Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Yoga this morning was full of trials and tribulations, but had a heart warming vibe at the centre. The room dedicated to yoga was on the roof of our hotel, over looking the Himalayas and the valley that the Ganges had carved for itself. The room was completely covered in gold and red material like a Christmas present, with a deep red carpet and torturous looking instruments lined up ominously against the walls.
Initially, our very authentic looking yoga instructor, who clearly had a body made of elastic bands, asked us to do wildly outlandish things such as: 'tighten your perineum' and 'place your chin on your shins' - for someone who has the flexibility of a telephone pylon I was very much out of my depth. Amusingly, in the same breath as asking us to 'tighten our perineums' we were also asked to feel 'proud of ourselves' and 'hold our crowns up high' when, as an overly-polite Brit, all I wanted to do was sit in a dark corner and cradle my legs.
At the end of the session (which incidentally lasted 2 hours) we did some 'laughing yoga'. Feeling a little awkward I began to titter quietly under my breath but the laughter of our instructor and other participants was infectious and soon we were all laughing whole heartedly. After this, some chanting and humming was introduced and for some reason the whole experience - the sound it made as we all collaborated, mixed together with the smells, the heat streaming through the pane-less windows and gentle sounds of the world outside - was extremely humbling and made you feel very relaxed and strangely at one with yourself.
After yoga and attempting to massage the pain away from my poor hamstrings we went to breakfast, which consisted of porridge with cinnamon and watermelon. What was nice was that we got to sit and chat with the other occupants of the hotel and pick their brains on what best to do here as well as find out a little about their own lives. Sarah, a Scottish woman who has travelled here alone (evidently much braver than me), arrived on the same day as us and asked if we would like to accompany her for an exploration of a site that Rishikesh had to offer, we gratefully accepted and hopefully will be doing something together tomorrow. There were also some English and German women at the table as well as an American man who seemed to have an intense relationship with his laptop. One of the woman was doing a weeks silence as part of a yoga course she was undertaking, she was scribbling down things on her pad in conversation with her friend constantly - I know it makes me a terrible person but I'd love to be present if she stubbed her toe on a hard step and be able to shake my head in a disappointed manner as she swore unchecked in to sky.
After breakfast we decided to do a lap of the two bridges in Rishikesh in a sort of giant loop. The bridges (Lakshman Jhula and Ram Jhula) are famous landmarks here and despite being narrow allow mopeds to cross them.
On seeing the Ganges (Ganga River) for the first time I was stunned! It is the most beautiful aqua colour I have ever seen and stretches right out into the horizon with small ferries zig zagging along her; it is easy to see why the Hindus worship her as a god. For some reason, having heard of bodies and waste being thrown into the river I assumed that river would be very unappealing, but here, just before 'dwar Hari' (The Gates of God), the river is still in a virginal state and completely unsullied.
The river banks are teeming with activity with mass of stalls and wares to be seen and haggled over. Rishikesh is also littered with cows and I realised that if you touch a cow you have to drop a rupee as a thanks for the blessing its touch has bestowed upon you - having just evaluated that part of my day I'm pretty sure I was taken for a ride...
After a good 8 hours and potentially 20kms of walking Chelsea finally settled on a t shirt that she wanted to buy in a small shop near the Ram Jhula bridge. At this point we both stepped into the shop to pay the owner and realised that we had done something very rude: failed to take our shoes off. Indians are very conscious of where your feet have been and what they have touched and consider it very rude if you enter their home/property with your shoes still on. I realised this quickly and (mentally kicking myself) touched the top of both men's feet with my middle and index fingers then my own forehead as a gesture of customary apology. Thankfully, they smiled and were perhaps a little surprised that I knew about this form of apology and assured us that no harm was done.
After a long day of walking in the hottest weather we have encountered yet, we trudged back up the hill to our hotel whilst dodging monkeys and cow dung. Tomorrow we are walking into the Himalayas to find a waterfall which is apparently a hidden gem then wandering into Haridwar for an arati ceremony - exciting by times.
- comments
John Another interesting day
Amy I would LOVE to have been a fly on the wall at the yoga class. If you and gymnastics was anything to go by it would be a treat. The laughing at the end sounds awkward but I'm sure it would be very uplifting