So Im undertaking my yoga teacher training just outside a small village in the state of Kerala for 20 days.

For those interested I thought I'd walk you through my typical day here through my eyes.

I'm trying to use some of those skills I learnt during a course I did recently on writing 'Real Life Stories' - here goes :-)

Early mornings ...

At 5.45am my alarm on my iPhone goes off ... I am already half awake from hearing my roomies alarm go off 10 minutes earlier. 

My room mates name is Kathryn, she's a 26 year old from Canada.

She's a slim, pretty girl. Long thick dark hair, fair skin and almond shaped eyes. 

She radiates a calmness that I initially found unnerving. She is quiet, confident, thoughtful. She is very blissed out and every bit the personification of her nick name - Kat.

Simona is the third of us doing teacher training.  She's a tall, slim, pretty blond girl from Holland - not quite as chilled as Kat, but very knowledgable in yoga philosophy and other natural therapies.

Just Kat and I share the room and Simona is next door.

Our room has three single wooden beds all in a row, each with thin mattresses, flat pillows, and the two we're using - covered with a faded floral sheet. 

There are windows covering the length of two sides of the room - a cross hatching of thin black bars covering them. No screens but bright large black and yellow checkered curtains to keep out prying eyes. 

We keep the windows shut at night to keep the mosquitos out, and rely on the hard painted terracotta tiles floors and ceiling fans above, to cool us at night.

Every time I enter the room I note an over powering smell of old spice - it dissipates as you become familiar with it. I wonder after eating curries for a couple of weeks if it's the room or actually us and our clothes!

The room is simple, but comfortable and suits us for the purpose.

I arise from my bed, used to the routine of the early mornings.

I switch on the light. I pick up the clothes from the spare bed that I've picked out the previous evening and head to the bathroom located a short distance from the room, accross the patio and past Simona's room.

The bathroom is also simple but suits the purpose. It is a basic white bathroom with a smooth grey tiled floor, the walls and fittings showing dark cracks & stains from age. 

The shower is in the far corner screened off with multiple cracked and broken, frosted sliding glass doors. The sink sits on a pedestal that moves if you lean on it too hard, and a small oval mirror sits above it - this 20cm long mirror is the only reflection I've seen of myself since arriving. 

There is both a toilet as well as a bidet. The toilet has a hose along side it for washing yourself after using it, and a bright blue bin beside it where only 'clean' used tissues are to be thrown.  No toilet paper in the bowl as it blocks the pipes.

There is no toilet roll holder. Perched up beside the toilet on a metal bar, is the pack of serviettes i purchased in the village, as i was unable to find toilet paper to buy!

Also taking up the remaining floor space  is a large dark blue, waste high tub of water, and another smaller light blue bucket beside it. These were filled for us before we arrived in case the water runs out, as apparently it sometimes does this time of year. As they have now been there for a couple of weeks a film has started to grow on the water and we are probably now breeding those mosquitos that love to bite us so much!  We've also decided if we run out of water we'll die of thirst or go dirty, before drinking or bathing in that!

I change into my yoga clothes. Knees, shoulders and cleavage are to be covered. The first couple of days I wore just a singlet in the ashram and covered myself with a long sleeve white shirt when moving around the grounds, but as none of the other girls wore so little, I have stated ensuring I always wear something with a sleeve.

I wash my face to wake myself up and apply moisturiser. Only my toiletries are in the bathroom, Cat keeping all hers within the small backpack she brought with her for her 5 weeks in India - I wish I could travel that light!

I head back to the bedroom turning off the light & fans as I grab my plastic sleeve of note papers - these have become a great pile of them that I carry round just in case I need to refer to something, like I also do at work!!!  I also grab my bottle of water and head off in the dark, through the outdoor sitting area, down the stairs to where my shoes await me.

I slip into these and use the soft light coming from the front porch of the house to make my way down the stone path, through the brick paved garden and then down the bitumenrd drive way to the practice hall - the ashram.

