Week in Pictures

I had a puppy for a day today! I've been walking past him for a few days now and on my way home today I scooped him up and took him to my bathtub and gave him a proper bath. It turns out that he was not a brown puppy after all, but blonde with brown spots, after which I aptly named him. We took a nap together and then I returned him to his residence or section of street where he was happily received (though no one noticed that he'd gone missing, but seemed to appreciate that he was now clean).

It's Thursday and I've taken the day off from practice. It seems easy to try to over-achieve here. The room that we practice in is so hot and steamy that your muscles can seem more flexible than they really are and you don't really notice that you might be over-exerting until you get home. It also doesn't help that Saraswati will come around the room and contort your body for you if you're having trouble getting into a posture. so..... understanding my limitations is the challenge at hand.

The last week has gone by quickly. Tuesday was a moon day and we did not have practice so a group of us went to Bandipur National Park on Monday for a quick overnight safari and mountain trek. Several of the girls rode elephants, we watched their bathing and feeding, and then took a night jeep ride to see them "in the wild". I was a bit skeptical about this "safari" that entailed a convoy of loud diesel jeeps driving along the main roads, but sure enough we saw a family of 5 elephants crossing the road- a big bull, a mother, an adolescent, and two babies. We convinced our driver to turn off his exhausting jeep and disco flashing Shiva dashboard ornament so that we could quietly watch them go by. We also saw a big horned bison, several groups of wild boars, spotted deer of the Bambi lineage, and a lot of stray dogs. My jeep was also shared by a family of 5 from the UK- the mother and father were teachers at a nearby international school, and they have just completed the first 6 months of their 3 year contract. Jack, their oldest boy taught me the most useful Hindi phrase I've learned yet, "nahi chahiye" which basically means "I don't want it, leave me alone" and has already come in quite handy. Then we had a big sing-along consisting of various Disney tunes from the lion king and jungle book and some Billy Joel and oldies. How did those kids know oldies? They reminded me of memories of my own family roadtrips.

As a group of girls we got the run-around more times that you can possibly imagine. We'd arrange a taxi bus for 8 which would end up being a taxi for 6, so we'd conveniently need to pay for two. The same goes for elephants. I didn't want to ride one anyway. We were literally smuggled over the border from one state to another in two separate jeeps in a maneuver that I still don't fully understand, but think had to do with the number of passengers in a vehicle, because we were then promptly crammed into one vehicle for the rest of the 2 hour journey. Here, a yes nod can mean no we don't have any or no I don't understand and a side to side head wobble means something like... "I can hear and acknowledge the strange language that you speak". Drivers will say that they know where they are going even if they don't so it's best to provide very clear written instructions that they can hand off to bystanders to interpret at stoplights.

But yes, the mountain trek! We climbed to a beautiful overlook of the national park and I enjoyed watching the sun come up over the jungle mist. We saw evidence of sloth bears, elephants, and bison, but had no big animal sightings that day. The scenery and food were the highlights- an all you could eat buffet of Indian specialties 3 times a day. I have a new love for fried stuffed chilies and curd. My sweat has taken on a new masala aroma, but no one seems to notice but me.

Here are some of the latest pictures: Spot, Elephants, Bandipur National Park, and my harmonyogis in practice. It's been a good week. More to come soon!

The Story of Stuff

Thank you to Bonnie and Tom Thompson for sending me the following link! www.storyofstuff.org This is an incredibly comprehensive and quick look into consumerism, how it affects us all (at home and abroad, from people to the environment), and what we can do to promote a cleaner and happier future. WAIT wait, are we doers at all? NO the universe is conspiring for us to get our acts together.... CHECK OUT THIS LINK, PLEASE!!!!!!

FOOD.

