Om

Ahhhhh....I just got back from the land of meditation and yoga. I spent the week at a wonderful spot on top of a hilltop outside of the city of Pokhora in a place called Sadhana Yoga. It was utterly magnificent. Here's how I spent the last six days:
0545am: Morning bell
0600: Meditation
0700: Morning walk ( I admittedly skipped this a few times, opting for reading my book while overlooking the lake)
0745: Tea Break
0800: Yogic cleansing (aka a Netti pot to the nose...which means, essentially, pouring salt water down your nostrils in an attempt to clear out all the junk)
0830: Morning yoga
0930: Breakfast (Yup- you noticed! This was our first morsel of food of the day, after being awake for almost four hours!)
10:30: Steam or Mud Bath ( I did the steam bath every day except for the one day I was courageous enough to do the mud....ever hear the one about the Canadian gal, Dutch gal, German gal, and the American gal all covered in orange mud...? Sounds like the start of a very strange joke- but it was real life! And awesome!)
12:00 Afternoon Meditation
12:45 Lunch (all of our meals were very simple vegetarian Nepali food. We had the same thing every day: Muesli for breakfast, greens, potatoes, rice, and soup/curry for lunch, and bean soup with chapati bread for dinner. Delicious!)
1300: Rest. (and I did, often, with a quick afternoon nap)
1500: Karma Yoga (This consisted of a Q & A period with the man who founded the place, and then 30 minutes of doing chores such as sweeping, watering the plants, etc.)
1600: Tea Break, with POPCORN!!! (Apparently it is a Nepali tradition to have popcorn as an afternoon snack. Those of you who know my passion for popcorn know how much this excited me! I was 'famous' at popcorn time for my happiness!)
1630: Chanting ( My second favorite time of day, after popcorn break. The chanting is another way to meditate, and it is very beautiful and fun to sing out as loud as you can- doesn't matter if you have a bad voice, it sounds great!)
1730: Evening yoga
1845: Dinner
2000: Retire (often we would stay up until the ghastly hour of 8:30 or even 9:00pm, if we got to talking and laughing- and there was a lot of both there).
So, that was my life for the last week. There were people there from all over the world: Australia, Germany, Holland, Czech Republic, Canada, and some other Americans as well. We doubled up in rooms, and since I was not with Matt, I shared a room with a really nice woman from Holland. We became fast friends- kindred spirits, I would say- and we vowed to stay in touch. Now I have a place to stay and a friend to visit in Holland! I also learned a lot about myself, especially during meditation, and I think I even achieved a bit more physical flexibility in my yoga practice. The clean, healthy food was great for my system, and it was wonderful to try out a bunch of new things. We even had "Laughing Yoga" at the end of our morning yoga session. Laughing Yoga consists of lying on your back, pulling your knees to your chest, and with the teacher as your guide, just laughing. No stand-up comedians were provided- just the sheer joy of laughing for the sake of laughing. It was strange at first (for about the first 30 seconds only!), and then I found myself laughing merely because I was laughing, and in a room full of virtual strangers that were laughing for no reason! Sometimes we would all get going so much that Laughing Yoga would last 10 minutes! The man and woman who run the place are a married Nepali couple with two young sons. They are both wonderful, bright, open, and beautiful people and their children are adorable. I am so grateful I decided to go there and can't think of a better way to spend a week. I hope, in my heart of hearts, that the things I learned there will be things I can carry with me always. It was truly a special place.
Now I am back in town after an emotional goodbye this morning. Matt comes back from his trek to Annapurna Base Camp either tonight or tomorrow. I can't wait to see him again- I am quite sure he has plenty of stories from his journey as well...
Stay tuned for more! Namaste!