2 Weeks in India

hello, hello, hello.....
Wow...2 weeks have just flown by but not really, but looking back it has, but when i was in it it wasn't.....
firstly hope all is well with everyone...i'm smiling as i'm typing cause this is the first contact i've had with anyone for the past two weeks...it's nice....
So obvioulsy i finally have some time to write about the last two weeks...
it's hard to know where to start and summarize not wanting to make anything here irrelevant.
From day one i met the two most amazing people who have definately left an inprint in my heart.
Kim from Canada...one of the oldest in the group and by far one of the funniest and most genuine people i've ever met...(more about her later)
Mukesh who is our wonderful receptionist and who has the most welcoming smile...it's hard to believe anyone couldn't like him...he's one of those people you want to bottle up and take everywhere with you...his smile actually does warm your heart...he's the most beautiful energy.
There are 25 of us students and we come from all, but the majority seems to be Canadian, American, English and even one more Aussie apart from myself...and yes i know everyones names; thanks to a great name game we played on day 3...actually my memory is getting much better here...must be all the lentils!!!
Food...i'll just get this out of the way....AMAZING....i love being cooked for everyday...i love coming into the dining area and knowing that our 4 Nepalise cooks will have each of my meals ready for me to dish up and they are such lovely people...can't understand anything they say to me and nor can they understand anything i say to them..such a wonderful relationship...they prepare, cook and clean just for me (oh and the other 50 people at the resort)...i'm thinking of marrying one of them!!
Now before i get started on the training and the teachers and the students which will take up most of the time, i have to tell you about my accommodation. Originally i was sharing with Kim and Neuong (another student) in the Lake Down room...a very large stone room with three beds and two bathrooms....very very beautiful during the day when you have the doors open and the light and breeze can come through, but at night when it's all shut up...it was like being in a cave!!! lucky that before i moved in with the girls i had already been approached by Chandra (our wonderful resort manager) who guaranteed me that i will be moving to a beach hut as soon as it was finished. The monsooon season had been unpredictable and had delayed building works...a week later...i'm here in my beach hut room..newly built (by hand) and just off the beach...i have sea views from my balcony (and my room if i leave my door open but i'm not in the room that often...our study is kind of insane!!)...We have guards patrolling the resort which spans a huge distance...it takes me a good 8 minutes to reach the classroom and i'm on the same property...it's wonderful...i never imagined it was going to be this beautiful..
Side note: today i discussed how i had realized i had already started to take thing here for granted...like the lovely view, the beach, the food, the whole experience...i had to litereally shake myself and say YOU are in India...you are actually living a dream, living a real culture that you love, you are surrounded by like minded people who are truly amazing...even thinking about it now i have a huge smile on my face....i am in INDIA!!!...i am studying to be a Yogini.....I am actually doing this, emersed in this world where i actually fit in..where people tell the absolute truth...where heart felt emotions are an everyday occurance...where sharing is truly appreciated...where you feel like you're a part of something here and now but also a sense that you are part of something bigger to come....I love that i have done this....I love that i was given this opportunity....Today i vow to mnyself not to take this experience for granted...each moment is genuinely amazing, regardless of whether it is confronting (which each day brings a new confront or several for me!!), loving, exciting, sad or frustrating...it's mine to experience and i want to experience it conciously...(Did i just run off on a tangent...i think it's all the Bakti loving we get here...and yes we also chant and sing...which i absolutley love...:))
Now, again back to my summary of the past couple of weeks....
Teachers....they are great we have 4, Susie and Yamani who are female Bakti (loving) yoga teachers...they generally teach the asana's (poses) pranayama & meditation(breath..which is the most benefical and i now find the part i love the most) dance, chanting, blessing to the gods and the subtle body (our charkra's, nadi's and other forms of energy systems) as well as being our nurturing ears and having wonderful arms to hug and hold you when you break down and cry which you do quite often here...even the boys (of which there are only two but still it's not just us girls)...it's true when they say you meet yourself on the yoga mat...if you're still enough you can't escape it...
