one does present some opportunities. One is, during a led class I get to watch Guruji, Saraswati, and Sharath work together and see how they adjust, etc. I am still reflecting on that. Another opportunity is focusing on my upper-body more. I am doing "David Swenson" Up and Down Dogs. David goes from Up dog back to chaturunga and then pushes up slowly into Down Dog. The vinyasa count is still the same; it just makes each vinyasa have the equivalent of another push up. My uplutthi has gone from 15 to 20 count and I am considering adding a count each class. Also, I am holding the uplutthi between Navasanas for 2 counts.

After the third person told me to go see Kumar (an aruvedic massage theraptist) about my ankle; I decided to go up to his house and make an appointment. He was kind enough to see me the next day for a few minutes to look at my ankle even though he could not give me a full appointment for another week.

I arrived this morning and he invited me to sit on a futon on the floor and asked me how this had happened. I told him I had sprained it falling into a sewer (see Cholera Diptheria Hell?). He pushed on my ankle for about 15 minutes, managing to find (without asking me) the most painful places to push. He told me I need to be less busy in my mind... that I have been trying to "be a man" when I am actually a rather feminine woman. "So," I asked, "I need to focus on maybe buying a dress?" He found this amusing and added that it should have pink in it and flowers. He said that he sensed that I have not been feeling safe and that I am trying to "be a man" to deal with it... that I have hurt my right foot because I have been trying to find my footing with my masculine side and it is not right for me. I told him that when I hurt my foot so soon after I arrived I had just spent most of my time taking auto-rickshaws to try to get basic things like food, soap, etc. And this meant dealing with the drivers who were charging me the wrong amount, demanding twice the meter, and driving me around in circles to increase the fare. I had gotten the sprain right around the time that I was sternly asking each driver as I got in, "Is the meter working?" and repeating it until I got an answer and then stating: "I will only pay the meter." And then perhaps, "I want Kalidassa Road. Go Main road, right Gokulam road. I want that road. I am paying." And then if they started going anywhere else I would start saying, "Not right road!"

Yesterday CK and I went to "Three Sisters,"…a nice place to eat near the old shala. We were recommending an English-speaking film festival to the few other western Ashtangis there. A young man from America, B, was asking one of the sisters in detail about how to take a castor oil bath (see Guruji's Conference). During this B was slumping with his left foot on his right knee, so that the sole of his left foot was facing her face at eye level less than a foot away from her face since she was also sitting on the floor. I did not want to embarrass him by telling him to sit up and get his left foot out of her face. He had no idea that he was being rude. Then, after a long talk about the bath, he asked the sister if she would like to go to the movie with him on his motorcycle. She flopped down on the futon on her belly laughing and looked at CK and me and said through her fit of laughter, "Oh! He wants take me on his bike to the movies! Oh! Ha Ha! And everyone see this and I will be seen as his wife and no other man will ever marry me! Oh! Hahahahah!" I soberly told B that he had better apologize to the sister for trying to besmirch her reputation - or ask her to marry him - whichever he thought best. He said a little sheepishly, "...it was just a movie."