The Last Half Of Training Time

Besides my failure of overcoming the Wi-Fi addiction, last week routines went well.

 

Our ashram had a 2-day event: two Swamis were here to give treatment to ill people. The place was packed, we had to stay upstairs for our breakfast and fruit time. This ashram is a certified Ayurveda centre so whatever prescription people got, they would buy from here. It's another way for the ashram to earn some income. Avelino did ask for treatment on his aching joint too.

The Kriyas, Asanas, Pranayamas training were increased with new ways, new advanced poses each day... But I avoided all since I know My limitation, I just stayed with what I have learned previously and tried to practise or refine those poses like Headstand and Crow...I asked my teachers to let me use the wall because they will not be around when I get home. So now I seem doing the Headstand OK at the wall :) I fell backward once in the middle of the room when i tried to do it on my own, thanks God I didn't break my neck! Never again. I am content just to take away only what I learned, no regrets.

We were assigned to teach another class called Beginner's class but I disagreed with Bhooma in some of the poses on his list like Shouderstand, Plough??? He even assigned me a session that I was supposed to demonstrate the Headstand pose to the 4 in my group who already into Scorpion. Huh? He gotta be kidding me! I spoke up that I only teach what I know, and HS is not one of them! He had to talk to another student to switch her session with mine. Sigh! I wouldn't teach my Beginner class with his list! I would call his class a Progressive Class (like 8-week training)

On the plus side, these teaching practice classes gave my neck 5 days rest from Bhooma's afternoon master classes. I won't push my body anymore. I have learned the techniques to do and to teach. I am OK with what I gained from this course.

Yesterday we did a Kids Yoga class, it was fun to release all human tensions from no Wi-Fi days. I know now that I was not alone in this "addiction". They just didn't show their emotions as I did :p)

This morning we did a Pregnancy Yoga class, everyone had to put a pillow or anything that made us look pregnant. It was hilarious! No pics from me though.

Well as of today--Wed, we have two more days of training. I will be at the airport on early Fri to pick up G (my best moment:) Sat will be graduation day and a feast to follow.

As Bhooma and his team will leave the ashram on Sat afternoon, G and I will stay couple more days to figure out a plan for our holiday together. The group will all go separate ways but the memories will stay with everyone of us. I am glad I completed  the course the best I could, and grateful for the teaching and all yin/Yang experiences ;)

Reflection and evaluation will come later when I get home. It's time to have fun!!!

A Moment of Weakness

(Corrected date for this post is Sun Jan 27)

Hmmm! If you read my previous post, you must be proud of me and thought I have changed or emotionally improved from the training. Not really, I haven't--self awareness told me so.

After 6-7 days without Wi-Fi, plus knowing the possibility of not having it for the rest of time until I leave the ashram had brought my patient level to zero!

Out of all low living standards that I am adapting and enduring, I couldn't handle days without connection with Gunther and the people like you who care and want to know how I am doing. Attachment! Attachment!

At first, I was able to control my thoughts and just took ACTION: skipped all my meals in one day at the ashram (bought some bananas and pastry) so I could walk to the Internet cafe a few times. Unfortunately, there was possibly a kind of Muslim holiday here plus the weekend, the only Internet cafe we have here was closed for 2-3 days, each time I went and patiently sat outside waiting with hope that the owner was going to show up and open it anytime soon.  I should have taken a pic so you could tell how desperate I was.

My spirit slumped as I returned to my room, My REACTION was crying. Bhooma tried to talk to me but I couldn't answer his knock on my door. I knew in that state of mind, silence is my best solution at the time to prevent saying something to him I might regret later.

Well, obviously I was not at peace with myself! I still could blame on the "full moon" for my mood though ;) But no, it must be my "stinky brain" (G's words), or ignorance, or ego... took control in my mind according to what I have learned from the Text.

So there, at least I admitted and recognized my weakness on this path of self-discovery. I still haven't got rid of this kind of emotion yet! Now I could say I had the worst moment in this training too; and maybe I am not a true yogi either (?)

"I am what I seek", Srī Ādi Śańkarācārya. I should contemplate on this quote.

Edit: We got WI-Fi back on the evening of the 7th day without it.  Thank you to some had sent their reminder, encouragement, wisdom...Let there be Light!

A Day Trip For The Soul

On Wed Jan 23rd--the day off from training, there were two groups going two different places: a group of 4 girls (one is a guest) decided to return to Varkala Beach; I was in the other group of 8 with Bhooma to go to the Peppera Wildlife Santuary.

