It's been a while... First of all, the panchakarma treatment was an amazing (pretty intense...) experience! My practice feels a lot lighter now and there's a certain lightness to my mind too.. The place was surrounded by absolutely gorgeous nature, which brought in its own share of healing energies.

In addition to the lovely treatments and amazing nurturing food in the "chikitsalaya", I had plenty of time to read. And there was a beautiful common space for practicing yoga and meditating.
Of all the books that I read, there were three in particular that inspired me the most. I very much enjoyed Iyengar's commentary on the yoga sutras. I also really liked "The Tibetan book of living and dying".

Finally I loved Dalai Lama's "How to be compassionate". It's a short, but wonderful book, and I think it should be a mandatory read in every school! To quote Dalai Lama: "After all, all human beings are the same - made of human flesh, bones, and blood. We all want happiness and want to avoid suffering. Further, we have an equal right to be happy. In other words, it is important to realize our sameness as human beings."

After the panchakarma it was time for me to leave Mother India! Time passed so quickly!!

I had a fun few days in Singapore (thanks again, Michael) exploring new areas like Pulau Ubin (beautiful, green and lush!) and now I'm here in Brisbane, East Coast of Australia! Strange to be in a Western country after Sri Lanka and India, and super random as well, since this wasn't exactly on my itinerary.. However I like it a lot so far! Nature here is beeeeautiful and people are very kind. I've been staying with my yoga mate here in Brisbane and seeing my lovely Finnish friend Eeva. Next week I'll head off to countryside to volunteer at a retreat center. Fingers crossed for my new career!:)

"To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven." (Ecclesiastes)

The beginning of the year has not been easy for my yoga teacher and his family. A week ago the teacher's father passed away. It was a relief in a way as he had been suffering of a cancer for a while already. The family is in a mourning period now.
I had intended to stay here a little longer, but due to these cirmustances I'll be leaving tomorrow. I'm going to spend the following weeks at an ayurvedic clinic in a tiny village a bit further up north. I'm going for "panchakarma", a traditional ayurvedic treatment.

Thinking back to the past months, my heart fills with gratitude. I've learned a lot and I've met wonderful people that I'm gonna miss so much. I'll definitely be back... And until then the journey goes on - on and off the mat...

Dosa -my favorite South Indian dish by far! Will miss this yummy goodness!

And I'm gonna miss this beach...

I feel very fortunate for having had the opportunity to spend the past months in a place like this practicing and studying something I love passionately. Looking forward to the panchakarma now -it'll be an interesting experience for sure!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2014!

It feels good to be in this kind of a setting and surrounding around this holiday season (although I do miss my family and even white Christmas I guess...).
The mantra in the end of asana practice "brings the practice to a peaceful end; sealing in the work done and offering the efforts of our practice to improve the state of the world". A part of the mantra goes: "Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu". May all beings be happy and free from suffering. That's what I'd like to wish the world this Christmas time!

Here are a few random photos of the past month:

 

There is a well in the yard from which the water is pumped to the house daily. So if not the luxury of hot water, we have the luxury of running water here. However, lately I've been looking down into a different kind of a well. The well of my mind that is. And I can tell you it's not always beautiful like this one, to look at...

I have been working on some pretty dark waters of my mind, since I'm doing quite intense backbends now in the asana class. Our past experiences are stored in our bodies and when the body begins to open up, the traumas etc. get a chance to come out. Sometimes the mind however isn't ready to let go yet and that might lead into even greater pain. One really needs patience, understanding and compassion throughout the process -nothing will happen by forcing or pushing. And here we come again to the importance of a guru, teacher. Having a trustful relationship with someone to guide you and to be there for you in your process. Ashtanga practice (and not only asana, as ashtanga means 'eight limbs') is a deeply purifying practice. The purification of your mind, body and spirit will lead you closer to samadhi; kaivalya; moksha; nirvana -liberation.

