yoga teacher and story teller

i have finished my exams!!! here is a picture of the class i had to teach. we were split into smaller groups so that the lesson exams could be done in just a few days, so this is only 7 out of the 32 students in my class. we all became close through this learning experience. first we had to teach a trial class, which was, in some cases, quite hilarious. then yesterday and today we taught our final exam class (the one we were marked on). anyway, this photo was taken today. the indian man on the left, was our examiner. although a hard marker, he is very sweet.

this morning, after the exams were all finished, a group of us decided to do some of the hatha cleansing techniques again. it was [oddly] fun.

yesterday i had to give a presentation on the paper i'd written. i am ashamed to say that my paper was very bad. i did not want to read my paper, let alone really tell people, in 5 minutes, the lack of substance which was my paper. instead i told them a story.

thousands of years ago there once lived a sage, agastya. agastya decided one day to visit a demon named atapi. atapi had a brother, vatapi, and together they were a dangerous pair.

whenever they would receive guests, atapi would magically turn vatapi into a goat. he would then prepare a delicious goat curry to serve to his guest. when the guest had eaten all he could, atapi would suggest that the guest meet his brother and call "vatapi, please come out!" vatapi would then burst out from the guest's stomach, thereby killing them.

when agastya went to visit atapi, atapi as usual morphed his brother and prepared him into a spicy goat vindaloo. agastya began salivating as he approached atapi's home, the aroma was intoxicating. agastya ate and ate and ate and when he had polished off the entire curry he sat back patting his stomach and complimenting atapi on his culinary prowess. atapi smiled and sweetly said "you should meet my brother, he would adore you. come out vatapi!" but agastya said "vatapi, stay where you are. it is better for everyone that you are digested in my stomach." and thus was the end of vatapi.

agastya was able to digest vatapi because he had a fully awakened manipura chakra. the manipura chakra governs our digestive system, and therefore, if you awaken your manipura, you can digest anything, including demons.

and that was my presentation. or at least, the gist of it. i think it went over pretty well. at least, it made people laugh. then i told them a few ways to eat like a yogini/yogi. for instance, you should eat with your hands. each bite becomes a mudra as you lift your fingers to your lips. also, this preserves your pranic energy; for your hands are an extension of your heart and they radiate prana (life/vital energy). when we use utensils we are breaking the flow and losing prana.