My future yoga student
There are times when I am not able to cope with my morning routine of ablutions and work even if I am up at half past three.
The most upsetting thing is that I am forced to give up a major part of my yoga practice. On such occasions I have to be content instructing and watching my daughter do her practice while I am busy attending to my chores. I do try to catch up with my breathing exercises though while driving to my office about 35 km and an hour away from my home.
This morning was one of those occasions. As I drove through the slow moving traffic on a busy road in New Delhi, bumper to bumper, I had my fingers on my nose. I was doing a single-nostril breathing exercise, pressing my right nostril with my right thumb and the left with two middle fingers. I was changing hands during the exercise to shift gears and maintain control over the steering.
I did not notice that a lady driving on my right hand side was keenly watching me as I continued with my yoga practice. As the traffic pulled up at an intersection, the lady gestured me to roll down my window. It was quite noisy outside and the lady seemed to inquire what I was doing. I tried explaining but she was unable to hear. She gesticulated and asked me my mobile number. I gestured the 10-digit number with my fingers which she wrote in her mobile phone.
As I settled down in my office at 8:30 am, I got a call. It was from the lady who had taken down my mobile number. She was happy to finally ask me what I was doing. She was surprised how I was making the “best possible use of my time” in the middle of one of the busiest roads in the capital.
As she does not live very far from my home, she expressed her keenness to visit me and have a yoga lesson or two.
If she does pay me a visit, she will be the sixth person that I’ve met on various journies, that has become my student of yoga.
The five others took to yoga while we were co-passengers travelling by train or by air.
The sixth one would be unique - we were driving different cars and striking up a conversation by gestures alone.
Add comment August 17th, 2006 Written By: lalitgambhir