Observing My First Medical Class

I observed my first medical class today. They have a medical class 5 days a week and the room was packed with students and assistants. Both Guruji and Geeta were there overseeing the entire operation. Geeta seemed to be writing sequences for different people. Guruji walked from person to person making adjustments. His adjustments were not for the weak hearted. While on the sides observing, I was sitting next to another student who said he was a dentist from Israel. When we saw Guruji turning and pressing and pulling and twisting this older, over weight man, both of us were amazed by Guruji’s ability to zero in on the problem and resolve it. The man would let out these “yelps” every so often. But the student would always have a satisfied smile on his face when the adjustments were over. Assisting in these classes is very, very strenuous work. There are students with severe physical handicaps and others whose problems are most likely organic and not so obvious to my untrained eye. To watch Guruji make adjustments at his 80+ years was like watching a master at work. It was truly amazing to watch him and it brought tears to my eyes.

The dentist said to me that some of the students seemed to be doing very advanced poses and it didn’t look like therapeutic sequences. Sure there were many supta baddha konasanas, supported setubandas and supported savasanas. But there were also some intense rope backbend work with Guruji or another assistant behind pressing their heel back and forth into their thoracic spine to elongate the spine and open the chests; urdhva dhanurasanas; kapotasanas. Lots of standing marichyasana 3 twists with the up leg heel raised high. Lots of setubanda variations. Lots of different strap jackets that I’d like to try. Lots of people doing rope sirsasana. A lot was going on in that room. But by the end, everyone was in a supine pose and the energy in the room calmed down.