Day one is not really day one as we are on a bus and traveling from Delhi to the ashram on the banks of the river Yamuna ( the female river, Ganga being the male) near Dehradun and Rishikesh in northern India....in the foothills Of the himalayas. However, I guess it is day one because it is a part of the shared experience which will form a part of our yoga teacher training journey.
We are eighteen, teacher included. We are from Lithuania, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, India, Singapore, Australia, Austria, Mongolia, Jordan and the United States. We are as diverse as we are similar, as experienced as we are novices, and as tired as we are energised.
I only hope that at the end of this long bumpy jerky bus ride we are all happy to be.
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| Yamuna at Sunset |
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| Check out the Trident next to this Swami at a kali Temple near our Osho Ashram! |
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| Everyone was curious... |
So I am entering back into blog mode on day 13 of our 21 day program. It has been tiring, challenging, painful, fun, interesting and educational. I do not know today what the next day will look like. Today we are in silence. Still doing our Asana practice, having Yoga Sutra lectures, Pranayama, Yoga Nidra, and practicing Mudras and Mantras whilst we meditate. We have learnt about Koshas, about the Mind from a Yogic perspective and of course lots of Anatomy too.
The location is magic. Thank goodness there were no Ashrams available in Rishikesh and we had to travel three to four hours from there for our final destination.
Rishikesh is a zoo, a yoga factory. It has its charm and the Ganga is there.
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| Bath time in the Ganga |
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| Me in the Ganga...well my feet anyway... |
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| Also on the banks of the Ganga! |
I felt as excited standing in the Ganga as I did standing on the Great Wall of China under a year ago. The energy of that river is immense. We went in via the Hare Krishna temple so the chanting and the enormous statue of Shiva only added to the reverence of the occasion.
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| The local girls did not mind us taking pictires. |
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| We visited this school and celebrated with the children in song and dance. The school has received aid from children OS and is about to move into three new classrooms. |
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| I love this lady's face...she broke into smiles soon after this snap was taken. |
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| Using Yamuna |
Back to our location. An Osho Ashram on the edge of a sometimes acceptable Himalayan Road, about fifty kms before Missoori. Villages, beautiful terraced farms, monkeys, bird life, cows, goats and children make for a fabulous environment. Of course it is India and an Ashram. My mattress is less than two inches thick and made of cheap foam, I bathe from a bucket each day ( down to one now, it was two buckets full) we mostly have power, more times than not, we eat simple food each day and sit for about seven hours a day and do about three hours of Asana practice. My hips are sore, really sore! Mostly our lessons are in a huge pyramid but sometimes they are on the banks of the river.
...and finally... I returned home earlier than expected as that sometimes happens, right?! Not to worry, I will complete my Yoga Teacher Training albeit not in the way I first imagined. I have become part of an amazing group of Yoga Teachers from around the world and intend to continue the journey into a deeper understanding of Yoga now by attending the Santa Cruz yoga Institute in Mumbai ( the oldest YTT facility in the world...so they say) for their month long Yoga Teacher Training course sometime soon!
*When I stood ankle deep in the Ganga I reflected on how only a year ago I was on the Great Wall of China ...both heart opening, significant events for me. Truly great moments in my time. Riding home now in our bumpy tourist bus along crazy indian roads I felt something in my trouser poket. I opened the zip and found a five yuan note. Double blessed to be even further reminded of this great planet and the amazing opportunities I have had to experience her close up and personal... From a Hutong in Beijing to an Ashram on the banks of Yamuna in the himalayan foothills. In one year.