I arrive just before 6am. I leave my shoes outside and tip toe in barefoot.

The ashram is simply a large room with a tiled roof, frosted glass windows on 3 walls with a half metre gap to the roof, where the wind, rain & bugs enter from! The last wall has glass windows except that open out onto the gardens and which I gaze through to absent mindedly watch the birds and squirrels in the tree when I should be focusing!

The floor is hard teracotta painted tiles - not so nice on the knees with just my thin rented yoga mat but nice & cool to lie on when the heat and humidity are too much to bear.

Kat and Simona are always there before me, stretching and doing their neck and eye exercises.

The light from the rooms next to the ashram filters in and allows us to see in the dark.

The guru arrives shortly after.  She is 45 and lives in the house our rooms are attached to. She is married and lives with her husband, her one adult is now working and living away.

She immediately sets about pouring oil into a holder and lighting a wick. She also lights a stick of incense before bowing her forehead to the ground in front of a relief of the god shiva, that is painted on the wall of the ashram.

She instructs us to sit in a comfortable cross legged position with our eyes closed and hands held on our knees in a 'mudra', as she does the same herself. 

Footsteps can be heard in the rocks down the side of the ashram and at the same time every day the light filtering in blinks out - leaving us sitting by candlelight.

We commence the day with three 'oms' and then a sanskrit prayer from the Bagawad Gita is recited. Those who know it join saying the words they can, and we all join in the final verse singing, 'Om. Shanti, Shanti. Shanti hi'.

We are then guided through our pranyama - sanskrit for 'energy restriction', or in other words, breathing techniques.

We undertake timed breathing, kappala batthi, ujjai changing our hand 'mudras' as she instructs.

The breathing is designed to purify us whilst raising our energy levels. The 'mudras' are used to seal and channel the energy we are creating.

The pranayama goes for about an hour -  I fidget a lot, slap and scratch at real or imagined bugs, ants, mosquitos and even fleas!

I cross and uncross my legs a dozen times as my legs go to sleep - my knees and back ache more and more as the course goes on!

I try to do this as quietly as possible as we're not supposed to move & should be remaining focused!

As the day breaks the noises outside the window get louder and louder  ... Tuk tuks, cars and trucks beep their horns as they come to the intersection nearby the property, the five cats that live here  come to visit, rubbing against you and meowing loudly!  And the most distracting of all, the pet dog Apu is houses in a cage next to the ashram and barks so loud that you feel he is in the room beside you!

When our pranayama is finished we relax on our mats as the guru reads us a chapter from the Dhammapada. 

It's a short book of Buddhist teachings that are read then discussed with us. On Sunday she also reads us a passage from the bible.  She believes all religions are essentially the same, teaching us the same message.

After discussing the Dhammapada we do our 'suri namaskar', which is sanskrit for sun salutations.  This is a series of yoga poses (known as 'Asanas') that flow into each other.

We face the direction of the sun and undertake 12 rounds of this sequence, the guru reciting a sanskrit prayer line to introduce each round. 

We commence with each posture being called out in sanskrit, the flow is:
Pranama (Prayer position)
Hastaultana (Back bend)
Padahastaasana (Forward bend)
Ashwasanachalena (Lunge with back knee down & hands beside feet)
Kumbukasana (Plank)
Ashtanga (bottom up & chest to ground)
Bhujanga (Cobra)
Purvottana (Inverted v)
Ashwasanchalena (Lunge with knee down & hands beside legs)
(Forward bend)
Hastaultana (Backbend)
Pranama (Prayer)

Previous students often visit and Kris is one joining us after week 1. She is originally from Chicago and  is on a 6 month holiday commencing in India.

She is a tiny, super fit and flexible girl of Korean decent but was raised in America.  She is cool, strong and confident!  She has a beautiful exotic look with an all American accent when she speaks!

The guru invites Kris to take over the morning asana practice while she is here, so that she can attend to her business (not only is she a guru but also a housewife, yoga teacher and owner of several businesses that were passed down to her from her family). 