Today I did a lot of eating. It's Saturday, so we had a led yoga class early this morning and then about 8 girls and I went out for breakfast at Tina's. What a find! Hannah and I shared a high protein porridge (a wonderful buckwheat colored bowl of mixed grains with raisins, dates, honey and fresh tahini-peanut butter), millet toast, scrambled eggs with veggies, a fruit salad of papaya, coconut, pomegranate, oranges, and banana, and each had a smoothie for about 100 rupees or $2.50 each... expensive by Indian standards! but they were definitely catering to the western palate and wallet. I took a nap, checked out a pranayama (breathing) course, and then went to my favorite local spot for masala chai, coconut cookies, and a snack of set dosa (rice/dal pancakes with curry and coconut ginger chutney). Next I was off to the coconut stand to sip and suck jelly from a young tasty green one and chat with Hannah and another woman, Betty. Now here I am at Anu's, the best internet hub in town. Whew.
All this talk about food! Can I please tell you how superior the Indian style of toilet seems to be for digestion! I really think they have something there! Good posture, alignment- it really gets things moving!! Maybe you should consider that for your bathroom remodel mom and dad... :)

Yoga update

Now I know why they call this place My-SORE. Day three of yoga and there is progress! It's nutty here. Here's a link to a YouTube video demonstrating the warm-up we go through 5 times before beginning the Ashtanga primary series. The man teaching is Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the founder of the method and of the school that I am attending in Mysore.

Ashtangaaaaaaa

OOooooo what a sweet little shady spot I've gotten myself into. I have ESCAPED the hustle and bustle of Mysore (Lonely planet was lying when they said that Mysore was a lovely city that rewards a slower pace- It does seem to be a tourist spot for Indians, but it is crowded, loud, littered, and has street after street after street of little shops containing every trinket you can imagine except the ones you're looking for) and now I find myself in pleasant Gokulam, about 4 km west of the city. Here there are very nice houses, big trees lending shady streets, quaint neighborhood shops, and tons of yoga people from 'round the world. Which is why I've here too, as yesterday I signed up for a month of instruction at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute (http://ayri.org). I've found a wonderful room to stay in on the upper level of a family home, and the women who live there were thrilled that I wanted to cook with them, so I'm headed home soon to learn some dish I'd never heard of. I'm sure it will be delicious though. If not delicious, at least spicy.

Today was my first day of class, we started with the first three parts of the Ashtanga sequence. I was a bit intimidated- the shala is a large room that fits 50+ students at a time and many of the students are quite advanced. In my "beginner" group there are several yoga instructors (does that make me a double beginner?). I'll try to explain the scene a bit better in a day or so when I've got a better grasp on it.

I'm in a wonderful spot though. Right now I'm sipping on a papaya mint lemon honey smoothie in the most incredible email garage joint you can imagine. Supposedly the banana chocolate peanut butter smoothies are where it's at, but unfortunately I'll have to miss out on those. This is definitely the social hub of the yogalites with a full restaurant, cooking classes, juice bar, wifi, and at this time of day 5 people outside waiting for me to finish this blog so they can have a turn. Poochie the Daschund is keeping them company though.

To my family that worries, have no fear! I have arrived! I'll send some pictures soon. Things couldn't be better, I am loose with the big smiles... and the funny thing is, everyone smiles back.
LOVE to you all.

TRAIN-love. Sat, Jan 12th.

I simply ADORE the train. Prior to the trip from Bombay to Bangladore I was not so sure about the 24 hour trip ahead of me, but it was unreal. It seemed like a good glimpse into the true nature of the country. The train station in central Bombay stood amidst impossibly large English Colonial buildings, clearly showing age but maintaining such an exotic air that I half expected to see jeweled elephants carrying loads of ripe bananas or basketed royalty marching by. but no. I had to make do with just the architecture and the stately palms. The train left the station and made several stops in the outskirts of the city to let on new passengers and vendors selling hot chai in little cups (5 rupees! ~13 cents), cookies, buttermilk, samosas, etc. We rode through miles and miles of slums- grey cloth and scrap cities surrounded by rubble and trash. People everywhere with seemingly nothing to do. Occasional new highrise apartments or projects rose out of the mire, with green manicured shrubs on each floor corner and on the roof. I wondered about who lived there.

The landscape gradually began to change, taking on a look similar to parts of Southern California. Instead of big oaks though, the trees were massive mimosas. A giant rock plateau to the west formed a solid wall with colorful bands of soil and rock and later gave way to rolling hills with occassional settlements. Unbuilt cities of brick were laid out by women and children to dry in the sun, while the kilns that they fired them in were tended by men. Goats, roosters, cows, and peacocks roamed free. Train station platforms would fly by in bursts of color (the women!) and then greys and whites (the men) as if segregated by color instead of sex. Mountains gave way to plains, gave way to hills, gave way to the starry night, and I tucked into my sleeper berth for the night. Oh but not before lunch and dinner! Egg biryani twice for me, because I like hard boiled eggs a lot. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner cost me a total of 90 rupees, or about $2.15... plus 3 chai's and some cookies and some fruit... maybe $3 for the day.

