Week between xmas & NY

This week my yoga classes went a bit crazy, I had been getting around 4-6 students & then all of a sudden a french guy (Benjamin) knocked on my tipee door & said that him & some of his friends were going to come & do some yoga. The next day he rocked up with a friend about 10mins late & then just after another 2 people turned up, that day I already had 8 people so all of a sudden i had a pretty big class! The following day 8 of the group turned up, late again & I suddenly found myself with a class of 16! I had planned to use the wall for the class but had to practically scrap this as there were too many people! It was excellent experience for me learning how to manage a class of this size when I had only been used to teaching smaller groups.

On New Years eve I ended up teaching 3 classes, from 8 -9.30 & then 9.45 - 11ish & then 4pm - 5.30. The second class was basically a private lesson for 2 of the friends guys (Piere & Olivier) who had been coming, it went really well & they told Sarah it was amazing! Bless they were very sweet & said that the classes before with the larger group they hadn't been getting it but after the individual instruction they got it! I am so happy that I am really getting to make a difference to people & they get to understand what is going on with their bodies. The guys even came back in the afternoon for a restorative yoga class! Everyday when new students come to my class I feel so blessed. It is also so nice that i get people who are coming back to my classes as I then get to know peoples limits & also see them improve day by day. Its very rewarding.

Sarah Butts arrived on 29th which was fabulous, it is so nice to see her but cant believe how quickly 2 & half months has gone & how much I have experienced since leaving Sarahs flat at 7am on 16th Oct.

The day before NY eve me & Sarah walked to Arambul & back along the beach, 2 & half walk! Then we were passing a bar that had a party going on & wicked music so we stayed for a couple of hours having a boogie on the beach. I had one drink but really didn't need to as I was enjoying myself without & had not had a drink really since i first arrived. Generally in India it doesn't feel like a culture where you want to have a drink. We then realised we were hungry & left around 9pm to try & get some food. Then we were safely tucked up in bed by 10pm. A fun if not exhausting day! After 1pm I awoke to feel like my tipee was vibrating & could hear a boom boom sound! As I couldn't sleep i decided to get dressed & go & follow my ears to the boom boom! I had to climb the gate of Yogagysps & then headed unto a club that was just a 2min walk away from ours. This was the right place where the music was coming from, I felt like I was in a dream like state but wanted to get in & check out what the place was like. So i blagged my way in, saying that I had been woken up as I stay across the way & so want to check it out! They let me in & i spent about 45 mins having a dance before deciding the music was too hard & fast for me & I was ready to go back to bed! Hahha So i headed back, climbed the gate again, got back into bed & put some ear plugs in & went back to sleep by 3am! It was an ok place but I decided it wouldn't be right for us for new year!

Christmas day 25th Dec 2009

I had the perfect Xmas day, I got up as usual around 6.30 to do my own practice & then taught a class which worked really well. Some of my students had come to a few of my classes which was really nice to teach the same people for a couple of days. I then sat & had my usual fruit salad, muesli & curd (this is yogurt that they make fresh every day) & a coffee along with my students. After I had a swim & relax on the beach, a walk to find a phone & the internet. Then I went for dinner in the evening with Charlotte, Frank, Nana & Lena, all my yoga students who are lovely. It was so nice to spend Xmas day in the sun & sea, I thoroughly recommend it.

14th Dec 2009 Yogagypsys!!

Yogagypsys – Such an apt name of a place for me to end up in, as I have always been a bit of a nomad, gypsy!
What a beautiful amazing space with amazing chef (Sebodh) & staff (Ganesh,Sulekha, Mary & Suresh), just outside Arambul, on Aswem beach, check out the place at this link http://picasaweb.google.co.in/yogagypsys/YogaGypsysJan09?feat=email#. When looking at yogagypsys I asked the owner Cathy about the yoga & if they had a teacher, at that time she hadn’t & said that I could teach if I came to stay. The yoga platform has a view of the sea & palm trees, its really beautiful. Now I am teaching every day & sometimes 2,3 classes a day, a morning more dynamic class & an afternoon restorative class & occasionally a private class. Its amazing how quickly my dreams can come true if you just trust & believe that things will work out! Cathy the owner has created a wonderful space that is nothing like anything else on the beach, its kind of a hidden away haven. There are day beds, hammocks to hang out in, within beautiful gardens along with a yoga platform over looking the sea. Teaching everyday is giving me so much experience which I am loving. On the occasional morning where I have felt a little tired, as soon as I teach I feel alive, present & focused, I enjoy it so much. I am now doing my own practice for my students, as it’s the only way to find out what works & what doesn’t work. The people I have taught as well have given me positive feedback which is just a wonderful feeling. I have taught so many different people, from many different countries (Russia, French, Portugal, American, Canadian, English, Israel etc) each person with a different story to tell. It so interesting seeing how everyones bodies work differently & just so nice to keep meeting new people all the time. Each day I learn something new from my students.

Everyday I awake in my tipee around 5, 6am & then get up to do my own practice. As I clean my teeth I look into the mirror at the view, beautiful palm trees & the sea. I feel so lucky to be there living my dream! It is so nice to spend my time doing something that you know will benefit people no end! Once again i know i made the right decision leaving Cisco, no matter what happens in the future.

