August 11, 2010

Saturday August 7th, after my morning class at the Institute, Oscar and I headed out to an Ayurvedic Centre for the rest of the weekend. This place, the Kerala Ayurvedic Retreat and Rejuvenation Establishment or KARE, is connected to the Iyengar Institute and has an arrangement where it picks up students in Pune, takes them out to the Centre and returns them at the end of their stay. I was excited to get out of the city and see some of the Indian countryside … not mention the weekend of spa treatments!

We were picked up at 12:30pm on Saturday and were driven the 45kms to the Centre. Although only 45kms away, it took us 1.5hrs to get there which gives you an idea of the roads and driving conditions. As I imagined, it was great to get out of Pune and to see some of the countryside. We drove through the outskirts of Pune, through valleys of farmland with cattle grazing, rice patties and lots of corn and then up into the mountains to KARE. The centre is set on the side of a mountain overlooking Mulshi Lake, a valley and mountains in the distance. Because it is the rainy season, the landscape was rich with all shades of green (think Ireland) and colour from the flowers. Storm clouds added drama and while it didn’t rain continuously, the rain was more frequent and stronger than in Pune. The rain created many small waterfalls down the sides of the mountains. Beautiful!

Upon our arrival, we were greeted and brought straight to lunch. The dietician explained the principles of Ayurvedic eating over lunch. We started with a sweet, which is recommended to eat first as it stimulates desire so eating sweets at the end of the meal create the desire for more. Yum! Then we had a lighter lunch, as we would have the first treatment that afternoon. Lunch consisted of cooked foods (at least lightly steamed foods) that included the 6 tastes: sweet, bitter, astringent, pungent, sour and salty.

From lunch, we had a consultation with the Ayurvedic doctor who “typed” our constitution. Ayurveda believes that everyone has 3 doshas but that one or sometimes two are predominant. This doctor made the point of saying that we are born with a particular constitutional make-up and that we have this for life. He also said that you cannot type a constitution through reading the pulse, which I had previously understood as the main way of confirming one’s dosha. He said that the pulse diagnoses sickness, imbalance or disease and that the questionnaire is the only way to determine one’s constitution.

Previously, I had been told I was almost tri-doshic (a balance of all 3) with a slight Vata – Pitta dominance. This man said I was Pitta –Vata, meaning I am primarily Pitta (energetic, driven, fire element) and secondarily Vata (creative, unstructured, air element). I am still contemplating this; I am a little surprised with this result and so have to integrate this to see how it fits for me. However, Oscar was “typed” as Kapha (steady, consistent, water element) and secondarily Pitta, which was what I had thought, so that gives me some validation that the doctor is qualified – as he should be working there!

Following the consultation, we had Ayurvedic massages. Mine was fabulous. You start with a head and neck massage while your feet are in a bowl of water – lovely! You finish with a personal steam bath in this strange contraption that you sit in and it closes around your neck so your head is out and the body is in the steam. Again, delicious! Then, rest, supper and bed. Oscar was happy that we had a satellite TV (there is no TV in our apartment in Pune) and you can see where he settled as soon as we were taken to our room. :)

Sunday started with an early morning yoga class. The teacher is a longtime student of Mr. Iyengar’s and drives out from Pune to teach at the centre. He was a typical, strident, “old-school” Iyengar teacher. It was a challenging class also because of the force of his personality. In the past, typical Iyengar teachers would point out on a student, often in great detail, the points of the pose that are incorrect or need work. This methodology has changed over the last 10 – 12 years, but it seems this teacher did not update his way of working. I ended up being the example of what not to do! Fortunately, I was also able to take away some points from the class and get past his approach and concentrate on what he was saying without reaction. That felt like personal progress!

We had our second treatment following breakfast. Mine was the application of heat on my neck and shoulders. The woman used hot stones, wrapped in cloths and then dipped in oil to rub, pound and massage those areas. Heaven!

We had a restorative yoga class after lunch. We did about 5 poses in 1.5hrs including 25 – 30min in Supta Virasana. For those of you who don’t know this pose, we will work on it in September :) Until then, believe me, 30min is a long time in this position – and it is a pose I am relatively happy in to begin with. Not after about 15min though, I found out!

We left to drive back to Pune after the afternoon snack at 5pm and were back in our apartment by about 6:30pm. It was good to be out of town, and it was also good to come back to what is rapidly feeling like home!