Conference superstar, Ghandi's nature cure, Brazilian for a week

Again, it has been way too long since I have written and I have a million stories I would like to share. First of all, the international yoga conference was great. About half of the participants were Indian, the other half from other places in Europe and Asia. Would you believe I was one of only 2 Americans present!? The other was a professor from Harvard. It felt great to be part of this and I am glad I pushed myself to present a paper as well. I have to say, I was certainly a success at the conference…but not really because of my paper, more because of my light skin and foreign identity! So many Indian people wanted to take photos with me, it sort of got out of control. At first, I was flattered, but after 2 days of being in at least 20 photos a day, I felt a little objectified, especially when sometimes people just wanted a photo and not even really to talk to me! I started to limit my photo appearances, as if I were some sort of celebrity snob. Other than the photos, many people did want to talk to me and know more about me and what brought me halfway across the world all alone. I did meet some great people, including a wonderful group of Brazilians who totally adopted me into their group. I unfortunately also had a couple stalkers; One was an Indian man who proposed marriage to me and followed me around for a few days to discuss our relationship (which was completely nonexistent, but he could not easily accept that!), and the other stalker was one kind young Indian woman, who wanted to protect me from the obsessive man, but in doing so, became obsessive and stalker-like herself. Anyway, they were both pretty harmless and I still enjoyed myself very much. The week-long workshop on pranayama breathing after the conference was also great and I learned a lot. After the workshop, I stayed a few days longer at the yoga hospital. I had an opportunity to meet the master/teacher who taught the breathing workshop. He was very kind to me and I was humbled that he seemed excited to meet me and learn about me. He encouraged me to meet his daughter who is teaching in the Kaivalyadhama tradition in the States. He also encouraged me to return to Kaivalyadhama in the future for their 6-week certificate course, and told me that scholarship opportunities might be possible for me. We will see what the future holds! I also had some time to meet and talk to the swami (holy man) who lives at the ashram part of Kaivalyadhama. I often attended the swami’s nightly puja ceremony, which involves chanting and rituals over a fire. At the end, everyone receives a piece of something sweet, kind of like the Catholic communion ritual. I felt very special when for 2 days, the swami gave me extra sweets! That encouraged me to talk to him, and I discovered that he too was very interested in my ambitions and me. He also knows of a doctor working with yoga, meditation and “om” recitation with people with HIV/AIDS in India. As most of you know, the connection of yoga for people HIV/AIDS has been a significant topic to me for a long time, so it is great that the swami told me about this connection. If I have time while I am here, I definitely intend to follow through and visit this doctor and learn more about his work and volunteer if possible.

It was sad to leave the yoga hospital, but I did not leave alone! I joined the group of Brazilians who were heading to a nature cure center that was founded by Ghandi in the 1940’s. Nature cure is naturopathy, the usage of the elements of water, fire, earth, wind, and space to cure ailments. The yoga hospital I was staying at also had nature cure treatments (I forgot to mention I had my first mud bath there, which was very funny!) Diet is also extremely important in nature cure healing. I previously had no idea that Ghandi was a strong believer in nature cure, enough to the extent that he founded this ashram based on nature cure. He wanted villages and poor people who could not access hospitals and allopathic medicine to be able to stay healthy and use natural treatments to take care of themselves when their bodies developed disease. This is really in line with the mission of CORE/El Centro, so it was interesting to me in many ways. Being part of the Brazilian group was great. Many people at home wondered how I would deal with the Indian languages, but it was actually taking yoga classes in Portuguese from the Brazilian instructors that presented my first yoga class language barrier here! My Spanish skills helped me to get the gist of what was going on, and they very kindly translated as much as they could for me. Oh! And on our way to the nature cure center, we stopped in Pune and had a tour of the Iyengar Institute. We had an opportunity to meet BKS Iyengar during our visit. Those of you who do not know him, he is a very famous yogi, very healthy even in his 80’s. He has systematized a method of yoga which uses props to make postures accessible and maximize the benefits to individuals. It was a great opportunity to meet him.

After the nature cure center, I intended to leave the Brazilians and head back to Pune, but ended up traveling back to the beach in Goa with them (Carma and I were there earlier in our trip)! They had an extra ticket on a night train to Goa, and I did not have strong reasons I needed to be in Pune at that time, so I accompanied them. Their whole group was so friendly and welcoming to me. Additionally, they were extremely generous to welcome me into all of their extra yoga classes and lectures. The leaders looked after me and included me as if I truly were one of them it was really nice to be part of a group and have an opportunity to share some travels for awhile. After awhile, traveling alone does get a little sad when one does not have someone to share things with. It also was nice to be with them and just let my brain rest, not having to make decisions for a few extra days. Making my own decisions and being my own company is what I love about traveling alone, but it is also the same thing that is draining after awhile. The Brazilians and I parted in Goa. They headed further south (they had an extra ticket again and welcomed me again, but this time I declined!), and I took a night bus back to Pune. The night bus was pretty hellish. It did stop every couple hours for the driver to get out and light incense and ring a bell at little roadside shrines that I think are there for the very purpose of the driver praying for safe travel. That was slightly comforting, but overall, the roads were scary, the bus was almost all men, and it dropped me off in a strange part of the city at 6 in the morning. I will certainly not be taking those anymore.

I only stayed in Pune a couple more days. By a great coincidence, one of my first yoga teachers, Bob, was in Pune at the same time as me. He is studying with BKS Iyengar there for 2 months. It felt really cool and very full circle to have dinner in India with my first yoga teacher 7 years after I began to study yoga! I also stayed one night at the apartment he and some other students are renting. It was great to see him and I really appreciated being able to rest in a lived in, safe, clean place for the night to prepare for more travel. After Pune, I took 1 night train to Hyderabad, stayed one night there, and then another night train to Chennai, which is where I am now (the night trains were much better than the night bus was). I will travel around this area for a week or so and then return to Chennai where I will take a one-month course at the Krishnamacharya yoga institute. It is also a style and tradition very known for tailoring yoga practice to the needs of each unique individual. I think this training will give me some great knowledge of physical and psychological aspects of yoga that I can use for working with individuals and special populations in particular when I return home.

That’s all for now. I miss you all and send my love.