We left around 6am, had breakfast half way there. Bhooma allowed some of us who wanted to order omelet for breakfast. First taste of eggs after 21 days! Who said habit can be changed after 21 days? It didn't applied to me though. I even bought a sundae to eat in the car. Hey, I gotta feed my body before my soul could be happy, I was justifying my action :)

Got to the Santuary before 10am, waited for the two guides to show up. The hiking and climbing begun. It took us about one hour to reach the waterfall. The trail has different sections: flat, rolling, big rocks to climb up, small bamboo bridge.. It was a challenge since my cardiovascular level was at the lowest. However, I didn't seems doing so bad on the way up, but descending was another story. My knees were surely not happy. Bhooma and one of his former student, Helen, who both patiently hold my hand most of the time to help me descend at the rocky sections. Have I told you I am the oldest person in this training group?
The best part of this trip is unforgettable!  It was all worth it the minute we saw the waterfall. We Wwere all happy, connected, swimming, dipping in the cooling clean water... Then delicious lunch provide by the guides for some with chicken and tapioca (cassava in Canada), some with vegetarian portions.  We were allowed for another 1/2 hr back in the water while Bhooma was climbing up to the the top of the waterfall. With his lean healthy yogic body, he seemed so natural in the jungle!

Plus a surprise to the group, or to me at least, as  Bhooma asked us to do 2 Pranayamas (breathing practices) with the sound of the waterfall on the background, then we did the tree pose together. I believed we all emerged into nature at this moment as I felt the energy.
On the way home, Bhooma decided to show us Kovalam Beach--we had to pay the driver extra 100Rs/each.  Therefore the route was changed, we had to go through Thrivamdrum city during the rush hour around 3-4pm. That when I felt a little car sick, took Gravol right away, that helped!  I notice the different between Kovalam and Varkala beaches are: there are more local people at Kovalam beach, where cars can be park closer. At Varkala beach, we need to walk down the cliff to get to the water.

We were only there to watch the sunset at Kovalam Beach then heading home. One more time, 3 of us who wanted no-vegetarian food were allowed to go to another restaurant on the same street. My intention was to order a Chinese disk which was only available without meat! However, I guessed this Indian Chef couldn't make any authentic Chinese food, my Shanghai noodle was nothing like the real thing. Well, I was trying to have a break from any dish with curry taste. God laughs as I planned!

Couldn't ask for a better day as a last day outing of this training.

A Day Without Wi-Fi

Could I make through Tuesday Jan 22nd? You might ask if you know me well ;) Or better yet I should ask myself, and I did--self study/enquiry. My affirmation was: "Acceptance is the end of suffering".  No sense to whine the WANT, and just made the best of what I got for this day. Isn't that what I have been learning from the philosophy sessions?

First, actually I was appreciated for having more time to prepare for the exam in the morning.

  

Then in the afternoon after fruit time, I had so much free time (no karma yoga for me--we take turn in a small team to clean every other 2 days) and it was too hot to go for a walk to the Internet cafe, so I decided to browse around the ashram: I circled the front yard and saw an old lady, who was quietly making strings (necklaces) of fresh flowers for daily offerings to the deities. Then I wandered beyond the lunch room to the kitchen and met some ladies who were sorting dry herbs, washing the pots & pans, or cooking our dinner...

I was also allowed to go in the section where they making medicinal medicine from dry herbs. I cherished these moments because I felt connected with these people even we couldn't communicate much due to language barrier. They were happy to "talk" to me, I showed them pics of my husband, my Dad, baby nephew Ryan, baby niece Ella...

After dinner, my group took a walk through the neighborhood. There was a kind of religious elebration going on for days from one street to the next. Streets were lighted up, drummers played with passion, people were starring, curious about us. Especially kids with whom I never get tired to interact or to have pics taken...

Before the group's walk, I tried to head to the Internet cafe but there were only 2 old computers and they were occupied with kids so no luck of contacting :( I managed to borrow Ragesh's phone to leave Gunther a quick message.

By the time we got back, it was time to pack for the next day's adventure, and to hit the bed asap because we all agreed to start the day trip at 6am to beat the rush hours traffic.

