Sitting in the taxi from Delhi speeding towards the airport, I scan my body for any changes, something I am used to doing during Shivasana in Yoga. This time however I am scanning it to see how or if my body, mind and spirit have changed and I am subsequently comparing myself in a taxi 10 weeks prior, on my way to Delhi, to now, the end of my India trip, so full of answers and new found knowledge. I chat to the friendly driver who asks me if I am going home, how long I have been in India and where I have been. Its always funny when you are doing something or travel somewhere, you know that you need to be in that moment because sooner rather than later It will be a distant memory and you will find yourself telling people about it in the past tense. For me, this was weird. Ten weeks had completely flew by for me but somehow I didn’t recognise the old me, from the taxi all them weeks ago, the traveller unsure about what India would hold for her. Now, though It is a distant memory and I now know for sure that this trip has completely turned my life around. Not to get philosophical or anything but  I fully realise that I am looking at the world in a completely new way with a completely fresh attitude and I am ready for everything It as in store for me. I think about my potential life had I never gone travelling at 19 and I find it unimaginable. It seems this is my path and I was always meant to be on this path. I have known this since I left home all those years ago but now I am 100% satisfied with my life.

I think about these last two weeks in India and I get emotional thinking about how incredibly lucky I am to have had such amazing souls by my side, sharing every single experience with me. I think about my Krishna/Surya family and how similar we all are and how we were all looking for the same answers. I think about what I have learned in these past few weeks, even the first 4 weeks of just travelling India and getting to know It inside and out. I think about how this experience alone changed my attitude, changed my perception of the world and ultimately helped me grow as a person. I’ve always said that you learn so much more from travelling than you ever do from studying and I believe that the school of life is the best school in history. There are things you can’t be taught, things that just come to you when you’re ready and ultimately shine a light on everything you ever questioned. Yoga for me is this. These last 6 weeks were indescribable and so I won’t attempt to decipher my experiences but instead hold on to them and thank the universe for providing me with these opportunities. As I said in my orientation speech on Day 1 in Rishikesh Yog Peeth, I came to study to be a yoga teacher with no expectations and I believed that , that whatever will be will be, that is the joy of it. I truly had no expectations but I had a slight nervousness that I may not believe in myself and my abilities and consequently quit early on. One thing I have learned is that I am more capable than I ever imagined, even managing to do a headstand at the end of the course- something that seemed impossible to me prior to this. I learned about myself from the inside out and believe that I am starting to understand myself more now. It’s very true when they say that you give what you get, that when you are nice to someone they are nice to you and that this ultimately leads to a happy life. I have opened my heart over the past 6 weeks and I have no regrets. I have gained so much love and friendship from all corners of the globe and at the end of it all… A yoga teacher training certificate. My determination, ambition and dreams have come true and I have no worries about creating more dreams to follow.

The last two weeks involved a lot of lesson planning, assignment work and chats in Kanaan in between, without forgetting one last trip to the Beatles ashram. After picking names out of a hat, we were paired together to create a 2 hour yoga class which we had been assigned to do on specific days of the last week. I got Wednesday  evening from 5pm until 7pm which funnily enough I had wanted, and was paired with my fellow yogi Eva. We prepared our plans and during the few days prior to our class, we spent a lot of time practising and making changes, using other yogi’s as our students. The start  of my class, took me to my 7th hour of yoga practice and ultimately my 8th for that day which was a record for me, but which only made me more determined. Teaching that class was one of the best feelings of my life and I felt like I could stay up there and talk all night. It seemed at that moment that Eva and I had the perfect combination and when the class ended and our students were in Shivasana listening to ‘Omkara-Remember’, we couldn’t help but look and smile at each other with pride and slight relief. I couldn’t have received better comments and support from my students and teachers that evening and It only made me more excited to go out into the big world and do it all over again. It goes without saying that all of the other student teachers were incredible and It just showed how different we all are and how much imagination and individual skills we all have. By the end of the week, finishing with Melissa’s evening class, we were all so excited, proud and once again slightly relieved to be finished. We were all on a high from the incredible support and feedback and we were even more excited about the graduation.

We had said from the beginning that we would wear Sari’s to our ceremony and so week by week, more and more of us began to get prepared. On our last day, which was Saturday, we had a yoga class/photo-shoot at the Ganga River, all wearing our Rishikesh Yog Peeth matching t-shirts. Needless to say, not much yoga was done but instead we ran around taking pictures and manoeuvring into crazy group postures. After the giggles and fun, we headed back to our respective hotels and went our separate ways until the ceremony in the afternoon. Some of us slept, some went out to lunch (I opted out, afraid that my blouse may burst open that night haha) and some just chilled out but it wasn’t before long that my room became a beauty parlour. The déjà vu I felt that day, from nights out at home, getting ready together was great, but this time it was a different energy all together. It was beautiful. We were beautiful. With all the girls packed into my room, we curled hair, did make up, wrapped Sari’s, borrowed jewellery and did the finishing touches before we all set off to Surya Palace for the big event. Arriving, to see everyone looking stunning and handsome, we took our respective seats on the floor and faced towards the prayer ceremony, the same one we had begun our orientation with. After this, we took a break (photo break of course) and after about 45 minutes of crazy photography, we went back in and sat facing the traditional Indian band who were set up to play. The energy was electric and we had such fun, even when the power went and they carried on. We danced and mingled on the rooftop before heading back in for the certification ceremony. Disappointed by the absence of Roshan, who seemed to be present at every other event or ceremony, we looked around awaiting his arrival. Just before the ceremony began, he arrived, which made us happy but didn’t seem to erase the disappointment or questioning. Nevertheless, one by one we were called up to receive our awards, followed by the support in the form of loud claps, whistles and beautiful loving smiles. That was such an amazing night, one that we will never forget. It ended with an amazing dinner of Paneer  curry(our favourite) salad and veg biryani, followed by chai in Kanaan and the departure of a few of our crew leaving for their flights. It became real in Kanaan that night, that this was the end of an incredible era, but with the tears looming and the hugs getting stronger, It also became obvious that this wasn’t going to be easy for anyone. The next morning half of the group were to leave to go to Delhi/Agra and so, after Kanaan we spent hours, just wandering from room to room watching them pack, not wanting to leave them. At around 1am I went to bed but by 4am, with the sound of footsteps outside, It became real to me that I would wake up and my friends would be gone. I started to get a horrible anxious, worried, sad feeling which ultimately made me violently ill for the whole morning. I figured if I couldn’t cry, something was going to happen wither way and this was it. As my stomach slowly killed me, I tried to sleep a bit more and forget what was happening, eventually waking up to go to  laughing yoga with Susie and Raine. Something I didn’t feel In the mood for but felt could benefit me a lot. The class itself didn’t but the after chat about it certainly did. It was an experience to say the least but here I was in a packed class, roaring like a lion to surrounding strangers, skipping around the Hare Krishna and forcefully laughing like a lunatic. The only thing that genuinely made me laugh was the image of my friends at home seeing me doing this. I guess doing these things isn’t so bad when you know you won’t see these people again, but In my case, my neighbour happened to be in Deli airport checking in beside me for the same flight to Colombo. Mortified to be me!

I tried not to make this a super blog, but Its hard when you have so much to look back on and be thankful for. As I sit here in Delhi airport about to set off on a plane to Colombo and eventually Kuala Lumpur, I reflect on my memories, the people I was so lucky to meet and the overall experience of these last ten weeks in this incredible country and I wish each and every one nothing but the best for the future, no matter what is on the horizon for us. Each and everybody I have met have played a part in completing this journey for me and I will never forget that. I will look back on these events, with a firm smile on my relaxed face and a glint in my eye.

Namaste India I will be back x

It seems like this will be a tough last few weeks, we have our teaching sessions coming up, our syllabus is nearly ending and my postures certainly aren’t up to the standards iv set myself. It seems I struggle to do headstands or handstands and it seems like I will never get it. I see myself doing it in my dreams and then I wake up and think I can. Then reality sets in. I did one the other day against the wall with Susie’s help but haven’t managed one on my own yet, or even against the wall by myself. It seems like Im getting left behind. But I need to get out of that mind set and that’s the hard part for me. Something that comes to mind, which particularly brightened my day yesterday, was after Yoga when Susie told me she admire my strong will during Asana practice. We had to do one forward bending pose back and forth for almost 110 times and she told me that she admired me for carrying on without a struggle. Its nice when someone gives you a compliment, but it seems that I can neither take a compliment nor take a criticism. Roshan talks about not letting the world influence you that If you are happy and content with your life then no matter what people say or do you should just smile and say thank you, not letting it penetrate or disturb your bubble of happiness. 
I need to stop with the hip openers!

Where to begin? It seems like I go to write my blog every week and I don’t know where or what to start with. Its become the norm here to have numerous things happen each day and numerous stories to tell, so it’s hard to know where to start. I guess you can say when it comes to our routine, everything is pretty much as it has been which is great and we are all feeling very good in ourselves. As of now the 300hr students, who had spent their last week and a half teaching us in the evenings, have finished their course, graduated and left Rishikesh Yog Peeth. It seems a lot smaller now and with my fellow Irishman gone, I am now the only Irish person left standing. Its strange not to see them walking around from time to time, even if we never spent much time with them, you always had time for a quick chat with them in Kanaan or en route somewhere . Did I mention that we attended their beautiful graduation? But ill get to that a little later!

