Yes, but WHO is I AM?

More time passes, and although the days are filled beautifully with a newfound sense of time and space, getting to internet is not always so easy. After finishing a one month yoga course intensive, I left for Almora with a few other travellers, from the course and from my thai massage school. Funny how life brings people back to the same places, even a set of tiny towns like Almora, Kassardevi and Paparsali. Here, days are sunny and warm, with the sun rising on one side of the mountain and setting on the other. Having stayed in two different guest houses, one without a hot shower and one with:), I know the outside temperature differences between sides of the mountain ridge.
Mornings are filled with yogic ritual, setting up my own asana routine has been a blessing and I am enjoying the energetic effects of holding postures and meditating and just being in this beautiful natural place on earth. There are few restaurants and stores, luckily where I am now, WITH the hot shower, there is a small restaurant and a grocery store, both staying open as LATE AS 8pm... wow, eh?
The first guest house was in a lovely secluded spot, boasting a kitchen and a large balcony with an amazing mountain view. The hotel manager made hot buckets of water for showers and gave free filtered water as well:) very kind! Also, the first night, since the restaurant closed as soon as I could see it from 100meters away, he was nice enough to let me use his kitchen to make a quick dinner of egg and instant noodles!
My friends are staying in Kassardevi, a 45minute walk up the hill, in a guest house called 'Real Place' which, again, is also a secluded spot, but not from other guest houses and also has a lovely large balcony and shared kitchen with a GREAT view... from there, one can see the snow peaked tops of the Himalayan mountain range.. maybe I am seeing the Anapurna circuit from there, where Cash has reached the top of the pass and is having a lovely and inspiring time so I hear.
Tomorrow, I will leave the tranquility of this spot with good memories of Diwali spent here. Several nights of surprisingly strong firecrackers and firework displays in the streets and a memory of being part of a 'foreigner's''dinner with Tara of Tara's Guest House, Grocery store and restaurant. I was honored to be invited to the dinner and had an idea of eating with the family and a few other guests, instead, Tara sat with me and 9 other foreigners, half travelling through, half permanent residents. We chatted a bit, had a lovely Thali like dinner and wonderful sweets and Chai and then all returned to our perspective rooms by 8.30pm:) The days leading up to Diwali, I was asked several times if I 'liked bombs' by the other local grocer. If I had replied yes, I am told he would have led me to the back of his store to purchase firecrackers (which are not supposed to be sold I believe!!). My friends' milkman was injured in the eye by some firecracker or sparkler and was walking around with a big bandage on it yesterday, saying 'no worry, I will go to the hospital TOMORROW!' It is a quiet place here, and the last few nights have been 'exciting', with such a spectacular view of the valley, I can see the local neighbors from kilometers away doing their own light shows to celebrate this festival. The night sky is cloudless and BLACK, with tons of stars viewable... amazing place!
I met a meditation and spiritual leader this morning, trying to awaken my state of presence... working on it, thinking on it and feeling on it now. Was an experience I had hoped for, to meet a spiritual leader. I am not sure of the after-effects as yet, but am happy to have started a new attention focus for myself.
Tomorrow, I leave by local bus for Dehli and will travel to Jaipur by train from there to meet an India woman with whom I know through AIESEC, the NGO I worked with in college:) looking forward to that. Then, maybe Varanasi a few days and back to Calcutta to fly to Thailand and await my dad and Jeannie!

Yogic thoughts

The holy city of Rishikesh celebrated Durga Puja during the first week of my yoga course...this meant that women were dressed in even more beautiful and rich colors than normal, people were playing more music in the street and praying to the statues of their gods and goddesses, AND... our teachers were giving us sweets of fruits and pastries in the morning after lecture.


My last two weeks make me feel like I live here. The routine is: morning yoga practice and introduction of a new asana or position, break during the afternoon during which I either do massage exchanges with a friend from my Thai course, go to the Ganga beach or just relax, afternoon practice and then lecture until who knows when. Busy, busy learning the keys to my state of samadhi, or self realization, otherwise known as enlightenment.

