Heat is rising up..!

Wifi in this neck of the Kerala woods is unreliable to say the least.
No longer long for it as I have now officially settled into Indian lifestyle so every other day seems about right for connecting to the www.

My days blend with ease from one to another, have not been very inspired to write (to be honest) as the regularity of my schedule does not leave for much to write home about.

We currently have 3 other guests undergoing PK, a change from being the only one for 2 whole weeks. We have good conversations over our delicious Kerala dinners and enough time and space during the day so that we don’t have to be obliged to communicate, unless we really want to.

I have been teaching them Yoga for over a week as the regular Yoga teacher left much to be desired. I want this new yogis to get a good grasp at Yoga, learn a few ropes and like it enough to continue at home in search of a good teacher.
I miss teaching.

In light that my training in PK is almost coming to an end (thank GOD, its way too hot) I am heading to the sea.
I have opted for Goa as I want to do some research for places to run retreats and hopefully teach Yoga there as well.

I leave April 13th.
Look forward to a beach hut, fresh fruit and traditional Goa fish curry.

I will be doing some videos there also as I only have but one venue here and I have used it plenty.
Reckon you do not get better than a beach as a drop-back for Yoga and Ayurveda videos.

For now, I will enjoy my last couple of weeks of relaxation, 3 square meals a day, chai at 10 am and coconut water at 3:30 pm.

LIFE IS GOOD.
LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT.
SKY IS NOT EVEN THE LIMIT.

Namaste.

pics from festival in our backyard… a massive rice field

Seeing an elephant in real life, up-close and personal in this type of context is surreal.

A couple of things I have noticed during celebrations here……

1- There is no singing what-so-ever

2- There is no dancing… (what a shame!!)

3- Man and women do not really mingle other than their husband-wife scenarios

4- No public drinking (good thing!)

SO in other words, this festivals are not for the Rio de Janeiro carnival goers….

When you are the only “tourist” amongst the crowd, you actually feel like the elephant himself.

Learning the insights of Ayurvedic detoxification……. awesome.

NAMASKARAM

Have turned one chapter….

It felt strange not going to see my lovely technicians today for treatments, its amazing how fast one can build an attachment to someone or something.

I spent most of the day avoiding the heat under the fan in my cozy room writing. Was nice and indeed grounding.

Again, as quickly as I started PK I started learning it with no waste of time.
The female doctor who I am going to be spending most of my time with facilitated the session today. We started from scratch. The history and background of Ayurveda by watching a very well made documentary with stunning visuals. I was impressed how detailed and intricate the information was delivered.
The Charaka and Susrutha Samhitha texts being the most important and I have to know a little of their backgrounds. Yayks!

Not sure what is up with the painting of the babies eyebrows black and quite thick, the black thick eyeliner as well as the bracelets galore in both hands and feet. I have asked Jafer my caretaker and his response was simple… that is just the way it is.
I personally do not like it so I am not taking any photos of them.

No photos today… Tomorrow though is another story.
Big big festival….

Yeah!

NAMASKARAM

 

And there was light……

I had the privilege of being here while Mother (as everyone calls her… ) turned 84. Pic of her at the bottom of gallery.
She is so incredibly sweet, one of those cute old ladies you want to squeeze tightly but should not as they are so frail.
We had cake and a spread over palm-leaves. I had to pay respects and eat with my fingers. interesting that in some cultures that would be considered bad table manners, here, on a special occasion is a MUST.

Visited Garavayoor at night which took my breath away, once again.
The colors, the lights,….. Enjoy the photos, almost like being here with me minus the smells and sounds.

I had my colon completely cleaned out today. It wiped me out.
It was a “special treatment”… with good results.

I have been teaching my caretaker Jafer, Ayurvedic cooking. He claims he has never cooked before, (only started 2 months ago as he kitchen sfaff went on holidays) yet his cuisine is divine. What is it with this Indians, they all can cook well and sing a few tunes. Guess is in their blood.

There seems to be festival upon festival here.
Big one on the 18th.
Cant wait.

One last thing I want to mention that I forgot on a previous post, is the way the village people live. Utter cleanliness and order. There is no cement or walkways here. The impeccable red earth serves as their red carpet.
Have grand respect for them.
They live in simplicity and lack nothing.

X

Indian delights….

I have not had the chance for an update, few reasons besides the obvious… Internet connection is quite spoty in this corner of the universe.

I am on day 10 of PK (Pancha-Karma) herbs and a few other treatments have taken a course of their own as per doctor’s orders….. I am done with the castor oil to be quite frank. All is smooth except that I have had to request my food to be made much lighter as the Kerala delights are too heavy for my sensitive Vata colon.

I have had the tremendous luck to tag along with some of the staff to go to on of South India’s most famous temples:  in GURUVAYOOR, “House of Lord Krisna”. I do not recall ever seeing an elephant in real life or maybe at a Zoo somewhere?? Guess if I had seen one it did not make much of an impression on me but this time it was a whole other ball game. There is very few animals that can take ur breath away and personally i think that an elephant ranks rather high on that scale. They are so utterly gorgeous, big, fat and slow. They have the sweetest looking faces in comparison to how huge they actually really are. In India they are used for 3 main purposes (my lovely care-taker tells me): 1- Parades at Temples, 2- In the field collecting big logs of wood or any heavy objects, 3- the Circus.

I was not able to take photos at the entrance of the temple, sadly because we happened to be at the right place at the right time when the elephants were exiting the temple in their leisure stroll….. looking so calm and steady, so Kapha like. Those pictures could have been some of the best I have ever taken, guess they will remain rooted in my India memoirs for eve and ever amen.

Only 4 days to go for the end of the of the PK line. I am looking forward to exploring the area some more and possibly take a small trip somewhere for a few days. I have not been this relaxed since my days living in Ibiza where the biggest stress one could ever have was – to peel yourself of the beloved “Benirras beach” after a spectacular setting of the miraculous sun.

Let the ball continue rolling…… Enjoy the photos.

Namaste X

Photos-India2-Village-People-Porkalangad

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Pictures speak one thousand words……..

Each  breath is new. The ancient song is calling…….

Photos India-1

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

India is truly a magical place filled with ancient wisdom and rituals, yet beauty is in eye of the beholder.

The photos at the airport…. is the day I left Canada, during a blizzard (HA!), It was so cold the plane had to be covered in anti-freeze before take off; so the pics you see of a man looking like a ghost-buster is in fact a anti-freeze-buster. It was an unreal process, for the tiny little plane (less than 60 people), they had 2 trucks spraying the plane with green fluid, the bigger planes would require a lot more action. Crazy!

I am on day 5 of Pancha Karma treatment, stage 1. My herbal medicine and treatments change tomorrow.. Ho dear, about to get deeper into it and way more intense. More on that later.

I have started to feel some of the effects mainly more receptivity, sensitivity and clarity of mind. Between treatments and sleep I am reading a book titled: SELF-REPAIR by: Jay Glaser, MD. My new bible as it un-leashes the secrets of longevity which is exactly what I have been working on while putting together the Lifestyle Therapy program. At night rereading the GITA, much insight coming from that as well.

My new family looks after me, I have a care-taker who’s only job is to make sure I am HAPPY. So nice.

Off to have more herbal medicine…. will not share the outcome of those strange concoctions. Too personal.

Namaste.