Ken and Elaine practicing in Rome
Our first afternoon in Rome, we visited Lino Miele’s shala, to make sure of the hours and the location. Rosanna, Lino’s assistant, actually recognized us.
In this shala (Scuola di Astanga Yoga, http://www.astanga.it), Mysore classes are offered usually three times a day, at 9 AM, 1 PM, and 5 or 6 PM. Classes run Monday through Saturday, only, and moon days are ignored.
We decided to go to the 5 PM class the next day. When we arrived, there was Lori Huneke, visiting from London. Once again, the Ashtanga community makes this a small world.
The shala is about a 10 minute walk from the Colosseum. There are several showers available, and hot tea (but not chai). The practice room has nice wood floors, but the loaner mats are dirty and smell of old sweat. In the early evening classes, there was no led chant. The people at the front of the room place their mats so that they are facing the wall in front of them. We didn’t like that, so placed our mats in the middle of the room. Both Thursday (5/25) and Friday (5/26) evenings there were about 15-20 people practicing, mostly first series, some second series. There was one main teacher (Rosanna on Friday, Maria Paul on Thursday), with one assistant teacher. The adjustments were good and plentiful. Practicing late in the day found us more flexible than usual. Since we were in Rome, we had taken afternoon siestas, so we weren’t overly tired.
Last night we had a lovely dinner with Lori and her friend Angela. Lori is doing well, and said that right before she left for Rome, Risto had shown up at the London shala to practice. He is doing well, has had all his pins taken out. She said it was great to see him.
We decided to take the weekend off, but will be back at the shala Monday at 6 PM for one more practice session before we leave Rome.