Kris has just recently come from a course in Mysore that was strictly asana training and she shares with us what she learned telling us two fundamentals. 

1. Engage your core in most postures. 

This will protect your back and ensure your alignment is straight. (I've been discovering the same over the past few days as I am flexible in the postures but my lower back aches!!!)

2. Don't over extend the joints, and use your muscle not the joints

You can over extend and not use the muscles but in time it will only harm them and wear them out. She instructs us to come just back from the full lock out positions in our joints. This is unfamiliar of course and hurts more as before we relied on the joint supporting us and not the muscle.  Perhaps this is also why my knees ache so much and I'm starting to feel like an old woman! Or is it just 4 hours of asana practice time per day?!

Kris' class is intense but also relaxing. Lots of deep long breaths as we hold the postures. Kris adjusting us to ensure we have correct alignment. Telling me to chill out a bit and not push so hard!

Afterwards we do what is called 'yoga ningra' the cooling process, and also to dissipate the lactic acid built up in the body. We lie in sivasana - also known as corpse pose. Flat on our backs, eyes closed and arms and legs out from our body. Relaxing as we're guided through it by the instructor.

We are also sometimes joined by two of the staffs children - the youngest is 10 ans she's so focused yet cute and tiny!  The guru thinks she is a yogi in the making! 

Mid morning ...

We usually finish our moring session about 8.45am.

Afterwards we go back up to the outdoor sitting area, refilling our water bottles at the musical water purifier that plays Beethoven and other tunes.

The staff arrive from just before 9am. First is Sreejwa. She only speaks a little bit of English and often talks to us in the local language, Malayalam (each district in India has a different dialect - English is their only common language this is generally widely spoken by those in service positions).

Sreejwa is warm and friendly, previously a beautician so is often staring at our faces and smoothing our eyebrows.

First day I arrived she took my arm and led me to show me my bed, giving me my sheet and pillow. She was chatting away to me in Malayalam - pointing out things to me as she went but me of course having no idea what she is saying! 

When she speaks her voice is so soft and the words so sing songy - as a new comer though she came accross like some crazy woman and was trying hard to convince myself she was not some crazy woman and that I'd just arrived on the doorstep of some bizarre cult!!!

It also didn't help that another guy was wandering around, shaved head, happy pants and singing chants! 

First day I seriously worried that I'd made a very bad decision to come here! But after a couple of days being here. I felt better. And the guy ended up leaving as he felt HE didn't fit in!  Too much female energy he said ...

Anyway Sreejwa and the other two staff members Pushpa and Sally, turned out to be lovely - lots of smiles seeing they don't speak much English but always admiring them as they put so much physical effort into preparing our food, cooking and cleaning.

Breakfast is put on the table around 9am. It is always the same - Idly, which are little round cakes of ground rice and barley that has  been fermented over night then steamed. This is served with what Kat told me she thinks is a coconut chutney - although you cant taste the coconut! 

If it is red coloured chillies have been added (but it is not hot unless you find one to chew on!), white when there are no chillies. There are also mustard seeds and green leaves in with the mixture. An unusual hot breakfast compared to the western one, but quite nice!

This is served along with a pot of chai tea - a special serve is always placed aside for me, that has no milk so I can add the soy milk I brought - although my stash is running seriously low!

Before every meal we are to chant a prayer from the Bagawad Gita.  We have all forgotten the rythym of the prayer very early on, so sing very lightly but sweetly, and get a bit self conscious when the staff laugh at us!

Then we eat! Mindfully, refraining from talking.

 The sitting area overlooks the garden which has similar plants from home, red hibiscus adding colour along with a huge tree that is in a yellow bloom. 

Next door is a banana plantation with coconut palms towering over it. There are always plenty of small lady finger sized banana to snack on or have with or after the meal.

When we have finished eating we each clean our own metal bowl, spoon and glass in the out door sink, using the green paste that comes in a small tub and a green scourer.

