Weekend intensity

Yesterday was our first "off day" and we had the option to stick around the ashram and do the basics, or head out on a trip to some local cities and temples. I chose to go out with about 18 others.

We visited a few temples which were wild. It's definitely different to experience these temples when you have an idea of what's going on. Most of it is still way over my head, but at least I can now explain why people bring money and coconuts and whatever else to offer the deities at these temples.

The second temple we visited was a bit out of the ordinary. Its purpose is that it was some sort of a "guardian temple" for all the other holier temples in the area. Somehow that means (symbolically) that it's filled with thousands of bells, notes from people with their personal wishes, and oh yes live goat sacrificing.

Let me preface the following by saying that Swami G did not know in advance that this temple subscribed to the branch of spirituality which involves physical sacrificing of animals. He explained later that the school of sivananda which we are studying has branched far away from the school of thought that the folks at this temple were following. Had he known about the goats, he wouldn't have taken us there.

However, we did go there, and yea there were goats, and when I saw a dude come out sharpening a scythe, I realized...holy shit this is going down! Initially I thought they were just going to slice the goat right there on a dais in the middle of the temple grounds, and there was a great deal of commotion, so I just waited but nothing happened. Finally I realized they were taking the goats out back through some side door and bringing the bodies out in bags dripping blood.

Finally, my curiosity got the best of me an i mosied out back following an unfortunate goat. There were about 6 dudes there. I kinda posted up 20 feet away while they lined the goat up. One guy held the head forward while another pulled the body back. Third dude just got up next to it with the scythe, said a prayer, and took a hack. Like a hot knife thru butter. Gruesome. Both ends of the goat kept sputtering long after the blade went thru it. One dude took the head with him an carried it towards a hill and just tossed it off into some pit. And that was it. I didn't take a video and kind of happy I didn't. Because I would have share it and people would have got disgusted with me. So therefore I hope this description keeps that disgust level down.

After I relayed the story to the other folks who didn't go out back with me, they were surprised I had the balls to do so. Hey you only live once, right?

We ended the trip swinging through a beautiful hill town called Almora which seriously looks like the Hollywood hills or san Francisco from a distance (see pic). Amazing sweets are made there and I went to town on these chocolatey caramel things. It was not a very healthy day.

We eventually made it back to the ashram where we did our evening satsang and then I hosted an impromptu talent show which went over very well. All the staff including swami said it was the beat executed talent show they had ever seen in any TTC they had ever done before (and just after the first week, nonetheless)...I'm not gonna lie, I was on point with my jokes, but we had some really awesome singing and dancing performances which made my job easy. A really fun ending to a pretty busy wild day.

Just about finished up with Sunday now, which has been the best day so far. I will elaborate later.

Day 7 pic

I ate too much junk yesterday

Field trip!

Week 1 done

We've finally got a little bit of a break tonight so I'm trying to take advantage of it to create a substantial post.

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.

Dinner

Every meal is different, awesome, and healthy as this. I'm going to start taking more pics

Day 6 pic

Day 5 pic

Got a bit sick last night, sore throat and lots of mucus.