Kate Taylor's Yoga Site

I have missed two days of practice at the Shala. After my massage on Wednesday, which made my back feel better temporarily, I woke up on Thursday morning in a moderate amount of pain. I also started my cycle and decided that I should honor my “ladies holiday” and not go to practice.

I spent Thursday relaxing at home for the most part – only leaving for breakfast and dinner. During the day my friends came by the house and hung out and the tailor that Dominique and Lisa had recommended , Manju, came by and measured us and took our orders for custom made Kurtas.

For dinner, Teodora suggested we go to the Tiger Trail at the Metropole Hotel. The place is the Lonely Planet’s pick in Mysore and is also reputed to have a good selection of meat dishes (which Theodora was craving, being a proper Argentinian). We met at about 6:00 and hung out in the lounge until the restaurant opened at 7:30, when we were seated in the beautifully lit garden. The ambiance at the Metropole is wonderful, and quite a bit more upscale than other places I have been in Mysore so far.

When we finally got our food, it was worth the wait. I had a vegetable tandoori, while the others mostly had chicken (no “real meat” i.e. beef on the menu, but the chicken seemed to satisfy the cravings). The black lentil dal they served was out of this world. I think it must have had lots of ghee and cream in it – North Indian style. I also tasted the sauces that came with some of the other dishes and they were equally scrumptious. We had Naan and even shared a bottle of South African wine (gasp!).  The bill was significantly higher than any other meal I have had in Mysore, but at $15 each, still not going to break the bank. When we left dinner I was feeling great, very little back pain, and a nice glow from a great dinner shared with wonderful people (and maybe the glass of wine was contributing as well). More pics on the photo tab.

When I woke up on Friday, I was hoping to go to practice but my back was hurting again and I was still on my ladies holiday. Since Friday is the led class I decided not to put myself in the position of being carried along by the collective energy of the breathing masses, which I thought would tempt me to do more than my back was ready for.  Instead I did a very slow, short practice in my room – 5 A-series salutations, 3 B-series, the standing sequence, some backbends, padmasana and savasana. Moving through the practice was uncomfortable, but I thought it would be good to stretch out the tightness and get the blood flowing. Wrong again. As soon as I was finished I took two Advil and got back in bed. The pain, which had moved down to my glutes on Thursday had moved back up into my sacrum and the crest of my ilium (back of the pelvis). Laying on my back I felt a dull, persistent pain; bending forward and getting up and down from sitting or laying down caused sharp pain.

At 8:45 Jennifer and gang came over to see why I missed practice and pick me up for breakfast. I decided not to make the trek over to Tina’s and went back to bed. For the rest of the day I moved back and forth from the living room to my bed, trying to get comfortable. Teodora stopped by and invited me to go shopping for textiles and I thought this would motivate me to get out of the house, but even that didn’t happen. When I got dressed and walked down to the rickshaw stand I decided that a bumpy trip across town would not be fun.

By mid-afternoon the pain was pretty intense. I had taken about 5 Advil over the course of a couple of hours and still could not get comfortable.  I decided to get up and try and walk over to Anu’s and get the number for the chiropractor, whose ad I had seen posted on the wall there. When we called, there was no answer. Ganesh thought she might still be out of town on holiday.  The good news was that is was dosa night and Anu was up in the bamboo hut cooking up two kinds of dosas. Since I was feeling pretty sorry for myself I decided to treat myself to the dosas even though they are on my list of foods to avoid. They were delicious. And there were lots of folks there who asked how I was doing and offered to help. One person offered up some stronger painkillers, which I accepted. Caitlin and Tree (my rommates) offered to give me a combination of Reiki energy work and massage, which I also accepted. It was nice to feel loved by all my newfound yogi friends.

After my massage and some ayurvedic tea I popped a painkiller and went to sleep, glad that Saturday is our day off and that I would not have to debate whether to go to practice.