As there is no tea towel, I give mine a bit of a flap in the breeze (Kumuka overland trip habits die hard!).

We then usually resume working on our 'assignments'.  We are required each day, to provide a summary of the previous days learnings to Sreejwa by 5pm.

I actually find it quite useful to reflect on my notes, as often at the time it's all too much to take in! We often discuss this among ourselves to clarify what we have learnt.

Since Kris has arrived, we also stop to chat as she has been a wealth of knowledge on how to apply our learnings back home in the western world. 

From 10am is our 'karma yoga' time. This is when you provide service to yourself or others.  Sindu only requests we keep our own rooms tidy and we can help out in other areas if we wish.

To clean our areas we are provided with a broom )a bundle of course grass strung together), a scourer and cake of soap - I've fairly certain this cake of soap is an all purpose shower and floor cleaner, as that's what I've been using it for anyway! There is a separate toilet cleaner and brush, a mop and a leaky bucket!

We use these items to keep our room, patio and bathroom tidy.

We empty our own toilet bins into newspaper then put them into the bigger bin - at that point I'm very glad only 'clean' tissue goes into the bin!

Sometimes as the women are preparing the coconuts to add to the cooking, they will give us the juice and some flesh. This always feels like such a treat and is also supposed to be full of electrolytes so good for you!

They seemed to be collecting the coconuts from the property last week - we watched from the ashram as men carried basket after basket loads full of coconuts on their head and dumping them in a pile nearby.

A man that was helping came and cut some younger coconuts for us - still with the green outer casing on they were even nicer - fresh and delicious!

At 10.30am Nareyane our yoga workshop instructor arrives.  He is a 72 year old Indian man also with only basic English.  He has a big smile though, is very humble and radiates such warmth!

He is also incredibly strong and flexible for his age, amazing us with the poses he can perform - peacock, headstand, padmasana (cross legged) and raising off the floor onto finger tips - no problem!

He says that we do too much asana! Asana in the morning and evening ok but now is not good time for it.

So our workshop consists of us doing a pose here and there, Nareyane trying to express to us what the posture is good for, which then leads onto a bit of Ayurvedic talk ...  This in turn has led him to become our ayurvedic dealer!

He has bought us tooth tablets. You crush them in your mouth then use your finger to smooth the paste that forms over your gums. The tablets are brown and your teeth look all yellow and unattractive when you're doing this! 

You wash it out though and your teeth look the same as before. It has a pleasant taste - not minty like toothpaste but a little bit hot, like a mild version of tiger balm if you could eat it.

He has also brought hair oil and some stuff to improve my digestion ...

While Nareyane talks we stretch out and ask him questions on asanas, health and his life!

He always gives us little pearls of wisdom - from his sleeping methods to eating times etc.

Occassionally the power will go out and our fans will grind to a halt.  Then after a little while ... A minute to a couple of hours - it comes back up again.

Nareyane is usually finished by 11.45am - the last thing he'll do with us is sivasana (corpse pose). 'Reeeelllaaaaaaaaaxx! You are relaxiiiiiiiiinnnnnnggg!'. He then walks through each body part to relax, even including our stomach and liver!  

'You are floatiiiiiinnnngggg!'. 

'You are getting heavier!'.

And then we come up. Sometimes after 30 minutes - best class of the day!

Nareyane says goodbye, hops on his moped and heads off.

Late morning ...

Sometimes I'll hang round down the ashram where I can spread out and relax. Lying down on my mat and doing my assignment.

Other times I head up to the sitting area where all the girls will get chatting and I learn about their lives and how they have come to be here.

Kat has been interested in yoga philosophy for some time now. Originally planning to study law she had a break and moved to an island off the coast of Canada for the summer, just helping babysit friends children for money.

She met her partner their who is an organic farmer - also someone making a sea change and now lives there blissfully happy with her simple life without materialism and modern pressures.

