Ashram living...

---

First train ride on my own was short and sweet, acompanied by Shantiram i relaxed straight into my 45min ride from Valkara to Trivandrum, feeling that things could only get better!
Sara a Canidan lady i'd met and not really got on with in Gokarna then bumped into and connected with in Valkara had took my advice and was coming to the Ashram as well so we met at the station & i had one last coffee and cigerrtte before catching a 45min Rickshure to Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram a.k.a Yoga boot camp! I'll start you off with a preview of our daily schedule:
5.30am- Wake up bell!!!
6.ooam- Satsang (Satsang consists of silent meditation, chanting and a talk or reading on the philosophy of yoga and Vedanta. It will help you develop a meditation practice.)
8.00am- Yoga Class ( We offer separate morning and afternoon beginners and intermediate classes. For beginners, classes follow a two week structured course commencing on 1st and 16th of each month. Students are introduced to the practice of pranayama and the 12 basic postures. For intermediate students we follow the regular Sivananda class including variations.)
10.00am- Brunch
11.00am- Karma Yoga (Karma yoga is the practice of selfless service which helps guests to feel part of the ashram. You are expected to do up to one hour of selfless service per day within the ashram.)
12.30pm- Coaching class (Receive help with Asana's, breathing or any other issues)
2.00pm- Lecture (Talks covering the 4 paths of yoga, "The 5 Points of Yoga", Vedanta philosophy and other topics in yoga.)
4.00pm- Yoga Class
6.00pm- Dinner
8.00pm- Satsung
10.00pm- Lights Out!
So first night after checking in to a 36 person female dorm, Sara and i decided that Satsung was a little too much for our first night and the thought of waking up at 5.30 sent us into a deep sleep by 9pm!

4AM!!!!! All the other women in our dorm are doing the Advanced Teacher Training Course so are up at 4am to start classes at 4.30! The first few morning this woke, and confused me.
5.30AM! Every cold, dark morning is started with the sound of a ringing bell! Much like a fire alarm we are woken and given 30mins to drag ourselves out of bed in the Shiva hall, lucky the bell is rang once more at 5.45am to remind/rewake everyone.
Excited by the thoughts of a new life style i was up and ready by 5.45 so Sara and I made our way to the Shiva hall to place down our Mat and sit in silence.
At 6am a Swami appeared/appears on stage and begins a 5 mintue guided meditation before telling us to continue on our own for 30mintues. For a amiture mediatour i'm finding this one of the hardest things at the Ashram, as its offensive to point the bottom of your feet towards a Swami or an Idol you must sit legs crossed consently, try it! After around 10mintues it starts to hurt and after 10days i'm afraid things hardly get better! I am finding that i can stay for longer in the position but it is incriably uncomfortable! So every morning a silent 30mins, where sometimes i must admit i fall back to sleep as its still dark and the amount of thoughts in my head seems to never decrease, then 30mintues Chanting, in sandscript! The words are beautiful, but its very repetitive, when a verse goes upbeat people clap, play tambourines and some (including me) close there eyes a sway!! After chanting the Swami chooses a book written by Swami Sivananda and preaches for 30mintues going of a tangents this is my worest part as i feel i am being force into religion.
7.30am We get Tea!!!!! YAY yummy!! Quick change into yoga pants and off to the dining hall for morning yoga... First few days starving by this point! Am use to no food till 10am now though.
Most amazing yoga teacher and helper a lovely Canadian lady and English lady, Janiqu and Davitu. The first few classes were very slow with lots of relaxation and not many poses or stretches, everyday we've been adding to though and the positions are becoming more complex e.g head stand!!!
For the first few days i was attending beginners morning and evening which was great but its exactly the same class and i just began getting ready bored so i dicided to try 'gentle' yoga... To my surprise and glee gentle yoga is actually more like power yoga with a crazy older German lady saying "This is how Sivananda would do it... But you could also do it like this" Its really fun and diverse!
The Ashram has many rules... No smoking, drinking, sexual relations, you can only go outside at certain times and to certain places, you must attend the full daily schedule or you will as Sebastian (a South African guy i've met a made friends with found out.) be woken by the Satsung police chanting Om or asked by staff, where, why what... ect.
Feeding time at the Om Shanti house... Well food is mush, tastless 😞 The ashram follows a pure vegetation diet No Eggs, Fish, Meat, Garlic, Onions or stimulating food. We all line up outside the dining hall, chanting Hare rama as we enter and saying pray and hailing the Swami's before eating, in fact we start and end every class with a chant, hail and bow down... :/ We then must eat in silence as talking takes the vital energy away from the body's digestive system.
My karma yoga is working in the boutique, along with Seb and Pauline. We jumped up when the position was offered and after nearly two weeks with the manager, we relise why others didn't. A very hard Israeli woman, she is rude, aggressive and mean! Not at all the kind of person you expect to come across in an Ashram, but there she is bossing the Karma yogis around and shouting at customer that take to long or ask a question. I did for a while have a feeling that she was putting it out to teach us a lesson and test our patshions, but now i've relised she is just a hard mean woman.

After all that has happened in the past few months the shedule of the Ashram is such a relief on my tired brain... I am told when i eat, sleep, walk, everything. Its almost like falling into a trance, a bell rings and i move on to the next place, eyes fixed.. one foot in front of the other, its so reliving to almost be mothered by the daily routine. Many emotions are passing me by but unfortunatly when i do grab hold of one, it takes me far away, deep into the root of it and i've had a few hours of serve depression of loneliness and fear.

Om Shanti

Love, cuddles and hugs
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

---