Day 4 update

So on day 2 it was discovered that I have been breathing incorrectly all my life. Mine was seriously the complete opposite of the proper breathing technique. As I breathed in, my chest would expand while my stomach contracted, as I try to fill my upper lungs. This doesn't make any sense since the biggest and strongest part of my lungs is in the diaphragm region behind my abs. Therefore the stomach should be expanding during the inhale and contracting during exhale! The class got quite a kick out of this as nobody else had the same problem. Almost a stupid human trick. I have been unlearning my wrong technique and improving proper breathing over the past 2 days and I'm noticing a huge difference.

We are really making a ton of progress in all aspects of the course so far in just 3 days. Many people who couldn't do a headstand for the life of them on Monday are already pulling it off. There's a pretty neat camaraderie being built up between everyone, male-female-young-old.
As I'm the only white guy, I get a lot of jokes and attention directed my way, which is fun.
Today, during our afternoon asana class, I was holding a strong headstand so Arun helped bring me into the scorpion position where I lean my lower legs over my head, separate my hands and put forearms on the ground, then lift my head off the ground so all my body is supported by my 2 arms. I couldn't hold my weight myself, but hopefully by th end of this course I'll be able to pull it off.
This Saturday a few of us will leave the ashram to visit a nearby town, Almora, as well as a very famous Himalayan temple which should be quite interesting now that I have this additional knowledge about the customs here.
Off to total lunar eclipse meditation...I'll reserve a post for that later...definitely the hardest part of the program.

Day 4 pic

I'm so smug!

Looks like I'll have to move to san Francisco after this is over.

Day 3 pic

View from our balcony...will post better later

Day 2 thoughts

It's only been 30 hours since we got started here and holy crap we've done so much.

We've done 3 physical yoga classes (asana practice), a few meditation and chanting classes, and 2 ceremonial things, along with amazing meals.

The entire day is a learning experience and while some things may be a bit farfetched and tough to wrap my head around (ceremonial deities & chanting, etc.), there is a reasonably legit science behind them that is being explained and it's quite interesting.

There's a great camaraderie between all the students. There are 29 total. I am the only white guy. There are actually 4 other guys, all younger than me, a few other white girls, and the rest Indian girls. Like I said before, they are all very outspoken and impressive.

I've got to head out for the final chanting of the night. Not much time to sit and rest at all but I will do my beat to continue to post updates.

Day 2 pic

4:30am wakeup call

Day 1 recap

Yesterday was theoretically our "intro" day but was still super packed.

After training all night then a 3 hour jeep ride, finally arrived at this beautiful himalaya ashram to meet the other 28 folks an 10 staffers who are leading this ttc.

I have to say I am blown away by the quality of every single person here. Slowly meeting everyone throughout the day was very enjoyable, and when we had our initiation in the evening, it was incredible to find out the stories behind everyone's reason for being here.

The day itself was a bit rough because I was so tired from getting about 7 cumulative hours of poor sleep over the previous 3 nights due to various circumstances (Mosquitos, late night drinking, sleeper train).

I just woke up from a very deep sleep, and it's 4:50 am and I still need to shower with a bucket and get down to a ceremony by 5. I have 2 cool roommates...a 27 year old engineer from Delhi named Venki and a 19 year old named Kalki, but they need to hustle it up!

More later...gotta go now.