Simona is from Holland and 33 years old.  She had been working in a high pressure job, up to 80 hours per week until 11 months ago when she got burnt out. She was also in the process of separating and divorcing her partner at the time and experiencing health issues.

One day she just couldn't get out of bed anymore and has been on extended leave from work since.

I think she may have commenced her interest in yoga and related therapies prior to this, but has now turned to it as her tools to recover. She is undertaking a long term program of yoga study in holland but was keen for this short course to get her certification.

She is expected to return to work after India but is not expecting to stay long. She is hoping instead to get work with the returning yoga student who brought her here and teaches back in the Netherlands.

Kris is 27 and used to be in a Business Development role. She put a lot of pressure on herself to succeed and would work long hours.  It was one of her assistants who encouraged her to first try yoga five years ago. She said night after night she'd be working back and her assistant would leave for yoga encouraging her to come along.  Eventually she went and continued to practice until she also had a breakdown.

She trained with this school a couple of years ago and has come back to visit India again, this time for 6 months.  Now she works for herself and only takes on a couple of clients, and teaches yoga part time.

On one side she seems like any other happy friendly American girl, but then also there is this deep spiritual side.

So I've been chatting with her about how do you take all this home and make it part of your life?

She said the first year she struggled and would resist making time to practice every day. Now she says it is habit and she does it easily - feeling like she's doing the right thing by her yoga students is part of that.

 We'd previously discussed our personal nature which is classified as 'raja' after it came up in a class. This type of personality does everything to obtain results and puts in a lot of energy. We're both the same like this and discussed our 'to do' lists - that these were a big part of this behaviour making us driven to achieve everything on them and disappointed when we didn't.

She now only keeps 3 things to do every day - one being her yoga practice. Whether it be asanas, pranayama or meditation - she ensures she devotes at least 20 minutes a day to this.

We also talked about the fact that at least with our personal nature type, it's not so hard to resolve & actually quite good ... All we have to do is practice the guru's first asana - smile!  Just laugh more and don't get attached to seeing the results. 

Do things because you are required to or want to - give them your full attention and then let go of the out come.  This type is called Sattva.

The remaining type is tamas - this type is lazy, negative, depressed and always has excuses. This is generally me after being a crazy raja for too long!

So why am I here? I remember when i was young finding a book on yogis that mum had in the book shelf. I remember being amazed at the power of the mind and all the things it could accomplish that were against popular belief. Never putting the 2 together, I went to my first yoga class with mum. I would have been in my early 20s and mum her early 50s. I remember we laughed a lot and especially as mum kept getting twisted up and couldn't get into the postures.

I didn't do it again til I was about 27 and then took classes regularly from then on.  A lady was visiting our work and taking classes at lunch time.  I went with my work friends and kept it up as it helped to relieve my back pain and decrease my tension.  Now 8 years later I'm still doing it for the same reason and wanted to learn why it was so good for you and a bit more about the philosophy ... So here I am!

Lunch ...

Lunch is served at 1pm.  Always rice with 2 vegetable dishes. The vegetables change but are cabbage, cauliflower, potato, beetroot, and zucchini. They're always very flavoursome and  usually in a sauce of some kind.

Once again we sing a chant for our food and eat quietly and mindfully.

The cats will be curling around our legs, meowing loudly and trying to jump onto the chairs and sometimes table!

Ill sometimes take my shower after lunch. I was having it in the evening until Nareyane said, 'No shower after 6 o'clock! But it's okay if you don't get neck and lumbar pain.'

Well I get neck and lumbar pain!  So I shower during the day when I get the opportunity.  The water is always cold and the electric instant hot water doesn't seem to work.  As always I miss being able to gargle the water for fear of getting another parasite!

The water is extremely drying on my hair so thankful for the oil that Nareyane bought for me.  You massage it into your scalp prior to showering and then wash it out just with water.

It looks a bit oily or the 'wet look', but feels a lot better!

