As of this writing, I have been in India for exactly ten days now. I must say the experience has been something so far beyond my expectations. In the weeks leading up to my trip here, I’ve been mentally preparing myself for the worst. I’m not usually pessimistic like that, but it’s my first month-long trip out of my country and I just had to prepare for whatever comes along my way. However, I did forget to prepare myself for positive things. Except for the Yoga Teacher Training, I didn’t expect much from India. And this place just SHOCKED me in the most beautiful way imaginable.
Where I imagined people to be stuck up and rude, I have only met kind and pleasant people. From my teachers to my classmates to the shopkeepers along the streets of Rishikesh, everyone seems to be in a jolly disposition most of the time. The locals here are genuinely nice, and I’ve never had a bad experience with them at all. I hope it keeps being that way until the end of my course. Where I expected filth and disgusting things, the city where I am is actually quite pleasant. I mean sure cow dung is a normal occurence on the streets of India. But other than that, they keep this part of India really beautiful.
Just a short walk from my hotel is the magnificent Ganges River. This part of the Ganges is still pretty clean. The water is green most of the time, except when it rains upstream and the water becomes just a little murky. A few minutes drive uphill, and the view is even more stunning that I simply cannot describe it with words.
The course is physically and mentally demanding. We would wake up really early because the first class starts at 6:30 AM. It’s usually some form of cleansing (Kriya) the air passages (Jal Neti and Sutra Neti). Today though we tried another type of cleansing, the Kunjal Kriya which is basically cleaning your upper digestive tract. I’ll write more about that later. All the kriya techniques are weird at first, but they all have their merits as well. Lol.
After an intense day of learning all things yoga, we end the day with a meditation class, which I’m still not sure how I feel about. Maybe I need to search deeper. Lol.
I have other things I want to share but more on that later as I have a Vinyasa class starting in 5 minutes. After 6 months of teaching asanas in my city, it feels exhilirating to become a student again. So, there. Til later. 🙂