This week has been somewhat a week of drama with two people leaving the ashram, a debate over the food we are being served and the exit of one of our teachers. One of the best pieces of drama to come out of this week though was the day, when we were told that we would not only have a free Philosophy/Anatomy class but that they had set up the screen for us to watch a Bollywood/Hollywood movie called Outsourced. It was a nice mid-week break for us and it was due to It being Brother & Sisters day in India that our teacher had other family commitments. Pretty sweet!  There we were, all cuddled up on the floor on our bolsters hovering around the screen for the entire two hours. The plot was basically a very accurate account of a guy arriving in India from America for the first time due to work commitments and pretty much had us in hysterics all throughout the movie. It was uncanny how everything that happened to the main character in the movie is typical for first time travellers in India, particularly me and It is a must watch for anyone interested in knowing what its really like to travel here. We had previously discussed going to the Bollywood theater in Rishikesh as a group some evening so for us this was perfect. Needless to say we want the real Bollywood theater experience at some point before we leave. The ultimate drama actually happened on Saturday evening, when instead of our usual meditation at 5:30pm we sat and watched our own private Indian concert complete with drums, keyboards, singers and eventually what felt like a rave. But no, it was just lots of students crazy dancing like It was the first time we had experienced music and beat, purely going for it, like it would be taken away at any minute. But it wasn't! The band continued to play until the compact room began to fill with an airy sweat and one by one, breathless, we wandered out soaked to the brim to find some cool breeze on the rooftop. Needless to say it was an amazing experience but thanks to my insane migraine which I had for two days straight, I couldn't fully enjoy the occasion. It was on the rooftop that some of gathered to watch a few of our friends perform with Poi, fireless of course. We stayed up there until the sun set which in India still never seizes to amaze me.

As I mentioned earlier we had the chance to attend the graduation ceremony of the 300hr students earlier that morning at 11am which was a very emotional experience, even if it wasn't us who were leaving, it still felt like it. There we sat, cameras in hand as the group of girls all in beautiful custom made sari’s and the only guy and Irish at that, in very culturally attire, accepted their certificates and posed for photos. After a speech from Roshan, It was clear that when our time came, in three weeks, we would all be in floods of tears, most likely gripping onto the doors not wanting to leave. It was the end of an era for these guys and for some of them who had been here for 9+ weeks, it was hard to imagine how they were feeling. But with every departure comes a new arrival, and so a new group of retreaters arrived for 2 weeks to Rishikesh Yog Peeth, all whom are very sweet!

It was this week that I experienced my first massage in India, crazy after 6 weeks here eh? But how and ever, I took the plunge and booked myself in with Susie and Frannie at Risikesh Yog Peeth's other centre nearby. It was an experience to say the least, and as a massage therapist myself, It was interesting to see the differences here to the western way, in relation to protecting your modesty and such. Nevertheless we all enjoyed the relaxing experience, nakedness and all. As I have mentioned before, many times, Sunday is always our treat day, the day we pigged out and satisfied our cravings of the week, but this time, we decided to be active and productive by taking a trip to the waterfalls nearby. We had asked reception at our Ashram about renting motorbikes or other ways to get there, but decided to walk across the bridge to Laksman Jhula to take a collectivo Rickshaw to the waterfalls. It wasn’t until our way back from the waterfall that we thanked our lucky stars for not renting bikes, but stay tuned for that!

We are in the beginning of our third week now in Rishikesh Yog Peeth and so much has happened since last week. It seems so much happens every day to be honest, it’s hard to keep up so I make small notes for myself to remind me of the things we have done. During the week we have had many more hilarious occasions for example, one day when we didn’t attend lunch at the ashram and we asked Raine what was served, she replied ‘Oh I heard it was a different kind of lentil today’ which just had us in hysterics. You see, here we are pretty accustomed to a set breakfast lunch and dinner, sometimes with a few changes but generally the same things such as fruit, chickpeas, lentils, curried vegetables etc, so when we skip lunch or plan for our weekends we plan hard. This week made us laugh because we literally couldn't go a single day without looking through that Kanaan menu in our minds and setting out our order for our Sunday lunch. Every conversation would lead into such things as ‘Oh maybe I will get the nachos to start and then the veg cheese burger and then maybe the banoffie pie’ ‘No wait, I will get a nutella pancake with mango icecream’, ‘Or maybe both’. This literally became the bane of our existence in Rishikesh…. Sunday lunch! We lived for it. It was only our second weekend in the Ashram yet we craved all sorts of things, like coke, coffee, chocolate, pizza and for me, even plain cheese. 

Our week at Yog Peeth was great and we had continued with the new routine of the 300hr students teaching us in the evening and various changes during the week to ensure a good mix of experiences which we all felt great about. Meditation continued to grow for me, and I continued to have more experiences during this time, something I will stop at here. We are told that It is important to keep our experiences to ourselves, because every person’s experience is so different that It may be hard to accept them all, yet for me, I found sharing my experiences with my friends very helpful for me. On the other hand, I am going to try and let my experiences be, and just see what happens within me without any details of the journey or the outcome. Well for now anyways! Let’s just say that this is an incredible journey so far, and I feel like I am on my way to finding my true self, which will be something nice to come out of having no initial expectations. Instead, this blog will be about our outings, our experiences and of course…. Food!

It was a week prior, on our first Sunday off, that we asked the owner of Kanaan restaurant, if he would mind preparing some mango ice cream for us for this week. Needless to say, all week we put together a menu of what we would have and every day we would alter it to ensure we satisfied all our cravings. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a prison, we can have whatever we want to have, but being the group we are, we decide to eat healthy weekly and then ‘treat’ ourselves on a Sunday! Weekends are pretty cool here, we have a half day on a Saturday, some meditation at 5:30 and then we have Sundays off. Sundays generally include an outing somewhere, and last week we had the ceremony down at the Ganges to attend. This week however we had a trip to a hill top temple planned. On Saturday we had a documentary instead of Philosophy, which pretty much summed up all we talk about in class about finding enlightenment, universal understanding etc etc, but this documentary was told by a very witty man called Jaggi Vasudev, an Indian Yogi and mystic. I will try and find the documentary on you tube, for anyone who wants to see it, and I would definitely  recommend it. He is a wise man!

After the documentary, we had a lot of free time before our dinner so Franzisca and myself planned to go to Rishikesh town to do some shopping and explore. We took a rickshaw there for 10 rupees each way and while there we did some shopping, at one point even buying bras from a man who I had to explain it too. Embarrassing! And another moment where we bought pots of wax and strips which we thought would save us money going to salons but it turned out to be pure crap. I'm convinced it was j a jar of pure honey. We ate a beautiful simple Indian meal in a restaurant filled with locals for 45 rupees each before some more shopping and then we came home for dinner. After dinner in the dining hall we all decided to do something spontaneous for a ‘Saturday night’- to go and dance on the rooftop. Sure why not? We grabbed pillows; blankets etc from our room, took some extra chocolate balls from our dinner with us, and headed up to  the roof where we lay out our yoga mats, opened up star gazing apps on our devices and set up speakers playing chilled music. After some funny limbo, crazy dancing and an all-round fun time, we decided to head to Kanaan for a cheeky Chai Masala (and some cheese) before the gates to our Ashram closed at 10pm. Kanaan was definitely  the place to be and it showed, especially when we turned up and noticed everybody from our class hanging out there enjoying their treats. It was after this that we came back to the Ashram and had a good sleep. Saturday nights were nice because you knew you could sleep in until at least 7:30am the next day and be up on time for breakfast at 8am. For some of the girls though, they planned extra yoga classes in the yoga hall at 5:30am, but for the rest of us, we took our extra few hours in bed with great satisfaction. We deserved it right?

It was Sunday after breakfast when our excursion was planned to the temple and we were all set to leave just after 9am. We split into groups and took a half our jeep safari up the spiral mountain side before arriving and continuing on a 10/15 minute steep hike to the temple. Needless to say, the blood sweat and tears –figuratively, was worth it when we reached the top, hearts beating out of our chests, and looked upon the vast green countryside. I thought India was beautiful from what I had seen already but this just blew my mind all over again. We had a view over the swirling Ganges river, quaint hill top villages and the sweeping lush terrain. We all walked around it for a while taking tonnes of photos, complete with yoga postures of course, before heading into the temple to get our Bindi and say some prayers. Everyone just gathered around and chatted while the staff who had come along with us, huddled around a custom made fire, making us fresh Chai Masala. We spent the next while munching on plates of cookies, drinking Chai Masala and chatting with each other before we headed back down the mountain. Much easier this time! 

When we got back to Ram Jhula, we hopped out of the jeep and like the wind, we were gone, in the direction of Kanaan. Not wasting any time, we ordered our meals in advance while we hurried back to the ashram to shower and change, which I am aware makes us sound like crazy people. From the start of the week I knew what I was going to have; the veg cheese burger and then the nutella pancake with our special mango ice cream, but once again my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I was well and truly stuffed as a Christmas turkey by the end of the meal. It was quite funny because at first there sat a group of very enthusiastic foodies and not even an hour later there lay the same group of people sprawled out on cushions just bulging with food babies. It was well and truly worth it though, but next week (and yes here I go again with the forward planning…I can’t help it) I may opt just for a main course and not a desert. Later on that day when we mustered up some energy, we pulled ourselves off the comfy cushions of Kanaans floor, and headed to Laksman Jhula (the next town which is a 15-20 minute walk) to check out some clothes, have a chilled evening stroll and maybe pop into our waiter crush in Lucky Restaurant. It was a lovely evening of chai and sunset walks before it was time to go to bed and prepare for week three. Week Three Baby!

