The Life of a Yogi

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I left off after our first week of our yoga course. In the end we did a two week yoga course with am amazing yoga guru and person named Mahi. The yoga course was six hours a day, 6 days a week, starting at 7 am until 930 and in the evening from 4 pm until 7. We learned meditation, pranayama's (proper breathing techniques), the philosophy of yoga and assana's which are the yoga positions. What an amazing experience! We were all so sore and in rough shape by the end of the 2nd week, 72 hours of yoga later!!

Mahi is an absolute guru. What he can do with his body is insane! he was just the right mixture of professionalism, support, encouragment, challenge, cheekyness, insparation and hilariousness. His favourite line was:

" I am full power, 24-hour, No Toilet, No shower!"

We never did quite get it, but it was funny!

In the end our little yoga group which was only 7 of us became quite close. On our last night in Goa we had a couple of drinks (this was amazing since we did not drink or smoke anything while in the yoga training) at our favourite restaurant and we broke out into a mixture of dancing and yoga moves. Mahi and his yogi friend Sanjit were competing with eachother on the dance floor and busting out some serious yoga moves.

Although Goa is a major tourist spot in India and more of a western hangout than authentic India, it was nice to set up there for a month. We met a lot of Indian friends which shed a little more light into Indian culture. I realize that those Indian's that do speak english and come to Goa are probably more upper class and present a certain perspective to India but it was great to relate to people of the same age and hear about their lives and experiences being from a very different culture.My one friend and I went out for drinks and he was telling me how him and his mom have been fighting for 3 years now because she wants him to get married. he is 24. he is opposed to this because he said "he does not want an arranged marriage. he wants to know who he is going to marry more than 6 days before he is married". I suggested he tell his mom what he likes in a partner and ask her to pick three women and he will pick from the three. he said that it doesn't work this way and who his mom choses is influence by the gods. its really amazing to hear of the challenges people our age face in this culture. Imagine our parents picking our life partners! I found a lot of the Indian people I met that were my age in a tricky position between Indian traditionalism and the influence of the west and an evolving society.

Alas, we said goodbye to our friends and western comforts of Goa (specifically lemonana juice which is a blend of mint, lemon juice, ginger and sugar, oh how I miss you!) and went inland to Hampi. Hampi is a little town with 16th century ruins from the Indian empire surrounded by mountains of rock boulders, banana plantations. rivers and rice fields. hampi truly is Shanti Shanti -Peaceful. I loved it.

We decided to pitch our hammocks for several nights and found the most shanti place of all. We climbed up onto a rock boulder mountain and there was a temple, clean flat floor, with boulders, a place to call home for the next few nights. We would wake up in the morning to a beautiful view and have an empty temple to practice our yoga and meditation skills. The best part of all is that all though we had the place to ourselves we had two appreciated visits. the first was an Indian man around 7pm our first night. He kept saying "quack, quake". Eventually I said, sorry sir we don't have any cake. Then he lifted his bag with a big smile and said, " banana cake, coconut cake, lemon cake" and we quickly realized that he was selling cakes in his bag! Of course we bought a few. The next day at 8 am we had another visit from an Indian man. Again a big smile, we had a little chat with him and then he wanted to know if we wanted to buy some weed. Hampi truly was a magical place!

From Hampi we have come south to the state of Kerela and are in a town called Kochi. Kochi is a historical port in india and its colonial history is obvious. Just in a little short walk along the streets you'll see colonial buildings with Hindu's, Muslins, Jewish and christian followers all going about their day. Kochi is just a little pit stop for us and we are heading a bit more south to Amma Ashram. She is one of India's few recognized female guru's and is known for giving hugs to all who come to see her. Guru's aren't always at the ashram and I do hope to experience her energy. After the Ashrams we will check out the backwaters in the area we are in and a wildlife sanctuary before we head north on a 42 hour train ride!!!! (shoot me) I am glad I am trying a hand in meditation because I think I will need it for this trip.

All in all I am really enjoying Indian culture. They seem to be a really honest culture. Even though when you want to buy anything the price is always inflated by double, Indians are really bad liars and it show's all over their face. The smile you also get from So many Indian people just melts your heart. I still haven't figured out what it is. I really struggle with the garbage and cleanliness. We are in a perfect spot for seafood at the moment and it is very tempting. However on our little walk past all the seafood stalls yesterday (A lot of stalls sell fresh seafood and then restaurants will cook it for you on little grills on the side of the street for cheap) we were contemplating buying up, then we came across a little river into the ocean which litterally smelt of shit and probably was filled with shitgarbage. Needless to say I will remain vegetarian while in India.

Well that's a mini thesis.

Hope you are all well. For those of you in Van keep me posted on the Olympics.

much love.
xox

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