In the past few weeks, I have been doing morning purification techniques like scrubbing my mouth with salt after using a tongue scraper, clearing my sinuses with a netty pot and recently drinking a liter of water to regurgitate it out after. There are more techniques to come and I am grateful to be healthy and energized... I was sick with the initial start of the course and have hung in there and have been very grateful for the full return of my health as of one week. Tomorrow, we have all paired up to do intestinal cleanses.

Animals are fascinating here. A classmate ushered me over one day to see a newborn calf and told me that he watched a man come up to the cow and pull the calf straight out!! I saw a fresh calf on the ground in blood and plasma! was amazing!
The other day, while crossing the Ganga on the Laxman Jhula bridge with a bag of vegetables, a monkey made a swipe for it. I saw the Indian pedestrians moving away from me and then all of a sudden I was protecting myself from a monkey!!!!
Also, of the many cows and bulls wandering free and pooping in the streets (they are holy and so it there sh*t, hence the term, holy sh*t) one bull likes to headbutt walkers by. He has tapped me once in the leg and once in the bum, gently luckily, but he has good aim!
Been enjoying the course, the meditative aspects and the many focuses on opening my heart:) thinking of all my loved ones and sending you all good energy.
Photos to come eventually, here in Rishikesh, computers are slower and the shop owners don't want us to download. The past few days with the full moon came power outages, a big storm and the server down several times.

I finally made it to the Ashram where the Beatles stayed! I arrived near sunset and received a personal tour, seeing their cone shaped rooms from the outside and experiencing a beautiful sunset from high up on the water building.

The Beautiful faces of India

Time and space seem to be different here. There is an amazing way in which people co-exist that is unlike any other culture I have met. The streets of Calcutta are filled with trash, which is meticulously hand sorted each morning and the sidewalks are hand swept and drains unclogged with little metal pieces. Traffic looks like permanent gridlock and sounds like a horn symphony due to a law that if you are going to pass another car, you MUST honk. However, even on a busy bridge such as the one I walk across daily in Rishikesh, Ram Jhula, motorbikes pass the people walking, Cows frequent the bridge and, here is a new addition, so do Monkeys!
After a week and a half spent in Calcutta with the volunteer organizations and making kind-hearted friends here in India to give their time to others without asking for anything in return.... I went to Darjeeling, a hill station with a Himalayan view. It was a lovely town, still amazingly crowded for it's size and of course, altitude and difficult roads. The air was crisp from the mountains and fog came in and out all day long, sometimes allowing brief and spectacular views of the mountains. Instead of trekking, I spent the time at my lovely little hotel, retreating from the former over stimulation of Calcutta with a cold and a stomach bug. The retreat was quite nice, good blankets, nice room with a view and a geat crisp climate that stimulated the desire to cuddle up and read or go have tea and watch the sunset from the upper floor restaurant.

Cash headed to Bhutan in the North and met up with me when I got sick and we both went to Calcutta for a day. I headed to Rishikesh and he is went to Dhaka and is now in Nepal.
Since arriving a week ago in Rishikesh, I have made some very nice friends of yogi foreigners who live in Koh Pha Ngan, met back up with an Israeli friend from my massage course and hung out with the motorbiking French and Australian fellows from my guest house.
The first few days were tranquil since we were all in a little hotel tucked up the hill in a quiet forested location. There was a yoga studio NEXT door to my bedroom and I was happy to practice with the nice teacher. I got to motorbike with my friends to a beach on the Ganga and go or a swim... legend is that it rids you of evil deeds, nice! We also went to a lovely walking trail with several waterfalls along the path and a village up top. I have been exploring both sides of the bridge and enjoying the incredible energy of the place, which has changed a lot since the Beathles came here to meditate with the Maharishi. The tourism is rampent and the people are more businessy than spiritual, but the energy from years of hard-core meditation has left an imprint on the place.
I will be here, taking an intensive yoga course with Agama yoga (trika here) until late October, and then..... plans yet to be decided.
Wishing everyone well.