O Malaria, where art thou?

I have been taking anti-malaria pills (doxycycline) since I landed in Finland. It seems that myself and another Canadian guy were the only ones advised by our doctors to take them. It's been a hot topic around here with people saying things like "Why cleanse your body, and then put poison in it?". My response was always that I feel totally fine, I know people that have had malaria (hey Melly!) and that I have a werid reaction to mosquito bites. So I felt better safe than sorry. However, today is the day that I am going to stop taking them. Don't worry parents, here is a map of the malaria zones in India and you can see clearly that both areas that I am traveling too are low-risk and that anti-malaria medication is usually not advised.

I don't know if I am just more in tune with my body now after being here a few weeks or what happened exactly but the last few days I have felt very nauseous almost immediately after taking the anti-malaria pill. I threw up twice and almost passed out twice in the last 4 days. I even went and bought bananas so that I would have something to eat with them in the mornings but alas, it did not work.

Don't worry, this isn't like the time when I was 5 and I dumped all my malaria pills down the toilet because I didn't like the taste (even after my parents mashed them up and tried to put them in chocolate ice cream). Or maybe it is...

Rafting in the Ganges

On Sunday, the school organized for us all to go white water rafting in the Ganges River. I think nearly everyone from both the 200 hour and 300 hour groups went (even people who couldn't swim!). It was a lot of fun and the perfect day for rafting. Here are some pics (good luck finding me :)):

Sorry it has been a little while since I posted. My yoga teacher gave us some good advice, he said "You can have excuses or you can have improvement, but not both". I have been trying to apply this to my practice as well as my homework so that I can get the most out of this experience. In the past week I have read the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, most of Gherandasamhita and am almost done Living Your Yoga. The good news is that I am done all of my homework now and should have more time for reading the books that I brought from home and doing some exploring.

Oh and not 100% confirmed yet but I'm thinking that after the course I may go hiking in Gangorti with a couple of other students in the Himalayas. The weather can be quite cold so may not be a bad thing that I packed that fleece and longjohns afterall!

Until next time!
~Amanda

Mind and Body: How Emotions Impact the Body

My anatomy teacher taught us a little about Psychosomatic Therapy (mind-body connection). The idea is that we have to treat mental and emotional issues, not just the physical ones. This is not a ground-breaking discovery but what is super facinating is how different emotions are connected to specific parts of the body. For example, pain on the left side of the body is feminine and pain on the right side of the body is masculine. So that pain in your right knee could be because of concern/fear for a man in your life. I'd like to do some more reading about this but here is a short list of some of the more common issues in case anyone is interested (if anyone is actually reading this!):

Upper back - Feel unloved, holding back love, vulnerable, resentment
Middle back - Guilt, stuck in past
Lower back - Financial woes and concerns
Calves and feet - Fear of the future
Carpal Tunnel - Anger and frustrations at life's seeming injustices
Colds - Mental confusion
Earache - Anger
Elbow - Not wanting to change directions or accept new experiences
Hands - Fear of new ideas
Hips - Fear of taking major decision, balance, movement and sexuality
Insomnia - Tension, guilt, fear
Joints - Pessimism, stuck emotions
Knees - Ego, pride, stubborn pride, inflexibility, fear
Lungs - Depression, grief, not feeling worthy
Neck - Inflexibility, stubbornness
Ribs - Sense of protection, vulnerability
Shins - Not living up to own high standards
Shoulders - Burden (over-burdened). Dependence on others. Carrying their burden.
Sinus - Irritation to someone close to you
Stomach - Perfectionism and injustice
Thighs - Childhood trauma
Throat - Feeling unable to express self, repressed anger and emotional hurt
Thyroid - Humiliation, feeling repressed or put down, never getting to do what you want
Warts - Hate for the self, guilt, feeling ugly
Wrists - Feeling restricted, not handling things with ease, stubbornness

What do you think, any of these ring true?

Blissful Day Off

Sunday was the first day off and I took full advantage of a schedule-free day. It started with breakfast at a nearby cafe with some other students. Then two of the girls and I walked for a few hours and checked out some shops in Lakshman Jhlua (a town nearby). My favourite was a little place called the Bohemian Cafe, which has live music every night.

After the walk, I got my eyebrows threaded (for $1 CAD!) and then got a massage (for $10 CAD!). It is so easy to live like a queen with the prices here. I spent the afternoon at yet another cafe with some students and then in the evening, the school organized an outting to see the Ganga Aarti.

The Ganga Aarti is a devotional ritual performed every night at dusk to honour the goddess of the Ganges River (the most holy river in India). Hundreds of people gather by the Ganges river to chant and offer a small cup of flowers with a candle in it to the goddess. Many people drink the water as they believe it has healing powers (I just read an article about dead bodies found in the river and am trying not to get traveller's diarreah so I did not partake in this part). After the ceremony, young boys go through the crowds with candle holders and everyone cups their hands to take some of the smoke and put it on their foreheads in order to be blessed. Here are some pics from the day!

