I was a bit freaked, however, that is not what happened but a funny phrase I heard a girl say a few days ago....."Ou'est? - "DANS MON PANTALON"- ze french are zo romantic.
That monkey surprised me by being so angry. There is a new colony here and they really don't like us human folk. 10 years ago I was working with spider monkies in Bolivia and was used to them giving me a hug everyday. I miss these lads......
Anyway, enough of my relationship issues. Here's what I've been up to:
- Easy India
- Bad Yoga
- I miss a good Shift
- Happy Holi
It's quite hard to be lazy in India but in Rishikesh it's easy. Along with Kerela and Goa, despite my fondness for the place it's a long way from the bonkersville that is the rest of India. I've had power, wifi and hot showers everyday here. Despite missing Indian food I've eaten at western vegan restaurants and juice bars most days and my mattress is more than the average Indian 2 inches thick! The highlight, however, was in a the toilets of a cafe yesterday where they were playing meditation music IN THE TOILETS. Rishikesh is like the Disneyland of yoga with of more mature yogis coming to get their Yoga MOT/NCT and young glowing girls (and a few guys) skipping around with yoga mats under their arms sipping lassis saying "OMG did you go to Surindher's class - I totally found myself melting into my mat, I heart India". Now, I love girls and I love Surindher's classes but in a world where the toilets play jazz music the phrase 'I heart India' needs a rethink.
Some of the yoga classes are damn funny. In one of Surindher's classes the mats were so close together that at one point I opened my eyes to find my big toe nudging a girls bum cheeks (like I said.....I LOVE his classes). Five minutes later my neighbour on the other side had her foot over my nose. Life: It's all about balance. The highlight of the yoga asana classes I've taken for me, however, was when local teacher Deepak hopped ontop of me during a wheel and first stood up and did little jump, then went down into crow. It was a beginner's class ! I held it for 20 seconds with him on top, I didn't have a camera and surprisingly my back felt splendid afterwards.
It looked something like this......
The lowpoint of my yoga classes was my pranayama course. I love pranayama and after training in the YTT then additional courses in Delhi I wanted to do one with the best teacher here so I signed up with taalls/ . It worked out to be $40US per 2 hour class. In Delhi I had been paying $1US for a 2 hour class (classes were in Hindi but you get the idea of the difference). I turned up and despite being told it would be separate to their YTT it was a room full of YTT students (thank you Tattvaa yoga!). I wasn't paying $40US for that so instead reinvested my rupees in more singing classes, massages, books and some inner child meditation classes (yes I am hanging out with me as a 10 year old - it's GREAT craic). Everything also balanced out when after returning from the pranayama course I'd walked out of at 6am there was a storm and I rescued 1/2 my clothes which were on the balcony drying. They would have all headed up the Himalayas had I stayed in the class. Plus later that day I was retelling the story to a well known yoga teacher here and he said he'd give me some advanced pranayama classes for $5/hour. Everything.......EVERYTHING happens for a reason :) Having met people from 10s of YTT courses now, I am convinced I did one of the better ones. If you are every considering it check out http://www.hathayoga-meditation.com/.
One of the many books I bought as a consequence of getting a refund from the course and WHAT a book :)
My projects are going well I'm even sticking my head in the classroom and teaching the kids some English at this school. My favourite phrase was 'Nice to meet you boss' in a Michael Kane accent.
Kids at the music school.....
Dinner at the music school :)
Traffic delays on the way to the music school.......a Cow Jam :)
I was also honoured to be asked by my friend the TEDx Ambassador for India to do a talk at their new seminar programme called 'The Shift'. Now I love a good Shift but unfortunately it's end of April, my visa runs out in 2 weeks and I need a new passport so it ain't gonna happen. I turned down another potential shift a few days ago. My neighbour is doing an Agama Tantra course here and asked me as an ex-student if I could help her find her Shakti (that usually involves shifting). I declined her kind offer as I don't fancy her; which I guess means I know more about Tantra. Dear Agama please stop producing sex robots and produce loving ones instead.
Last year I missed out on Holi the festival of colour due to a visa issue and I was gutted. This year I spent the day with a friend at the music school I'm working (and learning!) playing with the kids (and their Grandpa brother cousin.......or Great Uncle as we say in English English!). A lot of the local yoga schools and Mooji's satsang warned people to stay indoors and avoid the perils of the toxic paint. However, once you got into the mess of it no-one cared - HAPPY HOLI :)
So I'll be back in Ireland in one month today and was thinking about what I'll end up doing career wise. I've lots of opportunities but am not going to rush into anything. Whilst I was writing my journal today an Indian guy sitting on the wall next to me picked up my pencil and stuck it in his ear and starting cleaning inside. I've since disposed of said pencil but ....it gave me an idea for a niche in Ireland ;)
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