Night Train and Leaning Tower of Pisa

On my last day in Italy, I had planned to go from Naples to Pisa after giving the morning lecture and take the flight to Kos, but when I learned that the trains were on strike that day, I had to take the train at night. Since the sleeping cars on the night train were full, I bought a ticket from the second class section with seats. The train departed at 21:45 in the evening and reached Pisa station at 04:15 in the morning, after a six-hour journey. The distance between the train station and the Leaning Tower of Pisa was 27 minutes.

Our lesson was at six in the morning Italian time and seven in Türkiye time. I chose the travel time accordingly. As soon as I got off the train, I started looking for a suitable place to give the lesson. At first I thought we could do it right there, in front of the carriages at the station. There were many people in and around the station. Those sleeping, those sitting, those chatting, those dancing… This diversity and of course the fact that no one was interfering with anyone else made me feel very comfortable.

From Train Station to Leaning Tower of Pisa

I felt like walking to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I had time to go and look and come back. From the moment I started walking, I realized that this was the right decision. As I went in that direction, my heart grew brighter. In the twenty-seven minutes from the station to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the sky turned from dusk to blue and then to daylight.

I arrived at the tower fifteen minutes before the class started. Just then, the police arrived and opened the area around the tower to the entrances. I didn’t know that the area around the tower was closed to pedestrians earlier. As soon as I entered the parking area, I placed the camera in a place that could see the Leaning Tower of Pisa from across the street.

We can look at yoga as establishing a bond with nature through human nature, and as a person searching for ways to express himself. And from this, we can consider that yoga practice is also art. The atmosphere I was in gave me the feeling that almost everything was in harmony with each other. Among the people running, walking their dogs, and going for an early morning walk, I spread out my mat and started our yoga class. The fact that the uncle mowing the lawn did not compromise on his discipline in doing his job and came right up to me, even if it meant spraying the grass on me, seemed to interrupt us for a few seconds, but we had fun with it!

Premiere of Our Online Courses!

We held the season opening of our online courses a week ago, again in Pisa, in the garden of a house dating back to 1903. After continuing on the terrace overlooking the city in Naples, we were now having our last lesson in Italy in Pisa, this time in the same frame as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. A person is filled with inspiration every moment he spends in the cradle of art and civilization. Both his mind and body are opening up more. He is inspired by new things.

After class, I spent some time taking photos with the tower. Last time I saw the tower up close for the first time, I had an intense feeling. I feel as if I feel the efforts of many people in the construction of the tower, the history and intensity there. Maybe it’s the feelings created in my body by seeing the tower, which has become part of the world and of which I have seen pictures since my childhood, this time up close. It seemed that the sweet feeling of this work becoming authentic with its flaws and the whole world coming to see it was also mixed with these. The Leaning Tower of Pisa, with its crooked stance, was posing for hundreds of people around it who wanted to take photos with it. The various movements people made were also funny. I also joined them. I embraced the tower in my own way, as I felt like it. I felt very good at that moment.

It was very good for me to do the lesson no matter what. It felt very good that I did not use the day train strikes, the tiredness of the night journey, or the fact that I was not sure about the place to teach as an excuse to postpone the lesson. Perhaps this will inspire the participants to attend classes regularly. Because I think about myself… No matter what the conditions, doing yoga has always been very good for me.

We have been continuing our online courses almost continuously for about two years. If you want to join us, you can attend our classes. Who knows, maybe a class you attend may coincide with a journey like the one I described in this article!