Some things I have learned about Indian culture:

• They stare at tourists a LOT. And take a lot of pictures. I have had my picture taken by kids, moms, dads, munks and anyone with a camera it seems. They say "Sister, sister, take a picture with my daughter..." and things like that. As long as they don't call me ma'am (which hasn't happened yet) I'll let them take it. It does make me feel like a celebrity though... and I'm not sure if I like the attention.
• Men hold hands. They are not gay, it's just totally normal. Men of all ages do this and walk hand in hand in the streets. I don't really know why but if I find out, I'll let you know.
• They honour cows. I already knew this but I didn't realize that they would be roaming the streets and blocking traffic all the time. The idea is that after a baby stops breast-feeding, they switch to cows milk and so they view cows as a mother figure and treat them sacred.
• Some of them think it's totally fine to cut in front of people when waiting in a line. I have been cut in front of twice at the airport by Indian men and twice while waiting in line for food at the yoga school by Indian women. I know this is not a generalisation (many of them are wonderful) but yeah, it happened 4 times in less than a week!

The first pic is one is of the whole group that went to the Ganga Aarti, the folks on the left side are from the 200 hour course and the folks from the right side are from the 300 hour course. My class (the 300 hour) consists of 13 females and 6 males: 2 Germans, 1 Austrain, 3 Americans, 3 Canadians, 2 Hong Kongers, 1 Singaporean, 1 South African, 1 Mexican, 3 Australian, 1 Kiwi and 1 Brit.

Voluntary Vomit

Today was a bit of a strange day. It started with sticking a catheter (rubber straw thing) up my nose and ending with crying by a candle. In Indian medecine (ayruveda) the body consists of three things (called doshas): Vata (mechanical), Pitta (chemical) and Kapha (material). If any of them are out of wack then we get diseases. So in order to keep them in balance, there are 6 purification systems (called kriyas).

They are:
1. Neti- Nasal cleaning
2. Dhauti - Cleansing of digestive tract
3. Nauli - Abdominal massage
4. Kaphalabhati - Purification of lungs
5. Basti - Colon cleansing
6. Trataka - Blinkless gazing

Today I did everything except the colon cleanse (thank goodness!). I know I wanted to study traditional yoga from the East but I did not realize what I was signing up for. That said, it was a good experience and I'm glad I tried it. We will be repeating this process every Friday so I have some time to figure things out. The hardest part was mental aspect... I was slightly panicking as people all around me were throwing up on the lawn. Remember the picture of the lawn I showed last time? Yeah that lawn. We had to drink 6 cups of salt water and then stick our fingers down our throats until it all came back up. Oh and this was after sticking a catheter up the nose, grabing it from the back of the throat and pulling back and forth until the nasal cavity is cleared. Kind of like this:

After all the vomiting fun we attempted some Nauli, where you suck your stomach in and then relax the obliques and push it back out and then move it around to massage the stomach. It is hard to explain, here is a pic:

Later in the evening we worked on Trataka, which was a pretty cool experience. We sat in little circles in the dark with a candle in the middle. Then we stared at the flame without blinking until we cried. I thought I would not be able to do it but it was pretty easy and was a neat feeling. The goal is to experience one-pointedness. We have done lots of different meditation techniques but this was one of the best for completely clearing the mind. When you are trying hard not to blink, it's hard to think about anything else!

That's all for today! Next time I want to tell you about how different emotions impact pain in our bodies. I found it super interesting. Here are some examples: lower back pain relates to financial stress, neck pain means guilt and self-judgement and shoulders carry burdens (such as concern for others).

I just downloaded Better Call Saul! from itunes. So off for some non-yoga related unwinding before bed. Hope all is well in Canada!

~Amanda

Lay of the Land

Just finished day 4 and I am starting to feel comfortable here. This is what the daily schedule looks like:

6:30am - Tea and Kriya (Neti Pot - where you pour water into one nostril and the water comes out the other one. The goal is to cleanse your nose and better prepare you for pranayama (breathing).)
7am - Pranayama and Mantras
7:30am - Asana (postures)
9am - Breakfast
10am - Yoga Philosophy
11:15am - Yoga Anatomy
12:30pm - Self practice
1:15pm - Lunch
2pm - Library and self study (i.e. homework!)
5pm - Asana class
7:15pm - Dinner
8:15pm - Group Meditation
10pm - Lights out

I kind of enjoy the big chunk of time in the middle of the day for self practice and self study. The first day I spent it sleeping and dealing with jet-lag (and was late for asana practice, whoops and sorry everyone for that lecture about being on time); the second day I went to a juice hut with another girl who has been here awhile and showed me around; the third day was spent at the library brushing up on the nervous system, endocrine system, respiratory system, lymphatic system, digestive system and musculoskeletal system; and today I finally ventured out to town by myself.

