very calm You seem very calm and engaged - perhaps two of your favourite ways to be?? You also look amazing. I am a little under the weather. Vancouver was van-tastic (going from above 0 to way below it in one week has caused a bit of havoc with my immune system) I want to move to Tofino. But that is a longer, more personal email to my sis. Happy for you,
love bics
yoga is love hi, Oh....... thanks for going into details about your course. It gives me a lot of hope as I know Yoga to be the entity that you have described here and these are the reasons i live, love, create and breathe!!!!!!!! I will have to start saving up to visit mysels soon and can't wait to hear more and practice with you when you return. Love you!
holding hands Ah, interesting. Andrews father always holds his hand and I have often thought it to be such an endearing gesture...
of course, its cultural! I should have known!
namaste you have no idea how much i adore your missives!! every day i read your entries with eager anticipation and it takes me right back to india!! your words are so evocative and the photos excellent in quality and choice. thank you for sharing your journey with all of us lucky observers. tell us more about the yoga if you can. just a note re: auroville, where i have been longing to go - i'm doing a gurdjieff course and my teacher just got back from a month in south india and found auroville highly disappointing. he reported it was insular, unwelcoming and they just had 2 incidents of women being attacked!! so sounds like you're not missing much. when are you back to delhi? cyn
thoughtfulblog Lemon,
I think your last blog was very interesting (although this French colonial town looks really great!)and it really provoked some good discussion. I guess you hit the blog sweet spot! Blogs are supposed to inspire such exchanges aren't they? I'm not exactly sure why misery is more "real" than joy.... but perhaps that is another blog! Off to Vancouver until March 1st, my first trip out there!!! Love you.
Checking in Pondicherry! Where Life (of Pi) begins. Did you see a zoo anywhere? Tigers roaming loose? Really, really busy these days, cousin, but I never miss an entry. You look great. Love, M.
reality is as reality does Of course, as a visual artist, i have to agree with you totally about reality being based on subjective perception. I like that you have rather haphazzardly included the pink shanty home in your photos. I think it expresses an interesting and important question about subjectivity.
You need to go to the third world country only once to know what real poverty is all about to discover the smells, the noises, crowds and garbage of different and very often unimaginable dimensions. Mariellen - your compassion and subtlety about it is so right!
Hi Mariellen I appreciate your sensitive approach to photographing people and places there. I can understand how it might feel a little weird to go around taking pictures of people's misfortune. I'm really enjoying the stories and photos and look forward to each new entry.
By the way, I'm not sure how many people are at KYM, but Rosemary Antze is coming with a group of people sometime soon, maybe this week and my friend Melissa will be with them. Look for a tall, very friendly girl from Texas. I'm teaching her class for her while she's away.
Take care.
Oh! -Hookey! I thought you said you were "playing hockey" and read for three paragraphs before I said "when is she going to start talking about hockey?"....just so you know Canada has wayyy more medals than India at the Olympics....
Thank you Mariellen,
Thank you for honouring my request. I have been enjoying all the pictures you have taken since your arrival, and I feel even more of a sense of understanding with the pictures you included today.
Being nice has nothing to do with reality, and, I understand your friend's wish to conform.
If you have read Siddhartha, you will remember that it was his witnessing of the suffering that motivated him to work for the benefit of all sentient beings and awoke his compassion for others. Before then, Siddhartha had never been exposed to anything but beauty and positivity and had no motivation to change anything.
I was more moved today by those pictures than any of the others, although the others were beautiful, but more moved today, in a heartfelt way.
Thank you again, and I wish you all the best with your studies and experience, and look forward to more blogs.
Shawn
my sore foot! you are funny in that way that i so appreciate! My sore foot... ha ha ha.
Its definately your path to be forced by destiny to meditate your way through the first portion of your studies! It will stand you in good stead, in my opinion... as you and I both know asana is a smaller part of the very large yoga experience.
It sounds so wonderful and I am truly wishing I was there with you, but my time will come when it comes!
Keep me posted and write me a personal email when you can at your beloved cyber cafe!
say hi to mo and tiffany for me.
Christine
How do you pronounce Mysore? A good question from your friend Deb. Let us all know. Ahhh life eh? You are travelling around the exotic land of sacred animals and temples and I am spending my time fighting with our home insurance company while the temperature drops to minus 10.... Mysore does look amazing and I am very happy to hear that you actually visited a Maharaji's palace. Mom would love it. Love xoxo, your sis from the land of snow and toques!
I loved Mysore too Mareillene
Your reactions to Mysore mirror my own. It is a lovely city...and i have some of the same photos. Glad you're having such a great time. I wish you well with your Yoga School. All the best wishes,
Eva
Mysore question Hey Mariellen -- as usual, great pics. Just curious, how do you pronounce Mysore? Being trapped in my all-Canadian mindset, I keep reading it as "my sore" -- not an appropriate name for such a lovely place. D.
ARjuna's penance Hey Mariellen,
what synchronicity! In my class at OCAD yesterday (Thurs. FEb. 2), we were looking at the bas relief of Arjuna's penance and specifically at the detail of the cat in the bottom left of your picture. I knew I should have emailed yesterday to see if you were off to see it! I'd love to see it
love to you Siobhan - we miss you but are supremely happy at what a wonderful time you are having.
Rabbits! Damn you.... Gary also got me first, he looked out the window first thing in the morning and said, "hey I see some wildlife..." and then he made me guess every animal in our Peterson's guide until I said rabbits. I can't believe every month he still gets me. Well it is now groundhog day over here, not as exotic as a temple devoted to Vishnu but we have our rituals too I guess. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the carved temples. Wow. More of that please. Chennai looks very cool, so far my favourite place. Take care Lemon, love Vic.
You are in Chennai! Dearest Mariellen! Cybercafés being what they are in India, I have only today got round to reading your blog, it is awesome! I also fell in love (you know this love and hate thing?) with India and plan to come back again soon. I met my friend OK in Delhi and we travelled Rajasthan and then Mumbai/Goa. It was fascinating :-) I have subscribed your blog and am looking forward to hearing about your yoga classes. I am looking for an ecological retreat/hotel in Kerala or Tamil Nadu - if you see something nice when travelling, could you please let me know? Good Luck for the future! Christina from Rishikesh(christina.julius@gmx.net)
First of February is a special day Hi Mariellen: Thanks for the wonderful travellog..I had to laugh when you said "rabbits" as I had just said it to Uncle Vic when we awoke today...yes, it's a family thing....keep safe..Love, and Kisses
snow, snow, snow Lemon! Looking forward to hearing about Chennai. We are having the weirdest winter! Saturday it was practically 10 degrees! and we went snowshoeing without coats. And then yesterday it snowed and snowed and snowed and then, in the middle of the night it rained! No skiing which is a drag but the warm weather is keeping us outdoors more. Lovin' the blog!
Please visit my new site Breathedreamgo.com for updates. I continue to write about India, travel, yoga, spirituality and other topics on Breathedreamgo. Please visit me there. I am dedicated to sharing the beauty of India's culture and ancient wisdom with the world.
I began planning to go to India in January 2005, during yoga teacher training in Toronto, and left for my first six-month trip on December 4, 2005. I have been back five times since then, for a total of 14 months in India ... so far ...
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very calm
You seem very calm and engaged - perhaps two of your favourite ways to be?? You also look amazing. I am a little under the weather. Vancouver was van-tastic (going from above 0 to way below it in one week has caused a bit of havoc with my immune system) I want to move to Tofino. But that is a longer, more personal email to my sis. Happy for you, love bics