Liberation.... some goal, no?!:) I like my smaller everyday goals too, like going to the beach, and buying fruits at the local market, trying to communicate with locals in Kannada, the local language. I like this small village and our yoga pack here; I'm very grateful for all this. Even feeling grateful for my mind's murky waters, which by the way look a little clearer already:)

I recently read an interesting article about a study of gratitude as a major contributing factor to one's happiness. Today I'm particularly grateful for fruits, books, the ocean and the sun...



It's been over a month since I got here. Absolutely loving the place, the people, and this incredible yogic path that I'm on. There's so much to learn; humbleness, forgiveness and detachment -to name a few ego-reducing lessons... It's all super interesting to me and I have to say that yoga philosophy and stuff in Hinduism like Kali Yuga have never made this much sense to me...

I recently read a lovely book about Sri Pattabhi Jois as perceived by some of his students. To quote a part of the book; one of Guruji's first Western students, Chuck Miller, says:

"I think that the practice is a tremendous metaphor not just for an individual human but for all humanity in general. And that is personally what I see as one of the huge benefits of it. So much damage has been done from people trying to change other people but this gives you a chance to work on yourself and change yourself, come face-to-face with yourself, with your own aggression, to see how you treat yourself. And that is going to influence how you treat other people."
 

 

In addition to practicing yoga and reading books, I've been really enjoying this opportunity to get such a close look to a Brahmin family life (and in this case a pretty orthodox one...). Maybe particularly interesting to me since I myself have had a very dogmatic Protestant upbringing.

Everyday rituals -as well as the ones on special occations like Diwali- are beautiful.

Homa -a fire ritual

When I first saw Kill Bill, I fell in love with the part where the bride trains with the zen master. I suppose I was drawn to the idea of learning from a master; someone wiser than me, who could light my way.. Being here I feel like that dream is coming true:) I am humbly grateful for the opportunity to learn from my guru here. Grateful for the knowledge he passes on to me; the knowledge he has learnt from his guru. When ashtanga yoga gets advanced, you'll need to have an established relationship with a teacher you can really trust to guide you through the process.

Me and my Guruji

So I'm still sweating a lot every morning -bending, twisting, stretching and jumping, breathing. Once laying down in 'savasana' in the bliss of the final relaxation, you feel exhausted but energised. The world always seems like a little better place after the practice. However that's just the beginning of the real yoga. According to Bhagavad Gita: "Yoga is skill in action". Asana practice is very challenging, but so is applying the yogic way of living in your life. As my lovely oldest sister wisely put it: "We all stay incomplete. Isn't growing the point of life?" I think it's amazing, if in this common path of life, we could grow and learn together and from one another (not only from a zen master or a guru:).

A couple of pictures from the nearby beach, which is just perfect! No surf, but my soul simply rests there! It's my power place here, just love it, loooooove the ocean (or shall I say Krishna:)

It was sad to say goodbye to the paradise island and surf, but it feels good to be back to Hindustan and on the yoga mat for some serious training...

Mirissa

Yoga cikitsa=yoga therapy as the primary series of ashtanga is referred to in Sanskrit.

So here I am in a small Indian village living in yogagurukula. We are a few Western students here and we live in a separate building (on top of the shala where we practice), next to the house of our teacher and his family. 'Gurukula' refers to a residential school where the students live near the teacher. According to Wikipedia: "the word gurukula is a contraction of the Sanskrit guru (teacher or master) and kula (extended family).

I'm surrounded by this kind of beauty, just in front of the shala:

In Sri Lanka I got up before 5am for surf, here I get up at the same time for yoga. It's 2 hours of sweating every morning. My body and mind are slowly getting used  to it -even my back, which first felt really stiff after all that surf... From Monday to Saturday we do asana practice in the early morning, yoga philosophy and chanting later on in the day. It feels good to be totally immersed in the yoga world again. And particularly here in incredible India.

"Yoga isn't really about asanas, but about how deeply you can go into the Self as you practice."

And putting this blog post together was about how deeply you can go into blogging without losing your nerves... Hope to have better luck and longer nerves (a more steady yogic mind maybe -or better internet connection:) the next time... Ooooommm shanti shanti shanti...