Travels In India & The Boon Of Daily Yoga

2 months on the Indian subcontinent, travelling from Tamil Nadu in the south to Kashmir in the north, has been fertile terrain for adventurous living and getting out of my comfort zone. The trip included my first yoga ashram stay, breathtaking historic sights, stunning palaces, ancient forts, intricately carved temples, delicious new food, wild forests, majestic rivers and Himalayan mountains.  I bathed in the great Ma Ganga, meditated in high vibration consecrated spaces and practiced yoga every day for the first time in a long time.

When I trawl back through the photos and my memories I feel enriched from diving deeply into the land that yoga originates from, having tapping back into my adventurous spirit. This was how I chose to celebrate turning 50.

Starting the trip with a 5 day training at the Isha Ashram set the tone for what was to come. My husband and I were taught a 45 minute ‘kriya' practice and encouraged to do this twice daily for 40 days.  We set about this with zeal and commitment. Despite the challenges (and feeling a little self-conscious at times) we practiced in hotel rooms, at airports, on trains and outside in green spaces. Following the 40 day milestone, we dropped practice to once daily and have continued to practice every day. 

A kriya is a specific set of postures, breath practices, mantras and meditation focal points designed to support a direct experience of centredness, grounding, inner spaciousness, as well as boost pranic energy, focus the mind and enhance awareness.  The regularity of practice helps to positively rewire the nervous system, and creates a clear, steady foundation with which to navigate life. It has been a life saver.

The trip was incredible, but also generated discomfort, unfamiliarity, resistance and challenge.  Say what?!  Wasn’t it a holiday?! Yes and no. 

Anyone who has traveled in India knows that the experience often involves extreme heat, ear splitting noise levels, huge crowds, dust, cow poo, little personal space, beggars, pickpockets, dodgy toilets, language barriers, tummy bugs and chili with everything.  Not to mention being on the move all the time. This can all take its toll on the nervous system and the mind.

We had no real plan and decided day-by-day where to go, staying in fairly cheap accommodation and living simply.  As tempting as 5* hotels are, our long term budget simply didn’t allow for too much luxury.  There were times, amidst the dazzling adrenaline highs of the adventure, when I felt overwhelmed, overheated, tired, sick, frazzled or homesick. Longing for the familiar comforts of life in New Zealand.  Travelling like this is akin to a compressed, highly intensified version of life - you never know what’s coming next!  

Many times we would make a plan but find that it took it’s own shape and direction. India tends not to mind too much about what you want, and sweeps you up into her own rhythm.  There was often no choice but to let go and surrender to the direction we were carried in.  Plus there was constant change - new places, people, beds, food, experiences. Some good, and some a million miles from what we had envisioned!  

The trip was excellent training for adaptability and present moment awareness.  Sitting with what is, with no resistance. Letting things be how they are without the need to manipulate or change them.  This essential training helps reduce mental suffering and anguish. We stop trying to swim upstream. I noticed many times my mind straining at the leash, wanting to control and direct, to avoid and resist.  Yet often there were no options available than the one we were presented with. A continual invitation to let go.

An example of this was arriving at Auro Beach, on the east coast near Pondicherry. A place the internet described as ‘paradise on earth’. 

Ready for some quiet beach time, we booked our Air BnB in advance and took the 14 hour overnight train from Mysore.  We arrived to discover a drab, dusty, dirty, rubbish dump of a town with the filthiest beach I have ever seen.  Auro Beach was isolated way up the coast, we didn't have transport and any tuktuk drivers that did stop to pick us up wanted to charge us a fortune.  Food options were very limited, especially for vegetarians. Access to the beach was down a narrow lane beside a small waterway, both choked with people’s household rubbish, old mattresses and plastic galore.

A very unappealing state of affairs and a sobering lack of care for the land and nature. Many of the people we interacted with seemed combative, disengaged or unhappy.  All in all there was a very odd vibe to the town.  We couldn’t help but wonder if the uncared for environment contributed to the mood of the inhabitants. 

We hunkered down for 4 long days… 

Daily yoga practice was the life-saver.  Turning away from the endless external distractions and tuning inwards. A nourishing and deeply valuable container to centre and ground, tune in to the internal weather, uplift the energy and reframe perspective with a more positive outlook.  Without some reference point or practice it is very easy for the mind to get trapped in dissatisfaction, rumination, attachment, judgement, causing even more mind suffering and triggering stress in the body.

I am grateful for this enriching life lesson. There were many other times in India when I realised I had a choice as to how I wished to respond to a difficult situation.  A choice to try and see another’s perspective rather than blame and judge. I felt as though the powerful daily practice was ‘doing me’ rather than me ‘doing the practice’.  I can feel a more relaxed attitude within myself to this thing called life. 

This is the gold that resides in the regular practice of yoga, far beyond the physical benefits.  Although physically my long term elbow pain has gone and my shoulders feel less tense. A practice that positively influences your direct experience of life and helps you to make better choices is a gift indeed.

Before you think “this woman is a saint!” know that there are still plenty of times when my menopausal fire rises up or I'm tired, and my choices could be better. We’re all on this human fairground ride together, with its many experiences.

Oh and did I mention we found an EPIC sourdough pizza place right near our BnB at Auro Beach? What are chances?! A ray of gastronomic sunshine shone.

That’s the travel box ticked for a while.