sivananda yoga vedanta dhanwanthari ashram

so, i wanted to share a little bit about my time at the ashram...
it started off just feeling like a group of tourists, or like summer camp, but with some rituals that i had no idea about or what they meant. it took a while for me to be able to break away some of the layers and soften my heart and be open to God and spirituality fully again. i feel like all the craziness of india (even though it is supposed to be a spiritual place) had caused anxiety in me and made me harden. as my body opened up and felt the benefits of 4 hours of yoga asana and pranayama (breathing excercizes) and my mind settled down, i was able to turn to God more fully. i met a girl from seattle named Michelle and we talked a lot about intuition and energy in the body and spirit, which are both God-given and both things i want to learn more about. she and i were almost instantly comfortable and it felt like we had been friends for a long time, and will continue to be. i learned about and felt the energy and vibrations that different things can bring to your body and spirit, like food and music and chants. i not only learned about the chakras, but felt mine being stimulated and opened... a crazy energy radiating from my forehead. i knew it was God showing me more about the intuition he had given me to be able to follow him and love others better. as the time went on, everyone seemed to open up and become more comfortable with themselves and each other. we had 2 special pujas (ceremonies), one in a temple, where we chanted a lot and offered flowers and the other was a purification ceremony for the whole ashram and everyone in it. there was a special priest there who was cleansing the space there and all of us. we had a chance to make an offering to the fire of something in our lives that we wanted to give up to God and to be purified. the atmosphere of the room changed from somber to very light and free when it was all over. we all truely knew that we had been cleansed. i went from being very skeptical of the chants and rituals and feeling like "my religion" was too different to realizing that if you are worshiping God in your own heart, He knows and that is all that matters. some of the things we did, like the fire offering, were both symbolic, yet so real and powerful. I found that through chanting i can really open my heart and mind and become more intune with the Lord. i also realized how important it is to quiet your mind each day to be able to listen. i feel like i have woken up once again to life and to God. when we have so much blocking our heart and weighing it down, it truely is impossible to love and be open to others, yourself or God. There is so much i am ready to explore and learn about for my future, i feel like i have been recharged and am ready to push myself and be challenged and grow and love, and all the while depend on God and follow his guidance in my life.

A good NYtimes Editorial on their pick for the election.

HERE

We've been chanting and mediating for world peace the past week.

Jaya Obama Jaya Obama
Om Namo Narayanaya

the past few weeks (abridged and unillustrated)

from Murud to Panaji...
Panaji= the cutest little indian Lisbon in the world, we walked around, saw some super cute old portuguese houses. saw an awesome hanuman temple, at seafood and got news from the peace corps that we aren't going to north africa or the middle east... but where? to be continued

Panaji to Arambol
Arambol=a little beach town with nice laid back people and hippies. we rented a scooter and scooted around the area (very slowly) (i dont think we went about 30 km/hour) (and that felt like we were flying!) we hung out on the beach, played in the water and caught huge hermit crabs, but didnt kill them, only made them pinch eachothers shells!

Arambol to Hampi...(another bus ride of hell) so we think we are on a "delux sleeper bus" and actually when the bus comes to pick us up it is very nice, way nicer than we were expecting, we have a nice spot, double size bed... then they stop, pretty much in the middle of the highway median, tell us all to get out to go to our other bus.. note, the bus is full of unhappy israelies... and they speak their mind, sooo... the other bus is where? where? "oh just cross that street(highway) and walk a few hundred meters" yeah.. into an alleyway behind the bus company and get on a horrificly old and nasty bus... but when we get our seats we think, not so bad, we arent in the very back, but lo and behold and hour or so passes and the bus guy wakes us up (from our benadryl induced sleep) to kick us to the back back row into broken seats that don't latch to lay flat or to sit up, so every bump you get catapolted! hello whip lash... anyway, we made it.... alive and only a little stiff

Hampi=an amazing little town set among even more amazing ruins and boulders and rice paddies and banana plantations. oh it was wonderful. we walked and climbed and bouldered and explored and made friends with a dog (we miss you sooner and abbey and ninnah!) and rented bicycles and rode ourselves to death almost and crossed a river in a big upside down thatch saucer with like 10 people, 2 bicycles... and 2 motorcycles... thats right. and we found out that we are now going to sub-saharan africa and leaving in june

Hampi to Bangalore
spent the day in Bangalore, went to a cricket game...for chris' early bday present. it was fun!

