Archive for Mysore, India

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Our rain here in the San Francisco Bay Area is nothing compared to a really rainy day in places like Bangalore, a city near Mysore, India, the location of Pattabhis Jois’ yoga shala.

When it rains in the tropics, it really rains.

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Mysore Highway, October 2005

Our friend, Bala, a student at Yoga is Youthfulness in the San Francisco Bay Area, sent us these photos of the heaviest rain in decades (PowerPoint presentation) taken in October 2005, which includes a few photos from Mysore. It rained 9 inches in one day. Thank you, Bala.

(If you don’t have PowerPoint, you can view these photos with a PowerPoint viewer. It’s free.)

The AshtangaNews official recommendation regarding rain is: Teva-style sandals are better than flip flops, which can fall off your feet and float away or get stuck in mud.

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Teva sandal

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Flip flop

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  1. ctl said,

    March 20, 2006 at 12:15 pm

    Even Tevas may not be enough if the water’s really flowing hard. When I went river rafting on the Colorado River, the guides would duct tape the velco straps so that they wouldn’t come undone.

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Best Time to go to Mysore

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Mysore

As you start to practice ashtanga regularly, sooner or later you’ll hear the calling to go to practice in Mysore. That is the source of the yoga, that is where Guruji and Sharath teach.

Since there is a one month minimum stay at the AYRI and a lot of students have to travel half way around the world to get there, the trip is a big deal.

So the question arises: what is the best time of year to go to Mysore?

The answer is further complicated by the fact that it is often difficult to pin down Guruji and Sharath’s teaching schedules. For example, there is an announcement on the homepage of Ashtanga.com in bright orange that SHARATH WILL NOT BE TEACHING IN MYSORE FROM MAY – JULY 2006. I wonder how many planned trips have been affected by this.

But if we’re simply talking weather, the consensus from Mysore veterans is that the best time to travel there is from September to November. It’s not too hot at that time and there are fewer days off at Guruji’s shala.

Any thoughts?

Thank you to babasteve, aka Steve Evans, for these great photos of Mysore.

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One of the Royal elephants of the Maharaja of Mysore, India. The foot of its mahout sticks out from beneath its ear as the caretaker guides it on a stroll.
- babasteve

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Mysore Palace

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