We discovered there was a local yoga class held just near our hotel in the stadium at 7am so we decided to go.
We found our way there but couldn’t find any yoga. We’d been told it was behind the pavilion on a green sheet. Valerie asked some men passing by and they were going too. What a friendly group of people.
It turned out that on that day the yoga was being held on the raised platform in the middle of the stadium! They were all very welcoming and one of the men took to translating into English as we went along. There were about 15 people, many of our sort of age. Pretty different to yoga in England where the main emphasis is often on the physical. The first part was like any set of warm up exercises and then the majority of the exercises were different pranayamas which we did for far longer. Kapalbhathi was practised for at least 5 minutes – 300 breathes (1 per second), and alternate nostril breathing similar. We also did Bhramari pranayama (humming bee) and the Lion – which everyone enjoyed and the ladies found us very funny. Then we finished with laughing yoga which I’d never done before and which was absolutely brilliant. It was also a very chatty group, rather like one we went to in Spain
We enjoyed the class so much that we decided to go again the next day and leave for Jodhpur slightly later.
So the next day we were there again, and it was on the platform again, but this time all the men were dressed in white track suits with orange turbans, and there were twice as many people. Then later, a group of young men who were running round the stadium training for the army also joined the class so there were about 50 or more on the green mat on the stage.
Then another yogi came up to the front and we did more and more laughing yoga. Everyone was laughing laughing and waving their hands in the air.
I’m going to find laughing yoga in London it’s fantastic.
