The place I've found to live is wonderful. I'm renting a room at an Indian woman's house that is very close to my yoga shala, and the woman, Rani, speaks very good English and is also very talkative. She's wonderful information and an experience in herself. She is Christian, which is unusual here, but it is a distinctively Indian form of Christianity. She has a Hindu style shrine in her house with a nativity scene, and some Catholic style portraits of Jesus around the house that anywhere else would be exquisitly gaudy but in India are good taste. Decorum in houses here fascinates me.
Now that the yoga Teacher Training Course (TTC) has begun, most of my time is occupied by class. I get up at 4:30 AM to be chanting at 5:20 and doing yoga asanas (poses) for 90 minutes or so after that. Next we practice pranayama (breathing/meditation techniques) for another 45 minutes, and then at last we go have breakfast around 9:00. Breakfast is a treat, and since we aren't supposed to eat before morning practice (I have chai with my class mate who lives with me, but no food) breakfast is always a treat. For about 100 Rs (2.50), I eat a first class breakfast. We go back to class for a couple hours after breakfast, then have the afternoon off; naps are popular after lunch. At 5:00 PM, we go back to classs for a second set of chanting, asanas, and pranayama.
Let me tell you something about pranayama practice. It is possibly the most difficult, painful thing I've taken up. Give me a heavy pack and a steep uphill over this any day. We sit. and that's it. Sitting in total stillness for 20 minutes believe me is no peice of cake, and the time of sitting is supposed to increase to about 45 minutes eventually. One knee throbs, one leg goes numb, my back aches, and I am unable to focus on anything but sensations. This is the way to improvement though my teacher Bharath assures me, "For two weeks you will have the pain, the knees numb, the back weak, but then the knees loosen, the back is strong, and you can sit comfortably for hours." Bharath says this often. He is a wonderful teacher, young, with a face like a child, but magnificent in any pose.
There are hundreds of yoga students in Gokulam, so it's a very international crowd here. In one way it makes it hard to dive into Indian culture, but also it makes a rather large adjustment into the TTC's lifestyle demands easier.
Well there is much to say and much to tell about being here, but I have already written a lot today and I would like to go have a nap before evening class. I do make one apology: photography so far has been in the backseat. I am learning how to take pictures here without feeling like I'm making a spectacle of the beautiful people I wish to photograph, or feeling terribly ostentatious with my conspicuously large camera. But I am posting some pictures, so please enjoy and expect more in the future.
I remember my friends and family always. With love for all, Ethan.
Where I live in Gokulam. Most of the houses here are colorfully constructed out of concrete, and Gokulam is very upper class and many of the houses are very beautiful. Every one is unique.
The biggest damn dosa you've ever seen! In the background are Christina from Ireland and Greit from Belgium, also taking the TTC.
Lalita Mahal palace in Mysore City. On my second day I ventured here with several people to have a swim at the pool and a five star lunch.
This is a very smart rickshaw driver napping at mid day. Rickshaws and motorbikes are the most common form of transportation here.
This is the main streat in Gokulam at a busy time, full of sites and sounds.
This is Yoga India, Bharath's yoga shala where I spend 8 hours a day.
Small Indian horses wander around the streets grazing and are apparently looked after by anyone who charitably gives them water. This philly is so brand new! It's hard for me to understand his existence here, but it passes for normal here.
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