I haven't been sleeping well so have been experimenting with having a nap vs not having a nap .... I can only put the insomnia down to learning so much each day, and a million thoughts going through my head as to whether:
A) I believe and agree with it
B) I want to make changes to accommodate what I've learnt and
C) I just take it all with a grain of salt, learn it and leave it?

Today I'm leaning towards B but with only 50% of A - I'm logical and need to see things to believe them!!!

This is the routine most days but a couple of times the late afternoon class has been cancelled and we have escaped the ashram! 

Once to go for a foot massage in town and use the Internet - ok the foot massage was actually an electric doot spa, nail clip and foot facial - but better then nothing! 

Another time for a field trip to the Ayurvedic doctor in Vallamkulam to find out our doshas (Ayurvedic type of kapha, pitta or vatta).

This has been my most favourite outing yet and re-energized me!  Taking in all the information makes you feel heavy - it was nice to escape and ride the bus with the locals, get some sweets from the stores and go see what an Ayurvedic clinic is all about.

A consultation was only the equivalent of $3 Australian and is similar to a naturopathic appointment. At the end of your appointment he advises what dosha you are and what imbalance he thinks you have (I am pitta with a kapha/vatta imbalance). He will then tell you the foods to eat to correct this and may prescribe treatments.

My entire consultation with 2 lots of treatment was 200 rupee $4!!!

I will give his recommendations a go once I leave the ashram and see what happens - no meat or alcohol though ... Let's see how strict I can be or how long it will last!!!

Another afternoon we spent at the ashram having a cultural experience! Three of the children of the staff put on a performance of the local dance.  They were all very good and amazing to watch!

Afterwards we cranked the bollywood tunes and all hit the floor pulling out our moves. The guru not only joined us but led the way!

Afternoons ...

At 3.30pm we have our theory class with the guru in the ashram.

We've learnt so many Sanskrit terms and foreign concepts my head is swimming!

She says yoga could be summed up in two words - 'being aware'.

But unfortunately it's not so we spend hours talking about stuff that may sound crazy to a non believer.

I've always had an interest in spiritual stuff.  I've done courses in reiki, meditation and developing your psychic ability.

I've read and dabbled in using that psychic awareness and occult powers, I do believe sometimes you sense things in certain places and just 'know' things. I love a good ghost story and would count the ghost hunters and psychic investigator shows as some of my favourite!

I also love the Buddhist philosophy and not afraid to say i still quote the 10 commandments (although i only remember 2!). 

Never did I realise though in the 8 years of doing yoga, that all these things are part of it and preaching the same messages that it does!

As the guru says, all the religions are saying the same things it's just certain groups that contort this information.

Even the communication and positive thinking books I've read are saying the same things as she is teaching us - just in their own way ... Even our workplace safety training and my change management forums!

So what have I learnt?

So much - too much for a blog!  

Concepts from astral tubes, chakras, energy pathways, karma, ancient scriptures. Interwoven with sanskrit terms that I keep forgetting the meaning of and get totally lost!

We do also discuss the asanas and their effect on your body both physically AND spiritually! 

Some of it logical, some of it out there! I find it hard to believe with out seeing it. Like feeling like your going to be a sucker  if you do and it doesn't turn out!

All the knowledge and the delivery is heavy and weighing me down.  It's far from the light relaxing and insightful course I expected!  I almost wish I had gone to the type of yoga school I'd been scared this one might be -  one where you're surrounded by hippies who ask you to 'paint rainbows with your fingertips' as you move in and out of poses.

Alas instinct, karma or at very least the comments on the Internet forums brought me here - so Im sure it is for a greater purpose!  

Perhaps a turning point in my life? A fork I think I've actually come to before but chose to ignore sinking into this type of belief and thinking! What to do this time?

Late afternoons ...

After our theory we all come back to the outdoor sitting area to have our afternoon tea - chai and rice dosas (like savory pancakes with more coconut chutney.  Some days I can't take it anymore and pull out my corn cakes and have them instead with Vegemite!!!

The staff wait for us expectantly to finish our tea if it is after 5pm, as there official knock off time I then (although sometimes our last class goes through til 5.45pm!).