To me, this day obviously was a test or a practice which I was thankful for having a day off from the iPhone & iPad. I simply got time to do something else :)

Edit 3 days later: there was still no Wi-Fi, my patience is getting thinner by days! I know you all might wonder what happened to me. Knowing overcoming the adversities in this training is part of finding what I am made of, so I continue to experience everything: power and water shortage, the unreliable Wi-Fi, the boring "baby food" meals which I have no interested in the recipes, the mouse, ants, pigeons living in the room with me... I am more self-observing now; but there is a moment I just wanted to shout:"get the freaking wi-fi working now before I go crazy here!" LOL!

Internet Down

Le wishes to share more of her experiences with you but due to internet problems, she is not able to post anything at this time. She will continue to publish once an internet connection is available... stay tuned.

Just Moments

- In the last three days, having tap water in my room after more than 2 weeks relying on buckets was a blessing! But it didn't last longer than that, no water today--Sunday.

- Doing better in Headstand (didn't stay up long though) because even my teachers were there to "catch" me, but they decided to let me figure it out on my own way ;) I remember a famous quote in India (from The Exotic Marigold Hotel movie): "Everything is going to be alright at the end; and if it's not alright it is not the end yet!" How true! My journey to Headstand continues, LOL.

- Bhooma came up with an idea that we each should teach one round Sun Salutation in his class using our original language. I tried but ended finish the rest with English. It was a truly embarrassing moment! But I thanked Bhooma for the great idea. Now I know what will be included in my plans when I get home ;)

- Yogesh announced there will be a philosophy exam next Tues. that created a wave of reaction! Some didn't do the daily lesson summaries had no objection, but the ones who did submit them didn't like this change of decision. I was in the later group but stayed neutral. However I let the Yang energy affected me negatively. After that, I didn't have a great afternoon, or liked the dinner...

- I had just learned from Yogesh that India has lots of ashrams where anyone can come to eat and sleep, no charge! No wonder some of Bhooma's previous students had been stopping by to visit and stayed for certain time...This must be the country where they practice Giving or Offering, Serving or Sharing...and these ashrams' expenses are covered by charities.

- As the last week of training will go straight up to the graduation date Feb 2 without a day off, we only have one more day off next Wed Jan 23. Bhooma gave us two choices for this last day outing: either go back to Varkala Beach OR go to the forest and see waterfall. (Check this out: http://teamecoventures.com/new-offers/) I chose the Dip in the Falls at Peppara offer and will be in the group of 5 to see something new. The cost is $30US including the 2-3hrs drive (part I am not keen of), lunch, the trip, and the guide.

- Had a touch of cold but I fought it and won :)

- Interacted with many young local students who were in an assembly at the ashram for a lecture about Gandhi (?). Awesome kids who just wanted to know my name and to shake my hand!


- Had a rough Sat night and Sun morning: woke up by a mouse in my room at 1:30am, he knocked down stuff above my sink, went in to my bag of food then to the garbage can again later when I threw that bag in there...I couldn't go back to sleep after that because I was afraid that mouse get on my bed!

- Skipped Sun morning tea time and meditation time to catch up 1/2 hr sleep but almost missed the group official picture taken. Didn't think I would look good after a sleepless night.

I said: " What next...?"






   

Teaching Experience

I did it! It was my first time ever to intentionally teach a class without any demonstration. I have 4 in my group to lead verbally, to observe, and to adjust their forms. What a difference experience!

Self-evaluation:

- being able to switch my "groove" from a student's back to an instructor's before the class: "JUST TEACH IT!", self-talk so I wasn't nervous, even Parameswaran was auditing.
- chanting hesitantly because of Sanskit and surely I am not good at it.
- tumbling on the first set of Sun Salutation while cueing right & left leg...but getting better after.
- looking at the sheet and the timer so often because this is a different style (Sivananda's) and time limit for poses set by Bhooma.
- feeling intimidated by one advanced student who was deliberately staying in the wrong positions to challenge me the whole time. Hmmm, Should I thanks her for doing that? Why not?;)
- admitting my weakness with the class that I couldn't lead them in the Crow pose because I couldn't do it myself. So "do it as your own risk!" I said. LOL! (remembering Maureen Rae, my teacher, told me once:"Teach only what you know")
- forgetting completely one part in Savansana (tensing up different parts of the body before relax them)
- rushing a little in the 2 Pranayamas so I ended finish early 5-10 minutes.

