I never thought that being comfortable in socks and sandals would be a sign I'm on a spiritual path but it is.
I've spent the last three weeks listening to Gurus about self realisation and sitting on the beach by the Ganges (Lady Ganga :) ) every sunset chanting. Unlike the guilty pleasure of taking the wheelie bin out in socks and Burks back in Dublin, Rishikesh is all about Sandals and socks (with a special focus on camel toe effects); that's me now and I'm loving it.
Right now I'm squeezed into the train from Rishikesh to Delhi watching the sunrise whilst breathing through my nose (the alternative is eau de piss) and in 24 hours I'll be on a flight to Europe. Let me fill in the blanks:
- First steps to self realisation and I get certified
- Confessions of a guy addicted to girls
- I get brainwashed
- Naked men, massage oil and pillow talk
- A very brief hello to Europe
- The importance of sugar cubes
- I want a cow for a pet
Sunset in Rishikesh last night with one of my fav cows....
As mentioned in my last post the yoga teacher training was intense. There I was with my dream that I was to be in a room with 30 hot girls for a month with us all toning our bodies to perfection then going for a dip in the local river like a scene from 'Oh Brother Where art Though'. My goals were to learn more but I also wanted to conquer the tough poses like Scorpion. It didn't work out quite like that.
I've now got a Yoga Alliance certificate and after +12 hour days, 2 theory exams and 2 practical tests cannot wait to teach but my learning was more about just the course. Turns out I'd broken my ankl back in December. After pushing through the yoga teacher training feeling sick with pain I finally gave in to my pride and got it X-Rayed (at 1 Euro per xray - I tried to get my whole body done but they weren't impressed) and there was a itle hairline fracture. It looks alot prettier with palm trees in the background :)
I spent alot of time on the sideines where I started to get to know the real me. This time the specialist told me as I'd not rested the ankl I'd also done cartilage damage and might need an op later in the year. Finally it sinks in I need to slow down. No more running competitively, no more lindy hop dancing and no more rushing to meet a hot girl in Goa on a moped whilst under the influence (= ankl issue....eejit).
The week after getting my X-ray I also discovered that due to an administration blip I would have to return to Euroland to sort out a visa issue (not one I can resolve in a neighbouring country). This is where I started to listen to the lectures we'd been having on the YTT course. I won't bore you with the detail but my ego which thought I'd storm through the course, stay in India till the end of the year, get a facebook profile picture of me doing scorpion on the top of a mountain and get cosy with lots of hot yogitas realised that non of the above were going to happen. Anger management crept in and I found solace in the river and good friends.
A number of things put things into perspective, mainly people in far worse situations and then I was washing my clothes and had a centipede run up my arm (the ones that have a sting like a scorpion) and it stopped half way up my arm and curled up and looked at me I thought it was gonna sting but it had the expression of "would you just cop on sunshine". So I blingged up my crutches and got on with it.
Me with one of the local ladiez
To add to the mix I'd come out of a relationship before I came to India which hit me way harder than I expected and I'd started to delve into a lot of self realisation reading. The combination of that and the spiritual studies shocked my little naive self and I even starting to see the benefits of open relationships or being a monk and in Part Deux of this post I'll tell you more.
Instead of me doing a scorpion maybe this should be my FB profile pic (the physio band - my akle's best friend right now :) ):
After the YTT a gang of us headed to Kochi for some respite/excess of all the goodies we'd missed. I behaved myself relatively well mainly owing to the fact that I struck lucky with my homestay and decided to properly rest my akle. I pushed out the boat a bit and paid 10 euros/night but I got a room with a Memory matress (a mattress not made of straw would have been a treat but this was my best sleep in India) and the mammy was a trained chef so the meals were seriously good.
The nights that followed the pure and healthy land of Yoga Teacher Training. Good Friends :)
Last night of YTT - classic night in my cottage
After YTT - access to full Indian Menus and a nice reminder of Indian service - 2 hours wait for a lemon ginger tea!
Cochin - PLEASE open a decent restaurant with food AND booze - we needed it!
Me and Veena the Diva
My last night with the YTT gang - a bit of self reflection ;)
I'm now nearly in Delhi and as my neighbours on the train seem to all be glued reading this on my ipad I'll leave all the juicy stuff till Pt II when I'm back in Euroland.
Namaste.
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