Yogis, I write this from an Italian cafe with wifi in the heart of Rishikesh, India. We are deep into it here. I think it’s day 5 of my Kundalini Teacher Training with Golden Bridges, but I have to tell you I’m not sure. India is a crazy and exhausting place, almost as crazy and exhausting as Kundalini Yoga. Twenty hours of flying, a sleepless night in New Delhi where the smog is so thick it makes your eyes water, 8.5 hours on a car ride that is indescribable because you’d have to see my “terror faces” to truly understand what I’m talking about….and finally to arrive in the mecca of yoga, Rishikesh.
Now I don’t want to discourage future travelers or visitors, but you gotta be tough for this journey. India is insane. There are cows everywhere and that means cow poop…everywhere. I personally don’t think the cows are actually eating the right diet either, if you know what I mean. There are wild dogs everywhere. They are sweet and follow you around. I don’t know who feeds them. There are wild cats everywhere. I’m grateful for that because I haven’t had to see a wild snake yet. There are wild monkeys everywhere that scare the crud out of me. I actually had to make a choice to jump off a foot bridge 70 feet over the Ganges or stand my ground with a monkey. The fall wasn’t too bad. Just kidding…Zant saved me and has the paw prints on his pants to prove it.
Teacher training is intense on multiple levels. First, Ashram living is rough. The room is damp, cold, and dirty. Believe it or not, we literally have an open grate with no window to the outside world. This wouldn’t be so bad, but it’s freezing here and the storms have come. Good news is you can buy 3 blankets, a space heater, and a new rug for about $30 in Rishikesh. We are up at 3:30 am and do a kriya or yoga practice and then Sadhana which is a spiritual practice that includes a lot….and I mean a lot of mantra….until 7 am. We break for Ayurvedic breakfast and then back to it until 5:30 at night. We’ve been in bed by 8 pm every night. It’s just exhausting.
I am having lots of amazing experiences, learning a ton, but too tired to really convey.
Oh yea…. I LOVED how Guru Shabad opened this whole thing. He said, “You are who you are looking for.” It’s kinda set the tone for my spiritual immersion.
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