Some of the quotes from this week that have made me laugh include one from Franzisca who said while in Kanaan ‘I haven’t had chocolate in two weeks’ to which we replied ‘You had chocolate balls last night’ and she then said ‘Oh yeahhhh, sure that’s just a name though its mostly coconut’. Amongst others such as ‘I want to be a hardrock bunny’, ‘Don’t you mean a playboy bunny’ ‘Oh yeah that’s it’. ‘Did you wear any sun cream today?’ ‘No’ ‘Oh you’re well in the cancer boat.’

It’s funny how much we talk about food here, but its super exciting to know that we are losing weight here. We notice ourselves becoming more toned, more flexible and svelter which makes us more inclined to stay on our health buzz during the week. It’s nice to eat out once in a while but after having lunch today we realised that we had in fact missed our good ole chick peas and lentils which today had been extra spiced up. The food here is incredible and big props to the cooks who work hard for us during every meal time, always cooking everything from scratch and looking after our every need. Sundays will be our treat day but for now we are enjoying our Indian diet. As I mentioned, we have noticed some differences in our bodies in the past two weeks and I have especially noticed some differences in my flexibility and capabilities. I’m not quite able to do a shoulder stand yet but every day I am edging closer and closer to nailing it but I am now able to stretch a lot further in my poses compared to my first day. It truly is incredible and rewarding and I can’t wait to see how we have all changed in a few weeks’ time.

Namaste!

Events in Rishikesh

Its hard to believe we are in our second week of Yoga teacher training here in Rishikesh Yog Peeth. As I previously mentioned, the time here has been flying and trying to take in every moment of it, is on the top of our agendas right now. Live for the moment, in the present moment- a little something Philosophical which makes a lot of sense to the way we are living right now. I find myself becoming more aware of the present moment and have found myself not thinking about previous events nor future plans, which is certainly a step in the right direction. I also feel very much on the road to universal understanding, having figured out from last night’s meditation class, I experienced a glimpse of the Kundalini Awakening, which I will explain a bit more later on. So at the end of our last week, we had a very chilled weekend to look forward to. We had Saturdays morning Asana class but this time, we had Dani, a previous student turned teacher who has returned to Rishikesh to teach workshops to us. I personally found this class very helpful when it came to breathing correctly, correct alignments and altering routines for different level yoga students. It gave me a great insight into the postures we do regularly and how altering them can make a routine easier for a beginner or more challenging for an intermediate student. We had group discussions and we learned a lot about this through each other’s input and ideas which was great.

Later on when it came to having our usual Philosophy and Anatomy/Physiology class with Roshan, we were told it was cancelled due to a power cut. We had planned to watch some documentaries to do with Philosophy to add to our chilled day, but with the cancellation, it made our free time longer. We had a long gap before we had to return to Krishna Cottage for meditation.  It was during this free time, that we headed to the Ayurvedic clinic near our school, for some fish pedicure pampering and some yogic massages- stretching/breath massage, which we really enjoyed. I took some of the free time I had to go to my usual salon in Laksman Jhula and get some waxing done, which is great in India and super cheap – just an fyi for all you girls out there. Afterwards, when we came back we had our dinner as usual and went to Surya for the meditation. This time, we had a candle meditation where our teacher put a candle in the middle, arranged us in a big circle around it, and turned off the lights. We were to watch the yellow of the flame, with our eyes half shut, eventually closing our eyes and visualizing the same candle in our minds, continuing the meditation. As per usual, my thoughts kept distracting me and I couldn’t fully settle my mind, even though the candle was very relaxing to watch. Meditation never seemed to be something I could do, but I guess I would prove myself wrong.

Sunday was our day off and so some of the group had arranged hikes or day trips to the surrounding areas. Some of the others, including us opted to take a walk to see The infamous Beatles Ashram located very close by. Some of the girls had opted for a pay as you go yoga class that morning at 6:30am which the night before, I had opted in for, but when the time came the next day, I opted for sleep. I felt slightly guilty but felt slightly deserving of it though. I felt very refreshed at breakfast! After breakfast we got some directions from the reception at Krishna Cottage, and began our journey towards the Ashram, which only took us 20 minutes to walk to, despite the scorching heat. When we got there we were in awe of the location and the stillness of the atmosphere around the ashram, which sat, slightly hill side, beside the banks of the holy Ganges. The story behind this famous visit was that in 1968 The Beatles, who had met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London during one of his seminars, decided to take him up on his offer to come to his Ashram in Rishikesh, to study Transcendental Meditation under his guidance. Many of their companions, wives and other celebrities came on the journey and they all left at different times to go home. It was here that they meditated for long periods daily, ate a pure vegetarian diet and wrote tonnes of songs, many of which are on their album  ‘The Beatles’ aka ‘The White Album’. Their visit here, gained a lot of followers and interest in The Maharishi  during this time, and even with the Ashram in abandonment at this moment in time, It still draws backpackers and yoga students to see it. It wasn’t until later on that evening when we talked to some of our friends that we realised there was a ‘rabbit hole’ we could have used to enter the inside of the ashram, but for us, we just got to see the outside. We are planning our next trip to see the inside of it. It is always so incredible to be somewhere that people so famous have once been, which happens every day around the world, but to be here had a very spiritual significance. It seemed as though we, as yoga students were standing here on the grounds where The Beatles once came, to find exactly what we are looking for. Peace and universal understanding. This was something special for me to experience. I couldn’t help but imagine them there at that very site, looking out over the Ganges searching for sheer tranquillity and it seemed like the perfect location for it. 

Our plan all week had been to set lunch at our school aside on our day off which is Sunday, and instead, indulge in something we have been craving such as pizza, crepes or veggie burgers. When we returned from The Beatles Ashram, we did just that! We headed to Kanaan, a local rooftop chillout restaurant where most off us ‘yogi’s’ hang out. The service is crazy slow though, even for Indian standards, and with seven of us there, each receiving our meals at different times, I of course received my pizza 2 hours after we arrived. One of the girls who had a massage booked, even had to cancel her order to make her massage on time. Nevertheless, the food is beautiful, the lassi’s and lemon nana’s are amazing and the sweet owner is always so friendly and welcoming, so yes, it has become our local eatery! It goes without saying that we each enjoyed very single bite and savoured every single smell of delicious food before It was time to leave and get ready for another week ahead. The food at the ashram, is amazing, but because it is pure vegetarian and very health conscious which is so great for us I know, we still can’t help but miss our little luxuries, for Franzisca that would be her love for Gin and Tonics and for the rest of us it varies a lot. I was super happy with my pizza and it almost becomes one of those routines where you feel great eating healthy during those 6 days that treating yourself for that one meal on a Sunday seems very doable in real life. Maybe not so affordable for a backpacker though, but I’m determined to keep it up when I leave here. For breakfast at the ashram/school, both groups (us from Krishna Cottage and the other half from Surya Palace) meet in Krishna where all our meals are served. We would generally have fruit salad, noodles, porridge and herbal tea in different combinations, which we will have after our two hour yoga session in the morning from 6-8am. For lunch we will then have a cooked selection of vegetables, sometimes curried sometimes plain, some curried lentils or chickpeas and maybe a salad. For dinner, we will generally have a similar meal to lunch but in different variations, sometimes it will be chickpea or lentil soup with rice, a salad and a desert like rice pudding (which is a lot different to Irish rice pudding) and other times It may be the same combination but in different forms such as veggie meat balls. On a Saturday we are generally given a completely different meal as a sort of ‘treat’ I guess, for example last Saturday we had pasta with a beautiful tasty sauce and cheese dressing. Before our meal in Kanaan we also had some amazing homemade guacamole with giant deep fried  ‘crisps’ which were amazing and afterwards we opted for some chocolate balls with ice cream which were also to die for. It goes without saying that Sunday is probably our favourite but most guilty day.

On the other hand, there was no need to feel guilty considering we were going to the Puja ceremony down by the Ganges river with our classmates and teachers that evening, where we could wash away all our sins. The Ganges Is well known worldwide for its holiness , spiritual history and ceremonies, so when we were told we would be attending the Puja ceremony to give thanks to Mother Ganga, we were so excited. That evening, we gathered at Krishna Cottage and we all walked to the river where we waited ten minutes for the gates to open. We passed the time by posing for pictures together and with various Indians who yet again approached us saying ‘Photo photo please’. Once we entered the ceremonial space, river side, we all took seats along the steps and before we knew it the place was packed full of locals and tourists, all here to give thanks and witness this daily event. It was easier to see the location of where the Lord Shiva statue once stood out in front of us on the river, before It was taken away in the very harsh floods, back in June 2013. Just before my arrival! You can notice a lot of reconstruction and excess deposits of sand around Ram Jhula and Laksman Jhula from the floods and it’s hard to think about how many people died in the small mountainous villages  so recently from the flooding and landslides.

