we-re through week one!

Namaste!

I have been very eager to get out and write to you guys. Now I'm on a combined sugar high from a piece of cake and a technology high from having my fingers on a keyboard again, access to the whole world is intoxicating after not stepping foot outside the ashram for a whole week.

So... its going great!

The program so far has completely surpassed my expectations and is more than I could have ever hoped for it to be. I feel blessed.

That being said, it is very intense. I barely have time to scratch my nose, we are so BUSY! wow.

So needless to say, I haven't left the building except to sprawl on the grass on the lawn with one of the books or manuals to try to speed read as many chapters as I can in the one hour and a half break we have a day.

But I am very happy. I am very happy to do what I love to do and I am just gobbling up all the information I can, and there is aLOT.

We are doing alot of hands on adjustments so we are getting used to touching people in a helpful and respectful way to direct and guide their yoga poses. I haven't had this much physical contact in 5 months. Its quite wonderful. It is funny because all these 30 women are just as passionate about yoga as I am. Their bodies are amazing too. Everyone is in such amazing physical condition.

My teacher is great. Really great. His style is just the type of thing I need to learn. his style of yoga and his style of teaching. I got lucky finding him. He grew up in an ashram since he was 8 years old. He told us a story of how when he was 6 years old he ran away from home and went to a nearby ashram because he wanted to wear the orange robes that the yogis and swamis there wear. The swami there gave him candy and took him home, but when he was 8, they took him in and he lived there and learned everything.

He teaches from direct experience. Plus he also has a phd in yoga, which is something you can only get in India. no, that's not true, canada has one program in toronto. anyhow...

I knew if I just came to Rishikesh, put my feet on the soil, I would find what I needed to find here. I did this on faith. I didn't find out about this training until I was in Rishikish. Having gone on faith and followed my gut instincts, it makes me tend to want to follow my gut instincts more and repeatedly I see them guide me to the best possible outcomes.

So a typical day is like this:

I tend to wake up before the 5:30am bell and shower and get ready and get into the yoga hall early, before the crowds, so I have some peace and quiet to meditate or write. I don't know if my roommate minds that I am puttering around at like 4:30am sometimes. Surely she thinks I'm bonkers, but she says it doesn't bother her. Usually I'm in the bathroom with the light on, writing in my journal, waiting for the hot water heater to heat up for my shower.

We have yoga class from 6 to 8. Usually the class makes me cry at some point during it because my teacher is so powerful in his ability to get you in deep and transforming you and growing you with breath, meditations, and words. He seems to know just what to say, when , and how. I feel like I'm being positively reprogrammed.

Then we hussle downstairs for breakfast. Silence is observed before 9am. Sometimes after breakfast I partake in the daily fire ceremony. Most of the other women don't attend, it is usually just Indian people, which is nice.

then from 9 to 12 we have yoga philosophy and techniques classes.

lunch. then free time from 1 until 2:30 then back in the hall for classes from 2:30 to 6pm

dinner

and then evenings free to study. except monday and wednesday nights when we have 1.5 hrs of chanting, singing and other stuff.

soon we will have an oral presentation, 20 minutes, to present. and a 1500 word essay and then we begin teaching practicum classes. oh and we have a test too.

so this is just the beginning of busy.

it is only going to get busier. but i'm happy. its hard work and you feel like you don't have 3 square minutes to yourself in a day but it is satisfying and rewarding and rich. and good practice for managing your time and being efficient and minimizing your life, pairing it down to the absolutely essential activities like cleaning your body and cleaning your clothes. streamlining everything and dropping anything unnecessary.

it is bizarre living with such a large group of people from my cultural background again.. its like having a mini canada in the ashram. its like i've gone home to vancouver or something. its not like india anymore.

i kind of like hanging out with Indian people and try to spend as much time as possible with them. They are down to earth, practical, unpretentious and straightforward, caring and generous. I find they possess all these qualities that I strive to learn and develop in myself. They are so unself-conscious and unself-centred. it is so refreshing. and i think it is so important for us to learn these things, as yoga teachers, how NOT to have an ego, for example, or how NOT to talk about yourself ceaselessly.

My teacher-s family is very involved in the ashram, which is lovely. His wife, Chetana, is from Canada, and she teaches the yoga philosophy, and they have a 2 year old girl, Uma, and she's cute as a button and running around and the best behaved little girl you ever met. Vishwa's brother is around, and his niece, and his mother lives downstairs and there are many other lovely staff members that I have grown quite fond of. They are such wonderful people.

sorry to be gushing here, but I have to tell you all the good stuff. I enjoy to spend time with the Indian people around the ashram, I find them so grounding for me, even if I don't speak Hindi and they don't speak English, I like to just be with them, and we find a way to joke or smile or play or interact somehow. I cherish these times and these experiences and feel that they are as valuable as the formal time i spend in class with the training. They teach me how to LIVE, how to BE, as a human, as a loving compassionate human being. They are so warm. but I have talked about this all before.

what else do i feel i need to say now?

our cow had her baby today!! she is black, just like her mama. and so BIG! wow.

I think the cow was overdue. I think they were expecting the calf a few days back.

Oh, my back. My back has been doing quite well. knock on wood. one week down and 3 more to go, it seems to be responding favourably to all the yoga and of course, i am being gentle and not pushing too hard. But I am getting stronger, and this is a good thing for my back. i still feel sensations, but it seems to be just staying the same and not getting worse, if anything the increase in my strength and breath capacity is making my posture better so i am straighter and more aligned, lifting from my core rather than slouching into my joints. ha ha, yoga talk.

There is sure alot to learn though. holy cow. All the women are starting to get their voices, their yoga voices. I am lucky in that respect because i[ve already taught a little bit, so i[ve alreadz had to work out what to say when you are teaching. it isn[t easy, that[s for sure, its all about confidence. ( sorry the apostrophe is not working and is coming out as a [ every time)

and of course you won[t remember everything, but our teacher is really good at making sure we hit the safety points, like the things that are potential issues of safety, and of course we have notes for all the details, so we can study them and really get to know them.

I can[t say enough good things about the teacher, he is just SO good.

welll..... i think i might go and try to post some pictures. Try not to be on this computer ALL day.

Peace and love to everyone. Love and miss you all.

Ang