Home at last!

Hi everyone. I’m home. I’ve been reflecting a lot on my trip and the present. Thought I would add one final entry to close this chapter of my journal. At the same time, rather than really putting closure to my experience or feeling like it is behind me, I feel like I am finally now really comprehending the depth of what I learned and experienced over there. India is not behind me, it is a part of me now. The path I am on will certainly take me back there again, in small ways in my everyday life and I will physically return there when the time is right again. For these past 6 months, the time was right and I had an incredible experience there. It was not easy or always fun, but definitely a great adventure, especially perceiving it now that I made home alive and well!

This will be a long reflection, read when you want if you want …I have not yet written anything about the last month of my trip, and it really was one of the most amazing months! I finished the yoga school program in Chennai, flew north to Delhi and then took a train to the Himalayas. I was craving to be in nature more, a little away from the chaos of the cities, and to explore some of the Buddhist spiritual traditions. I spent a few days alone in some small mountain cities, Shimla, Mandi and Tatapanni. In Tatapanni (which means hot water), I enjoyed a little hotel with access to the fresh hot sulfer spring. They have a little rustic shack outside with a tub that people can use individually and have a bath looking out a little window at the mountains and river flowing nearby. It was beautiful. I also had a day there involving a lovely motorcycle ride through the mountains with a new Indian friend. A great adventure and lots of fun. We hiked down a gorge to cave honoring Shiva, the nature was amazing. It was a beautiful place and these days gave me some of the rest and connection with nature that I was seeking.

I arrived in Dharmasala (where the Dali Lama and a large Tibetan community reside) on Tibetan Uprising Day during the time of the Dali Lama giving his public teachings. It was an exciting but crazy time to be there, all of the hotels were full and it was also pouring rain when I arrived. But truly, the Buddhist spirit of compassion and helping others was in the air, reflecting people living out the teachings the Dali Lama was giving at the time. I made some very kind friends who helped me settle in, let me stay with them and brought me to the teachings. It rained for several days and was very cold. The little place I was staying had no heat, we slept with all of our clothes on and blankets over our heads. And the shower was pretty much outside, so it was a difficult and uncomfortable time in many ways. However, having good company made all the difference, not feeling alone with the challenges. When you have someone to laugh with and cope together, none of the discomfort is so bad. For example, even when my poor roommate got amoebic dysentery and we had to make a trip to the rural hospital emergency room, we made the best out of the whole experience! And even though it was cold, we occasionally warmed up with some brandy or lots of blankets and Buddhist and yoga discussions. We had a little radio to listen to the Dali Lama teachings when we did not want to leave the hotel to sit out in the rain to hear them live. I enjoyed the company of my new friends and felt able to relax and not always feel like I needed to have my guard up on red alert as I often felt when traveling around alone. And learning more about Buddhism and Tibet from the Dali Lama while in a beautiful city in the mountains filled with Tibetans and Buddhist monks was amazing.

I left Dharmasala with my new Buddhist friend Hans from Amsterdam. It was great to travel with him for some days and again be able to relax. He was very kind and easy going and taught me lots about Buddhism as well during our time together. Also, it was great to travel together; traveling alone was often exhausting and difficult as a woman. It was always a little more comfortable for me being in the company of a man. People didn’t look at me with the same curiosity and they left me alone more. Hans and I spent some time in Rewalsar, a lovely peaceful little Buddhist town set on a lake. Buddhists circle the lake reciting mantras on their mala beads all day long. We visited some caves and temples up a little higher in the mountains. It was beautiful. One day we climbed up a small peak and rested in a maze of thousands of Tibetan prayer flags. We met some nice Tibetan monks who hiked down the mountain with us, it was meditative and peaceful, passing sheep, horses, and gentle local people. My time in the Himalayas was really awesome and peaceful overall and I am glad extending my trip allowed me to have the time to be there.

