I woke up this morning seriously craving a bacon cheeseburger. Sigh...

Highlight of the week - I went back to Trimbak, where I saw a beautiful temple last week. This time, just walking down the main street, I looked up and unexpectedly saw another gorgeous temple, with totally different architecture. It was made from dark stone, pyramid shaped, with gorgeous carvings. I had no idea this tiny city has two ancient temples! It was the Indian New Years yesterday, so there were lots of people around. Some ladies outside the temple pushed some bundles of grass into my hands to feed the cows outside the temple, which was a fun experience... except that then we had to pry ourselves loose from them and all the other people begging for money. An eccentric looking monk-type old man then sang us a song with his one-stringed instrument, so we shared some food with him. It was a fun jaunt into the city, and it was nice to escape the ashram for a few hours. As it turns out, ashram life is too mellow for me.

Good news! I completed my course last night and have officially become a certified yoga instructor!!! The exams we had to pass were a little intense: 3 written tests, a 5 page essay, 2 yoga asana exams, 11 micro-lessons, and teaching 2 full lessons. It's not that much, except for the fact that it was crammed into only 3 weeks. I'm definitely going to do more yoga courses and continue my training... this is just the beginning.

Yoga has some very strange practices... we had to drink 7 glasses of salt water (on an empty stomach) and vomit it back out, all together (they say it's a cleansing process that removes toxins from your stomach, and releases negative emotions stored in your body). We also had to pour salt water in one nostril and out the other (to clear the nasal passages), and the examiner had to make sure the stream of water was flowing out of my nose smoothly... I've never had someone look up my nose and grade me on it before, haha.

I went to an Ayurvedic doctor, just because it sounded interesting. After determining my body/personality type, he gave me recommendations for healthy living. He told me to eat lots of honey, pumpkin, figs, bananas, nuts, butter, and yams (yams -> my favorite food in the world). He said that my personality type should eat lots of sweet things (hell, yeah). He also told me to get a massage and a sauna every week - the best prescription a doctor has ever given me!

I have really enjoyed some of the mantras that they have here (they're in Sanskrit, but the translations are nice). Mantras are to help us keep positive thoughts in our minds, and my favorite is the Prayer for Universal Peace:
Let the truth destroy untruth
Let the light destroy darkness
Let immortality destroy death
May all attain peace
May all attain joy
May all become complete
Let everyone be happy
I am not the creator
God is doing everything

I hope this mantra be positive for you as well! Namaste!