The ceremony kicked off with various mantras and relaxing Hindu music, enough to send me into deep meditation, something I thought Impossible for me. We sat there as more and more people arrived and not long after, the familiar scene of worshipping Mother Ganga with candles. As the candles moved around the crowds, everyone reached out to grab the handle of it before the swaying began. When it got closer to us, we managed to get our hands on it and helped to move it around with everybody. It was such a nice ceremony. Once this was done, everyone rushed to the water were they put their feet in, prayed and even drank the holy water. We got our feet in, but afraid of falling into the fast current of the river, we didn’t stay there too long. Afterwards, we gathered, put our shoes back on and headed back to Krishna Cottage. After dinner, some of us went to bed and some of the others played games in Surya Palace. It was a really great weekend and we can’t wait to experience more events like this, especially with such a nice group of people.

During our second week, our schedules changed once again and this time, we would have a normal class in the morning with Jeet, and then in the evening, our other teacher Nirendra would supervise two 300hr students as they taught us the class. Both evenings were quite intense and fast paced but It was great. I don’t think any of us have sweated that much in our lives. Literally swimming in sweat after a 90 minute class. Its always great to get different experiences and we are now having an Astanga yoga class every Tuesday with Jeet, from this week on, which gives us some more variations of yoga and routines. It also keeps Franzisca happy, as she loves Astanga yoga. Oh and have I told you that she gets everything she wishes for? We think she is supernatural. We keep telling her to wish for chocolate, potatoes or pizza someday at Krishna Cottage, but I don’t think that would ever come true. As I mentioned earlier, I was finding meditation quite annoying, which is quite normal I hear for beginners. I was never good at keeping quite let alone keeping thoughts out of my head and my mind still but nevertheless I tried it. We have meditation at 8:30pm every evening after dinner for half an hour, in which we try out different methods. First there was just silence, then there was the candle to watch, then we chanted ‘OM’ 108 times and finally the past two nights we tried a new method of counting from 100 down to 1 on every exhale. Here we go again I thought to myself. We talk about The Kundalini awakening in Philosophy a lot and about getting deep into your mind through meditation, by preparing with yoga Asanas (poses), Pranayama (breath control), Neti Pot and a good healthy diet. Basically we are all living in the external world and we do not understand the universe nor ourselves living in this way. Every human has the capacity to delve into the deep subconscious of the mind to find out the worlds answers, the universal understanding and most of all who you really are. They call this an ‘enlightened’ person. As an enlightened person, you have released the energy in your body to flow up through all seven chakras and finally power through the crown of the head, meaning that you have finally understood the world and you can live your life in peace with fearless expression of yourself without any doubt. I wouldn’t say I am a sceptic, and I am always open to new things and hearing about peoples experiences but I just felt like meditation to me would always just be me, sitting in a dark room in silence just waiting on the time to pass, only with incredibly numb legs to sow for it at the end. Taking all we had learned in the past week and all the insights into this experience into account, I once again went into my meditation class on the first night we did the numbers method. I got into a comfortable cross legged position on my cushion, placed my hands on my knees once the ‘Om’ and mantra were said and I began to relax into my position. I counted down from 100 without getting lost and noticed that I was starting to drift into a state of thoughtlessness where I could no longer feel the pins and needles in my leg, nor hear any noises around me. It felt almost like nodding off to sleep but I was awake, just without any thoughts, and anyone who has tried to meditate knows how hard it is to not think. Think about it! But in all seriousness, there I was in or around my second countdown, feeling my breath go deeper and more relaxed just like before you go asleep, when all of a sudden a huge force of energy swirled up my back from the base of my spine through to the top of my head pulling me up into an even straighter position. I quickly opened my eyes unaware at what was happening and slightly scared, thinking I may need to leave the room. Suddenly I closed my eyes again and embraced the feeling, letting it continue to tak over my body, heat up my back and power through to my crown. When I felt it push through my head, my mind felt so settled, yet so full of awareness and I had an incredible burst of joy and happiness within me. Still unaware at what had happened to me, but still knowing I hadn’t imagined it, I walked out of the room saying ‘That was an amazing meditation’ and continued on into my room where I lay in bed for the rest of the evening researching my experience. I had in fact come to realise that this was Kundalini awakening. After a few conversations with friends the next morning about this, I was encouraged to discuss this with Roshan our Philosophy teacher to see what his thoughts were on this. I thought this would be easier than standing up and telling the whole class my experience as had been previously mentioned to me. At the end of Anatomy I queued up, as you do when in one of Roshan’s classes (everyone always has questions for him) and when It was my turn, I explained my experience, which to him seemed like the start of Kundalini awakening. He told me not to dwell on it in each meditation class and that every time is completely different, the key is to sit still, and see what happens. The next evening IA couldn’t help but wait for something to happen, and so It was not anything special but I definitely felt energy and the start of something but I guess I wasn’t as thoughtless as I had been the night before, to encourage these feelings to happen. I have no doubt in my mind though that this feeling exists now, and It only gives me more hope and faith that something will come again when I am ready. From researching I noticed that it takes some people along time to release this Kundalini ‘serpent’ (energy in your spine) and it as to be done under supervision and with preparation such as the Asanas, Paranayama, diet and the right mind set. I have been living in the present moment since I got to India and since being in the Ashram, I am even more devoted to living my life, living for the present moment, and when the time comes -finding out who I really am!

-Here is something we say after our mantra’s every day.

‘Shanti Shanti Shanti’- which means ‘Peace to others, Peace to everything around us and Peace to myself’

It’s been 4 days since we arrived at Krishna Cottage In Rishikesh, our home for the next six weeks, and It’s so hard to believe how quickly its gone. When I think about the routine we currently follow, it’s no wonder the time flies though, because as the saying goes, ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’ and we are doing just that! The past few days have brought about new experiences, new meetings with people from all corners of the world, a completely new diet and some aches and pains here and there, but overall It has exceeded whatever expectations I did have initially.

From our first 6am-8am yoga class to our yoga class today, I can notice the difference in my capabilities and also the insensitivity of the classes beckoning. It is great to be able to get back into a routine of doing yoga and having that feeling of satisfaction and achievement every day when I may be realise I can stretch that bit further, or master the triangle or even chant one of the mantras without my mantra page in front of me. That is a nice feeling. Our first day we had our first yoga class in the morning which set us up for the routine we would go on to follow for the next few weeks. We would sit on our branded ‘Rishikesh Yog Peeth’ Mats and in a ‘comfortable cross legged position’- a common phrase around here-, we would close our eyes, join our hands in prayer and chant ‘Om three times in between three deep breaths’. No words can describe the peacefulness of the group as a whole chanting this small word aloud, but It is a great feeling. ‘Om’ is the universal understanding that we are all searching for, and which yoga helps us to achieve. It is the peaceful world we want to live in free of stress, pain and worry and full of love, happiness and understanding of the universe. We chant this before  and at the end of each class. It was in this class that we took out our Mantra pages, and began to chant the first Mantra ‘II Genesha Mantra II’ which is written in Sanskrit but translates as O mighty Ganesha of Large Body, curved trunk, with the brilliance of a million suns, please make all my work free of obstacles, always. I like this one! As the days went on we began to chant the next two of the ‘II Guru Mantra II’ following the lead of our teachers and their melodies. I really love the uniqueness of the Indian sound and the way we chant is so different to anything in the Western world which makes it so unique and beautiful. I go on for the rest of the first and second day chanting the ‘Ganesha Mantra’ in my head and even tried using it during meditation to help me concentrate.

After yoga, we have breakfast and then philosophy and anatomy/physiology with Roshan who brings about a new sense of learning within all of us in his style of teaching. Its always amazing to have a class with him and It always beings about conversations in the dining hall about the philosophies of life and enlightenment within ourselves, or anything we have talked about in class that day! Everything he says seems to make so much sense and I feel myself already becoming more open to understanding the universe and everything in between.  We have a long break after lunch where we generally go out in our little tight nit group of ‘crazy girls’ to explore Rishikesh, get our usual Mango Lassi’s or just run some errands for that day. Today we plan to have a chat and a Lassi and after that who knows! I am enjoying every minute of it, even when I am in serious agony trying to bend and stretch and achieve Yoga Asanas (poses) I try to smile (as our teacher tells us to) and remind myself of my reasons for being here and the pride I will get at the end of this experience.

We also do a practice called Neti in the morning (depending on if it’s raining outside or not!), in which we use a plastic Neti pot filled with salt waterwhich we use to clear out the nasal passages. We did this only once so far because of the rain, as we do it outdoors at 5:45am, and It was easier than I imagined it to be and really made a difference. After our break from 1pm to 5:30pm, we come back, have a rest and then get ready for our evening yoga session. Both sessions are in a different building to Krishna Cottage, and both lectures are also in another different building which generally entails trudging through flooded alley ways and tonnes of cow dung. The usual! Our evening session so far has been a bit more intensive than our morning one which is more relaxed and involves Pranayama (specific breathing techniques), Asana (poses) and Chanting, wereas our evening one is more full on and involves  alignment’s to our current poses (using our specific belt straps), various harder poses and a faster routine. Its all in our favour though and I just wish my muscles would hurry up and stop being so weak, so I can actually enjoy trying these moves out, although I did master the triangle yesterday to my surprise! Trying out handstands today was a bit of a challenge for me as I could never do handstands even as a child, so as an adult It will certainly take practice. We did this in pairs getting the other person to position themselves so they could hold you up, but no I had no coordination and so it took 3 people to get me upside down and in the right position- Laughing stock! I have to remember though that this is new for me and It’s been a while since Iv done any yoga, let alone this type of pose. I do have a tendency to have little faith and confidence in myself and I think that this course will aim to help me realise my bodies capabilities and my ability to achieve.

