It seems that when I aimed to blog weekly during this course, I got to week three and became overwhelmed by course work, goings on, socialising and re experiencing India. And that's ok! Sometimes plans change and tou find yourself doing something totally different than you'd planned. Even if it was just instead of writing something as small as a blog post. The past few weeks have had there ups and downs in so many ways, ways I won't even elaborate on, but just like anything in life it's important to focus on the good things and all the positivity and inspiration I got this time round.

Things may have been very different from my last experience here at RYP and I tried to come with zero expectation but still expectation lingered. I found myself comparing things from time to time and I found myself longing for certain aspects of the last course. I feel like things have changed a lot here due to different reasons but it won't change the overall experience I've had of this school. I have met so many amazing people, developed more as a teacher, gained confidence to try new things that I've shyed away from before and experienced many different emotions all round.

We have spent time celebrating birthdays, laughing our asses off, eating to our hearts desire, inspiring each other as teachers and as students, walking aimlessly around the streets of Rishikesh, attending concerts, ditching classes to have that one milk coffee at oasis, opening up to new friends, discussing the meaning of life, being weird and not being judged for it and I could go on and on but we have experienced it all here. Yes, some of us have been disappointed with the studies we received here at times but is there ever a time when you can please everyone. I look back at last years course and even though I know I gained a lot from it, our group wasn't without it's quarrels. I know I will look back on this when I am teaching and know that I wouldn't be where I am if it wasn't for this school. My yoga life began here!

We spent our first free day since finalising the course, on a beautiful sunrise hike which was a perfect way to say goodbye to Rishikesh. I've made so many amazing friends here who I plan to visit and keep in touch with for a long time and that's what it's all about. We have this yoga family now who we can depend on and no matter where we are in the world and whatever issue we have whether it's to do with sequencing a class or finding information on something, we will have someone to go to. This is life. This is yoga. I'm appreciative of everything iv gained here both times and I've taken them as two different experiences both of which have and will mould me into me.

Soham- I am that

Namaste x

Week three of yoga school and what can I say, we have been doing our usual asana classes, philosophy/anatomy modules and occasionally sneaking out to Oasis cafe for some guilty pleasures in between meals. Nothing's changed! It is however the half way mark of the course and we have all agreed that it's going by so fast! Things this time are very different than last year in so many ways but in a good way too because I like this new experience. We have been given the chance to learn from each other, new teachers and are even taking part in an intensive Yoga Therapy work shop by a famous Delhi doctor all of this week (week4). We are very lucky because this will give us 18hrs of study which gives us the minimum requirement to study a diploma in yoga therapy if we want to.

I am enjoying wandering around Ram Jhula and Laxman Jhula on my time off and have even started a care package for myself to post home before I leave. So far iv included lots of homely stuff for my new place in Vancouver (manifesting this), such as Indian walk hangings cushion covers, chimes, Insense, Himalayan salt, yoga mat covers and will include some more bits and bobs like Ayurvedic toiletries which I love. Everything natural and healthy is so cheap here so I will stick up and when I return I will have a surprise package waiting for me. (Not so much a surprise though).

Week three of yoga school and what can I say, we have been doing our usual asana classes, philosophy/anatomy modules and occasionally sneaking out to Oasis cafe for some guilty pleasures in between meals. Nothing's changed! It is however the half way mark of the course and we have all agreed that it's going by so fast! Things this time are very different than last year in so many ways but in a good way too because I like this new experience. We have been given the chance to learn from each other, new teachers and are even taking part in an intensive Yoga Therapy work shop by a famous Delhi doctor all of this week (week4). We are very lucky because this will give us 18hrs of study which gives us the minimum requirement to study a diploma in yoga therapy if we want to.

I am enjoying wandering around Ram Jhula and Laxman Jhula on my time off and have even started a care package for myself to post home before I leave. So far iv included lots of homely stuff for my new place in Vancouver (manifesting this), such as Indian walk hangings cushion covers, chimes, Insense, Himalayan salt, yoga mat covers and will include some more bits and bobs like Ayurvedic toiletries which I love. Everything natural and healthy is so cheap here so I will stick up and when I return I will have a surprise package waiting for me. (Not so much a surprise though).

This weekend Emily, Sietske and I crossed the river by boat and after a lovely Indian lunch we took a tuk tuk to Riskikesh markets which was pretty cool! It was nice to get out of the usual surroundings for a change. Emily and I then walked the long way to Laxman Jhula (exercise after all the food) and spent some time in Little Buddha Cafe with our friend Kenia whilst indulging in a special Sunday Orep shake with ice cream (don't tell anyone). The time is going so fast but it means we'r having fun right? And that's a good thing! Yoga is a life long journey anyway and these 6 weeks are just the beginning of it for us. I'm excited to learn a lot from Dr Deepak this week. I'll keep you posted next week on what's new!

Namaste xx

Week three of yoga school and what can I say, we have been doing our usual asana classes, philosophy/anatomy modules and occasionally sneaking out to Oasis cafe for some guilty pleasures in between meals. Nothing's changed! It is however the half way mark of the course and we have all agreed that it's going by so fast! Things this time are very different than last year in so many ways but in a good way too because I like this new experience. We have been given the chance to learn from each other, new teachers and are even taking part in an intensive Yoga Therapy work shop by a famous Delhi doctor all of this week (week4). We are very lucky because this will give us 18hrs of study which gives us the minimum requirement to study a diploma in yoga therapy if we want to.

