i can't believe it's been 2 weeks already. we leave the ashram tomorrow. my time there has been wonderful. i don't know what exactly i expected, but it was really a great experience. after the first week of attending meditation sessions both day and night, i decided it wasn't the best use of my time. i just wasn't able to get into it. and it hurts me too much to sit like that for an hour. and i couldn't stay awake. (that got me in trouble...) so, instead i spend the morning getting an extra hour of sleep, and i spend the evening sitting by the ganges river just contemplating. my version of meditation, i guess. but i made it to every single session of yoga, so that feels like a nice accomplishment. i've become a lot more flexible and have much more endurance than i did just 15 days ago. it's fun to be able to see the improvement.
tomorrow we leave for nepal. it will take us about 40 hours over 3 days to get there by train and bus. i'm not looking forward to sitting for so long, but i think it will be great to take in the view from the road. (and on our return from nepal to india, we'll fly from kathmandu to delhi.) we've got some fun things in store for us there. i'll fill you in as plans are firmed up.
on a completely separate note, happy anniversary to my mom and dad! may they have many more years of happiness together.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
nose floss
the yoga here is not like anything i've ever done. i've taken a few different styles and levels of classes in the states, and even in korea... but this is crazy. in a really hard and intense but in a fun way. the schedule here is not completely in tune with my natural body rhythm, as those of you who are familiar with my preferred sleep schedule will recognize. it goes something like this:
4:30 wake up
5:00 meditation
6:30 yoga
8:00 breakfast
9:00 library time (though we sometimes sneak away to do things like check email and this very blog)
12 noon lunch
2:30 library time
3:15 lecture
4:00 afternoon tea
5:00 yoga
7:00 meditation
8:15 dinner
and then i'm ready for bed, though there's no enforcement on this. but i'm really enjoying it. the people are nice (though most of the students are westerners, which is not quite what i had expected/hoped for), and the instructors are very demanding but encouraging.
today we did a rather bizarre cleansing practice. basically we poured body-temperature salt water into one nostril and let it flow out the other. then, as if that wasn't enough, i had to take a thin rubber tube and insert it into my nose, thread it into my throat, pull it out through my mouth, and slide it back and forth. this was not exactly comfortable, but not painful like i thought it would be. the hardest part was pulling it through without hitting the gag reflex. i don't recommend trying it without supervision, but it does remind me of lunchroom days of people laughing so hard that milk came out their nose. and i'll leave you with that image.
4:30 wake up
5:00 meditation
6:30 yoga
8:00 breakfast
9:00 library time (though we sometimes sneak away to do things like check email and this very blog)
12 noon lunch
2:30 library time
3:15 lecture
4:00 afternoon tea
5:00 yoga
7:00 meditation
8:15 dinner
and then i'm ready for bed, though there's no enforcement on this. but i'm really enjoying it. the people are nice (though most of the students are westerners, which is not quite what i had expected/hoped for), and the instructors are very demanding but encouraging.
today we did a rather bizarre cleansing practice. basically we poured body-temperature salt water into one nostril and let it flow out the other. then, as if that wasn't enough, i had to take a thin rubber tube and insert it into my nose, thread it into my throat, pull it out through my mouth, and slide it back and forth. this was not exactly comfortable, but not painful like i thought it would be. the hardest part was pulling it through without hitting the gag reflex. i don't recommend trying it without supervision, but it does remind me of lunchroom days of people laughing so hard that milk came out their nose. and i'll leave you with that image.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
namaste
as it turns out, we weren't able to get our visa to china. they're not giving out any more tourist visas until october. that's was a disappointment, so we looked into going through hong kong but there was still uncertainty about getting in. so we're just going to have to see the great wall on another trip. if i'm honest with myself (and all of you, i guess), china isn't one of the places i was most excited to go. maybe it's for the best that i'm spending my time in a place i'm really eager to visit. anyway, no china.
instead we arrived yesterday in india! i'm really excited for this next phase of our adventure to begin. it's going to be really different, as jasmine won't be with us anymore. she's already left for hawaii, where she'll live with her cousin for a bit before heading back to the states.
now it's just morgan and me. we got in to delhi last night and were not met at the airport as we had requested. so we took a taxi to our hotel and were told that there were no rooms left, in spite of our reservation. (not sure what the point of a reservation is then...) so we found a place a block away and shared our room with a little mouse and a gecko.
tonight we will go by bus up to rishikesh, a city known for its yoga. even the beatles visited. we hope to stay in an ashram for a few weeks and have an intensive yoga retreat.
in the near future we also plan to visit nepal and bhutan. we're not exactly sure how this will work. we could go by air to nepal and then from there go to bhutan, or vice versa. or, alternatively, we could go to one or the other over land. or we could do this as two seperate trips. the options are fairly overwhelming, because we're trying to do this as cheaply as possible. bhutan is really going to break our budget. basically, everything we earned during our two months in korea will go towards less than a week in bhutan. but from everything i have heard, it will be worth it. when else will i have this opportunity? and, as with all of these places, i'd like to see them sooner rather than later because they're changing so quickly. even if i did get another chance to come here, i know it won't be the same as it is now. so here we are.
instead we arrived yesterday in india! i'm really excited for this next phase of our adventure to begin. it's going to be really different, as jasmine won't be with us anymore. she's already left for hawaii, where she'll live with her cousin for a bit before heading back to the states.
now it's just morgan and me. we got in to delhi last night and were not met at the airport as we had requested. so we took a taxi to our hotel and were told that there were no rooms left, in spite of our reservation. (not sure what the point of a reservation is then...) so we found a place a block away and shared our room with a little mouse and a gecko.
tonight we will go by bus up to rishikesh, a city known for its yoga. even the beatles visited. we hope to stay in an ashram for a few weeks and have an intensive yoga retreat.
in the near future we also plan to visit nepal and bhutan. we're not exactly sure how this will work. we could go by air to nepal and then from there go to bhutan, or vice versa. or, alternatively, we could go to one or the other over land. or we could do this as two seperate trips. the options are fairly overwhelming, because we're trying to do this as cheaply as possible. bhutan is really going to break our budget. basically, everything we earned during our two months in korea will go towards less than a week in bhutan. but from everything i have heard, it will be worth it. when else will i have this opportunity? and, as with all of these places, i'd like to see them sooner rather than later because they're changing so quickly. even if i did get another chance to come here, i know it won't be the same as it is now. so here we are.
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