Arambul, Goa – 3rd Dec 09

We got to the beach in time to start an Iyenger yoga course! Unfortunately I was sick, I got bronchitis, I think this had been building up on the journey through Rajasthan due to not so much sleep on the trains & all the dirt & smog I was inhaling. At one point an ayuvedic doc thought it might have gone to pneumonia but luckily I started feeling better the next day so it wasn’t. It was a test for me as the doc said not to do anything, no yoga just to rest. I had already signed up for the course & paid but I had to sit in a corner & watch for most of it, then on the 2nd day I just went for the last 30 mins. The rest did me good as my cough was finally beginning to ease, thank goodness as it was really painful & I was so sick of coughing constantly! Also I wanted to join in on the yoga course. The course was v. slow, it was good for me as it was a real reminder of the fine details there are to teach about each yoga pose. Even though it may have seemed a little too slow during the course I know that I would take away a lot from it. Overall it was well worth doing or listening to as I had!

Mumbai – 2nd Dec 09

Arriving in Mumbai was as chaotic as I had expected after the calmness of Rajasthan! I did not feel great as we arrived into the station due to the heat, no food & generally feeling a little nautilus! Jay also looked for his trainers when we arrived & they had mysteriously gone missing, hahah someone had stolen his stinky old trainers that he had for the full year of his travels. Luckily he had sandals as well & was on his way home so wouldn’t need them but still you had to laugh that someone would take them! I was lucky that mine didn’t disappear as well. You hear lots of stories about luggage been stolen but your stinky shoes is not as common, haha!

As you step off the trains you see thousands of people everywhere! Then it took us 3 hours to cross Mumbai to get to the right station for our overnight train to Goa. No lunch, very hot & no food until 5pm! As you can imagine I was so relieved when we finally managed to drop our bags off at the right station & then hunt down some food, a simple chana masala has never tasted so good. I had 2 pepsis as well to get my blood sugar back up! It did the trick & I felt alive enough again to head to the beach to chill out . The beach had a really nice vibe, much more liberal it seemed with men & women hanging out together which normally you wouldn’t see, young couples walking, chatting & wearing more western clothing. Some young children came begging but were actually quite funny jumping all over us & playing, I have to say I was concerned about our stuff! We gave them bananas though which they tried to feed back to us! Bless I did feel for them but still refuse to give any money to kid beggars.

We were not staying in Mumbai as we didn’t have enough time & to be honest been in a city that is said to have more people per square metre than any other city, & has over 16M people, which grew from a once fishing village 500 hundred years earlier, the biggest urban sprawl in the planet. I was glad to get on our final night train to Goa & slept so well. I almost didn’t want to get off at our stop! We then got an auto rickshaw (tuck tuck) to the bus station where we hopped onto our first local bus of the day. The bus was super nice in comparison to the local buses in Dharmasala & was empty! First impressions of Goa seemed like there was a lot more money here, even for local transport. It was also v.green, lots of palm & banana trees & v.hot. Two buses later we made it to Arambul & then got a motorbike taxis to take us to the beach & the main town. I was pretty exhausted by this point but looked forward to finding a place to stay & going for a swim! After been so cold in Dharmasala it was really nice to feel the sun & it wasn't too hot.

Overnight bus to Udaipur from Pushkar – 27, 28th Nov, Udaipur – 28th Nov

We arrived at 5am from the bus, earlier than expected & the first 2 guest houses we tried were full, the tuck tuck driver showed us a couple more & luckily we ended up at a really nice one! Beautiful city, this time the lake did have water in it. There is a lovely palace out on the water that has been turned into a hotel. It is another city that has morning prayers played across the city, which makes it really magical. We went on a short boat trip around the lake, which was a great way to see the palace & a view of the city, I would have liked longer on the boat but never mind. The buildings in Udaipur were beautiful, old & rustic looking & at night all lit up like in a fairy tale. The sunsets were also amazing, you could watch from roof top restaurants & you really felt like this was the India you envision from books & films you have read & seen. It was a much bigger city than Pushkar but a complete contrast from a city like Delhi, infact they are not comparable! There are beautiful cobbled back streets which were like a maze, one day I got lost around the streets which was really interesting as I got to see people at work, there were rooms that had big printing machines, people making things, mechanics etc. It reminded me of a back street industrial estate in UK but much smaller & in cute houses, super interesting! On the same walk whilst trying to find my way back to my hotel I had two young girls directed me & ha a little chat with me, one of the girls looked like she was blind but still she was busy playing, laughing with her friend. It felt so nice seeing what goes on behind the tourist areas & all the people were really friendly & helped guide me back to my hotel. Doing yoga on the rooftop to the sound of the chanting, prayers whilst the sun was going down was wonderful, I actually felt like you were emerged in the city without having to go anywhere! We were lucky that the food was also really good in our hotel so there was no need to rush around, which I liked as I was in need of a rest after our travels had moved us on from day to day. I was actually quite sad when it came to move on from Udaipur, It is definitely a place you could base yourself for a little while! However we had to travel on as we had booked to start an Iyenger course in Goa by the 4th Dec & had arranged to hook up with Natasha again here. She had not wanted to do the travelling on trains & buses for a week through Rajasthan & had decided to fly down to Goa instead.

When we arrived at the train station in Udaipur we couldn’t believe how quite & nice the station was & then our train was waiting on the platform & our carriage was literally right in front of us! This wasn’t usual for catching a train in India! The night part of the journey was smooth, however this was a long train leaving at 10pm & arriving into Mumbai at 2pmish the following day. In the morning I had awoken around 7am & we were stopped at a station, I have no idea where we were but I decided to get off & get some toilet paper! I haven’t managed to adopt India’s way of using the left hand! I got off the train & bought my paper, then was deliberating over whether to buy some chocolate or not. Very unhealthy thing to do for breakfast but hey long journeys sometime require such snacks! As I was about to decide the stall guy told me to look round, as I did I saw the train moving away, oops, hahha! Luckily the trains set off out of the train station so slowly that a thousand chai sellers are able to get on, go through the train & get off again as the train has just left the long platform. So I was easily able to run & catch my carriage, l didn’t buy any chocolate though!