Blogs from Lonavala, Maharashtra, India, Asia

Feb. 5th, 2013 Mumbai airport My flight arrived at the international airport of Mumbai at 11:55PM and my first impression of India was watching all the local people get respectfully and politely on the bus from the airplane to the terminal. In spite of being the largest population in the world I could observed that they were polite and a little more organized and less rude than their fellow Chinese neighbors. I entered immigration and noticed a bunch of lines: visitors, locals, business travelers, visitors with Indian working permits, etc. I could tell that it was a well organized airport. I went through immigration and baggage quickly and without much hazard and headed to find an exchange money place. After I found one I noticed the rate was so crappy compared to the one Kyle had ... read more

Feb. 5th, 2013 2nd day at the ashram Today was my first full day in the ashram. I woke up at 6:15 AM shivering by the cold breeze. The ashram is in an area north of Mumbai in the outskirts near the mountains and so the weather can be cool specially before and after sunrise and sunset. I sat down in the bed and started a thankful meditarion. It helped me see and remind me what are the positive things in my life and what is really important. I felt so great and at peace that the morning yoga practice went through so easily and naturally. After the morning session of yoga, which I have to say was really relaxing and helped stretch and learn basic poses I felt light and so thankful for this experience. ... read more

Feb. 7th- 8th, 2013 Friday I woke up at the usual time for my morning meditation, 6:00 AM, as it was a chilly brisk morning I decided to stay in bed wrapped in a warm blanket and meditate there. I began my meditation, about being able to be free and let the mind stop controlling my thoughts, actions, feelings and others, by taking a few deep breaths inhaling and exhaling on a count of 4 inhaling deeply holding the air and exhaling on the count to 4. It is an exercise I learned at the pranayama class and I have been using it as a tool to release my nerves, anxieties and worries. It really works! After this breathing. exercise, I listened to the guided meditation by Deeprak Chopra center about letting go of control. It ... read more

Feb. 9th, 2013 Saturday I woke up and did my usual meditation practice along with some breathing exercises and then went off to yoga. The class started like usual some meditation and relaxing poses and exercises. I could feel the air on my face and skin and the heat of the morning sun as I was breathing and practicing yoga. The practice went like the other ones for most of the time and when it was almost time to finished about 15 minutes before the teacher asked us to lay down in shavasana (relaxing pose) and close our eyes feel our breath and simply put our mind in blank. After yoga I had scheduled an early treatment at the naturopathy center because I had been having issues with my stomach so they wanted to do some ... read more

I managed to get myself into a wonderful 6 week residency course at Lonavla in Maharastra. Harish, the owner of Kaivalyam in Munnar had suggested that I do the course as he had completed it some time before. And that’s why no one has heard from me for so long! I have been totally consumed with study, study, study. Wow, what a course. The subjects covered were at university level - Structure and Functions of the Human Body, Ancient Yogic Texts, Yoga and Mental Health, Values Education, Yoga and Physical Education. Not to mention 3 - 4 hours of practical yoga each day. I LOVED IT. The girls were great and they treated me just like one of them even though I was old enough to be their mother. I also surprised everyone by doing very ... read more

After the final yoga session, I took a wander into Lonavala to buy snacks for the 12-hour journey to Goa. We then got our minibus at 12:30 for our train at 3:00, so spent a while sitting at the station, which wasn't as busy as I'd expected, but had a fair amount of beggars, child street-performers, and food-sellers, by whom we were all harassed a fair bit! The train arrived on time - listen up UK train operators: if a less developed country, with older trains, can manage it, why can't you? - and we boarded once we'd been shown to the right carriage. Our guides nearly took us to the wrong one, and I wouldn't have liked trailing through the train with my huge pack! The journey itself was surprisingly comfortable, in 3AC class (3-tiered ... read more

I woke up at 7:45, as late as possible before the morning yoga session - the girls have the worst of it, yoga at 7am! Afterwards I skipped breakfast as I had booked myself a treatment the previous day after my massage . . . an enema . . . it was certainly an experience . . . I went to the small room where the treatment would take place. I lay on a small wooden bench, and was asked by the therapist to lower my shorts and part my cheeks, which I nervously did, ant to try to relax, which I tried to do, although the anticipation of what was coming next wasn't exactly condusive to relaxation . . . The therapist then inserted a small yet uncomfortable plastic nozzle, before opening a tap on ... read more

After a really good sleep, and another warm-cornflakes-and-curry breakfast, Kristian and I went to the Cyber Cafe at Hotel Kumar. We waited for 45 minutes after the posted opening time, but despite being assured three times by staff it would open "in 5 minutes" the guy with the key never materialised, so we had to abandon the plan and go back for the bus to the Ashram - which was actually only 5 minutes away. On arrival I checked into the room I'm sharing with Keith (small and simple - the room, not Keith. He's not simple) we had very bland vegetarian lunch, then were given information on the daily schedule and the health treatments available, including massages, saunas, mud treatments and enemas! I fancied trying as much as possible - they're sooo cheap - but ... read more

Slept very well last night - it rained eavily, and loudly, which was very soothing! Got up for breakfast of cornflakes with warm sweetened milk (just not the same), rice dumpling/pancake things, and a spicy curry sauce. Yum! We had another chat about the projects, in particular the teaching (rough summary - assisting the teacher = run a class of 20-30 students!) and were also shown a strange combination of origami skills and quick sketches of Indian animals. I suppose if all else fails and the children start rebelling against the hopeless English teachers, as a last line of defence we've got something we can show them . . . "OK children - lets make paper aeroplanes! No? OK, I'm going to draw on the board - can you tell what it is yet?" Methinks not. ... read more