I am enjoying wandering around Ram Jhula and Laxman Jhula on my time off and have even started a care package for myself to post home before I leave. So far iv included lots of homely stuff for my new place in Vancouver (manifesting this), such as Indian walk hangings cushion covers, chimes, Insense, Himalayan salt, yoga mat covers and will include some more bits and bobs like Ayurvedic toiletries which I love. Everything natural and healthy is so cheap here so I will stick up and when I return I will have a surprise package waiting for me. (Not so much a surprise though).

This weekend Emily, Sietske and I crossed the river by boat and after a lovely Indian lunch we took a tuk tuk to Riskikesh markets which was pretty cool! It was nice to get out of the usual surroundings for a change. Emily and I then walked the long way to Laxman Jhula (exercise after all the food) and spent some time in Little Buddha Cafe with our friend Kenia whilst indulging in a special Sunday Orep shake with ice cream (don't tell anyone). The time is going so fast but it means we'r having fun right? And that's a good thing! Yoga is a life long journey anyway and these 6 weeks are just the beginning of it for us. I'm excited to learn a lot from Dr Deepak this week. I'll keep you posted next week on what's new!

Namaste xx

As I mentioned before, I am going to start up a yoga section on my website in the coming days which will feature a few yoga dedicated blogs about my experiences, my advice for anyone thinking of doing yoga teacher training and anything that comes to mind which I fell will help anyone with an interest in all things yoga. I will get this up and running in the next few days and will update it often. When the time comes for me to stay teaching in the real world, it will be featured on this section of the site and therefore you all can follow what I'm doing.

Today was Kriya Friday and we once again performed cleansing techniques which we knew, and learned about new ones. Unknown things can be challenging to us at first but to break that barrier and let yourself experience things without fear or doubt is the key. Today I had faith that I would perform all my cleanses to the best of my bodies ability and I felt great afterwards. Here is me doing Sutra Neti which should only be performed with a teachers guidance at first.

I look exhausted here but it's 7am and id been awake 15 minutes. This technique was tricky at first as we insert a cathadars into the nasal cavity and draw it out the throat, cleaning the cavity before we remove it. It is amazing just before Pranayama and Asana because you can breath very freely and a few people suffering from colds or stuffy noses found relief afterwards. I wouldn't encourage anyone to do this unless you are guided though. I'm just sharing my experience. We went on doing some more techniques and learned about some new ones which was great. Overall, it's been 10 days and I have already learned so much whether I think so or not. Leaving RYP last time had me speechless and a totally changed person and this time I'm excited to see any changes- Although Ive left any expectations at the door.

An open mind leads to open doors!

Namaste

It was a few months ago when I decided to come back to Rishikesh and in particular to Rishikesh Yog Peeth to do my 300hr yoga teacher training. Well the time has come and I've been here 4 full days now. Due to my own lack of preparation, I experienced a delay starting the course because I was 'stuck' in Kathmandu applying for my Indian visa. Luckily the school understood, and two days after the course started, I arrived, very early in the morning, having sat in a taxi for 6hra through the night. I was exhausted. I was shown to my room in Shiva Resort which I was familiar with and had 90 minutes to sleep until breakfast time.

After my nap, I awoke, still so exhausted but excited to see Krisha Cottage again and meet my new yogi friends. And that I did! The food was delicious as ever in Krisha and my new course mates all seemed lovely! It's always weird returning somewhere and even weirder when things have changed, which they had. My old teachers were gone, I was staying in a different resort and even the kitchen staff who Id known, were different. It brings a sense of new experiences though and I'm kind of glad everything is so different because now the whole experience will be fresh. And the upside was that there was a lovely irish girl on my course, one of my own nation finally!

Over the next few days I had familiar philosophical classes with Roshan, ate a variety of yummy meals at Krishna cottage, taken part in Asana classes with our new teacher Krishna, taken walks around familiar areas and even reunited with some locals who id met last time. This is probably the only time in my life when I can say iv bonded with people through vomiting, sticking things up our noses and pouring water through our nasal cavity. It might sound weird but this is what we call Kriya, cleansing techniques which we learn as part of our course. One Kriya involved us putting a cathadar up our nose and fed it through to our throat where we then pulled it out and cleaned the nasal cavity. It was a very strange but rewarding experience. What's even weirder is that we had to follow that by drinking 6 glasses of warm salt water and then practice a controlled 'vomit' if you will. Friday morning was intense and if anyone could have seen us, we were all huddled in the grassy courtyard, vomiting, putting saline water in our noses and using feeding nasal cathadars down our throats. Don't worry we'r not all crazy because these practices are a great way for a yogi to cleanse his or her body. Thank god we didn't have to do the other intense ones which I won't even mention (Theyr advanced).

We were given an idea of what was gonna happen through the course and right now we have started teaching each other in small groups which is great. Myself and my partner are preparing for our class on Monday evening which will be exciting. Later on in the course we will also have to speak for 30mins on a topic nd also do some assignments. I have been hanging out with some awesome people from all over the world here from different yoga backgrounds and it has been great so I can only hope that the next 5 weeks can live up to these last few days.

We have Sunday off and as far as I have planned for today, I will go and see Prem Baba the famous Baba that is very rarely in Rishikesh but happens to be here now that in here and following this I will get a mani/pedi from my favourite beauty therapist in Laxman Jhula :) Happy Sunday peeps xx