Everybody here at Krishna Cottage is so friendly and I have met so many people from all walks of life, with their own individual reasons for being here which Is great. It goes without saying that YES, I did meet an Irish person here, but to my surprise he is the only one in the whole school, and is doing the 300hr which means he is not in my class, leaving me to be the only Irish one around. Nice! Everyone here seems to be a similar type of people, which is probably what brought us all here. Firstly we all have a love for yoga, we are all open to learning about life, we are all open to meeting new people  and at that, everyone seems very open minded and easy going, which I love. Even in a big group of 40+ people, It’s hard to feel like an outcast or anything of the sort because of the friendliness that oozes from everyone around here. Everyone swaps chairs and groups at meal times and places in the Yoga Hall, so you are always mingling with someone new which is great, but our little group cant stay away from each other and most of the time, we spent laughing and laughing which is the key to health and happiness. Some things that have made me laugh this week include one conversation we had about re incarnation and having a choice to come back as something different, to which Franziska said randomly in her German accent ‘Well you could either come back as a King, or you could come back as a …….*looks around philosophically *…. Mango Lassi. And regarding a not so nice Mango Lassi we were drinking, she then said ‘It tastes like how it smells on the street’ which had us in convulsions. A day doesn’t go by without laughing hysterically at something silly, (well so far) which I love, but that may be kept under wraps once the 7pm silence rule comes in this evening.

Philosophy is something I have never studied but something that I always thought would be an interesting  topic, and boy am I glad I am learning in India and not only India but in Rishikesh Yog Peeth. Our teacher Roshan, as I mentioned before takes teaching to a whole new level and leaves you walking out of the class room with your minds blown and many more questions you want answered. He says that the key is to never accept what he says, nor decline what he says, that we need to be open to interpretation and have our own questions too. Some other quotes which I really loved were ‘Yoga is not what you think you are but who you really are’, Every time you point at someone, 3 fingers are pointing at yourself, ‘Universal understanding is fearless expression of yourself without any doubt’, If you are here with your questions, you are already here with your answers’. Some of the topics in class are very intense but seem to make a lot of sense, but at the same time, leaving me with more questions. It’s an incredible topic and is something that can be interpreted in so many way, but that is the joy of learning it., and what better place than spiritual Rishikesh.

Don’t get me wrong, there are days when I feel like I shouldn’t be here, that I am incapable of progressing or achieving, because that’s just always been my mind set, something I need to change and am working on. Some days are tougher than others, but it all falls back on my reasons for being here and what I will gain from progressing through this course. I think back and wonder if I hadn’t have went travelling for so long, I may have stuck with yoga and been pretty damn flexible at this time,  but then again, life isn’t about what if’s, and I am here now so I am going to aim for achievement. Knowing my own body, I realise my abilities and capabilities and have noticed different changes in my flexibility, minor, but still there, still progressing, still on the road to achievement.

During the week, we have Sundays off and a half day on Saturdays which we will makes plans for. Maybe a bit of pampering, some massage, a trip to the Beatles Ashram and of course some Asana adjustments and practices so we are not out of sync on Monday morning. It’s a nice break from the week and during our week we have a change of teachers and routines for the first half of the week and then the second half which is also a great idea for us. Rishikesh has become something of a home to me and I feel very happy here at this moment in time, with the people I have met and with what I am learning and gaining from this journey. My life motto- Everything happens for a reason’ could not be more clear right now and I can’t help but think of how my path in life has magically brought me here to meet new friends, practice discipline and hopefully find out who I am as a person. I am content and happy with my life and my achievements at this point in my life and this journey can only better it, which I am going to let it do one hundred per cent.

On a final note – ‘To have choice, you need to have free will and 100% free will, is only present in the present moment’ – Roshan

So for any of you who don’t know the reason form my 6 weeks stay in Rishikesh, here is where  I will elaborate a bit more.  My first and foremost reason is that I will be attending a 6 week Yoga Teacher Training course here, in the Yoga capital of the world. I had been practicing yoga back when I was in school and on and off ever since, which we had to discuss in front of our new group during our first day at the school- but I will get to that! It’s not that I want to necessarily be a teacher after the, but I figure I would rather do it for the experience and journey rather than having high expectations of myself at the end. I’m no expert at yoga and my being here, Is the beginning of my real yogic journey, my aim to learn the philosophy and practice of yoga in detail. If teaching comes from that then so be it, I will take it all as it comes. 

So to begin with, my less yogic like journey to Rishikesh itself was something entirely different. I had been in contact with Raine, Franzisca & Susie online through the Rishikesh Yog Peeth (our school) website and group emails. It was so great knowing that I would arrive to Delhi once again having people there to meet me and that we would all take this journey together. After two short flights but a long transit overall, I arrived In Delhi for the second time during the trip, only this time my flight was late. I wandered around through the exits to find my new yogi’s and the private car that would take us to Rishikesh. I was so late, but when I arrived we all were so glad to see each other. We finally left in the car, which then took a further 9 hours on familiar bumpy roads, with a few stops along the way for food and toilets etc. The route to Rishikesh had been changed due to the Shiva festival which saw thousands of people dressed in orange marching from Rishikesh to Delhi, and this was the reason for the longer than usual transit to Rishikesh.

With the four of us in the car, we alternated between conversations, listening to ‘Im a Barbie Girl’ on the stereo and taking well deserved nap times, before finally reaching Rishikesh at around 10:30pm Aug 3rd. Our course would start on the 5th but our orientation would be on the 4th therefore we were super happy to have arrived with some time to spare. We were all so relieved when we were shown to the Krishna Cottage where we would be staying, and furthermore to our private rooms. I was ecstatic to see my large room, complete with King size bed, Balcony and En suite which I could finally unpack, having been used to on the go travelling for the previous 4 weeks. Krishna Cottage itself seemed beautiful and had a jungle setting, with a grassy courtyard, a dining hall, and overlooking balconies surrounding it. We all decided to get a shower and head straight to bed. The next morning breakfast was at 8:30am, unbeknownst to me, so I didn’t wake until 9:30- I much preferred the extra sleep anyway! I met the girls down at reception where we gave our documentation, filled in some forms and paid our fee. We paid USD$1250 for our 6 week course which included all your food, your private room and your training which was incredible, as I would probably spend that on a general  trip with no training included.

It’s always hard to hand over your beloved credit card when you know how much you are spending and are on a budget but working t out at around $20 per day is an absolute bargain. When all the serious stuff was done, we decided to head to the market stalls in and around Ram Jhula and Laksman Jhula which are the areas surrounding where we are staying in just near Rishikesh. After a long walk around, popping in and out of quirky shops and admiring scenery of the Ganges and mountains along the way, we handed in our laundry in one of the only laundrettes we could find and right next to a beauty parlour, which we were also looking for. After a bit of waxing and threading, we were on our way onwards through more of the somewhat busy streets, when we decided to stop for some lunch in Lucky Restaurant, where we all had amazing meals including Paneer Butter Masala, Palak, Mushroom Masala & Cheese Dosa along with plenty of naan breads. The food was amazing, and the waiter wasn’t bad either. We laughed a lot yesterday and it seemed like we were all quite similar people with a similar sense of humour. It was at the orientation ceremony  later that evening after a rest and a shower-It was scorching in Rishikesh,-,that we met the rest of our group from Krishna Cottage and the other half from Surya Palace, which we had been divided into at the beginning. The orientation began with a prayer at the top of the room and we all watched in awe at the ceremony . During the prayer we were each given a red bracelet on our right hand, markings on our foreheads and some Indian sweets. Towards the end we were invited to come to take part in the prayer by gathering at the front and two by two, moving a chalice of candles in circular motion in front of the statue. Im not quite sure of the meaning of the prayer but it was an amazing experience and it was so nice to be able to take part as a group. All of us who are in the same boat experiencing the same things here.

After the prayer, we had a talk about the schedule we would be undertaking in our 6 weeks. It goes as follows

-5am- wake up

-5:30am- Herbal Tea

-5:45-6:00am- yogic cleansing (using a Neti pot with salt water to clear the nasal passages)

-6:00-8:00am- Mantra/Asana/Pranayama (yoga, breathing, chanting)

- 8:30am- Breakfast

-9:30-10:30am Philosophy

-10:45-11:45am- Anatomy and Physiology

- 1pm- Lunch

- 5:30pm-7:pm- Asana and Paranayama (yoga and breathing)

- 7pm- silence to be observed onwards

-7:15pm- Dinner

- 8:30pm-9pm Meditation

-10pm -Lights out

We then headed back to Krishna Cottage, while the other half stayed at their homes away from homes at Surya Palace. I really loved that we were brought to Krishna Cottage and that we were altogether, It is an amazing place and setting here. I was so excited to start on my new journey, for whatever reasons I have been  brought here,  for whatever experiences I am destined to learn and whomever I am supposed to cross paths with along the way! Our first day would be tomorrow! 5am let's be having you!

I AM SO READY!!!