The girls chat about all sorts - Chris tells us about her travel experiences in India, and of some people who go from ashram to ashram looking for the best pranyama session - seeking the best yoga high!  The breathing can lead to hypoxia - where the carbon dioxide builds in your blood, making you light and have all manner of experiences. Basically you're yoga stoned!

We also talk of places to visit in India, the culture, the food - we talk a lot!

At 6.30pm we head back down to the ashram for our evening session.

Evenings ...

First we start with an hour of pranayama - I get less fidgety in the evening but now flying insects are out and crawling all over us and the mosquitoes seem even more ferocious biting me through my clothes avoiding the areas I've applied repellant.

Apu unaware of the request for silence will go on long barking sprees making it difficult to concentrate.

After our pranayama we may have more theory, or just get chatting with our guru as she shares her views and personal experiences on family, relationships and arranged marriages.

She believes you should always do your best to be close with your family and nurture those relationships despite what may have happened in the past.

She believes the same with your partner. Do your best to work on your problems together and don't walk away. Keep working on them, seek counsel from your friends which will generally just be something like, 'Don't worry about him, men are just like that!'.

Arranged marriages involve the whole family.  Everyone works together to ensure this person is right for you, checking the horoscope, his family, diet, income and beliefs.  I'm actually starting to think this could work better than a love match!

Afterwards we do asana practice - we're usually tired and begrudging - actually we are at every asana session, and to think we're all aspiring yoga teachers!!!

To complete the teacher training we're required to do 2 x 30 minute classes then 2 x 1.5 hour classes, then an exam.

Each night towards the end of the course we take turns to deliver these.

The first of my 1.5 hour lead into a very long and heated discussion on what yoga is!

I would like to volunteer some of my time to a cause - give something back to the community where I can. Rather then just volunteering time, I thought that learning yoga and sharing this with those who could benefit would be a great idea!

I designed the class to be super relaxing and something that may relieve tension and anxiety. The first hour was all stretches warming up and lots is deep breaths, the second half hour was some partner work - helping each other strech, then giving each other a light massage to help warm down. Finishing of with sivasana (corpse pose).

When I finished the girls were happy and relaxed - Kat commented that's her kind of yoga class!

The guru though said, 'That's not yoga!'.

So there started the debate! All the girls are interested in kids yoga, acro yoga, restorative yoga etc - but the Guru believes all these are not yoga and why do they use that name.  She believes these have lost the essence of what yoga is, and then recently people start to point the finger at yoga and say it causes injury.

Call it something else she says - otherwise it's all marketing!

She believes true yoga will not cause the injuries and should be practiced as the Vedas (the ancient knowledge passes down from generation to generation) do not support this.  

She comments in India 'partner yoga' is unheard of, as people don't touch each other! Yoga should be a spiritual path and we should be teaching that within our classes or not calling it yoga.

She even requests that as we have trained with her, in all yoga classes we hold in future that we verbally give respect to the masters at the commencement of the class!

Alas it is all some food for thought ... Although our food for thought was then a 10pm dinner! And we thought the usual 9pm was bad, when you usually go to bed straight after!

We chant for our food as always and dinner is always the same.   It is porridge (rice in water) and lentils served separately. 

Only on very few occasions are any of our meals any different! Sundays we've had treats of bakery goods, (and a half hour sleep in!) and also in the days leading up to Kris leaving.

All the food is quite tasty but I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to eat any of this food again!!! At least  not for a while! 

I could really go a steak right now after all the vegetarian fare and daydream of when I leave here and can try my favourite dish of a chicken tikka masala and garlic naan in India! 

And despite all the asana, I don't think I've lost weight!  I also know in my 10 days traveling round the north tasting all I can get my hands on I'll probably stack it on!!! 

Some days I am looking forward to the course finishing so I can go on my way.  

Others days I enjoy it and the days go fast.

Alas not much longer to go now and will post the outcome!!!