'Yoga Friends'
It is strange how one can become friends with total strangers when you must live together. At a week-long Yoga break in a place on the outskirts of Bangalore, I went, as a stranger, to learn Yoga, along with a motley group of 90 other people from all over India. By the time we returned, we were one big 'Yoga family'. You become friends when you eat, do 'aasanas', walk, and sing together with unknown people, and do Yogic 'kriyas' that make you puke together.
For a week, we led a regimented life. It began at 4.30am, went on to prayers,
Yoga 'aasanas', breakfast, meditation, more 'aasanas', lunch, some more meditation, and dinner. We did get short breaks, during which Yoga instructors would record our previous day's diet, activities, weight and BP. Had I known before life there would be so strict, I would never have stepped into it. But I had joined and getting back to Bangalore was even tougher than staying on. I decided to stay on and enjoy it.
The highlight for me was being able to do 'jal neti' -- pouring water from a pot-with-snout into one nostril and getting it to dribble out the other nostril. That was easy. Where I got stuck was with 'Sutra neti' where you have to insert a (synthetic) cord into your nostril and get it out of the throat. I could not get beyond getting the thingummy inside the nostril. For 'Vaman dhauti', we all were made to stand next to drains in the campus. Then we were made to drink upto six glasses of salt water. In the next few minutes, each of us would throw up all the water. We all laughed at each other as we stood clutching our tummies, regurgigating all the water. Some people made the strangest noises as they puked.
In the mass meditation sessions, several people would snore and continue snoring while the session would get over and the rest of the people would be on their way out of the hall.
Many of us got only diet food and one could not get junk food for money or love anywhere on the campus, which was in the middle of nowhere. Yet a few managed to slink away and spot a staff canteen where they could get some tea and coffee.
There were 90 participants, including people from places such as Sholapur, Pune, Mumbai, Ghaziabad and Salem. Post that week of living on a Yoga campus, I am now back to Bangalore feeling lighter and thinner.
For a week, we led a regimented life. It began at 4.30am, went on to prayers,
Yoga 'aasanas', breakfast, meditation, more 'aasanas', lunch, some more meditation, and dinner. We did get short breaks, during which Yoga instructors would record our previous day's diet, activities, weight and BP. Had I known before life there would be so strict, I would never have stepped into it. But I had joined and getting back to Bangalore was even tougher than staying on. I decided to stay on and enjoy it.
The highlight for me was being able to do 'jal neti' -- pouring water from a pot-with-snout into one nostril and getting it to dribble out the other nostril. That was easy. Where I got stuck was with 'Sutra neti' where you have to insert a (synthetic) cord into your nostril and get it out of the throat. I could not get beyond getting the thingummy inside the nostril. For 'Vaman dhauti', we all were made to stand next to drains in the campus. Then we were made to drink upto six glasses of salt water. In the next few minutes, each of us would throw up all the water. We all laughed at each other as we stood clutching our tummies, regurgigating all the water. Some people made the strangest noises as they puked.
In the mass meditation sessions, several people would snore and continue snoring while the session would get over and the rest of the people would be on their way out of the hall.
Many of us got only diet food and one could not get junk food for money or love anywhere on the campus, which was in the middle of nowhere. Yet a few managed to slink away and spot a staff canteen where they could get some tea and coffee.
There were 90 participants, including people from places such as Sholapur, Pune, Mumbai, Ghaziabad and Salem. Post that week of living on a Yoga campus, I am now back to Bangalore feeling lighter and thinner.
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