The well-constructive feedback:

 - "we like your calm, relaxing voice up to pranayamas, then it became rigid when you did the counting; was not loud enough in chanting" All said.
- "standing at the wrong side while adjusting Headstand, you might get hurt if that person dropped her legs on you face" P., my teacher said.
- "your hands were at the wrong spot when you lifted me up in Fish pose" Advanced student said.
- "you could press harder on my back while adjusting me in Child pose or Paschimottanasana" All said (my response was:"I would if you were my regular students and if I knew how well your body was in certain poses, safety first!")
- "you had the wrong feet position in Trikonasana" advanced student said. Did Miss Perfect pick on me or what? My explanation was that I mixed up with my old yoga style ;)

The rest of time was the discussion of my past teaching experience and the comparison of different yoga styles I have been teaching...

Glad it was done, now I have time to study for the philosophy exam on Tues. No pics for this post and I didn't video tape this teaching session either. But I saw Bhooma took some pics, maybe I will have them in the future.

The learning journey continues. All is well :)

The Yin/Yang Day Trip

Someone had just asked me from the previous post that what has been happening since last Sun post. The answer is not much to report except I did post some more pics daily with brief comments.
Mon and Tues were two calm days with some highlights:

- we had fruit time outdoor for change and it was pleasant! The weather was not too hot in the afternoon.
- one night we chanted 108 times one verse to celebrate the sun is changing direction??? Yogesh told us Indians celebrated for 3 days...

- I learned a lot but also had more homework to do, the poses get more intense, the philosophy sessions seems harder to absorb in this scatter brain :) so I was tired and hit the bed early.
- one student, Lija, was playing with the dogs, one scratched her that doctors said she needed rabi shots...
- Bhooma had assigned us to take turn to teach 2-hr intermediate class starting this Sat. There will be 2 group of 5 and I willbe the first one to teach my group. I am nervous but wanted to get it done sooner.

Well, two weeks of training has passed. On Wed we went on Backwater trip and elephant ride on our day off. The weather was still perfect in the last three days! It took about more than 1hr drive to get there (I don't know the name of the town). We used one canoe for 9 total including the paddler. (Liza, Dean, Sone, and Kamal went to the doctor's with Liza, so they met us later at elephant site)

The 2 hr canoe ride was so relaxing, starting from the open space then we slowly entered the narrow canal (that's why we didn't take the house boat which I would prefer ;) It was a quiet, calm, peaceful time! Having the fresh coconut served right from the trees along the way. We stopped by the paddler's house, he showed us some herbs by breaking, rubbing, then putting them in our palms; and the fragrance were amazing! His wife showed us how to make carpet thread from coconut husk (I have video clip only.) He was so nice, asked me where I come from and told me his children are in BC study... I gave him tips at the end. Bhooma also has great knowledge about medicinal herbs too. We went for snack with Masala tea (lots of  cardamom taste) and some munches.

Then we went for the elephant ride. It must be at least 1/2 hr drive to get there from the canoeing location. Surprisingly, once we get there only 3 out of 8 wanted to ride the elephant (250Rs/person.) We saw 3 elephants on site, and one was from afar. We all felt sorry for one elephant which got one leg tied up to the tree. Here is the conflict in my mind: should I ride to give the elephant some exercise or not ride it so this business will be out and the elephant can be freed to the nature....? And I chose not to ride (I had this riding experience from Cambodia & Thailand trip already) Another distraction was most of us were so hungry and we didn't have lunch for another 45 minutes until we get to a hotel's restaurant on the way back. I think it was around 3:30pm from the 7am breakfast (I had a bag of almonds that many appreciated my offer ;) I also bought some extra bananas for the group too.

The lunch and ice cream desert at the restaurant were great, except a part that I had learned a lesson from is: don't try to modify your food order, this is s a different culture here! I only created confusion and disrespected the way they serve food in India (?) I ended pay more than what I got. Ha! That served me right!

Back to the ashram by 5pm. The "bucket" shower was much appreciated :) but the dinner was not. I was still not hungry from the almonds, bananas, and lunch so this kind of "baby food" dinner was not appealing to me a bit. I still showed up though, ate a little and disappeared to the Wi-Fi corner ;)

The 3rd week of intense training will begin again on Thurs. Deep breaths!

Until next post....Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti :)

The Journey On The Yoga Path

Please note that this post may not be for everybody, maybe only for whom is practicing yoga could relate to what I am about to write.

Yes, this training is still a journey and I don't expect to reach any destination anytime soon. Even when the course ends, my learning will be continued. Although I have been teaching yoga classes in the last 6 years, I came to this training with a beginner's mind.