X

‘Everything is possible in India, but not everything is available’ – We laughed after hearing this quote from a local we met here In Goa, and It rang very true all of us who had been travelling India. India had been a crazy place so far and It had taken a while for me to understand India and all the aspects of it that made it the way it is. A friend once told me that you either hate India or you love it, there are a lot of good things but also a lot of bad things here, but by far the good outweighs the bad. Having been at home in comfortable Ireland with only a vision of what India would be like, I couldn’t quite grasp what she meant but after 4 weeks of hectic, tiresome  travelling through India, I finally understand her words. I have come to believe that I do in fact love India, but there are definitely certain parts of travelling here, that can get to you. It’s a question of can you handle it or will you give in. I think I have moulded quite well so far into the way of travelling here and have come to grasp the way of haggling, standing up to touts, and avoiding being led astray by the locals claiming to help. I think everyone at the beginning of their trip here, finds they end up trusting everybody and being ripped off only to realise a few weeks in, how to actually get the balance right. You learn to know who you can trust and when something you are being told is wrong, it just comes with practice, but it certainly doesn’t come straight away!

During our time in Goa, we planned to chill out at the beach- we hoped for at least a bit of sunshine-, explore the area and meet new people. 2 out of these 3 plans happened, and with it being monsoon season here, I think you can guess which two. It’s very possible to explore India in the monsoon season, and I regret ever asking tour companies for information while I was planning this trip considering they all told me to avoid most of the country at this time of year. Yes the monsoon season is annoying but It doesn’t stop you travelling, meeting new people and taking in what a country has to offer. It’s just the annoyance of sudden downfall, or no downfall at all, that’s the monsoon way! Our time through Delhi, Varanasi, Rajasthan, Mumbai etc had been great no matter what weather we had endured, It was still another story to tell and It was a different way of seeing India. It always seemed that the rain would pour out of the heavens right when we were to take a train or a bus, therefore the majority of our trips, saw us enduring soaking wet clothes for hours upon end. Nevertheless, I would still love to come back to India in the high season –regardless of the towering prices- just to see the sheer difference in atmosphere. It seems you get to see more of authentic India in monsoon season, considering what we have been told by the locals  about the high season being crazy busy, which doesn’t sound too appealing, but still, I would come back to see the contrast!

Arriving from a 13hr train journey (my last in India, and our last journey ever together), we were told by the tonnes of touts at the station that it would cost us over 1000Rupees to get to Vagator, where we planned to stay in Asterix Hostel. After our usual, fight with the touts, we overheard a man say it was only 30 rupees by bus, but he would take us to the station for 100 rupees- which made no sense- but nevertheless, being on a budget we opted for the cheap option even if it meant changing three local buses.. Ughh! It wasn’t the best time to have Delhi belly I tell you, but thanks to Eliza and her meds, the journey was certainly not as horrific as Id imagined. After taking three buses, we got dropped off at the side of the road in what we were told was ‘Vagator’. We had got talking to two others who had come down from northern Goa to check out other places to stay, and so the four of us hopped off the bus and began walking down the deserted road which initially put us off Vagator. We had pictured our hostel to be beachside, with somewhere to chill out and watch the sea, even when It was raining, but these deserted roads, weren’t what we had in mind. When we finally reached the hostel, we were intrigued by its appearance and location, which seemed like it would be an amazing find in the high season. It was in a jungle setting, like most of Goa we had seen on the bus journeys here, and had coconut trees all around it. We decided to check into a 4 bed dorm which was the cheapest, and which we had to ourselves for the two nights. I had opted to skip the third night and instead take a taxi to the airport at 11pm the last evening and stay in the airport for my flight at 7:30am to Goa. It was either this or pay to stay an extra night and then have to leave at 3am to the airport. I’m no stranger to sleeping in airports at this stage; In fact I think I’ve spent a good chunk of my life in airports throughout my life, so why stop now! We had dinner at The Mango Tree on the first day- pretty easily located beside our hostel- where we enjoyed a lovely veggie burger each. We decided to walk to Anjuna and check out some of the markets and restaraunts, where we stayed in one bar for a drink, to take the weight off our feet. On our way back after being surrounded by a pack of angry dogs, I opted for an easy way out by a passer-by  who was heading to the Mango Tree. In the Mango Tree we had some more beers and a cocktail while enjoying the brilliant 80’s music they had playing loudly in the background- give or take a few power cuts-.

Our first day was pretty short considering all the travelling we had done to get there, and so we had an early night. The next day I had planned to hire a moped to go and check out the beaches, and for 200Rupees a day It was a bargain. Off I went with one of the girls from the hostel on the back, stopping off at a few beaches along the way –Big Vagotor Beach, Little Vagator Beach and finally Anjuna Beach, where we met back up with Eliza and some others at a café. We had some chai with some fellow travellers and locals before taking one of the locals up on his offer to show us Anjuna Beach. He walked us along the beach which he said was completely different in high season as everything was shut now and the beaches were full of rubbish etc. It looked like It could be paradise in the high season and I vowed to come back in the new year, I even vowed to consider it as a location for my prospective hostel. I would love that! After our long walk and a lot of shopping at te markets, we headed back to the hostel on my bike, taking in the lush green hilly countryside as we drove by, with the wind in our hair. We met Eliza later on at The Mango Tree were we had dinner and were joined by one of the locals from earlier who wanted us to join him at a bar near Anjuna Beach. We politely declined as we didn’t want to go too far away and Eliza was leaving very early te next day to Hampi. We headed back to the hostel to mingle with some of the other people who were having some drinks in the common room before going to bed, hoping for a good night’s sleep before both of our further travels. Eliza left to the train station at 5:30- not the best time to be saying goodbye when you are half asleep and It feels dreamlike- but nevertheless we had a hug and said our goodbyes. It was weird waking up the next morning with a dorm to myself, but It wasn’t long until I had a new roommate. Sort of! I checked out for the day and killed time before It was time to head to the airport! My last night in Goa, was pretty calm to start with then turned a bit crazy, as if Goa was trying to show me a different side of itself, enticing me to stay a bit longer. And it worked. Well for 2 hours at least! As I mentioned, my morning/afternoon was quite calm, as I chlled on the comfy cushions  in the common room typing up some blogs and uploading pictures before my flight that evening-you  can never be too sure that you have everything backed up before a big journey-, before, heading off down to Big Vagator Beach for a bit of a read before the sun disappeared and the rain came to visit once again. I had a nice stroll down to the beach, with a nice purchase of a beautiful Kaftan to be had en route, and stayed on the beach for almost an hour and a half among scattered groups of people, chilling on the beach or running in and out of the sea. And who can forget all the cows strolling up and down the sand enjoying the rolling green hills and crashing waves along the way.. Or so I presumed! They lived the life! I arrived back to the hostel just after being caught in the heavy monsoon rain where I had to take shelter road side, with a local man who was doing the same. We both looked around as the rain eased and took the opportunity to go back on our way to our destinations. I headed straight back out to The Mango Tree where I ran into Tanja from Germany who I had met the previous day at Sea Paradise Café in Anjuna. We had dinner together and started on the hard stuff not long after that. After a few hours ad passed and we went our separate ways, I headed back to the hostel where I had a drink and a chat in the common room with Andy, the guy from earlier who had checked into our old room. We chatted for ages and after he said he hadn’t had dinner, I suggested we got to The Mango Tree, I had loads of time until my taxi at 11pm anyways. The Mango Tree was always great and we had eaten most of our meals here as It was so close to the hostel, so delicious and played great music.

I had numerous beers with Tanja earlier at dinner and then again in the hostel, and at this point, I was drinking Whiskey sours which led me to change my taxi until 1am giving me two more hours of drinking, which wasn't such a good idea before the airport, how and ever. Andy suggested we try the strong beers which turned out to be so strong that after one glass for our 600ml bottles, we had to give up, they were that strong. It was so funny, and there was no drink I had known to be that effective since Long Island Ice Teas. I will never drink these beers again, that's for sure. After getting my taxi, I ended up falling asleep, feeling quite sick- maybe the hangover was kicking in?-, and upon arriving at the airport I was refused entry without a ticket (which I had in my emails) -Bad Planning! Nevertheless, they had free wifi and a seat outdoors near the heavy rain, for me to sit and repeatedly try to connect to. I knew if i didn't, I would be sitting here all night, or even worse not be allowed in at all to catch my plane. I prayed and prayed and after 45 minutes it connected, to which I smugly pulled up the email and showed the security, who then let me in and informed me that I could go to my Domestic terminal at 5am when it opened. I didn't get a wink of sleep all night and when I finally got into my terminal at 5am, I was as close as being 'zombiefied' as i could possibly be.

My time In Goa was quiet and chilled out, with some amazing scenery to be had. A great way to end all of the crazy travelling we had endured so far, and a great way to get back into a calm mode again right before 6 weeks of yoga and meditation. The next chapter of the Indian adventure will no doubt be a completely different experience but a well needed one and I absolutely can’t wait to meet my three new yoga buddies along with the rest of my yoga family. Bring on Rishikesh!

