Finding
a yoga training school took me hours. The original plan was to study yoga in
Thailand, but India being so near I could not pass the opportunity of doing it
at its birthplace. I looked at many websites until I found a school that taught
a fusion of Hatha yoga with Iyengar style – and did not look catered for
Westerns only. What I did not know when I signed up was that the school was
located inside of an ashram.
Living
in an ashram is a little like being in a parallel world. It is like living in a
private neighborhood where the common spaces are, instead of a swimming pool or
tennis courts, a temple, meditation rooms and a dining-room. We all have a
private room with a private bathroom, which conform to Western standards
(except for the shower, which is bucket style). Everybody staying at the
ashram, including our group in yoga training, the people in the one-year Vedas
program and the occational visitors, have breakfast, lunch and dinner together
at the dining-room. Somebody rings a bell and the swamis and the people that
have been here for some time do a chanting while we all get our tray of food.
When the chanting stops we start eating. The food is sattvic, meaning
vegetarian and inductive to spirituality (light, not as spicy, and free of
onions and garlic). Afterwards we wash our trays, spoons and bowls in big sinks
outside.
There
is also a big yard with a veranda that overlooks onto the Ganges River and the
Himalayas on the opposite shore. I was surprised as how beautiful the river is,
the color of jade and roaring loudly as it comes down from the mountains.
People come to bathe in it every day, despite the very low temperature.
November in Rishikesh is as cold as it is in Washington, DC.
A
typical day at the ashram: getting up at 4:15 AM to take a bucket bath and be
ready for an hour or meditation. After that, we have the asana class from 6:30
until breakfast time, at 8:30; chanting, Sanskrit, and Anatomy or Ayurveda
class until lunch time, at 12:30; Vedanta classes at 3:30 PM and then another
two hours of yoga and meditation until dinner time at 7:30. After dinner some
classmates and I hang out at a general store/coffee shop right outside of the
ashram. We fondly call this place Starbucks because the old man that runs it
knows everyone’s drinks and makes them with so much pride: herbal tea with
honey for Krystle, Bianca and me; masala chai for Gaurisha and masala chai with
lots of sugar for Leila; and milk coffee with no sugar for Francizka.
Starbucks Man
Our
teachers are fantastic. Gopal is our asana teacher and the organizer of the
program. He is a guy in his mid-thirties who ran away from home at the age of
ten to live in an ashram. Ramshi teaches us Sanskrit, Chanting, Vedanta and
many other things. He looks like a dark and skinny Santa Clause with puffy
beard, glowing cheeks and eternally smiley face. An Ayurveda MD teaches us
every other day and a very knowledgeable lady from Saudi Arabia (who was the
first woman to teach yoga there) teaches us about Anatomy and Psychology
related to yoga. Every other night we have a Satsang, which is a Q and A with
one of our teachers.
Worth
mentioning is our Saturday routine. In the morning we do cleansing, which
includes washing our nostrils, stomachs and colon. For more details, contact me
personally.
Sundays
are our days off, in which we get to explore this wonderful city of Rishikesh.
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