Let’s address the space-time continuum* for a quick second. In the real world, I wrapped up my 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) program at Rishikesh Yogpeeth’s Abhayaranya ashram in the Himalayas of northern India’s Uttarakhand state on Saturday, but over here on the internet, I’m way behind on posting.
*I actually don’t really understand the space-time continuum, so please take this with a grain of salt
I originally planned on writing a post detailing my last two weeks at the ashram, but it started getting pretty lengthy and the photo uploads were taking forever, so I’m just here with a little recap of my third week at the ashram.
I think I left off with Diwali celebrations, which were incredible.
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Happy Diwali! Celebrations at our Indian ashram
After Diwali celebrations, it was right back to our schedule as normal.
The days were mostly routine. We continued our classes — mantra chanting, pranayama, asana, anatomy, adjustments/ alignments, self-study, philosophy, meditation — every day.
We did several Ashtanga classes during our asana time, which were made a little easier with this fun chart our ashram printed of Nitish (my favorite instructor here) demonstrating all the poses.
I also switched rooms just before Diwali, and was settling into a new space. I ended up moving in with my friend Valerie. She’d originally booked a single room and I’d booked a double, but I wasn’t really vibing with my roommate (it wasn’t personal – she was just there to focus solely on introspection and sense withdrawal, so she didn’t talk to me at all and I wanted a little more of a community feel) and Valerie was supposed to get a roommate for her last week at the ashram, so the swap made sense to everyone.
We never rearranged the two double beds and instead just got two twin-sized duvets for the two mattresses that had been pushed together. It worked!
I’m really starting to love the routine here. I’m tired and sore all the time, but I have the class schedule memorized, and it’s nice to just have everything handled so I can focus entirely on learning and absorbing.
The 12.5-hour time difference from back home is super nice, too. I put my phone on silent when I arrived, and I don’t have to worry about distractions at all since everyone back home is asleep for most of my day.
On our next day off, we hiked down to the Patna waterfall, which is just a quick detour off the trail that takes you from the Ganges-side road up to our ashram.
It was gorgeous. There’s a vendor nearby that sells tea and snacks, so we all sat by the waterfall drinking tea and chatting until it got dark and we had to hike back up to the ashram.
Then we went to bed early so we could head into town on Wednesday.
Valerie and I took a shared cab into Laxman Jhula and had breakfast at Little Buddha Cafe before embarking on our errands and adventures.
To be honest, the day was pretty rough for me because… it was Tuesday night back home and election results had started coming in. I spent most of the day really distracted and aloof (I’m sorry Valerie!) and I just kind of dragged myself around town.
After breakfast, Valerie and I wandered for a bit. We went to the ATM to grab cash, then walked across the Ram Jhula bridge to get to Tapovan.
From the other side of the bridge, we took a rickshaw up the hill to upper Tapovan.
Up in Tapovan, I ran some errands (buying snacks and instant coffee) while Valerie ran some errands (picking up some jewelry she’d had designed the week before).
Then, we walked down the hill through a bunch of markets along an unmarked path on Laxman Jhula Road. It’s hard to find, but it’s the stretch where the Beatles Cafe is located.
I bought some mala beads and a bracelet, and we eventually walked down to Tat Cafe for lunch.
Tat was suggested to me by Riya, a friend I met at a hostel a few weeks prior, and I really loved it. It had a gorgeous outdoor view of the river, and a menu that offered either traditional Indian food (which I went for) or healthy fare.
Then that was about it. We did a bit more shopping in the area, took a ferry across the river and met up with some of our ashram friends to get back to the trail head and back to classes the next day.
More later!