So I was in India stood outside, the Bandra Terminal in Mumbai, sweaty, tired and having yet another fight with an Indian tout. It is one of those things that you get used to In India but somehow there are certain people who wind you up. It seemed to us that this one guy in particular was pretty high, but that didn’t stop us laying into him for being an idiot. We were told that it would cost 500 Rupees to take us to Colaba in Mumbai, via taxi, but when we demanded a Rickshaw (so used to them from everywhere else in India) we were told they are not allowed in Colaba and taxi was the only way. Im saying this pretty straight forwardly to you all, but to get this basic information took a lot of shouting and determination to get answers. After being surrounded and followed by tonnes of drivers and touts to get us to go with them – the worst since coming to India, we spotted some other tourists in the same boat. I approached the three Chinese guys and two Germans, and after a lot of hassle with this one annoying tout, we agreed to go to Colaba together in a 6 seater van for 100 Rupees each. Believe me, the situation took around half an hour to sort out, with moments of storming off, more shouting, disagreeing and incredible amounts of frustration. Here In India, we have found that even if someone doesn’t know something or doesn’t know for sure where they are taking you, they will almost every time make up something to sound very convincing, making you think you are in safe hands. At this stage, none of the 7 of us were that naïve and so we would not enter the vehicle nor give them our bags to load onto the roof unstably, until we had proper confirmation that we would each be dropped at our 3 different hotels. I seemed to be the one raising my voice to the men, taking no shit after a 16 hour train ride. Being ripped off, just didn’t appeal to me, not here and not now anyway!

With as much confirmation as we could get – in the form of a few bobble heads from the men-, we decided to squeeze ourselves into the van, 7 of us in a what can only seat 6, and even 8 people at one point. I couldn’t stop laughing as, I was sat beside two of the Chinese guys, one on the seat beside me and the other crouched on his backpack in the aisle on the other side. We all laughed when their friend in the front passenger seat was joined by an Indian guy who claimed to be going 1 minute up the road, but had taken whatever personal space the guy had, away from him. Whether it be for 1 minute or longer, we felt sorry for the guy, being thoroughly squished by the man, and we felt is relief when the man did eventually hop out a few minutes later! We drove an hour into the city, surrounded by jam packed traffic and the usual honking horns. At one point, to be certain I asked the driver about the three hotels which he then said no to, and told us he would drop us to only one hotel. Kicking up murder, and with my other comrades as back up, we demanded to be dropped at our hotels as we had agreed, or else he would get no money from us. He agreed, and after a long and hot journey, we finally arrived at the German’s destination. Following this, we got to our hotel and we waved the boys off and hoped they would arrive safely and hassle free too. It was one of those situations that we had all imagined to turn out so horrible in the end, but in actual fact, It was surprisingly okay!

Walking yet another ‘stairs of hell’, we got to the reception of India guesthouse, where we were told a higher price, for cell sized rooms, different to what we had read in the L.P. Proud and stubborn, we declined and walked all the way back down, to compare some other hotels, which were indeed extortionate prices. In the end, with our tails tucked firmly between our legs, we made our way back up the ‘stairs of hell’ and took the damn room. The bathrooms were shared but were very modern and clean so we didn’t mind and the rooms were very small but had clean beds for us to sleep in which was all we wanted at this stage. After a well needed shower, we headed out to check out the Taj Mahal Paace Hotel, located right beside the Gateway of India. Two things we had read great things about. Both were spectacular and I couldn’t help but think If I had the money, how I would love a nice sea view room at The Taj. We were staying in the area of Colaba, a very safe tourist area where both sights are also located. As soon as we took a stroll around the area, I couldn’t help but grow a fondness towards It. I had imagined a city similar to Delhi, and couldn’t imagine the cosmopolitan image I had been hearing about. Until now! There were no rickshaws anywhere, the people were friendly and the general atmosphere was very chic. The buildings were very modern and after a walk to a nearby restaurant in Colaba called Sahakar, we could see more of what people were talking about. We ate in Sahakar which was a very American diner style restaurant with friendly waiters and large portions of beautiful food.  We then spotted 6th Street Yoghurt or 6SY which was a variation of my favourite ‘Yoghurtland’ in California. We ordered Indulgent sized cups with various frozen yoghurts and toppings which we enjoyed while reading the post it notes from travellers on the wall.  It was after this, that we took a stroll to the Gateway of India, meaning the Gateway of the British to India. We spent some time, taking pictures of the Taj Mahal Palace and the Gateway, before deciding to opt into the half hour boat ride around the coast. The choppy seas made it seem that the boat rides would be off for the low season, but we were somehow on the last boat, heading out into the rough ocean. There were a lot of people on the top deck while some of us opted to stay on the lower deck for the duration, luckily enough because the waves were so strong, that throughout the trip, we had to grip our seats to avoid being flung across the wet boat. A few people ended up hanging off the side of the boat with sea sickness while some of the group laughed at how crazy this all was and a chubby little boy screamed in horror as he got drenched by the water at the edge. The whole thing was crazy and even the getting on and off the boat was a hazard in itself, having to jump the gap from boat to safe ground, to avoid falling in. Craziness!

Afterwards, we decided to take a walk down Colaba Causeway where we spotted tonnes of trendy bars and restaurants ,among streets lined with market stalls selling everything from fruit to jewellery. Having come across Leopold’s Café and Bar which was recommended for travellers in the Lonely Planet, we decided to go in and have some beer. Upon entering this beautifully decorated bar, we began to notice a lot of foreign tourists which was always a good thing. The place was pretty full but we got a seat and after a little promotion from a staff member, we opted to buy the exclusive Budweiser Magnum which was only available in India, and would ensure us a free glass with every two purchases. Why Not! Leopold’s Café, was the unfortunate site of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks which left a lot of civilians dead. Sitting in the Café you can look around you and spot the bullet holes in the pillars, and a pane of shattered mirror on the wall, left as mementos. We were enjoying our beer, when out of the corner of my I spotted our table neighbours staring at every word we said. Feeling weird, we sat there, watching what we were saying and laughing hysterically as the two chicly dressed men, eyed us up. It was during this time, that we got talking to a group of three India guys beside us, comparing beers with them. They told us that they had also noticed the weird staring action we had being receiving from the guys next to us and we couldn’t stop laughing as the two men continued to stare, either out of jealousy or whatever, we couldn’t figure that one out. Indians like to stare, but this was different.

We spent most of the night, -and by most I mean, we were the last people to leave the bar- chatting with these hilariously funny guys about anything and everything, listening to stories about Indian culture and answers to our ever inquisitive questions. We continued to drink together and at one point spotted a group of guys who we thought we would make a bet about where they were from. Guessing Ireland, Australia and England between the 5 of us, we decided Eliza would go and ask them, to which they replied –Spain!! Booo!!! We then got some more beer to carry on the shenanigans with, and by looking around the room at all the near empty ‘beer towers ‘ on the tables,  we could tell we weren’t the only ones feeling merry. We had some great laughs with these guys and found we had a lot of things in common. They told us some truly hysterical stories about the time one of them at 5 omelettes out of sheer hunger when nothing else was available and how another had gained a ‘maximum belly’ from living in The U.K. They conversed with us in a way that made everything hilarious, and with lines such as ‘So I was shit hungry one time’ or ‘I was shit thirsty this other time’, we found ourselves gasping for a breath. It wasn’t long before we had talked through the night and the bar became more and more empty, leaving us the only people there. We said farewell to the guys and caught a taxi back to the hotel where we had a short night sleep before It was time to check out. Our time in Mumbai would be short but we had such an amazing first day there.

Our last day In Mumbai took us back to Sahakar restaurant for some more delicious diner food, followed by 6SY for some more yoghurt before we continued on in a taxi to the Marine Drive and Mani Bhavan- The Ghandi Museum. Mani Bhavan was the former residence of Ghandi when he lived in Mumbai and the depiction of him throughout the house was amazing. I hadn’t known much about him until now but I was very intrigued by his presence all over the house. He was an amazing man! We took a walk from the museum back up to Marine Drive which was a highway dotted with palm trees people, and a view that seemed it would be incredible in the summer months. Nonetheless, we walked the beach, ate some luminous pink candy floss and sat on the wall watching the wave’s crash as some locals ran in and out. After walking further we came across a bar called NY Bar and Grill which was quite hidden and seemed like it was closed, although it was well and truly open. We spent a good while there using wifi to check out hostels in Goa, drinking one ‘mocktai’l each and sharing an Itaiano Job sandwhich. The bill was quite a surprise and we couldn’t help but regret coming here. We took a taxi back to Colaba and decided to go for dinner at `Bademiya’ a local place renowned for amazing cuisine. So renowned that people queue outside for it to open at 7pm and the guys we had met the night before had travelled 20km to eat there. The place opens from 7pm until around 3am and is very popular among locals and travellers, so much so that as soon as we got in at 7pm exactly, the place took 10 minutes to completely fill up. I got the famous Veg Shikh Kebab which was ‘normal’ spicy as the waiter had mentioned, but by Indian standards still blew my head off. The kebab was beautiful though and I got over my numb tongue to finish my 4 yummy kebabs. We headed back to Leopold’s for some cheap vanilla cups, a walnut brownie, and some refuge while we waited to catch our train. Our time In Mumbai was incredibly short and I will vow to go back someday soon, and next time I WILL stay at The Taj Mahal Palace! Mumbai certainly lived up its cosmopolitan image and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of Déjà vu from waking along the promenade at Copacabana in Brazil. I will definitely be back in India during the summer season, and I think that It will be very interesting to compare travelling in India during high and low season. But so far, It has been such an incredible experience, everywhere is more different than the next and I can really understand the term ‘Incredible India’ now.

