Chapter Sixteen: Cyber Social Interaction

I stayed in touch with the LA Woman via Skype as it had become my M O to have a cyber social interaction with a woman. I told the Kirtan Woman myside of the story and hoped she would clear my name in the yoga community. Trying to reverse gossip with the truth is like trying to herd cats. There is no way it is going to happen. Sharath was going to be in UCLA and the LA Woman invited me to attend. I thought it would allow me to clear up gossip. It was a Led Primary by Sharath in a huge gym on campus. There were lots of people I knew, but I don’t think I really improved my image. For one thing I looked about ten years older from what I had done to my lungs. Sharath came up to me when the practice was over the first day and said, “I almost forgot you.” At least he remembered. This must have been at least 2016 so it had been five years since I had seen him. It was fun seeing LA and the Venice Beach area. I stayed at an Airbnb not far from the LA woman’s apartment. She had a BMW and drove us everywhere we needed to go. We had some good Indian meals, so it was a good trip. There had been a Led Intermediate during the week before, so I started working on my Intermediate practice.

The next year I went to Palo Alto for a week to practice with Sharath at Stanford. I could walk from my Airbnb to the hall on campus where the practice was being held. There weren’t that many practicing Intermediate and I ended up in the front row next to Kino, a very successful yoga teacher and her husband Tim. They were there as they were going to be hosting Sharath in Miami the next week. There was a professional photographer documenting the event. I got to see several people I hadn’t seen since going to Mysore, but there was no way I could mend my image. On the way out of the building the last morning Sharath said to me, “I haven’t seen you.” I told him he had seen me at UCLA, and he responded, “I mean in Mysore.” I was horrified. I did not really want to go to India with my lungs. LA and Palo Alto were a stretch. Of course, I did not listen to myself but kept trying to register online to practice in Mysore with Sharath, but it had become so popular it was almost impossible to get in.