I'm finally getting to see the types of things I came to see!
I walked through a tiny village last week, with small dirt paths between houses made from mud and stones. Immediately I was approached by a little girl smiling and asking for a photo. Then she took me home and the whole family came out to say hi. Then I came to a group of boys playing cricket in a dirt field with homemade cricket gear, they were very excited for me to take their photos, and after a few minutes I ended up with about 30 little kids following me around and giggling at everything I did. An old woman invited me into her house to show me a baby cow that she was obviously very proud of. She asked for a photo, but first she ran to get a huge, silver bangle. She put it on her arm and very carefully adjusted it - she wanted to look her best for the picture. Her tree outside was full of chickens, and the village was so picturesque.
Today I went hiking to the top of a mountain across the valley from the ashram. On the way I passed a small hut. There were several children and a puppy sleeping right outside it, in the street - and a cow sleeping inside the house! Something seems strange with that picture...
The mountain was very steep, so there were stairs carved from stone most of the way up. At the top of the first mountain there was a lovely lake, and about a hundred cows and several herders. At the top of the second mountain, there was a small temple, dedicated to the monkey god. It was a tough hike but completely worth every sweaty step!
The HUGE event of the month was that the Guru of the Bihar School of Yoga came to visit. Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati is the guru of our school and many other places, and he is very famous in India. His guru's guru (like a lineage passed down) was the main person who brought yoga to the western world, so he's a big deal. We went and listened to him speak and got to chant mantras with him (well, me and like 300 other people). And he gave us all prayer beads and a special blessing. This was also a huge event because he rarely does public events anymore, since he's getting ready to go into seclusion (basically retire) and to focus on reaching enlightenment. Even though I didn't understand a word he said, I was thrilled that I knew several of the mantras and that I could sing along.
This week I am going to teach two full classes, so wish me luck!
Namaste!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Lotus Pose? Maybe in my next life...
Today went to a nearby city, Trimbak. It took an hour of briskly walking on small paths, through huge fields, to get there (didn't see any cobras along the way). There were several tiny houses along the path, and the people were very surprised to see a foreigner walking in such a rural area. I went to a beautiful temple and walked around the grounds for a while - it was made from bright white stone, with beautiful artwork and architecture! This week was also the festival of colors, and there is still powder all over the streets. We didn't throw colors at the ashram, but we did have a bonfire and singing :)
Here are some of the other things that are exciting to me, though they're small and fairly inconsequential: Watching the stars at night (I see them both when I start yoga practice in the morning and when I eat dinner). Drinking cold guava juice when it's a billion degrees outside. Seeing toads, mice, lizards, bats, and owls around the ashram (the mosquitoes are truly evil).Washing up (from a bucket) and putting delicious-smelling coconut oil on my feet after walking around the dusty ashram barefoot all day. Best of all, the fact that I finally stayed awake during one of our meditation-type sessions yesterday (we wake up at 5am, workout, eat, and then they make us lay down in a dim room with our eyes closed, listening to a soft voice... what do you expect?!).
So, I'm halfway through my yoga course, and I wish it was longer because I'm not sure how I'll be ready to teach a full lesson in two weeks! We teach mini-lessons everyday, and so far I have led several prayers and mantras and "Om" chanting (all in Sankrit) and I have taught several poses to my peers. Doing yoga is easy... teaching yoga is surprisingly hard. Every day we have two yoga asana (pose) classes, and we do chanting, breathing techniques, and attend several lectures. It is all interesting, but I have a hard time focusing during chanting and breathing. I love all the asanas, except for Lotus Pose... it's the bane of my existence (see picture below). Luckily, it's not required that I master it here, otherwise I'd be doomed!
Oh, so I injured my wrist and can't put any weight on it... luckily it doesn't hurt at all when I'm not using it, and I have a brace, so it will be ok! At first I was devastated, but we are never supposed to push our bodies too much when we do the asanas, so my teacher is fine with me not practicing the few poses that would make my wrist worse. In fact, she said to use this experience as a learning opportunity, so I'm doing my best!
I have enjoyed learning about yogic philosophy during my time here. Yoga is not a religion - rather, yoga is a philosophy and a way of life that works in harmony with any religion. Practicing the poses (which is the only thing most of us really know about) is a small part of yogic life. The basic aim of yoga is to create balance between our mind, spirit, and body, and they do this through healthful eating, peaceful living, and trying to become connected with God or The Universe through prayer, mantras, meditation, etc. It's an admirable lifestyle, and I am glad to be in this environment! Sending love from India!
Here are some of the other things that are exciting to me, though they're small and fairly inconsequential: Watching the stars at night (I see them both when I start yoga practice in the morning and when I eat dinner). Drinking cold guava juice when it's a billion degrees outside. Seeing toads, mice, lizards, bats, and owls around the ashram (the mosquitoes are truly evil).Washing up (from a bucket) and putting delicious-smelling coconut oil on my feet after walking around the dusty ashram barefoot all day. Best of all, the fact that I finally stayed awake during one of our meditation-type sessions yesterday (we wake up at 5am, workout, eat, and then they make us lay down in a dim room with our eyes closed, listening to a soft voice... what do you expect?!).
So, I'm halfway through my yoga course, and I wish it was longer because I'm not sure how I'll be ready to teach a full lesson in two weeks! We teach mini-lessons everyday, and so far I have led several prayers and mantras and "Om" chanting (all in Sankrit) and I have taught several poses to my peers. Doing yoga is easy... teaching yoga is surprisingly hard. Every day we have two yoga asana (pose) classes, and we do chanting, breathing techniques, and attend several lectures. It is all interesting, but I have a hard time focusing during chanting and breathing. I love all the asanas, except for Lotus Pose... it's the bane of my existence (see picture below). Luckily, it's not required that I master it here, otherwise I'd be doomed!
