Now, back to my last few weeks in Kerala, which I've really enjoyed. I spent December 16 through December 30th at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in Kerala, which is very near the southern tip of India. The schedule there goes something like this:
- 5:20AM First wake up bell (which I stopped hearing on day two)
- 5:50AM Second wake up bell (which I stopped hearing on about day 7)
- 6AM Meditation (30 minutes), and Satsung chanting, aka Kirtan, if you've heard of that, not unlike hymns in church except these were not in English (30 minutes)
- 7:30 Tea (weak chai)
- 8AM Yoga (2 hours) consisting of 15-20 minutes of pranayama (yogic breathing practice, my new favorite yoga), 15 minutes or so of sun salutations, 60 minutes or so of a specific sequence of hatha poses, and lots of sivasana (relaxation pose) interspersed
- 10 AM Brunch eaten sitting on the floor with my right hand (vegetarian, good food, though a bit dull after 15 days). Side note: real, non-westernized south Indian food is some of the best I've ever had. I would recommend borrowing a south Indian cookbook (Keralan, if you can find it) from the library, especially if you're looking for substantial and varied vegetarian food.
- 11 AM Karma Yoga, selfless service, which consisted of tasks like cleaning, trash pickup, food service, etc. My karma yoga was brunch serving and cleanup of the dining room so I had free time after around 11:30.
- 2 PM lecture, talks on meditation, yoga, and chanting
- 3:30 yoga (2 hours, same as morning)
- 6PM dinner (not as much variety as brunch, usually boiled vegetables over rice with a side of boiled vegetables, which got really old)
- 8PM Satsung (same as the morning, exactly the same, words and all, which are now burned into my brain and I find myself humming throughout the day)
- 10PM lights out
Many of you asked if the ashram celebrated Christmas and indeed, they did. Many Keralans are Christian. The streets and houses were decorated with lights and these beautiful illuminated paper stars and the ashram hosted several different cultural (music and theater) performances on the days before and after Christmas. We even had a visit from Santa, who made an entrance shouting "Happy Christmas" and carrying balloons : )
To end this post, I will share with you my favorite phrases spoken by my Indian yoga instructors. When reading these, it might help to bring to mind an Indian accent :
1. "straight your legs" (as in, your legs are bent and they should be straight in this pose)
2. "feets together" (as in, your feet are apart but they should be together in this pose)
3. "close your left nose", "close your right nose", and my favorite "close your both noses" (referring to holding the breath during pranayama, which I had trouble doing the first time I heard "close your both noses" because it made me laugh)
It's getting late. I had a very interesting New Year's eve (which I'll write about tomorrow) involving elephants and a saint. More tomorrow.
2 comments:
Love the quotes! Non-native speakers' English is one of my new favorite things (I get a lot of it in author emails at my new job). Thanks for the updates--it's great to hear all about your travels :)
Glad to hear Varkala is nice. :) I'm excited to hear about Amma - the elephant reference makes it even more intriguing.
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