Just For Now
"Just for now, without asking how, let yourself sink into stillness.
Just for now, lay down the
weight you so patiently
bear upon your shoulders.
Feel the earth receive
you, and the infinite
expanse of sky grow even
wider as your awareness
reaches up to meet it" - Danna Faulds
I woke up this morning at my regular time, looked at my watch and said, "No way", rolled over and went back to sleep. I so desperately wanted to message home because John and I haven't been able to connect much during the week with the time differance and my busy schedule as our days are full from 6 am to 8:30 pm. and my breaks don't coincide with his waking hours. I attempted to message him at 6:30 a.m. but fell asleep holding my phone in the midst of my message. I woke up in that same position.
I managed to sleep until 8 am and then phoned John on Facebook and spoke to the famjam, which was lovely. I finally also managed to download Skype on my Ipad and was able to see John and Amos Bobamos, which brought me so much joy. To say that I miss home and my family and fur baby is an understatement, as much as this experience has been so enriching thusfar.
Afterwards I went and had breakfast with my yoga family and then went for my massage. It was heavenly. My massage therapists name is Sadhi and his brother is Sani. They are a family of ayurvedic doctors. The oil they use smells very much like Argon oil from Morocco but it's made with many different leaves that have medicines in them when they are boiled with coconut oil. An ayurvedic massge is very similar to deep tissue massages back home - the hand motions run deep into the muscle layers and across them. He is going to make me some oil to take home, as well as some other for muscle aches which have eucalyptus in it with heating properties. My hair looks awesome with the oils.
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| Ayurvedic Massage just up the stairs |
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| Sonhi and Sadhi (brothers . . . Sadhi was my massage therapist every time) |
I spent the afternoon on a chaise on the beach studying my notes and memorizing Sanskrit for all the postures we've learned so far. Spent some time in the ocean which is so incredibly wonderful here - although it feels like bathwater it's still quite refreshing. Everything here just feels welcoming (except for whatever it was that bit me on my first night . . . it didnt seem to want me here).
Alicia and I decided that we were going to work on headstands before dinner because she's had some success in helping others achieve them properly, meaning your head isn't actually touching the floor and there is no compression on your neck. She showed me once and I was up in 2 minutes. We had so much fun. Line came in on our little session too and she was a rockstar. Then Emma came, who has amazing strength in headstands, the little bodybuilder that she is, and we took some incredible photos, which I will post when I get them. Alicia should feel so proud - evidence that she will make a great teacher. She also helped me get into supported Astavakrasana, which is 8-angle pose and just so happens to be one of the poses I said I hoped to achieve while here in one of my first blogs - I had my hands on blocks - if I keep working at it by the end of this journey I will be quite strong at it.
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| The beautiful Alicia who I will forever think of when I get into headstand |
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| Line photo bombing while Alicia and I are in headstand just a short time after Alicia got me into my first headstand unassisted!!!! |
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| Me in Astavakrasana - 8 angle pose |
While we were practicing headstands, Ellie, one of the instructors and Kranti came over to help out too.
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| Kranti |
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| The lovely Ellie and her Bindi lol |
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| The ever gorgeous Laura |
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| Ahhhhhh, I've lost my 3rd eye |
She told us she was going to a Hindi Temple for their Sunday "church" and said we were welcome to come if we'd like. So I decided even though I still had more studying to do, this was an opportunity I absolutely didn't want to miss. So I told Bex and her mom about it as well, and they, Line and myself went with Ellie and Upendra. It was one of the most amazing experiences. The men were seated on the floor playing their instruments and singing and chanting into their microphones. For half of it I closed my eyes and sat in meditation posture and the sound of everything just came together in such an amplified way - at one point I felt like I was asleep but I could still hear everything . . . the music and their voices just found its way into my soul . . . into the deepest krevaces of my being. At one point I opened my eyes and one man in particular was singing with so much passion in his facial expressions and his hands. What made it even more awesome was the joy on the faces of the other men watching him sing. It was very welcoming. A man went around and placed the red dot on the other men's foreheads. The women came in and brought a snack and masala chai and served it to everyone in the room and placed a red dot on all the women's foreheads. We stopped and had a snack (which I couldn't have because it was cookies and such but I kept it and brought it back for the ther girls. After a short break the men started playing again. There was a little toddler girl walking around the room with little Indian anklets on both feet . . . she was just deliciously cute . . . Then I looked over at Line and she was glowing and she just had the biggest beam of a smile on her face (however she always has a beaming smile . . . it's infectious). It made me feel happy.
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| The little temple |
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| Upendra deep in meditation |
I feel so grateful to Ellie for inviting us along to experience that . . . makes me feel so much more in touch with India and its incredible culture.
I would have to say that of all the places I've travelled thusfar, the people of India are the kindest I've met. I don't want to leave.
I'm off to sleep. Another intensive week will start at 6 am tomorrow.
Namaste
J
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