The other two teachers are Chris and Alex. Chris is the owner of Ashyana and a very learned Yogi, we would call him the philosopher, Alex on the other hand is our Anatomy teacher and his spirit, fun and lightheartedness keep me going. i'm also lucky to have Alex as part of my 'small sharing circle'. We participate in most things as a large group but we are all very very fond of our smaller sharing circles..we not only bond with these other 6 people we get to express ourselves in a smaller environment...we discuss everything from health, annoyances, frustrating people, impossible asana's, fears, discourangments and generally just the ridiculous conversations you have in your own head about the most ridiculous things but they somehow lead you to an awareness and you'd like to share it with people who listen and care....it really is a nice gathering and we have now started to do these sessions down on the beach at sunset which allows us to also go for a swim after the circle finishes. ...i have to say that at first i was very very resistant to the whole thing...bit schoolish and childish to me...i didn't want to be told who i should share things with...lucky for me i have the best group where we actually do care about each other so you really do want to share and you really really want the other members in your group to share as well.....ok...enough about the sharing circle...you all get it...moving on...
Summary my arse!!! I was never one for a short story though...
i have notes about some days..but some i don't even get a chance to review at the end of the day...you get so tired after chanting, then meditating, then practice, then study, then more study, then practicing teaching, then sharing, then chanting, then homework....
will try to be a bit more vigilent about it in the coming days....
now before i get off track again i have to just tell you all that i love the silence....those hours when you don't have to be polite, to talk about nothing....it's so friggin nice...and i do really well at it...i sometimes even extend it for a couple of hours more when i can....yes, me...not tallking...and loving it...I realized that most of what I say is irrelevant and not worth saying in the first place....what a relief...i can finally just shut the f**k up!!!....not all the time...sometimes i like to hear useless drivel coming out of mouth....it's fun to talk in circles (as we mostly do!!)
ok, study...how about a summary of our usual day....
7am - meditation and pranayama
8am - asana class
10am- breakfast
11am - Philosophy
12.45pm - Anatomy
2.10pm - Lunch
4.30 - Teacher Training
6pm - practice teaching
7pm - Dinner
8pm - Love circle / Chanting / dance
now just in case any of you are thinking well you get over two hours for lunch....by the time you get back to your room, shower, change, go down for lunch, chat to a few people, come back to your room, read your homework, do your laundry and rest your brain for a 10 minutes, you are walking back to the classroom to start the evening session....all i can say is that i am really really glad that i did not study something like Ashtanga yoga (they are seriously regimented) or book myself into an Ashram. At least here we are able to go off site and enjoy the beach, go to the local store, markets etc....(no i have not been to the markets as my first day off i was sick with vomiting and diarrohea and the second half day off i had hurt my back and for the last few days have been in severe pain...but i am one with my pain now :)....sorry yoga joke!!)
moving on again....man i am now realizing how my brain functions.....it's really all over the shop....jumping here and there....must speak to the master guru about that...maybe i can do some hail mary's and be cleansed...oh crap...this isn't a church..i have to actually work through this shit!!!!...i'm starting to love my confrontations...
ok, where was I...yes..moving on....
oh i just realized..... is there anything else to summarize.....
let me see....i've told you about my two favorite people, the actual place, my room, the food, the teachers, the classes, the crying (well i didn't really tell you a lot about that but maybe another time...let not bring this down!!) the chanting (did i mention how much i really really love the chanting...seriously, this is the highlight of my morning and evening...i didn;t realize the effect that chanting has on your charkra's which means it effects every part of your being....i know it's true as it's definately effected me....i can actually sing....well maybe not by myself but as a group i sound wonderful :).....
and yes we Om all the time....kinda love that too....
last but not least and something that is definately worth a mention....
sitting cross legged....all day....yep, all day apart from when we eat...oh no, i lie....we sit cross legged for that too....i am a definate fidgetter....they say that the stillness with which you can sit is the reflection of your mind.....again...back to the scrambled mind.....i'm screwed!!!!...if my knee doesn't hurt then my groin hurts, i've worked through that pain and then i start to go numb..you'd think that's a good thing and yes in a way it's great but then this just highlights the fact that your back is aching and your arse can no longer stand it.......yep....that's my day in a summary....
i think i did pretty well....only a couple of thousand words or so.....
and remember it's not so much the action you take but the quality of mind when you take that action......
Cherished love to all
xxx
andy
P.S. i'll update much more now that i'm in a better grove and am not sick or disbabled.....
love love love and more love.....you can never have or give enough xxx
and yes i do miss you all