It wasn’t always easy, it wasn’t always fun, but every day of my time
in India was making a positive step forwards.  Anyone who’s ever
volunteered will understand that there’s never a more satisfying day
than when you have done your very best, for the benefit of others,
without the need or expectation of thanks.  Save millions on self help
books, just help selflessly and sleep easy!

I’m not such a saint that I didn’t receive any gratification from the
experience, of course I did learn a lot more about yoga and I did get
a lot more teaching experience, but it can’t compare to watching
somebody float out of the ashram with their teaching certificate in
hand, having had a hand in helping them through it, or in watching
somebody leave with more of a spring in their step, filled with
contentment and love.

My South Indian adventure ended rather dramatically with half the
ashram being blown down in a overly gusty thunderstorm.  My last week
in the ashram was spent limping around picking up the unripe mangoes
that had been blown down from the ashrams scores of mango trees;
trying to salvage anything we could from the poor beaten up
dormitories and packing everything that we could away for the summer
low season.

After staffing two Yoga Teacher’s Training course, a Sadhana Intensive
course, two yoga vacations and an Advanced Yoga Teacher’s Training
course and having done yoga asanas almost every day for 4 months; I
ended the season thinking I was some kind of Russian gymnast and in a
botched attempt at the splits (although to my amazement I’m actually
not that far off doing it!!!) I snagged my Achilles tendon and took
myself out of yoga action.  I might try and blame my extra ashram
kilos on that… but I think that might do a disservice to SuKumar’s
most excellent, number one in all of India, South-Indian cooking.  If
I could fit him in my ruck sack (and manage to carry it) I would have
kidnapped him from the ashram.

It’s surprising how much use such a little tendon receives and how a
wobbly one can affect simple things like going up and down stairs,
sitting cross legged, sitting in a chair, walking around, let alone
doing yoga asanas!  So I got a little lesson in the practice of yoga
not just being about asanas and a big lesson in patience.  In fact
even now 2 months it’s still causing me trouble and 3 days after a
massive hike through China Town it’s still niggling me 

I could run through a whole list of highs, but it would probably make
most of you say “you Krishna jaya Siva what?” so I’ll encapsulate with
a montage… Tony Hart eat your heart out.

…Friends, colleagues, students, teachers, Swamis, Christmas, new year,
multiple graduations, weddings, vishu, sivaratri, swami Vishnu
devananda’s birthday, staff meetings on the roof, trip to Swami
Sivananda’s birthplace, puja’s, teaching, laundry, eating, chai time,
assisting TTC, satsangs, payasam (especially birthday payasam!) the
memories are endless and I carry them in my heart so they will always
be a part of me…

Obviously one of the lows is the communication situation at the
ashram, I apologise wholeheartedly for the birthdays and births,
weddings and christenings, travelling adventures and new homes that
I’ve missed.  I’m sorry my contact has been sporadic and unfulfilling,
it’s taken 6 months but now I’m making the most of the modern world
and all her technical splendidness.

From the ashram I travelled from the very south to the very north of
India and had the great, great pleasure of hanging out with my dear
friend and very first (and still the very best) yoga teacher, Rory,
for some rehabilitation into the real world, in the very very
beautiful Himalayas in Uttar Kashi, which have a strangely familiar
feeling of home to them.

It took a while to get here, fully trains, planes and automobiles; but
was well worth the travel cold and 8.5 hours squished into a jeep
winding round Father Himalayas rather womanly curves.  Met by a
beautiful friendly face from home, with a big smile and a big
motorbike I was whisked off to my new home for just under 3 weeks.
8km’s north of Uttar Kashi to Ganeshphur, with a little bedroom
backing onto a Siva/Shakti temple and overlooking the Ganga.   Going
to sleep listening to Mother Ganga’s lullaby is a more than acceptable
substitute to the weary sleep of selfless service.

We slipped forwards into a routine of Vedanta and exploration; and
backwards into coffee and a lot of chat.  The 4.5 months of struggling
to get out of bed before 5.30 every morning, made getting up at 5.30
not so difficult to maintain.  At 6 am we went down to take Bhagavad
Gita class with Swami Ramaswarupananda at his Kutir, washed down with
a nice cup of tea; next I alternated teaching and practicing asanas
with Narayani (former Sadhana Intensive student from January, 2009 at
Madurai who was staying up there) before Rory came back with his milk
pan and made porridge from still warm milk and we scampered down the
stairs to Swami Premananda’s ashram for Yoga Vasista lectures from 9 –
12.

Swami Premananda was a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda and
somewhere in his 70’s has been teaching Vedanta for some 30/40 years.
The lectures made me think so much it hurt my tiny little brain and I
had to take a few days after to let the confusion dampen down, but his
eyes were so sparkly they looked blue and as he seamlessly translated
the Sanskrit text into English and Hindi, laughing throughout, I knew
I was blessed to be in his presence and fell totally head over heels
in love with him (Grandad love that is!).

I had great fun enjoying the pleasures and passivity of exploring the
area on the back of Rory’s bike.  Nothing quite like the wind blowing
through your hair as you weave and wind round the mountains bends
looking out onto the Ganga and the mountain forestry mmmmmmmm bliss.

One of the highlights of the stay was my first North Indian wedding.
After a night spent mostly eating and watching the drunk dancers at
the Grooms Bachelor party, we got up early to watch Rajanesh (one of
the kitchen boys from the ashram in madurai) partake of his pre-
marriage rituals and then followed him on foot as he rode off on
horseback to collect his new wife.  Whether by misunderstanding or
miscommunication, we mistakenly believed the destination to be the
other side of the Ganga…rather than a one hour bike ride to what we
thought was the very peak of a mountain, only to undertake the
remaining one and a half hour hike up on foot… Birkenstocks, a bust
Achilles heel and full midday sunshine did not contribute to a
pleasant hike, but as we sat at the top of the world waiting for the
bride to come out resplendent in red and gold, it became one of the
best things I’ve done this trip.