After the Himalayas I had several days of travel to Ranakpur Rajasthan in a different part of the country to the rural hospital of Dr. Ganga Singh. I had heard about Dr. Ganga Singh from the Swami (holy man) back in Lonavala at the yoga conference. Swamiji told me about Dr. Ganga Singh’s work with yoga in his hospital, particularly for women living with HIV/AIDS and recommended I go there to work with him. I had a great experience there. The Dr. is an amazing man. He truly embodies characteristics of being on a meditative yogic path and treats his clients with so much respect and love. He believes strongly in integrated medicine and the complementary effects of yoga and breathing exercises and meditation. He teaches these to his patients. I also had a chance to share some yoga with his patients and work a little with a group of women with HIV/AIDS. Most of them we widowed, only finding out they had HIV after their husband died. I was in awe and inspired by how strong these women are. They believe faithfully in the god inside, which is part of them and also takes care of them and helps them to be strong and live mindfully and gracefully. I have a lot of interesting thoughts about the differences in the issues faced by people with HIV/AIDS here and there. It was an awesome opportunity to really connect with a hospital there and to see how yoga and other natural methods are incorporated. That is some of what I set out to India for in the first place, so it really was a powerful experience for me. Also, we did some outreach health education in the community. We had 2 workshops in which myself and some others instructed yoga to officers in the Indian police force. Can you imagine me outside on a huge dusty soccer field, teaching yoga postures to 200 Indian police officers!? Very interesting.

After I left the Dr., I spent a few days staying with the family of the Dr.’s son in another part of Rajasthan. We visited palaces and markets and temples and it was neat to have the experience of staying with an Indian family and seeing their lifestyle. After I left them, I returned again to Swami Veda’s ashram in Rishikesh, where I had previously visited twice before. It was nice to see old friends there and reconnect with the place I really began my yoga studies in India. I appreciate full circle experiences and being there again made me realize how much I had truly learned and grown in the months of traveling alone and studying in India. It was an excellent place to meditate, reflect on my learning and experiences and prepare to come home.

Well, the journey was almost over. I had a couple final days in Delhi. One day, I went out for dinner and drinks with a friend of a friend from home and got to see a more cosmopolitan side of Delhi. It was great not to be alone during my last night in town, we had fun and some great reflection. I shopped, had final chai tea and felt quite sentimental about leaving India. However, after my flight was delayed an entire day, believe me, I was pretty ready to get out of there! Luckily, I met Joe, a nice stranger at the airport who took me in to his home when we were all finally told at 3 in the morning that the flight would not take off until the next day. I did not have any money on me and was alone in the middle of the night, so I was very thankful for the kindness of a stranger. He took good care of me and the flight delay ended up not being so bad after all.

And now, here I am. Home. I miss India, but it is still really with me, and I am trying to keep the essence of my trip alive in my life here. Being home has been a little adjustment. Returning to some of the excessiveness, ignorance and speed of this culture has been a little difficult and overwhelming. But mostly, being home again has been wonderful. I have deep appreciation of return to so many things, including friends and family, hot showers, tap water, salads, Mexican food, wine, quietness, clothing without wearing a shawl, driving in my car with loud music on, not being stared at when I am out in the street and many other things. I feel really good, still flying a bit on the positive vibration of what I experienced there, and really wanting to share and spread that vibration. I saw different ways of life, learned different attitudes and perspectives, and feel like I am now on an exciting path with all of this new knowledge to guide me. Seeds of yoga philosophy and science, Buddhism, Hinduism, and ideas of the India saints are all floating around in my head and heart right now and I am excited to let these seeds grow. I am bringing more meditation and mindfulness into my life and focusing on how to be, not only on what I am doing now that I am home. It is an exciting time and feeling. I can shape the near future in many ways by attitude and action, there are many possibilities and I feel really positive about it all and about just being alive in the present now. Anyway, for anyone curious, the what I am doing part involves settling down again in Milwaukee, teaching yoga and engaging in work that will allow me to keep connecting with oneness, heart, spirit, community and keeping up a positive vibration. I do not know yet what shape this work will take, but I am open and excited to whatever the universe has in store for me.

I will post a link to online pictures when I get that together. And I hope to be in better touch and communication with all of you soon, catch up and share more experiences. Thanks again for all of your support and communication in various ways over my journey. I really was not all alone out there thanks to the love and support I felt from everyone at home. Peace!