ashram life

Shilo "meditating" on a temple rooftop (Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India)

Varkala beach and cliffs, with the ever present Indian haze.


Ashram courtyard.


Sunset from the ashram.

Kanyakumari, statue.


I cant believe that we are nearing the 2 month mark. The time has flown by. It's also a little scary, as so much is left to be seen.

So last update Shilo and I had left the beach and were headed to the ashram.

Before arriving, we knew that there was an intense "mandatory" schedule, but it sounded ok to me, early rising but manageble....

The ashram itself is set in an idyllic forested area inside the boundaries of a Keralan dam/park. It is completely walled in and you need an "exit pass" just to walk across the street to the lake. It is permissable to walk to the right down to a town, internet facilities, or even 40km bus trip to the beach on "free days" however completely forbiddened to walk to the left, to a small town (that at one time, one of the ashram guests bought some hash from the local tea shop) and beyond to the Steve Irvine, the late Crocodile Hunter, crocodile rehabilition centre and local rubber plantations... So how do I know what was to the left???? Because I blatantly broke the rules and daringly walked to the left. When the guard waved me down and told me "Swami-ji says no left, only right"; I smiled politely and told him I would have a one-on-one with Swami later...and kept on walking.

The schedule started with a 0530 wake up bell. Sounds early, but in fact, the 0445 chanting, conch blowing, bell ringing affair at the interior temple that just so happened to be 15 ft from our tent did the honor of waking me every morning.

Then we would go off to Satsang at 0600-0730. On the website this was described as: meditation, chanting, talks. And would be repeated at 8-10pm. Sounds ok....but first you have to imagine 300 + people crammed into a hall, sitting crosslegged upon a hard marble floor, either too cold in the morning or too hot at night and singing, oh god the singing...... singing the same 30 minute song that consists of repeated deity names in verses repeated 3 times each, TWICE a day and then ANOTHER equally repeatative song. Can we say "brain washing?"

In fact, on a daily basis Shilo and I break out in "Jaya ganesha, jaya ganesha, jaya ganesha, pahiman, Shree Ganesha, Shree Ganesha, Shree Ganesha rakshiman" now repeat 2 more times!!!!

Mediation might have been easier for me, if in a grand daily total I wasn't sitting for close to 5-6 hours crosslegged on marble floors. My hips were not happy, despite the 4 hours of daily (fantastic) yoga. The talks were as disappointing as the 2pm lectures. Each consisted of speaking to the audience as if we were all dull witted children lacking any "self-discipline", mostly on the evils of meat eating, sometimes the poison of white sugar, often on the general unhappy state of the world (which a true YOGI can overcome). Sadly, neither the talks or lectures had any depth or even interesting teachings from the Hindu philosophy. Just memorized rote rants. FUN FUN FUN.

1000am was "brunch time" and my "karma yoga" time (where we give back to the ashram community). I would go and set up the seating arrangements: roll out bamboo mats on the floor, place tin plates and cups in front of the mats on floor, collect curries/veg/rice from large tin pails from the kitchen, dish out meal onto plates, then call in the masses!!! BUT before we can eat, you guessed it, MORE CHANTING! and if we didnt sing loud enough??? MORE CHANTING. "hare krishna, hare krishna, krishna krishna, hare hare" and repeat OVER AND OVER. 6pm dinner, same same. only I could sit and eat when there was still food left :-)

but those were only the annoying parts. The asana classes were absolutely wonderful. I looked forward to them everyday. Shilo and I stayed in the ashram on both the "free days" (which arent really free, as you still have to attend both satsangs and do Karma yoga) so we wouldn't miss the asana classes. We met some really amazing people. Our minds were able to rest and recharge, I feel way more relaxed and ready to tackle India again. I feel freed from some of the negativities I have been holding onto from our last year of crazy rocky relationship issues. And we were lucky, being in the tent, we conviently missed the morning and evening rounds that occured in the dormitories, rounding the folks up for the satsang. Shilo quit going after day 3...I lasted maybe another 3 more days. Then life was MUCH more enjoyable.

AND, AND, AND WE BOTH HAVE QUIT SMOKING (and maintained post release into the real world)!!! Though we havent tempted ourselves, we are still avoiding alcohol.

so know after dropping a collective 27 lbs, Shilo and I are skinny- bitches-yoga-masters!

after two weeks of strict veggie diet, Shilo and I ran to the nearest chicken roadside food stand and happily licked our lips as we devored sweet meat! We stayed in Trivandrum and took a day trip to Kanyakumari, at the very southern tip of India. Where the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea meet. At the point is a large statue of a famous Indian poet, a temple, a mosque, and a Ghandi memorial. We watched the sun set and thought of other recent memories of being at the end of a country (west coast trail this summer).

Feeling overall very very blessed. We are having such an amazing trip!!!