Now I am in the second week of training, looking back and realizing that I need to evaluate my progress of the self-inquiry journey.

Yoga Sutras (Philosophy part)

I often repeat this quote: "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear" Unknown. It sounds so true to me right now. Every time a mood, a feeling, or a thought arise, I practiced mindfulness on it without judgement or praise. Then amazingly, all the philosophy sessions seems to have the answer, explanation, or guidance for me!  IMO, Swami Yogesh is making the sessions interesting, maybe because I understand his English better than Bhooma's, and I always love to learn about self-knowledge (I don't think Avelino and Jitra enjoy this part of training very much)

We have to write a summary of what we understood in those 2 hrs and hand it to Yogesh after class or on the next day.  I missed one so far but doubled the summary the day after.

Asanas and Pranayama

Bhooma and P.S Parameswaran are two great teachers in this part! Bhooma will extend the teaching from self-practice to how to teach a yoga class in the last two weeks of training. One big downfall on my part is not be able to understand their English well in order to absorb more teaching info from them! I always had to ask others after class. Well, I just get what I can.

They both have the skills to lead us to deepen our practice: a simple adjustment that would take me to a new edge which I never think I could, without injure me in any way. In my part, must be my trust in them. However, comparing to my teaching which is without force and with ease, theirs is the opposite: intense efforts and perfection is expected, plus Bhooma's practice is well balanced with proper counterposes and deep deep breathing: inhale Om1, Om2, Om3, Om4; exhale Om1.....Om8! This technique is really helpful. I always relied on my breath when I was struggling in some poses.

Here is a most challenging sequence in the 2 hrs morning practice. Please try if you want to practice with me in spirit:

- Child pose P.S just knows how to press on certain spots on my back and I fold so deep and the spine is lengthening at the same time! My new edge :)
- Headstand I am up now and feel the lightness,but still need a teacher with me to help me get both legs up at the start. Then he just slightly taps on the back of my heels to keep me in a right alignment for 3-5 minutes. I still need to come down slow with knee bent instead of just dropping the legs down so quickly (I will try to video tape this part or maybe a whole class)
- Shoulderstand to Plough to Shoulderstand again prepare to go right in to bridge, then right back to shoulderstand to plough then slowly roll the spine to Savasana. In the first half of this cycle I am doing very well with shoulderstand & plough; the last half i still need help on the bridge transition and of course I always have their full attention.

In pranayama practice, Bhooma makes us do very long Kapalabhati and Anuloma Viloma at the end of both morning and afternoon practices; I still don't get bored with them. I also enjoy his simple twelve-step sun salutations with chanting 12-16 rounds of 3-4 sets. Talk about repetition! (here I was with the variety of my SSs in my classes, because I worried people might get bored with my teaching, think again!)

One more challenging pose--crow or side crane which I am still a FROG (hoping forward to avoid falling on my head! LOL) They look at me and kinda wonder I wouldn't try harder. Well I got bruises under my arms, sweat bucket...

Meditation

I don't learn much as I don't understand one word P.S Parameswaran said. I just sit for the 30 minutes and do my own way of meditation.

Will see whether there will be improvement in the next 2 weeks. In the meantime, I just enjoy the journey :)

A Day Outing

Things seem getting better for me in the last few days toward the second week of training, except on Monday when I took Malaria pill at breakfast and was feeing drowsy at Philosophy & Sanskrit class. It was so hard keeping my eyes opened! To be more comfy, I bought a bucket for storing extra water, a drymop to clean my room and a brush to clean my feet! Again Gamal went to pick up all those things for me and the total cost was only 450Rs ($9) he is an angel! People are so nice here and I am blessed.

I finally was able to connect with Gunther through video on Skype on Tues, that was the highlight of my day :) I also saw the first rain in India (there was some rain overnight before too but I didn't hear anything), it poured and that's the good thing because we got  tap water turn back on for a day or two. Yah!

On Wed, the day off from training, Bhooma took us to another ashram, where he was trained for 7 years. We met one of his teachers, who is 90yrs old, stayed silence for number of years, was fasting 30 days at one time to calm some conflicts in the ashram... Talk about faith and endurance!