I arrived into Bangalore this morning and hopped another train to Mysore. That train had better food than the first, fruit and nut biryani with raita and curd rice and pickled chilies. The landscape here is much more agricultural- coconuts and a seedling that I forget the name of used to make Roti. Mysore is bustling around me now. I've got a quaint hotel in town, and I'm headed out to do some exploring now.
More later!

Mumbai! Thursday, Jan 10th

Mumbai is loud, busy, crowded, crumbling, building, hot, colorful, full of new smells. I have not yet recovered to the flight over- I lie wide awake at night in the shadow of the distant sun outriding its western afternoon and listening to the sounds of the night here. There are so many. taxis honking until 2 in the morning, men calling to each other or singing ancient songs to the dark alley gods. I blink and suck air from the sweetly dark humid night, with such clarity of thought and energy that sleep doesn't even feel like a faint possibility. TONIGHT, though, it seems inevitable.

Yesterday and this morning I woke early and attended a Satsang held in Ramesh S. Balsekar's apartment. Tom Thompson in Southern Pines referred me there and I found myself in a small apartment with 30 or so other travelers and Indians, many of whom have been in attendance on and off for many years, listening to this 84+ year old man's concept of God's will or cosmic law and our connection with it. It is heavily based in the idea that we are in essence non-doers (though our egos incline us to believe otherwise), incapable of altering God's will that lives and acts through us. We can act, but we have no control over the outcome, whether it means success, failure, or is beyond our expectations. so the answer is simply to do what you feel like you should do in each moment, trusting in God's will, and attributing your own free will to your genes and past conditioning, neither of which you can alter (though conditioning is always evolving). By accepting that you are incapable of doing anything on your own (since the ego as a seperate entity is illusory) you absolve yourself from guilt and blame, and can have harmonious relationships with the other instead of one based in rivalry, fear, distrust, jealousy, etc. It was very interesting stuff. Very interesting dialogue, with old Ramesh driving his concept home. After question and answer everyone goes to a nearby cafe for chai and lunch. That's how I came to find the private guest house I'm staying in. The little old couple who owns the flat is very sweet and the place feels very safe.

Today I went to the train station and booked a ticket to Bangalore in the morning. it's a 24 hr trip, so you won't hear from me for a day mom and dad. I leave tomorrow morning, 9:30 PM thursday night for you. I will likely stay there for at least a night and then plan to go to Mysore in the mountains to escape the heat (supposedly it's not even hot yet). I'll let you know when I change cities.

This afternoon I went to the Mahalaxmi temple on the shore, dedicated to the Goddess of wealth. I checked my shoes outside and waited in line with hundreds of women heavy laden with fresh flower garlands, coconuts, and lotus flower offerings. The men's line was significantly shorter. I pressed a rupee coin to the back of the temple wall with my thumb and it stuck (apparently a sign of imminent wealth- good, I need it) and got dabbed on the forehead with orange powder at the Hanuman temple. It was really a beautiful and colorful ritual to observe. VIBRANCY!

will write again in a few days.

Saturday, Jan 5th

Two days before departure, and things are starting to get a little crazy. (Not that they weren't before!) I dropped Lee off at the airport to fly back to Portland tonight, and am reassured to find that my heart is still capable of both joy and sorrow in strong fast beating strides. Joy for inexhaustable heart spaces. Sorrow for the complications of repeated comings and goings.

My family is very worried about my safety. To them I extend: Thank you for your love and support! I will take it with me and keep it close and will make decisions that protect my health and honor your concerns. I love you. I'll miss you. I will stay in touch via skype (thanks dad!) and email, and you can check this page to see what I am up to.

I am grateful to my friends and family who have supported me and shown me so much love in the past year. Pam, Rick, Chuck, Katie, Kevin, Tyler, Kurt, Jan, Pat, Gail, Mom, Dad, Linds, Liz, Rachel, Breigh, Evan, Clara, and last but certainly not least, Lee. Thank you. This has been a time of constant change and I feel truly blessed to have you all in my life.

I'm very optimistic about what the next few months hold! Stay posted for updates here if you are interested!

Much love,
Namaste.