A yoga retreat in Holt City Of Varanasi

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Varanasi day 1
Val and I took a rick to the airport early Saturday morning for noonish flight to Varanasi for our yoga retreat with people form The Yoga House in Bandra where we do yoga every weekend. Arrived at airport and checked in, had coffee and a few yoginis also on the retreat. The flight was smooth, I read and listened to music and chatted with Val. We arrived at Varanasi around 2 o'clock and our yoga teachers were waiting for us with 2 vans to go to our hotel. The first impression I had of Varanasi was that it looked like a small (but of 3million people) town. The main road for the airport into the city was two lane going both ways with lots of green and dirt areas along the sides. There were typical Indian convenience shops and lots of people on traditional Indian bicycles, bicycle rickshaws and lots of cows and goats. It looked like time had stop 50 years ago. People had their home doors open sitting on the porch chatting With friends, children playing on the street a very relaxed slowed paced way of living. We got to our local colonial British style hotel check in and went to our rooms to relaxed for a bit. At 4:30 the phone rang and it was the yoga teacher telling is to get to the front desk it was time for our sightseeing tour of Varanasi and the Ganges. We drove through Varanasi's traffic with ricks, cars, bicycles,motorcycles and lots if cows and goats. It was definitely a cultural experience very different than Mumbai. The streets were narrowed and full of dirt and sometimes there would be a circle in the middle where a police officer would stand to direct to traffic. We got to the Ganges Ghat and explored for a bit taking photos and drinking chai from small clay cups. I got a henna tattoo on my hand (that barely lasted a few hours) that a very cute smart 12 year old girl did for me. We got on a two floor boat and cruise through the Ganges watching the Maharashtra's castles, the ashrams and the temples and the rituals of the Hindus burning the bodies of their relatives and the ritual to say goodbye to the sun by singing and chanting mantras. It was a beautiful evening

Varanasi day 2
Yoga on boat Assi Ghanges ghat
I woke up at 5 AM and met the others at 5:30 in the lobby to go see the sunrise from Assi Ganges Ghat. We got to the ghat and lots of people. Where there already.there was a group of woman dancing and chanting and singing to a tune and we heard the voice of a women chanting and praying in Hindi. It was the sunrise welcoming of the sun ritual. We then got on a boat (same as the day before) and placed our mats on the top of the boat and started our 1 hour yoga session as the boat moved towards the beach on the other side of the river. The class started with chanting om and then the sun salutation, followed by warrior poses (which were tricky to made without falling due to the movement of the boat) then we did (tried to do) tree and balancing poses and ended the class with shoulder stand and meditation. We then got off the boat (had to put legs and feet in the Ganges river) and walk on the beach. Jogging, doing yoga poses, jumping and photos shooting were a few activities. It was a fun get to know people bonding activity. I was the only person who wore her flip flops to get in the river (I couldn't bear to put my feet in the gross dirty sand of the river.) I hope I am sin free and clean of bad energy as I did submerge in he Ganges up to my knees!!

We then headed to the hotel for breakfast and a nap. My friend Val was feeling better so she joined us for breakfast.At 1:00 we headed to Sarnath temple and museum. It was a cool temple to visit with lots of antiques from the British times in India. We walked around the streets full of bikes, motorbikes, ricks, trucks and cars and had some Indian snacks (nuts and peanuts and dried fruit) and then head to the temple and it's gardens. We walked around a garden with an open area where a stupa was supposed to exist before. Took pictures with the monks and walk around the ruins taking pictures and enjoying the calmness and peace of the temple. We sat for about 30 minutes for meditation and there were a few locals sitting chanting and praying which was pretty cool and made he experience even more authentic and peaceful and calmed. We then headed back to a smaller Buddhist temple where the Bodhi tree is and some praying flags and bells. We headed back to the car and back to the hotel. It was pouring so yoga was cancelled so instead I did a few asanas I like and find challenging (salutation of the sun, stretching, pigeon pose, warrior, balancing poses, crow and headstand. We had delicious dinner and headed to our rooms to rest for the next day

Varanasi day 3
Woke up at sunrise to head out to the ashram on the Assi Ghat Ganges river to do yoga. The yoga class again was a hatha class and it moved flowy like the other classes, we did a series of sun salutations, balancing poses and arm balance poses and finished with head stand.
We headed to the hotel to shower and changed and head out to the Kashi palace and temple Banaras
Hindu temple. The Palace was beautiful, but lacked mantainance and care. We took some photos of silly is doing yoga poses (see my yoga around the world Facebook album!) and headed into the Varanasi market to try and see another temple.