Then we went to Varkala beach about 1hr drive. Stopped for breakfast first, of course vegetarian food again but different and better taste. I selfishly took the seat next to the driver the whole time back and forth. I knew some might comment on my action but I also knew I would get car sick if I didn't. I was in my own calm zone, no socializing as the group on the back seats, just observing the scenery, the dangerous driving--our driver passed a passing bus as the the opposite cars were approaching! I was the only one in the car put seat belt on. Have faith and no fear :)

Varkala Beach, Kerala

Bhooma left us at the beach by 11:30am and would return by 6pm to meet us again. We had that much of time to do whatever we wanted. I came prepared but decided not to step down the cliff to the beach (I heard the water was warm).

Varkala beach is very touristy but gives you comfort: lots of foreigners, better standards and variety of Western food if one is craving like me ;), lots of shops, massage places, guest houses, and resorts...all i bought were couple comfy pants I needed, trying to control my shopping habit. Enjoyed  a much craving lunch--red snapper with veg and salad for $6, cheese cake $1, and lemon soda $.50. All restaurants had wi-fi so I just sat and put my feet up, upload pics... Had Mango Lassi for snack. Jitra stayed with me the whole time so we kept each other company. Varkala beach is similar to some places I had been before in VN, but not better so not much to highlight, unless you like to swim, sun tanning, shop...

On the way back we stopped at the same restaurant for dinner, didn't understand the menu so we let Bhooma ordered, nothing special. When I come back to Canada, surely will not have Chapati  (like pita) for a while, and won't turn to a vegetarian either ;) However my eating habit seems improving: smaller portion, less sweet and still feel good physically:)

We were all very tired at the end of a "hectic" day (the rough ride back, the crowd, the excitement...) I was already looking forward to our second week of training  to find calmness :) Hmmm?

My "Funny Bone" Stories

Amazing how a good night would do for me on Day 5, I could see humor in anything happened and laughed at/with myself:

- woke up earlier than the others at 5:30ish; while waiting for them to arrive outside the kitchen for Netti Kriya (nostrils cleansing), I walked around the building in the dark, tumbled over a medium pile of dirt that a dog had a hole in which was big enough for her puppies. She barked at me while other watching and laughing as I ran back to them. My thought: Gosh! surrounding by all the calmness of people and animals and I still managed to piss off a dog that early in the morning. Now I have empathy for my husband who would lovingly say "that's my Le!" :)

-Watching all of us practised the Netty thing was hilarious! Me, swallowed the salt water instead of letting it out on the other nostril; some trying to squat down( ya right) or tipping their heads in different directions hoping the water would cooperate. Guys, water doesn't yield!

- The water story was not ended there, while I was in Downdog pose, the water was still coming out through the nose, I thought just me didn't drain it well, so I kept it a secret and wiping it . But not long after next to me, Jitra, a Thai lady who is very funny and expressive, had the same problem but lots more water than I did, she left her pose and asked Bhooma right away. That's when I lost it, dropped my knees down and laughed :)))!

- after couple attempts for Sirsana (Headstand), the Savangasana (shoulder stand) and Halasana (plough) seem like having a spa day for me!

- wish Kapabalati (breathing practice)gives me six-pack abs??? LOL! We are doing lots 2/day 3-4 rounds. Google it if you want to know more.

- haven't book a massage session yet, 700 Rupees ($15) I heard she use lots of oil and we don't have lots of water for shower.

Save the best for last, the language barrier! I am not exaggerating: when Bhooma said "hold you breath" in certain poses, I could only hear "hold your bra" seriously! Should i have my ears checked or my head? I always have a smirky smile when i heard he said it. Hope he never read my blog!  Now I could relate to the people who attended my classes how they were struggling to understand my cueing :)

Gunther said I signed up for this and getting everything had been advertised. So true!

The Improvements

I had a neutral day on Day 4, nothing exciting to report. Just floated through the routine, feeling zombie in the afternoon, but controlled myself not to take a nap. It worked! I had more than 5 hrs sleep that night.

What a difference on Day 5--today! I had a funny bone, just about anything could make me come up with a funny thought...more later ;)

Instead of boring you with my daily routine, I would change a subject such as talking about the weather, the people...

Just a few highlights:

- good breakfast and dinner

- Bhooma gave us each 3 bags of nature almond, cashew, and raisin to have in the room. Wow! It was unexpected!

- there was a yearly festival in town to celebrate its establishment, so we had some interaction with people in town, observed some traditional ceremonies...