So I was in the Thar desert with my foot lodged in Eliza’s camels ass which definitely wasn’t something I had imagined would happen on this safari. My life was also saved by Bourbon biscuits on this day too, but our trip to Jaiselmer hadn’t started out so comical. It was on our rounds of pricing the camel safari tours here on our first day in Jaiselmer that we bumped into two guys, one English and one German who we came to realise were doing the same thing. We compared prices and our travel journeys before taking a walk around town, stopping off at a nice view point of the city, by chance, and then we spent some time in some of the numerous stores, with the guys trying on clothes, and us haggling for clothing. The boys were quite funny, and provided us with some entertainment for the hour or so that we knew them. It seemed that the boys were opposites completely, one seeming to be very organized and the other to be an easy going chap. The two had just met a few days ago and had started travelling together. We laughed hysterically on two separate occasions, when the boys were being dressed up in turbans by local men, to which  one of them responded to the man ‘You know what my friend, I will consider it, It’s very nice material, I will consider it’. It was truly hysterical. After we finally came to a decision to book a good camel safari deal with Ganesh Travels, the boys went off to sort out their safari’s, and  we visited  the Palace Museum. It had also been quite comical seeing the boys interact on making the decision for the trip, because considering one was organized and felt they should book asap to have it sorted and the other would just shrug in an easy going fashion or say something like ‘huh’. The two of them seemed like a good match!

We headed back to Hotel Mirage to tell our host Ba that we had booked a safari elsewhere, but he helped us book our A/C bus to Udaipur which was great. After a nice dinner at a local rooftop restaurant, where we spotted a Spanish group who we had seen on our train and around town that day, we decided to head up to Sunset Rooftop Café which boasted the best views of the sunset and fort from its terrace. We ordered a beer between us and sat and watched yet another typically colourful Indian sunset, blow our minds, while spotting some tourists complete with cameras and tripods capturing the scenery from other surrounding rooftops. I love Indian sunsets! After the magic, we headed back to have an good night’s sleep (which ended up being an unbearably hot night’s sleep) and pack for our early camel safari start the next day!

We had booked our one and a half day tour to fit into our schedule which was easily done with Ganesh Travels- recommended by the Lonely Planet, for 1250 Rupees or almost €20 which included the jeep safari to the desert, meals and unlimited water. We opted to join a group which we felt would be a great way to meet people and make new friends. We left our bags in Ganesh Travels, where we were promised use of their showers etc when we returned free of charge, and headed upstairs to have breakfast and meet our group. In our group we met a couple from Belgium, 3 guys and a girl from Spain, a guy from Mumbai but living in Canada and two South Korean  guys, all of whom were so friendly when we met. It was funny because we kept bumping into the Spanish group and we came to realise they had also been on our train to Jaiselmar.  We took two jeeps to the desert which took about an hour, and once we arrived we were assigned our camels and met our guides and cooks. We set off on our camels which are always quite daunting even if you have been on a camel before. It took a while to trust our camels and feel comfortable, but It was particularly scary when the Belgian ladies camel, recognised its sitting area and suddenly went off track and lay down, throwing her off abrubtly. Fair play to the lady, who got straight back up and carried on. I know I would have been terrified, and believe me I was hoping neither my camel ‘Ben’ nor Eliza’s camel ‘Humphrey’ (both named by us) would follow in Its footsteps, which luckily didn’t happen. We trotted along for an hour or so melting in the hot desert sun, before laying the camels down, hopping off and taking a breather in a local desert village shop. There we were, more than 9 of us crowded into the local lady’s’ shop purely for the fan she had producing sweet cool air to our clammy selves, and leaning into her ice cold fridge throwing drink orders at her like we never seen soda before. We called it heaven in the desert, and that was the moment we all bonded!

We got back on our camels after fully refuelling on ice cold drinks, and carried on through the Thar Desert of India where our next stop would be under a large shady tree, perfect for lunch. After a few more hours of trekking, and with numb bums, we were all relieved to get to the large tree. Shade- another thing you seriously appreciate when in the steaming hot desert! Here, our guides and cooks lay down some blankets for us and they began cooking our authentic Indian meals from scratch, while we all mingled over travel stories and such. It was the first time we had a chance to sit down and have a proper chat with each other and we learned a lot about each other here. It was interesting to talk about previous travels, future plans and what brought us to India! After lunch/siesta, we boarded our camels once again and set off into the sunset towards the sand dunes, where we would camp for the night. It was on this stretch of safari that my crazy camel Ben, kept trotting out of line, and instead preferred to be alongside Eliza’s camel Humphrey. This then meant that my leg was getting trapped in between the two camels and was constantly being whacked off the hard tools that the camel was also carrying. It was at one point that my shoeless, free hanging foot, swung right into Humphreys ass thanks to the efforts of Ben, which left me dumbfounded and desperately wanting a shower. It also had me calling our guide for help who in turn just called back instructions to us, which didn’t help me tame Ben, because number one, I couldn’t reach the reigns and number two I was certainly not going to ride solo with him. After a bit of help from Eliza who could reach Bens reign, he got back in line and all was right with the world. We stopped off one last time to take our camels for some water before we would camp for the night. It was here that, in mid walk to the large well, I felt dizzy, lightheaded and the strong feeling I was going to faint. I had been drinking water all day but the heat got to me and made me feel as though something was going to happen. It’s a scary feeling just before you faint, when the once near sounds now appear distant, your sight starts to decline and you suddenly feel weakness coming on. Lucky enough, as I sat down by the well (probably not a good spot for a near fainter)and drank some of Eliza’s water and had a bourbon biscuit for some sugar, I felt slightly better. I moved over to the shade where tonnes of village kids gathered around to stare at the situation. I was kind of glad I didn’t faint at this stage, and was glad to have had some sugar in my blood to keep me going. God bless Bourbons!

I made sure to thank god for making me feel better before I had to ride on my camel to the dunes, as I don’t know what would have come of me If we hadn’t made that stop, and I fainted off the camel’s back. The sun started to go down as we made our way through the desert, passed the numerous wind turbines, ending with a view of the dunes just before sunset. When we arrived, some of the group sat down and some of the group went and took pictures. The sunset appeared colourful under the clouds that night which was beautiful, but once the sun slept for the night, darkness was our new best friend. It was only for one of the Korean boys flashlight that we could even converse with each other face to face. The guides took drink orders from us, and in true English Irish style, we were the only ones ordering beer instead of water/soda. It wasn’t until later on that the others would feel slightly envious of this. One of the guides was planning to ride off to the next town on his camel and purchase the huge list of beverages for us which arrived an hour or two later when we were all huddled in a sheltered dune having dinner. We had to be sheltered as a sand storm had come our way and sitting in the open air was not an option. There we were huddled by the stove, dressed in scarves and sunglasses to save the sand from taking over our eyes and mouths. It was hilarious! We chatted about two of the Spaniards about how they had lived in Ireland among other topics such as deadly scorpions, snakes and wild dogs which lurked in our new home for the night. We tried not to think about it for the night and the beer certainly helped with that. Later we moved back to the camping area where some of the others went to sleep in the camp beds provided for us, while the rest of us gathered around for more chats about everything. That night we made new friends and new memories, and learned a lot about each other and our countries, which Is always a travellers muse. Eventually we all went off to our beds, where we tried to sleep and not think about the prospective danger around us.

The next morning woken by the sunrise, we got up and sat around in a circle for our freshly prepared breakfast of boiled eggs and toast. I love eggs so I had 3! We set off on our camels again, this time me with Humphrey and Eliza went solo with Ben. It was a very relaxing trot through the desert until the familiar pain came back from sitting on the camel all day yesterday. I couldn’t help but think how my first week of yoga would go. Ouch! The safari came to an end at a good time and I thanked my lucky stars I hadn’t booked the 3 day tour as I don’t think I would have walked again, had I done that! Nevertheless, the experience overall was so great and we were lucky with the group we met over the day and a half. We took the jeep safari back to Jaiselmar where we then all headed to Ganesh to get our bags and take a shower. It took quite a while for 9 people to use one shower though, as you can imagine, and once we were all done, It was definitely time to eat! We all went to The Sunset Café for lunch and some chill time in the air conditioned, cushioned restaurant, before we each left for our next port of call. Some to Delhi, some to Jodhpur and in our case, Udaipur.

We had a few hours before our bus to Udaipur so we relaxed for a while and then went and ordered take away pizza from 8July Restaurant for our 12 hour journey. The journey to the bus station and on to the bus was pretty smooth, which isn’t always the case in India, but this seemed to be fine. We looked forward to a nice relaxing bus journey and always liked the long journeys as you could get a good night’s sleep on them. Well from now on I won’t be taking buses after our experience to Udaipur. Our last bus ride had been dreadful and we should have known, but we had no choice but to take it this time. We hopped on our A/C luxury bus and settled into  our double sleeper comfy bed. Little did we know, It would be the journey from hell. I think the only way to describe this horrendous bus journey would be to imagine 12 hours  of speed bumps , the whole way to Udaipur. Speed bumps in India are small but deadly and when you go over them weather in a sleeper bus, a rickshaw or whatever, you are lifted right off your seat and thrown back down again. This happened literally the whole entire way to Udaipur and my head was so bashed in the next morning that I didn’t know If I was coming or going. Needless to say that our bodies were in total states of shock from the trauma. I think I may have caught some sleep on the short stopovers we had encountered along the way though, thinking ‘Get some sleep quickly, quickly before it starts moving again’. It was a horror story! Luckily we are booking sleeper trains to Mumbai and Goa following our experience which always prove to be somewhat relaxing. Its hard to believe that arriving in Udaipur would be our last stop in Rajasthan, and our third last stop together as a travelling duo.

Let’s make the most of it!