Unprepared for such a hike we ran out of drinking water and sat there
hot and dehydrated, I had my first knowingly reckless potential Delhi
belly bringing moment, where there was nothing for us to do but drink
the orange squash being dolled out from a big plastic bucket.  I’m
sure any amoeba were soon burnt out by some seriously spicy but very
delicious wedding feast curry.

Joining the happy couple on their honeymoon (honestly that’s the way
they do it here!) we shared a jeep to Gangotri, dipped our feet in the
Ganga until the icy cold took all feeling away in about 30 seconds,
had a Puja on the banks of the Ganga and visited Swami Vishnudevananda
and Swami Sivananda’s sadhana caves before descending back down to
uttar kashi, away from the ice capped mountains and picking up some
world famous Maneri Pakora in the midst of a thunder storm with hail
the size of golf balls!

My last days in India were spent in Rishikesh and Delhi after safely
descended down through the mountains from Uttar Kashi on the back of
Rory’s most wonderful Royal enfield motorbike, with a lot of luggage
(mostly mine!).  Weaving down through the Himalayas we hit a distinct
point where the wind blowing against our faces and through our hair
stopped being cool and made me feel like I was sat in a huge hair
dryer on full heat.

Tucked up in blankets in the mountains, I’d lost all my Madurai
conditioning and sweated myself through 3 sleepless nights in
Rishikesh.  We take a coffee tour around Haridwar and visit some
ashrams and some full power Babas.  Saying goodbye to my beloved
friend Rory I took on the role of tour guide and showed my Brazilian
ashram friend Rishi around this beautiful town of saints and sages.
Most of this tour guiding involved giving in to our ashram oppressed
urges for cake and delicious food at the pyramid cafe!  Mango crumble
anyone?  Yep we’ll take double.  Potato and cheese burger with chips
and salad?  Yep two please, with pasta and another salad.  Sshhhh
don’t tell Swamiji… but it’s ok, we didn’t find any icecream!

Onto Thailand via a quick stop at the Sivananda centre in Delhi ran by
my teacher’s training course teacher, Maniji.  A beautiful little
haven of peace and quiet despite the oppressive 40+ degree heat?!  It
was a such a wonderful way to leave India, safe in the hands of Swami
Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda; surrounded by friends, teaching
Yoga to almost the last minute and being sent off with an Om
Tryambakum by my dearest Swami Govindananda, sweet Jenny and beautiful
Sita.

Sawadee Ka to Thailand, a land so peaceful, even the mosquitoes are
peaceful, they don’t make a sound and I bet they struggle against
their God given natures each time they have to bite somebody in this
land of kindness and smiles, devoted to Buddha and his teachings of
non-violence, mindfulness and enjoying life.

A moment to appreciate Bangkok, in all it’s tasteful glass and
concrete, it’s sprawling suburbs of clean street; endless food
stalls;, trees, plants and if there wasn’t enough natural foliage,
forest and forests of plant pots; over politeness; boats to work; AC
trains travelling over the top of the city; enormous shopping centres
illustrating the Thais predilection to moving their enormous Buddhas
to the west in their skinny jeans and nu-rave hair cuts.  In fact
remove the seedy side that every city has, and which here is mostly a
result of seedy Europeans bringing their guilty desires and you have a
city any self-respecting City dweller would be happy to call home.

Having spent 4.5 months in an ashram keeping the five senses
tantalised with nothing more than Su-Kumar’s fabulous south-indian
cooking, and a few weeks in the Himalayas in Uttar Kashi where the
local coffee house serves Nescafe with steamed milk, I’m not ashamed
to say I have gone a little crazy in Bangkok…

It may be Emma’s beautiful spare bedroom with a proper mattress, fairy
lights and a wardrobe that makes me feel like I must participate in
the civilised world again, or all the pretty girls walking around with
super short shorts and skinny little legs, but I seem to be treating
Bangkok like London, only I’m forgetting that whilst I may have been
working, I haven’t been paid for 6 months and Caramel Lattes and
millionaire ice cream sundaes are not part of every day life anymore!!

We spend hours exploring the lanes of Chatuchak’s weekend market, with
everything from Tom Yam to kittens (and hopefully not combined!); go
shopping in Tescos (surreal in it’s non-normal normality); try to
ignore the bits of meat floating in my ‘Gin Jay’ vegetarian food; go
exploring thieves market in China town and take in the jaw dropping
enormity and beauty of Wat Po’s reclining Buddha.

The rehabilitation over, sensory pleasures indulged, my wallet
dictates I confine myself to house arrest before I splurge all my
savings on Bangkok’s delights.  As I wait to start my Thai massage
course I spend a week catching up on some sleep and trying to build a
shanti shanti calm and peaceful daily routine of Yoga asanas,
swimming, Reiki and catching up with you lovely lot; and then my
friends…. THE BEACHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

If like my little nan you would like to send me a letter, you can post
it to Em’s flat and I’ll pick up throughout the summer as I swing
between Bangkok and the beach (woohoo did I say I was hitting the
beach?!.....yay!!!)

77/119 Tower C, 6th Floor
Waterford Park Rama 4
Soi Phumichit
Rama 4 Road
Klong Toey
BKK 10110.
Thailand

I know it’s rude to ask when all I did was send a mass email, but
please do send me your news and then I promise to reply personally 

Love you all dearly

Em x