THE WEATHER:

I had not seen any rain yet. Therefore we were allowed only to 1-2 buckets for shower/day. I asked why and someone told me the ashram had to follow the town's rules just in case Kerala has drought. So besides hydro was turned on and off periodically, water was also on the same page.

So far, the temperature each day was around 26-30 Celcius, nice breeze until noon then the humidity took over :( Well no water, no fan running in the room sometimes, where do you think I should be? Of course, at the staircase where Wi-Fi signal was strongest   Couldn't be at the beach because there was not enough time between training sessions to get out far for a while. This Wed will be a day for outing--visiting another ashram, to the beach, and to another celebration at night time!

THE PEOPLE

- friendly but quiet, maybe we couldn't communicate much because very few speak English; and if they did, I still didn't understand because of the accent. I always had to ask them to repeat at least couple times. Or maybe because I am in an ashram setting here.

- I haven't met any mean people yet!  Didn't see or hear anyone yelling, arguing...even outside the ashram.

- yes, they do have siesta in the afternoon just like in VN. Avelino couldn't believe that when we were sitting in the lunch room at our fruit time 1:15pm, behind us there were ladies who were lying down sleeping on hard surface of the benches! I am not surprised though because I am used to that :)

- we asked Bhooma his age and had wrong guesses. Augh, he doesn't look 44! So his advice with a smile was:  "Keep doing yoga everyday!"

- I would like to ask Bhooma to go help in the kitchen as doing Karma yoga and learn the cooking at the same time (but the timing of training sessions may be a conflict?). For the moment, we only clean the big room for our practice and its hallway only. There is a young lady who cleans all other floors but not our rooms.

- Chanting is the daily ritual here. We chant to begin anything we do: eating, practising...with different verses. I start to like the singing chants called Kirtan (popular in US.)

- Indian belief: there is only one God, just with different names in different forms.

Challenges and Adaption

Didn't know while I was still having problem with sleeping even I had a great day yesterday. Food? Surroundings? I  could wake up at 1am, stayed up for 2 hrs, managed to get back to sleep but had to wake up at 5am for early meditation. Hope this problem wouldn't last (?)

At 6am, attended the first 30-minute meditation which went fast, even we had distraction of loud mixed chanting noise from other ashram nearby. There was also very little instruction of meditation which we couldn't understand or hear clearly. Hope our feedback will gain some improvement.

Bhooma had confirmed that 2 hrs morning practice of asanas(poses) and pranayama (breathing) will be intermediate level, and the 2hrs in the evening will be a more mindful, slow, technical detailed one.

Here are the challenges of the day:
- as I predicted, I am having problem understand Bhooma's Indian accent, and I am not alone.
- I mostly enjoyed the 2hrs morning practice, except we had to do the Head stand & Crow (arm balance) poses which are my weaknesses! I was in the 10% of the class who struggled. Bhooma said I shouldn't use the wall because I will always rely on it! (There you go my participants! Please take note on this and know how "generous" I was to you--we used lots of props) He also said I will perfect the poses by the end of the week, how encouraging!
- I felt a little sick after that, hoped it wasn't caused by desperately "achieving" the difficult poses--my ego's word.

- swept the teaching room as a karma yoga practice.
- took a nap, but felt worse when woke up. Still managed to attend the evening practice which I was thankful that it was an easier one. Never done that much of pranayama practice before, it was very interesting, learned a lot to take home :)
- didn't finish my dinner, longed for a shower after a rough day but I only had a bucket of water to use for everything (I found out later there was a hot water tab in the bathroom I could use, ah!)

- felt a little better  when I attended the chanting lesson at 8pm. The highlight was: Swami Yogesh invited the swami who performed the opening ceremony to join us, who led us a long kirtan (singing chant) with some music instruments. He has an amazing voice that brought powerful spirit to the group. So glad I recorded in audio!

Well, today was so different than yesterday, I am practicing mindfulness by feeling all emotional, physical aspects as they arose...

I hope my sleep pattern will change soon, I am having another sleepless night so I am writing this post!

Heading to begin day 4 and hope for the best!

OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti!

A Great Start!

- had ginger tea at 6:30am (sneaked out to have a chai before this, shhh ;)
- the opening ceremony for the course begun at 7am, and it lasted more than 1hr. It was unique! All the detailed traditional steps which a Swami had to perform to ask blessings from a Ganesha for us, the students: a mixture of fresh flowers pedals, herbs, liquid...was sprinkled into the center fire of coconut skin, following with chanting of different verses... Students were also asked to individually offer flower pedals, 3 handful rice crispies into the fire..  At the closing ceremony, some of the lightly roasted herbs were mixed into a paste of 3 colors: white, black, red, and dotted on students third eye (space between eyebrows) as some meaning symbols... Small breakfast was offered right there.

