After the high of hiring a houseboat, things calmed down a little. We stayed in Fort Kochin, on the coast of Kerala, for a few days as the group slowly departed ways. It felt like the end of an era, even though it was only for ten days that we were together. I needed to decide on my next move, which came in the form of an asana (thats a name for a yoga pose), infact several asanas.
On and off throughout my travels I have been going to yoga classes which are easy to find everywhere in India to help travellers with their 'spiritual journey', or for those held in the beach areas, to give you a good 'bikini body'! So I decided that as time was running out it would be good to do some sort of intensive yoga course to give myself a challenge and to get better at yoga so that I continue when I get home. For me, the ashram that I went to did this and more, it certainly made me appreciate everything that I have.
On and off throughout my travels I have been going to yoga classes which are easy to find everywhere in India to help travellers with their 'spiritual journey', or for those held in the beach areas, to give you a good 'bikini body'! So I decided that as time was running out it would be good to do some sort of intensive yoga course to give myself a challenge and to get better at yoga so that I continue when I get home. For me, the ashram that I went to did this and more, it certainly made me appreciate everything that I have.
I went to the Sivinanda Ashram in Nayyer Dam Valley which is near the capital of Kerala, Trivandrum. The ashram run yoga 'vactions' that last for 2 weeks, but they also have an intensive teacher training course (TTC) that lasts for a month. Now I thought my 'vacation' was intensive so you can imagine how hard the TTC must be, they hardly get a chance to breathe, no wrong metaphor, they practise breathing ALOT. They hardly get any breaks. I knew that the ashram would be challenging, but I really should have looked at the programme more carefully before I went, it's not my fault that the PDF that they sent in their email wouldn't open in the internet cafe that I was in. Had I seen it, I may have thought twice.
In my head I had images of doing yoga for a couple of hours a day in a small group, overlooking a beautiful view and then relaxing, reading and chilling for the rest of the day. It wasn't quite like that. Yes, there were beautiful surroundings that did help, but small classes no. There were at least 60 people in my dorm and about 35 people in each yoga class. And wait till you hear the schedule, it is as follows:
In my head I had images of doing yoga for a couple of hours a day in a small group, overlooking a beautiful view and then relaxing, reading and chilling for the rest of the day. It wasn't quite like that. Yes, there were beautiful surroundings that did help, but small classes no. There were at least 60 people in my dorm and about 35 people in each yoga class. And wait till you hear the schedule, it is as follows:5.30am: Wake up
-
6.00am - 8.00am: Satsang - Every morning about 200 people gather in a large hall to sit cross legged facing the front. For half an hour we would concentrate and meditate with our eyes shut (trying to stay awake) as the sun rises. We are told to repeat a mantra in our heads, if you don't know one simple think 'aummmm' and breathe. Eventually we finish meditating and move onto the opening chant which, I joke not, lasts for 20 minutes. I have heard this song so many times that it will never leave my mind EVER. You would find yourself chanting it throughout the day. This was proceeded by further chanting of different songs which were listed in a chant book. Trying to follow the words was difficult, try saying shabavanavaba quickly when its the 1st time you have seen the word. I think most people that enjoyed the yoga found this a bit of a drag. It was interesting to see the 1st few times but quickly becomes a drag when you just want to do yoga but we respected the ashram rules and would attend.
-
8.00am - 10.00am: Yoga - This was definetely the best bit. At 1st I attended the beginners classes but quickly grew bored of doing eye exercises so I stepped up my game and went to intermediate. By the time that I left these were pretty damn intensive and I impressed even myself. I can bend in new ways I never thought possible. Lessons were 2 hours and you literally felt great afterwards. The first half hour of the lessons was just breathing, building the muscles (leg raises etc) and doing the sun salutation (warm up exercise) several times. But this build up was necessary to do the asanas that followed. They did many different ones and then more variations of these. It's great fun, once you start to get good to see what you can achieve.
-
10.00am - 10.30am - Breakfast - We ate two meals per day so you can imagine how hungry you would be by this time having awoken at 5.30am and done intensive yoga and chanting. The food was hit and miss. It was always very simple, rice, chapati or papadums with a few different veg sauces - sometimes this was great and sometimes you knew that you were just eating leftovers. What was great was that you got as many helpings as you like. I tried to eat so much, as I am still trying to put weight on after hospital to strengthen myself, but this is really hard when you can only eat 2 meals per day. I ended up being a peanut addicts as this was one of the few snacks you could buy. Oh and mealtimes were supposed to be in silence.
