I got super ballsy and asked Ameera if I could take her up on the offer to stay at her house for a little bit after Goa, until I figured out the next leg of my journey. She said of course, so after we got back from Goa, I moved right on in to Aditi and Ameera Shah’s. And here I am. Staying in their beautiful home in South Bombay. [Brief history lesson: Bombay  is the old name of Mumbai which the Brits gave the city when they took control in the 17th century. The name was changed from Bombay to Mumbai in 1995 when Shiv Sena saw “Bombay” as a legacy of British colonialism. He renamed it Mumbai to strengthen the Marathi identity in the Maharashtra region. The city however is still referred to as both Bombay and Mumbai by most everyone in India, including its residents. The older generation seems to strictly call it Bombay, while the youngins tend to use the two names interchangeably.]  This is one of the NICEST areas of the entire city. Very classy, clean and safe with GREAT eats. And it has been good for me to experience another part of the city, across from the sea bridge where The Yoga Institute is located. I have my own room and bathroom at their house and they have so graciously given me full / unlimited access to their staff – getting my laundry done every day, my bed made and room cleaned after I leave the house, delicious food cooked for me every meal, and even access to their driver! Such a treat 🙂 and I am beyond grateful. After staying in The Yoga Institute for a month with no air conditioning, staying here at the Shah’s feels like I am living in the GD Taj Mahal!! And to top it all off, I couldn’t love Aditi and Ameera more. Aditi became an instant bestie. And Ameera, an instant second mom.

Each day after they leave for work, I sleep in, get up and work out for a bit, have Raju (their cook who has been with them for 25+ years) make me some breakfast, relax and read or write in my journal / blog, and then I walk down the street to yoga class. There is an Iyengar yoga studio right down the street from their house, so I signed up for classes. I have always known about Iyengar yoga (a form of Hatha yoga with an emphasis on alignment, super popular all over the world, especially in India) and I recently read his book this summer, Light on Yoga, but I didn’t realize what this particular type of yoga is all about until now. PROPS. (The main props used in most of the studios I have been to in the States, or anywhere else, are bolsters, straps and blocks). But here they use SO many props: ropes bolted into the walls, hanging trapezes, chairs, wooden benches, wooden railings, bolsters, straps, blankets, blocks, and MORE. The studio is full of them – I have never seen anything like it!! All of these things assist in opening up your body more in order to increase the breath and the flow of prana throughout the body. You use them to hang upside down, suspend a pose, assist in the deepest version of the pose – it almost reminds me of aerial yoga. The props can be perceived as “easy” but many of the poses are actually quite challenging, and you leave the class feeling SO OPEN. They do help beginners and elders get into the poses more easily, making yoga accessible to all. But they also assist the advanced practitioner in reaching the deepest variation of the pose when practicing without the props. I am really enjoying it so far. Hoping one day to maybe practice at the original Iyengar school in Pune, India.