Every day is nonstop from 5AM to 10PM, with just a few breaks to shower and relax. We have daily "homework" assignments as well, so much of our limited free time (10-20 minutes 3 times a day) is spent doing that, not to mention hand washing laundry. Luckily they gave us 2 uniforms that we can rotate.
I've said that our teachers are amazing but I haven't really elaborated. There are a total of 10 staffers. 2 of them are officially swamis, who have been initiated to this highest level because of their dedicated lives to the sivananda practice. The head swami govinanda received his education (gurukula) directly from swami visnudevananda who was the top disciple of swami sivananda who the practice is named after. Swami govinanda is the most senior Indian swami alive today underneath this yoga umbrella. He leads all our meditation and chanting sessions as well as giving us all of the history and education about the yoga theories. He's a very smart funny dude and is incredibly knowledgeable and wise about almost every topic. Sure there are a few stories and things that don't pass my sniff test, but he provides a fair amount scientific research to back some things up.
There's a lot of spirituality being taught. It's a modernized school of Hindi. Interesting stuff, and it's all adapted to accept and integrate all religions of the world today (you will see Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, and Buddha in some of the chants). It's a bit tricky to keep track of all the millions of Hindu gods and goddesses, and their symbolism, etc. It's also a bit farfetched at times, but at the end of the day, it's an interesting methodology of living a good, healthy life so I am able to respect and appreciate it all.
On the physical side, asana practice is led by arun, who has been teaching for around 25 years. He is an amazing instructor with a great sense of humor. He is assisted by 6 other professional teachers with multiple years of experience. As we practice our asana poses, as well as our breathing and relaxation, they are all walking around the room assisting and correcting people. We do our asana practice twice a day and I have already discovered hundreds of things I have been doing incorrectly my whole life and I'm making many improvements. Every student is going through this same transformation. One of our teachers is this huge Lebanese dude with a shaved head (not mike Hanna) who is extremely inspirational to me and has really pointed out many deficiencies in my practice and helped me big time. He's a jokester and the only other Quasi-white guy around.
Throughout these classes, our teachers are also showing us how to actually lead a yoga class...duh that's what were supposed to be here for! It's quite intimidating but the power you have as a teacher is really amazing. Telling people to breathe and move and everything and having them follow your every word is exhilarating but comes with heavy responsibility. We will be advancing in this regard very quickly in the upcoming 3 weeks. Thus far I have been singled out for praise from the true teachers when we have done our brief teaching of other students.
The food has been nothing short of amazing. It's all organic vegetables and different everyday and always delicious without any bad shit in it. Night and day from any diet I've ever had before. Of course it's all u can eat so I can easily get myself in trouble here. While you can use a spoon, most people eat with their hands. I've done it a few times but I prefer using the spoon when the meal is so loose. Currently my duty or "karma yoga" at the ashram is to serve breakfast to everyone. It's pretty enjoyable. We also have 2 tea breaks and the occasional sweet which is again a healthy Indian sweet as opposed to any other candy I've ever eaten. The chefs make all this stuff from scratch in the ashram which is kore or less in the middle of nowhere 2 hours from the closest town Himalayas. It's pretty awesome.
Tomorrow is our "rest day" but I've decided to go on the optional trip to this temple complex 3 hours away. Well also stop in the "local" town of Almora so it will be nice to see a bit kore of this beautiful area. Got to Hit the sack now.
4 comments:
I am so enjoying your updates.
Keep up the good work.
Is the meditation you are doing TM?
Thank you for keeping in touch.
Love you, miss you,
xxxxx momma
kinda sounds like prison
I think if papa was still alive, he would get on a plane and join you there! Gigi says Atta boy for him and oy galvalt!
GREAT JOB! I read that it is a 2 month program. But you are only doing a month?
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