During my stay in Varkala I meet a group of backpackers all coming from a Sivananda Yoga Ashram, which becomes my next destination. The Sivananda Ashram is in a town called Neyer Dam which is near the big city Trivandrum. I catch several buses to get to that town. By the last leg of the bus ride the bus cabin consists only of western backpackers heading to the ashram. For the first time, I meet several Americans, Germans, and Canadians.

At the Ashram you can stay as long as you like, but the typical course is 2 weeks. There is a routine here. We get up before the sunrise at 5:30am. There is an hour of meditation and an hour of chanting, then followed by the first 2 hr yoga session. Afterwards brunch is served at 9:30am. Brunch consists of vegetarian food and in the Indian tradition, it is eaten with our hands while seated on the floor. At first I thought that this would be a huge challenge since I am about as far as you can get from a vegetarian. However the food here is really good and it’s all you can eat. This is great because we only get two meals a day, which is after all the fruit snacks that we get it is surprisingly enough.

The western definition of yoga usually only consists of the physical aspect, posing and motion. However yoga is actually a way of life and there is a lot to learn besides the posing. We then have a series of lectures that further discuss those teachings. After lunch there is free time, karma yoga, and one on one yoga coaching. After a snack time, the second 2 hr yoga session starts followed by dinner. After dinner the final meditation and chanting occurs before we all head to bed. There are two tea times and two snack times squeezed in there somewhere and it makes it a full day.

During our free time we can explore the surround jungle area, go for a swim in the crocodile infested (not really) waters, head to town to sneak in some non-ashram approved snacks and jump on the internet. Two weeks of this rolls by really fast and there are various activities throughout the week to keep things interesting. Each week a new group joins or departs. After about just 4 days, I feel extremely healthy and my body has adapted to this routine. I wake up naturally before the crack of dawn and feel energetic throughout the day. I feel like this is the healthiest I’ve been in a long time. The natural foods, plenty of fruit, exercise is really refreshing. This combined with the natural beauty of the area is really wonderful.

Every once and a while our group meditation is replaced with a silent hike where we walk to the lake and meditate until sunrise. These outings are such a relief from the normal meditation and chanting which I am not a big fan of. Towards the end we start skipping lectures and chanting to explore the surroundings. This place is really nice escape from the chaos that is India.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS