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Published: April 11th 2009
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McLeod Ganj
view from my room A sunny Sunday morning and my last day off in my yoga teacher training before I complete the course next weekend...
I have just been for a massage that involved having Tibetan singing bowls placed on each chakra and hot herbal compresses on all my joints which was pretty blissful after 3 weeks of an average of four hours of yoga a day. My body feels pretty thankful for some attention. After a somewhat iffy start involving doing my back in during what I think was the first yoga session of the course (guessing that the lawnmover relatde back injury on Waiheke hadn't healed properly) and spending the first week unable to participate properly and getting pretty wound up and dissapointed I feel pretty good right now. I do know that my body does not really like doing this much yoga and it's a strange thing doing something that's acually very good for you but doing it to such an excess that it isn't, but after 3 weeks I feel pretty accustomed to it and am really starting to reap the benefits too.
I chose the Himalaya Yoga Valley teacher training course in McLeod Ganj on a whim really...
yoga
daily asana practise all I knew was that I wanted to be up North because of wanting to be somewhere with a cooler temperature and liking being at high altitudes and I already knew that I didn't really want to spend another month in Rishikesh and so after looking at the Yoga Alliance website to see what courses are internationally recognized in Northern India and which dates are feasible this was the only course - so I had no idea about the quality of the teachers or anything or even specifically what kind of yoga it would be - just that it involved some asthanga and some other influences.
I feel really happy with my choice though - it is well organized, well taught and there is a nice variety in the classes. One of my teachers is Indian and practises Asthanga, which as I knew before is really not my cup of tea as I find repetition rather loathsome and I prefer a slower and gentler approach and the other teacher is Canadian and has more of a Hatha and Iyengar approach (my background) and is very creative in her teaching. So the last 3 weeks have involved getting up at
with Lalit
one of my yoga teachers six, doing an hour of meditation and chanting (which I also find quite loathsome and on the odd occassion find myself shamelessly daydreaming the entire way through - past lovers seems to be a favourite topic ) then half an hours silent break for tea and journal writing followed by a two hour asana practise. During the next break I usually make porridge in my room or go out to a cafe and then there is a two hour either philosophy/anatomy or aryuveda lesson before a two hour lunch break. The afternoon consists of one more 1.5 hour lesson and then 2 hours of asana or asana teaching/assisting etc practise.
Apparently there is a tendency for people on the course to find the second week the hardest and I really did have a shitty week feeling exhausted and fed up and rushed off my feet the entire time with no time to process or relax properly or even really enjoy the yoga. The worst bit was feeling guilty about not being full of love and light because isn't that what one is supposed to feel doing all this inner work and yoga? And so by judging myself it made everything a lot worse until I started forgiving myself and making a commitment to honour however I was feeling - and of course as soon as I did this and cleared some space inside me to feel I did feel much better.
This third week has been a really enjoyable one though - we have started focusing more on actual teaching practise and experience and I am so happy to teach. It has been such a beautiful experience watching everyone else grow and shine through their teaching and observing my journey as my teaching style develops.
Back in New Zealand I calculated my Mayan astrology signs and discovered that I am an .... "electric blue monkey" ! The 'electric' bit symbolizes how in this life time my path is in the 'movement of energy'. When I discovered this it resonated so deeply in me... I had always thought of my gift being in 'making shit happen'... I always seem to be the one to get things going, organize things, facilitate things and 'making shit happen' is really the same as the movement of energy. But movement of energy also describes a lot more than this... movement of energy inside me, inside of other people and what is yoga if not this? The Movement of Energy. And what with my joy of teaching, I am totally in the element. I am also discovering how true it is that we teach what we need to learn ourselves. My lessons seem to be really focused on being fuly engaged in the present moment and working intensly with breath...and this is so what is beneficial to me what with my tendency to not do things mindfully and have my head in the clouds.
I have not had much time for much other than yoga and my time in McLeod Ganj is really taken up with eating in restaurants - I managed to finally see the Dalai Lama's temple yesterday with Alex from the George who I bumped into the other day in a moment of grand serendipidy. We spent a long time drinking tea and catching up which was beautiful - it's been a while since I have spent time with a good female friend. McLeod Ganj does not feel like India really - most inhabitants are Tibetans in exile and the steets are laced with stalls selling momos and Tibetan singing bowls and cymbols etc. The walls are plastered with freedom for Tibet posters and all manner of courses on buddhism and meditation etc.
I have made a new friend here - an awesome dude called Balance who is a shameless hippy and activist in his late 50's who has many stories to tell (he's spent a year in a Thai prison, been to parties with Albert Hoffman and went to the first ever rainbow gatherings) and believes he is actually from Uranus, which led me to believe that maybe I am too what with out connection and having felt like I'm from a different planet most of my life too. He is an incredible loving and ego-less being and have really enjoyed the time we have spent together. He re-introduced me to "a course in miracles" again and so I have been reading 'The dissapearance of the universe" and having my mind blown somewhat.
Yesterday whilst sitting in a cafe I started talking to a guy about his Enfield and asking him about where in Himachal Pradesh he would recommend I go if I want to find a quiet and peaceful little village in the mountains and stay there for my final month and he then offered to take me somewhere of that description in the nearby area and before I knew it we were whizzing down a mountain road with a 1975 Enfield purring between my legs. At the end of a really bumpy and winding narrow mountain dirt track we came to 3 guest houses at the top of this mountain with the most stunning views all around and thousands of white butterflies fluttering over the valley. This one guest house had just one room on the top floor with windows on three sides to watch the sunrise and sunset and a huge terrace, perfect for yoga - ticking all of my boxes for where I want to go after the course. So I have pretty much made the decision to go there after next weekend for at least a week before heading for some more adventures to Parvati valley and beyond...
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