Oh, so I injured my wrist and can't put any weight on it... luckily it doesn't hurt at all when I'm not using it, and I have a brace, so it will be ok! At first I was devastated, but we are never supposed to push our bodies too much when we do the asanas, so my teacher is fine with me not practicing the few poses that would make my wrist worse. In fact, she said to use this experience as a learning opportunity, so I'm doing my best!
I have enjoyed learning about yogic philosophy during my time here. Yoga is not a religion - rather, yoga is a philosophy and a way of life that works in harmony with any religion. Practicing the poses (which is the only thing most of us really know about) is a small part of yogic life. The basic aim of yoga is to create balance between our mind, spirit, and body, and they do this through healthful eating, peaceful living, and trying to become connected with God or The Universe through prayer, mantras, meditation, etc. It's an admirable lifestyle, and I am glad to be in this environment! Sending love from India!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
First week in India!
Hari Om!
This has been an awesome week! My first morning in Mumbai, I walked outside and the first thing I saw was a cow in the middle of the street :) I went to Elephanta Caves, which is an island off the coast of Mumbai with lots of stone carvings in the caves. There were lots of monkeys on the island, and they were very cute, but kind of crazy. One of them ran up to a lady, jumped towards her, and grabbed a bottle of soda out of her hands. The monkey ran off a little ways, opened the lid, used his foot to prop up the bottle, and drank the soda! It was a strange sight.
It was a 5 hour bus ride to the city where I am doing my yoga teacher program. On the bus on the way to Nashik I saw lots of random things, like houses made completely from straw, and more houses made from sticks (and yes, there are brick houses too, hehe). I saw guys peeing in the streets, little kids staring at me from other cars passing by, and lots of animals everywhere!
In Nashik I am staying at Yoga Vidya Dham, which is an Ashram in the countryside. It's very peaceful there, and it's a nice break from my normal life and from the hectic Indian cities. I get to see the sunrise and sunset every day, and the stars are out in the sky when I wake up and when I eat dinner! The landscape reminds me a little bit of Utah, with mountains that are rounded instead of jagged, like in Central and Southern Utah.
There are lots of snakes here, and I was so excited to find out that there are cobras here! (If we see one we just tell the teachers and they will catch them and release them far away). I saw one snake the second day here, but it was just a non-poisonous one. I also saw a scorpion, toads, ants that are so big they're scary, and a tree full of lizards! Yesterday during class, someone ran into the room, telling the teacher "snake!!!" So our teacher sprinted out of class and went to catch it. When he came back to class he was carrying a jar with a COBRA in it!!! I was so excited that I got to see a cobra!!! It didn't have it's hood raised because it had calmed down, but it was cool. He released it that night, 30 miles away.
We completed our first yoga exam yesterday as well. I think it went great, and I am so happy I'm here. I'm having a little bit of a hard time because I got a hairline fracture in my wrist about 3 days before coming to India... It's hurting pretty badly. But I've got ointment for it and I'm going to find a splint for it today :D
Tomorrow is the Festival of Colors (Holi, the biggest festival in India) so I'm excited for that!
So, today was just a quick post... I wanted to let everyone know that things are going well! I'm sending my love from India!
This has been an awesome week! My first morning in Mumbai, I walked outside and the first thing I saw was a cow in the middle of the street :) I went to Elephanta Caves, which is an island off the coast of Mumbai with lots of stone carvings in the caves. There were lots of monkeys on the island, and they were very cute, but kind of crazy. One of them ran up to a lady, jumped towards her, and grabbed a bottle of soda out of her hands. The monkey ran off a little ways, opened the lid, used his foot to prop up the bottle, and drank the soda! It was a strange sight.
It was a 5 hour bus ride to the city where I am doing my yoga teacher program. On the bus on the way to Nashik I saw lots of random things, like houses made completely from straw, and more houses made from sticks (and yes, there are brick houses too, hehe). I saw guys peeing in the streets, little kids staring at me from other cars passing by, and lots of animals everywhere!
In Nashik I am staying at Yoga Vidya Dham, which is an Ashram in the countryside. It's very peaceful there, and it's a nice break from my normal life and from the hectic Indian cities. I get to see the sunrise and sunset every day, and the stars are out in the sky when I wake up and when I eat dinner! The landscape reminds me a little bit of Utah, with mountains that are rounded instead of jagged, like in Central and Southern Utah.
There are lots of snakes here, and I was so excited to find out that there are cobras here! (If we see one we just tell the teachers and they will catch them and release them far away). I saw one snake the second day here, but it was just a non-poisonous one. I also saw a scorpion, toads, ants that are so big they're scary, and a tree full of lizards! Yesterday during class, someone ran into the room, telling the teacher "snake!!!" So our teacher sprinted out of class and went to catch it. When he came back to class he was carrying a jar with a COBRA in it!!! I was so excited that I got to see a cobra!!! It didn't have it's hood raised because it had calmed down, but it was cool. He released it that night, 30 miles away.
We completed our first yoga exam yesterday as well. I think it went great, and I am so happy I'm here. I'm having a little bit of a hard time because I got a hairline fracture in my wrist about 3 days before coming to India... It's hurting pretty badly. But I've got ointment for it and I'm going to find a splint for it today :D
Tomorrow is the Festival of Colors (Holi, the biggest festival in India) so I'm excited for that!
So, today was just a quick post... I wanted to let everyone know that things are going well! I'm sending my love from India!
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