-
11.00am - 12.00pm - Karma Yoga - Said in as nice a way as possible this means doing chores around the ashram as this is good for your karma. We were divided into different groups and designated different areas to be in charge of such as general maintainance, serving dinner, collecting rubbish and dorm cleaning (my area of specialism). This basically meant getting to clean the toilets everyday and sometimes doing mopping and sweeping. It wasn't so bad, but it was harder work than the yoga sometimes and it was pretty gross. I'd rather have been doing leaf sweeping but I guess it's good for the soul or something! Once you clean toilets for an hour per day it makes you appreciate not cleaning toilets everyday when you don't have to any more. So I guess thats part of how the ashram works. I did like the feeling of being part of a community and everyone contributing, there was a nice feel of togetherness.
12.00pm - 12.30pm - Coaching Yoga Session - We did not have to attend this, so whenever I did not go I would venture down to the lake that is a 2min walk away and is gorgeous. Swimming in it was bliss and a much welcomed break from the rigid schedule. Howver I began to attend coaching as a teacher comes and gives you help with mastering any particular asana that takes your fancy. For the most people they come to master the highly admired headstand. I joined this brigade and became determined to learn how to do it before I left. I am happy to say that I can now do it and it really isn't as hard as it seems. Apparently this asana is all about overcoming fear, nothing more. I made sure I practised next to a wall to begin with and gradually I could move further and further away from it. Imagine what I will be able to do next!
-
1.30pm - 2.00pm - Tea break - Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
-
2.00pm - 3.00pm - Lecture- In these sessions each day a teacher would explain to us the philosphy behind yoga and what it is all about ( the ultimate goal is about becoming one with the divine). We had long discussions about what that meant and how it should be interpreted. There are many ways to reach this goal and she explained to us things like what each asana does for your bosy and mind and in what other ways yoga is important aside from the physical asanas. I found these so interesting as it was like being back in class, taking notes, even if I perhaps didn't agree with everything that was said. A lot of the ashram's teachings were religiously intertwined with Hinduism and their different gods. But even if you don't belive in this there is still alot you can take from the meaning behind each one and the way they choose to live their life.
3.00pm - 5.00pm - Yoga- In the second yoga session of the day you would be tired and you would really have to muster all your energy to get the motivation to go, however once you did it you felt great, physically as you notice your improvement and relaxation so much and mentally for being dedicated enough to commit your body to another painful lesson. But the great thing about this style of yoga is that you get your heart rate up by having to hold many different asanas, but in between each asana or every few asanas you have to rest in between by lying on the floor on your back like a corpse (in a position called shavasana). This means your body recovers before you put more strain on it and it works really well as you shouldn't push yourself too much as this can do harm. At the end relaxation you would occasionally get people falling asleep which almost happened to me a few times after such an exhausting day.
-
6.00pm - 6.30pm - Dinner- I was so incredibly hungry by this time. The food was very healthy so it was a good detox, no meat, no spice - everything was very plain as this was needed to calm your mind. You can't have anything that stimulates the senses too much as this will distract you.
-
8.00pm - 10.00pm - Satsang- At the end of the day, the last thing you wanted to do was go and chant for 2hrs. I love singing and like this as a way of bringing people together, however chanting words of which you don't really know what they mean and you don't believe in was strange. I quickly clocked onto the fact that in the hall there were always a few instruments sporadically laying about on the floor for people to play, like drums and tambourine. From then on I made sure that I had one of these every session as it made the time go faster! Then it was lights out and we did the same thing all over agan for 8 days ( 1 free day)
I think I have probably written a far too detailed description of this place, so I will give a brief sum up. The best thing about the place was definetely the yoga, but also the amazing people that I met there. Everyone came from completely different backgrounds and it was so interesting listening to how people came from these different walks of life. I even made a few good friends which made the stay far more tolerable. The timetable was a bit much for me, but a bit of austerity made me appreciate the rest of the trip a great deal more and was good to show to me that I can achieve anything I put my mind to, including living in this way. Although I didn't agree with the religious side of the ashram I respected it and enjoyed seeing a different way in which people interpret the world, I have learnt a great deal from it, it was great. But boy by the end was I relieved to leave!!!
Gone are the days when travellers trod new, undiscovered territories and suffered in dark dingy rooms, covered in unknown species of scary looking insects. These days you can travel like a king for a sum of money that would buy one person a single nights stay in a budget/midrange hotel in London. The boat had 3 bedrooms with huge comfy beds, private bathroom with toilet and shower, fresh towels and sheets and best of all, the windows at the side of the boat were a high as the ceiling so you can literally watch the world go by as you lay in your luxury bed.