The market was another tradition Indian market were you entered a big area with vendors of food, clothes, religion goods, souvenirs, pharmacies, toiletries, hair products, whatever you can imagine was sold there. Then you started wanderkng in through the alleys and eventually you were in a maze full of shopping stalls. It was raining and humid and very hot and loud and I become anxious when I overwhelmed and I am overly motivated by sensory overload. I started to sweat and mumble to Val that she could not understand what I was saying. Val and I decided we did not want to go in the temple and we would wait outside with Arcal one of he yoga teachers. At that point we were standing or leaning on a small area by a wall holding bags of he others and I started thinking of my previous trip to India around Rajasthan with Kyle and how when I was anxious he would calmed me so much by simply holding my hand or hugging me. Without any logical or reasoning explanation I had tears in my eyes and burst into tears. Val and Arcal tried to comfort me, but Arcal said something truest the tears roll and On my way out it is a process let it be! By the time others came back fr temple I had stop crying, but I was nostalgic and wanted to go home. They ate some pain puri ( a ball of dough dipped into a sugary syrup) and a few minutes later we were on the way fly he car. It took awhile to navigate around to exit the market and when we did we all sat on bicycle crickshaws Val and I shared one and headed to the car. It was a bumpy and overly sensory load way and all I did was close my eyes and breath to release my anxiety. We got to the hotel and grabbed our yoga mats for a well deserved relaxing class and headed to the ashram.
The yoga class was amazing I wa sable to focus and relax and let out all the anxiety from he day. I felt so much lighter at at end. We had chai and dinner and then chatted as the Indians do. It was cold and I wa skier wearing a sweatshirt and a hoodie ( the yoga teachers gave as a present a few wool scarves to some guests, but not to me and Val we were pissed and cold. I was ready to go home by then, but we didn't until like 9 PM. I crashed on my bed until 4:50 when the alarm started to ring
Varanasi day 4
We woke up at 4:50 am and got ready for a last day of yoga on the Ganges river bank ashram.
It was a cold morning and we were all bundled up in layers of clothes and warm wool cozy scarves and chals. The class was hatha vinyasa. We went through some chanting and breathing and stretching exercises and then started our sun salutation. It was cold and my body did not get warm up for awhile. We did a few twisting , bending and backward bending poses. We moved to standing balancing poses and ended the practice with the head and shoulder stand which now I can do on my own and without too much wall support. We drank chai and chatted and ate some sprouts and headed back to hotel to pack up for our noon flight. Val and I wanted to buy some postcards, wool scarves and other things, but the retreat was not well planned we ended up going after yoga on our own with the driver we had and spent about 10 minutes shopping while the drive back and forth to the hotel was about 45 minutes due to traffic. It was a shame for us and a bit stressful, but we got our wool scarves at least.

We grabbed our bags and headed to the airport.

Traveling Tips:
Flights with IndiGo are cheap and excellent service if you book in advance.

The Yoga House is a yoga CENTER in Bandra Mumbai and it is a vegan cafe also excellent delicious food and awesome yoga classes.

We stayed at "fancy" for Indian stand antes hotel, but it was far from ghats it is better to say on the river.

February-March gets cold about 5-10C be prepared for rain and cold

Sarnath temple and palace are beautiful totally recommend it

The Varanasi market is really crowded and is basic a street food, clothes whatever you can get type of place there is a temple at the top, but it has many entrances and for foreigners. It is paid and only one entrance available. I did not go. But was told that it is a traditional Hinduism temple.

The ashram were we did yoga was really basic as traditional Indian yoga ashram with single or double rooms, shared bathrooms, food was served on aluminum trays and was all vegetarian. The view of the room where we did yoga (open space) was towards the Ganges.

- Traffic is insane!!! Buses, cars, motorbikes, bicycles (with luggage up to the height of a truck seriously!!!), animals, cows, dogs, sheep, goats, cats, horses, rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, pedestrians, etc.

- lots of restaurants to eat on the Ganges river ghat.

- must see sunrise and sunset rituals in he Ganges.

- we went to a few museums ( history culture of the city), I cannot remember he names and my friend Val had a few questions and the guide did not answer any. I would skip it.

I enjoyed Varanasi and the yoga it gave me some clarity in my mind and soul. I wished I had spent a few more days just walking exploring and discovering it on my own not in a tour.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Namasten

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