Once you get over the smells, Rishikesh is a pretty awesome town. There are yoga studios on every corner, friendly people everywhere you go and tons and tons of shops that sell everything from electronics, medecine, books, clothes... you name it.

Lessons learned: Did not need that fleece hoodie, wool socks, long johns, a toque or mittens. Clothes pins and a rope would have been a good idea to pack. Oh and I am no longer using my fancy water bottle since I dropped the lid and straw in the toilet.

Tomorrow we are doing a few different kriyas (purification systems) so I will be sticking a piece of cloth down my throat and throwing up. Next week, we stick tumeric up our bums. I wish I was joking. Wish me luck.

This is what the yard at the yoga school looks like:

I am off to hit the sack now but I have wi-fi and can easily be reached on facebook :-). I have an Indian cell # too (thanks Kaush!), it'll cost long distance but the number is 918828477948. I haven't used it yet so best to try me on facebook first. Nighty night!

From Smelly Delhi to Rishikesh

After more than 36 hours of travel, I have arrived safely at the yoga school in Rishikesh. I already have mixed feelings about India but all in all, they are positive. I've only been here for one day but feels like a week already and I have so much to tell. I will try to summarize.

Plane Ride - Awesome. I'm a big fan of Finnair and would recommend anyone who takes them get the Asian Vegetarian Meal option. My food was way better than the regular stuff.

Airport in Delhi - Reminded me of the Ottawa airport but way hotter and smellier. Did not feel any culture shock and was not swarmed by taxi drivers (but I was ready!).

Taxi Driver - Super nice and found me right away. Drove like a maniac though, similar to San Jose in Costa Rica (they use the horn far more than the breaks and just take traffic signals, road dividers and sidewalks as suggestions). I had one panic moment though when we went to pick up two other yogis from a hostel in Delhi. They were still asleep apparently and the taxi driver went and got the hostel owner who suggested that I wake them up (what?). So I got in this tiny rickety elevator to go to the third floor with this strange guy (did I mention that there was no sign for this hostel anywhere?) and all of a sudden the advice from my "India survival guide for women" clicked in and I got out of the elevator and told him I didn't feel comfortable and that I would wait outside. Turns out I freaked out over nothing because 10 minutes later these super nice people appeared. I guess there was miscommunication and the cabbie and hostel owner thought they were my friends. We are definitely friends now after 7 hours of traveling in a small car together though!

Drive from Delhi to Rishikesh - Pretty much what I expected. Lots of people, cows, dogs, pollution, poverty and beautiful scenery. Once I got to Rishikesh, the cab dropped us off and then a motorcycle had to bring me to my room at the school. This was by far the scariest experience so far. I hiked my skirt up, hopped on the back of this motorcycle with my luggage and the driver sped like a speed demon through seas of people, animal feces, cows, cars, over a pedestrian bridge that was jam packed with Indians and tourists and cyclists. He just honked and powered through. I had to close my eyes for most of it, I really don't know how he was able to get through some of the crowds.

Yoga School- The other students are all really nice and I look forward to learning from them. There are people from Mexico, Germany, Turkey, Canada, USA, Australia and many other places that I have yet to discover. Once I got here, I had just enough time for a cold shower before heading over to orientation, which was really a big ceremony with chanting, food, jewelrey and rice on our foreheads. At one point we all took turns holding these plates of candles and sort of did a dancing ritual over an alter. I have to admit that I was really struggling to stay awake durring the entire ceremony and when they handed me a plate of fire, all I could think was Don't Drop This! Luckily, all went well and the building is still standing.

I just had dinner (roti with veggie stew and split pea soup) and am so ready to hit the sack. I just hope I can make it up for 6am neti-pot cleansing. Wish me luck! I have wi-fi in my room so I'll try to update every now and then when I have time. Oh and if you want to see, here is what my room looks like for the next 6 weeks:

~Namaste~

(p.s. Namaste literally means "hello" in Hindi... I found that neat)

Hei Sleep Pods

Made it to Finland after an 8 hour flight from Toronto! I didn't sleep too well so I'm going to hang out in this super awesome sleep pod for the next five hours until my next flight to Delhi. So far I like Finland!

Nähdään Myöhemmin!

Off to India!

Hello! Tomorrow I am off to India for 3 months of yoga and travel. I know it's been a very long time since I blogged but people seem keen to stay connected and I am happy to share my adventure with you! Since my last post I became even more obsessed with Yoga, completed my 200-hour teacher training and even started teaching classes. Now, I am off to the other side of the world to complete my 300-hour training, tour around a little and then study for a month at the Ashtanga Institute. I'm nervous but really excited. Stay tuned for updates and maybe even a photo or two :-).

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Picture is of the Rishikesh Trayambakeshwar Temple, in the town where I am headed first (in Northern India)!