Bangalore to Cochin
cochin was fun and cute, but chris got strep throat, so we rested a lot. its a very western feeling town on the water, lots of cool shops and restaurants

now we are at Sivananda Ashram in southern Kerala. we wake up at 6 for meditation and chanting, then do yoga , then have a yummy brunch, then have a lecture, more yoga dinner and end the day with more meditation and chanting. its pretty cool so far, but its only been 2 days, but it is very nice to be back into doing yoga... we have to get ready for our month long course in mysore! chris is still sick, but got some meds, so should be feeling better soon.

we love you guys, and we miss all of you very much.

Murud:

so after a few weeks in the big city, we decided we needed a bit of a beach holiday. we in one day took 2 taxis (one thru calcutta, one thru mumbai) 2 buses an airplane and a ferry! we made it to Murud (just south of mumbai) just in time for the sun to go down. we stayed at a cute little place on the beach with hammocks and palm trees. we used our time to relax and plan the second half of our trip. the beach was long and shallow, so when the tide went out you could find hermit crabs and clams!
the infamous beach cows of murud! what a life!
so we decided to go exploring ever these rock and around a little island, and got the great idea of trying to catch our dinner... i didn't really think i could do it, but i threw a rock at this poor little crab and killed it! he was too tiny and i felt so bad. i am sorry little guy, but i am sure he made a nice little snack for a puppy or something else!
this is one of the main attractions in Murud... Janjira Fort, built on an island, so it looks like it emerges straight from the sea! walkin' on water!

Kolkatta: City of Joy

Kolkatta is called the 'City of Joy', what a misnomer, right? The streets are not just streets, they are beds too. a gray light seems to be everywhere stealing color from your sight, but walk around some more you might be thinking, 'hey this place has a nice vibe' see all the community activity in the neighborhood streets, "it's like new york city" you might say, "a dingy new york city" but if you keep walking more not joy things come into view. so many beggars, even for india, some grab you, some women 'rent' babies from the villages to have on their shoulder as begging props, and those are just the ones that work the tourist circuit, the poverty is very difficult to wrap your head around. But there is an intangible that makes Kolkatta, they city of joy, maybe the weirdness of it's history, the weird combinations that make up it's culture, it seems unique to India and very Indian at the same time. there were times when i was knee deep in street water (from constant rain) dodging traffic getting drenched losing my hearing to massively loud car horns, being shouted at,grabbed, having to pee so bad but there is no place because every little piece of the streets and alleys is seems to be someone's house and i was thinking this is city of headaches. but the next morning i might 've had the best 6 rupee breakfast in the city, laughing with kids, seeing all the weird buildings and only in kolkatta experiences and i might think 'okay, okay, city of joy. for now"

a little slice in pictures..

traffic = crazy, and while we were there it rained a lot.. alot alot. the most common sight on the street ...yellow taxi's. a million of them. i think the official figure is 2 taxis for every person living in the city. second most common sight, kolkattas buses. also special to the city.. they look as if they are made out of coke can tin and have gotten a squeeze from a giant's hand, but are painted something fierce, they fly up and down and don't seem to stop for passengers only slow down some. Both of these vehicles spray out the nasty black smoke that gives kolkatta's air it's metallic flavour.

victoria memorial is a weird sight, here is the queen's statue in front...nice place to walk around but strange... nearby is a flowery park area, called the maiden , also nice to walk, we saw some of our first Indian PDA here. way to go, kolkatta.

singing in the rain



sus worked at the mother theresa founded motherhouse, here is a sister of charity during mass.


sus worked one on one with this boy, shubasheesh, at daya dan, a home for mentally and physically handicapped kids.
it was a great experience for her to be able to spend some time there and be a part of mother teresa's work since she has been a big influence on sus's life and worldview.