-1.5 hours asanas (Hatha yoga poses) & pranayama (breathing techniques) Head stand, Shoulders stand, Plough, Fish are performed right after Sun Salutations.  I had never done that many of different   breathing techniques which were extended up to 1/2 hr! So much awareness was required!
- fruit time around 1:30pm.
- free time until 4pm (today is the first day of the course so some parts of schedule were skipped) I took advantage of this free time to go outside looking for an Internet cafe to send news home.
- back for another 2 hours asanas and pranayama.
- dinner
- chanting session with Sanskrit to end the day!

On reflection, I had a well-receiving nourishment day: spiritually from the ceremony; mentally and physically from the asanas & pranayama & healthy meals with Bhooma, who has knowledge of giving well-balanced chosen sets of poses and dietary advice which I so needed after a few days full of stress; emotionally from the chanting with Swami Yogesh who is so humble, sincere, caring, fun, and determined to make each one of us re-chant the verse. I even recorded Avelino's voice who was reluctant to chant but was the last one in turn ;) He said the same thing as my friend, Nirala, wrote 2 years ago on her blog: "I couldn't believe they made me do this!"
I was finally "at home with myself" again with much gratitude!

First day at the ashram

- the day temperature was 26 to 32 Celcius. It's hot already!
- got a nice big clean room on the 3rd floor! Dropped off the luggage and went for Chai (Indian tea) for the first time. It was Ragesh's treat to welcome Avelino, and me.

-  heavenly enjoyed the shower after the long flights!

-  unpacked and had a brief rest, I was still "sleepless in Kerala" though.

- went downstairs for breakfast. Ha! Very simple vegetarian food.

- met one of the other students, Bre, she is from Wisconsin but currently an exchange English  teacher in Korea, who got a month off to India for Yoga Teacher Training Course.

- went shopping for slippers, hand soap, laundry detergent (we got a washer!). Bought some fruits and nuts to have in the room for my unexpected hunger ;)

- lunch was at 1pm, continued to adapt the new way of eating (with fingers picking up rice soaked in butter milk and sauce...) and the new diet (vegetarian and plain food) Will see ;)

- briefly met with Bhooma, my teacher, for admin info...course details...

- the hydro had been randomly on and off, therefore the Wi-Fi was also interrupted. You would notice that I might publish couple posts at once, then be out of contact for awhile...

- one very restrict rule was: bare feet everywhere in the ashram so our soles were black like charcoal!  Hmmm, I brought 3 pairs of shoes!  Well, it was just another adaption of the change! I know I would still miss this place after one month time.

- 6:30pm still waiting for the arrival of other students. There would  be 10 of us in this course, small group which was nice to get more teachers' attention.

As I was waiting for dinner and drafting my posts, I could hear the chanting coming from some the ashrams or temples around, not sure yet. Will explore more when I gain back my sleep, get familiar with the surroundings...

- dinner was delicious! It was my favorite among three meals. Didn't know what was in the food they served but I didn't feel hungry, even I was eating small portions comparing to what I ate at home! (Thanks Nirala for preparing me for this)

- met three more students: Jitra, Kelly, and Leja...and few more later.

To bed at 10pm.

The training begins tomorrow 6:30am. Until next time... I am sending love to all.

The Journey To Thrivandrum, India

- weather was good for take-off!

- both flights were booked fully--no empty seats to sleep as I hoped. So far, I am not too impressed with Emirates airlines regarding foods and services.

- the airplane from Toronto to Dubai has 2 decks and carried 600 passengers, you should see the line-ups which had lots of children. See pic of staircase going the second deck, very fancy!

- there was no problem to get through immigration, claim baggage...

- Ragesh, my teacher's assistant and a driver were already there to greet and drove Avelino and me to the ashram. The drive took about 1.5 hours, had familiar feeling as being in Vietnam except noticing that they are driving on the left side as in England. The cost was $40US shared with Avelino.

- I gave tips to the driver, but Ragesh who declined because he works at the ashram and is not allow to accept gifts or tips... (including children and others...)

It was all worth it the minute we went through the gate of the ashram! I  felt like I came to the "right" place (?) Will see.

Panmana Asramam