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Tuesday 12 February 2013

Therapy.

On the weekend I ventured through a portal to a parallel universe......with 220 other scantily clad Bikram Yoga addicts who pushed past racks of  gold lame mini shorts and bandana tops in the foyer to converge in the ballroom of a nondescript hotel on the periphery of Melbourne's CBD. Rajashree Choudhury was in town.....she's Bikram's wife who has helped him to create the world wide phenomenon that is Bikram Yoga.

Don't worry, I'm concerned about what managing to acquire a two day ticket of leave from my family and the resulting military precision of organisation involved says about me.....that I would choose to spend one day of my freedom in a packed room, short of oxygen and high on sweat and complex yoga poses, says about me. But I loved every minute of it.


Rajashree's focus is on the emotional side of yoga....she believes that everything manifests from the mind and the pollution of the mind and sees specifically that yoga can balance the human body's energy which impacts not only disease but also on the connection between the body, the mind and the spirit. For Rajashree, yoga is therapy. She says '....The woman runs the house. The woman takes care of the family. But no one really looks after her. We put less priority on ourselves and focus on everything else. We physically and emotionally deprive ourselves. And then suddenly it's mid life and the time to enjoy is over and it leads to depression'. Scary.

At this point, I started feeling a frisson of excitement.....it all started to make sense and fall into place for me. Forget that today in my first Bikram Yoga class since the seminar, my monkey mind flirted with such subjects as what I was going to write about in my blog/next article for 'Tasmanian Style' magazine.....and of course the eternal dilemma...what was I going to cook for dinner. Still it was not. Obviously, I have an excruciatingly  arduous road ahead of me taming my mind, training it to be still, yet I'm seduced by what it would be like if I can....so I'm headed back to the hot room for another class tonight......after I've dished up dinner service (spelt pasta with a fresh tomato and vegetable sauce, in case you're wondering).

Don't despair, my weekend away wasn't all yoga mats and coconut water. The rest of the time I felt like Linda in 'The Pursuit of Love' when she was surrounded by the chatterers, as the friend I was staying with and I indulged in endless, endless chat. And dinner at Cumulus Inc:







And lunch at Bistro Guillaume:




And maybe a spot of restorative dress trying on:


And now the timer's going so had better get dinner done and dusted so I can hit the mat......needless to say I came home feeling throughly restored.....even though my family saved up three loads of washing for me in my absence.

Rx

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fantastic weekend away R. I'm not sure I'll ever understand your addiction to Bikram..... head spins do work well into stilling my mind, but not in a positive way overall! But she is quite right - the mother is always in last place in the family. It is most important to place yourself first some times. Dinner and lunch look yummy (still haven't been to cumulus, it's on my list), and LOVE that dress. Hope you bought it? xx

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  2. I so cannot embrace yoga despite trying and trying but by God I do luff restorative frock shopping- tres nice one there, where from??

    Your hair looks nice x

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  3. Oh she is so right Romy, and I can just imagine how inspired you were when you got home - perhaps until you saw the washing anyway. Pilates is my thing, or at least I'm trying to make it my thing, but just as Rajashree says, if anything else crops up, guess who gets to sacrifice her class!

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  4. I totally agree that no one takes care of the woman ; that thought occurred to me quite late in life and I wonder how many people are aware of that. It's probably our fault for always accepting things the way they are.. Btw, those profiterolles look so good they should be ABSOLUMENT INTERDITES (or on prescription !).XX

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  5. Rajashree is right about women. Too much giving sometimes.

    I am so glad you enjoyed the weekend and laughed at the military precision. Sometimes by the time I get away I wonder if all the arranging and preparation was worth it! Love all the gorgeous yummy restaurant meals. And dress shopping is always good (unless you desperately need a dress to wear that night and everything you try on makes you look like a pregnant drag queen - which is all the more reason to go pre-emptive dress shopping when there is less pressure)

    I completely understand the washing issue - all I do sometimes is wash. At present I feel like Oates when he was in the Antarctic, to misquote "I am going into the laundry, I may be sometime." Aaaah

    Have a good day. Hope the yoga class went well. Is it bad that the only way by mind can find peace after dinner at the moment is to lie on the couch in front of the boxed set of Downton Abbey series 3?

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  6. Dear Romy,

    I discovered your blog last week via Instagram and I love it!Have been reading back through your posts over the past few rainy days here in Sydney. Like you I derive great enjoyment from art, travel, food, interiors, fashion and family, though am sadly lapsed when it comes to yoga. Had a wonderful 'foodie' holiday in Tasmania a couple of years ago so it's great to hear about what's going on there. Look forward to reading more.

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I LOVE hearing your thoughts! Rx