But in our stupid ignorance we failed to realise that Holi is only really celebrated in Northern India where there are more Hindus than in the South (Kerala is predominantly Christian). So when we arrived in Alleppey we were informed by a local that there would be no celebrations taking place. We were obviously disappointed and felt a bit stupid for having had these outfits made. We did all go out wearing them one day so that our 200R hadn't been spent for nothing but we must have looked like some weird cult or yoga group. Anyway when we woke up on the house boat we heard lots of strange commotion going on at the side of the river. We went and looked and saw a group of 20 well built Indian guys jumping on top of one another and covering eachother in brightly coloured powder! We jumped off and joined in getting so messy. They found us highly amusing and vice versa. It turns out that they were a rowing team from Northern India who were practising for a race. So of all the people to meet in Kerala we found some of the only ones celebrating Holi away from home. Unfortunately we weren't wearing our special clothes so we managed to get colour everywhere but it was definetely worth it! So if you want to lap up some luxury as a backpacker get a houseboat. :-)
It was great as we had a good guy, girl balance and for the next ten days we travelled together, which is a long time for a group of people that were all travelling seperately originally (apart from the 2 girls). It was so nice because it was just like being on holiday with my friends at home, enjoying the beach, eating nice food, having a few drinks and especially as I'd been socially deprived I was super motor mouth I imagine. The girls let me share a double bed with them the whole time which was a bit of a squeeze but it was so nice as they could have just got a room to themselves so it was amazing to have company and safety! 
For a few days it was sun, sand and sea in a place called Palolem. We stayed in the cutest little huts in a really chilled guesthouse. We played volleyball a few times, which to start with scared the hell out of me as I have a fear of balls that fly towards my head, but I really got into it after a while and could see why it was so fun as you basically fall over into the sand trying to jump for the ball. I finally got to be free on a motorbike as we hired some to visit a beach near to Palolem, I didn't drive but being on the back was so much fun and the views in Goa are so green which is my favourite colour. Sounds a bit like a dream, it felt like it, I just kept thinking wow! 
There was one really creepy thing that happened. When I was lying on the beach, fully clothed with one of the guys, a group of India guys asked to take a photo of us. This happens alot so it was not a huge suprise, although generally not on the beach, more at major tourist attractions. We could'nt be bothered with any hassle so we agreed to a photo just so that they would leave us alone. But what I discovered, as they walked away, was that two others had walked around the back of us and were actually taking a picture down my top! I felt violated! No, but I was quite angry, I'll probably be on some guys facebook and not know it. I guess that they find it weird when we take photos of them doing their laundry in the river and selling stuff in their shops and they find it weird to see us on a beach. The thing that got me though was that I was fully clothed. The hazards of being a western female. Sadly I have stopped talking to Indian men that say hello, as respectable men in India don't just shout out to random girls on the street. But its sad as I want to smile at people but you just can't sometimes. Or they say they like me 'character'!
We then got my first sleeper bus, yes a bus with beds in it, to a town called Hampi which is a place that has over 3000 temple ruins. As we had the whole back row for the five of us we would all roll to one side of the bus everytime it turned a corner and it was a very bumpy ride, you'd occassionally fly up into the air! The landscape is so peculiar, unlike anything I have ever seen before which made it really interesting. It is consists of loads of massive boulders precariously balanced on top of one another, a river and lots of green fields and banana planations. It is so strange, you feel like a dinosaur is going to emerge from behing one of the huge rocks. We spent a couple of days wondering around the ruins and making silly photos! They are truely amazing, many of them are underwater for the whole of the monsoon season so we were lucky to see them. We got a little boat up the river which was a great way to explore and we had nice refreshments like fresh coconut juice. Yum... plus there was a water reserve that we went swimming in one day as it was so incredibly hot inland and we met many other travellers who were also chilling there. It was great fun trying to squeeze 5 people into the rickshaws rather than paying up for two.
I also began to get braver with eating Indian food, I admit it, hands up that I ate a mix of Western(ish!) food and Indian but I felt that my stomach was finally ready to give Indian food another chance. Am I glad I did? YES! The food is so delicious but completely different to English Indian food. The concept of a curry like we have it does not exist. They will only ever have a small portion of curry and rice which is accompanied by lots of small vegetable side dishes and yummy snacks like samosas. In fact my favourite food is the Indian breakfasts which suprised me as I was not good with spice before. The general rule is that the worse the decor of the restaurant, the more authentic and cheaper the food is. The grimier looking the place the better the food is as the tourists don't go there, its purely for Indians.
