Yoga in Rishikesh

Have you ever wondered how much your body can take? go to a yoga ashram and you'll see. It's not a competition. It's about showing yourself that you can actually fall in love with your body, with your asanas (yoga positions), with your own breathing, and with your limitations, even. Going to a yoga ashram requires more than checking for a good option online. It takes lots of patience, discipline and determination, which I didn't have very much of, but I loved every second. I chose the famous city of Rishikesh for this great adventure not because everybody said that that was the place where The Beatles had been, but because something about the Anand Prakash Ashram called me. The website provided lots of useful information, and when I requested more via email, they were very helpful.
Luckily, I was able to travel to a close town by train, this time traveling first class (still cheap, even for me, a Colombian who earned pesos instead of dollars or Euros). This means that you get very good quality breakfast (veg or non-veg, according to your wishes), and get served nice tea all the ride.

More importantly, since it IS first class, you don't get stared at so often by men, as the people who opt for this kind of trip are generally businessmen or well'traveled people who generally respect women. This was a relief, because you can even talk to others and make friends, like I did!

Once at the ashram, you find a beautiful building surrounded by hotels and plants, and the amazing staff that makes you feel at home. They arrange accommodation and warn you (nicely, of course), that you are not allowed to talk from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m., that is, after breakfast. Again, the "noble silence" I had learned -and enjoyed- at the Vipassana meditation course. This is important, because you do feel 'free' in the ashram during the day between one yoga class and the next, but in the evening comes the time to reflect and keep your thoughts to yourself, which always helps in my personal experience.

The routine at the ashram was simple:
5 a.m.: wake up bell for silent meditation 6 a.m.: first yoga session 8 a.m.: breakfast (humble, veg, and plain), after a beautiful prayer we used to chant... (still today, months after that, every single time I am about to have a meal, that little 'song' plays in my head, and with a smile, even if I don't talk, Ialways thank God and the universe for the food I am about to eat)

8:30 a.m.: fire puja (optional)

12:30 a.m.:lunch (humble, veg, and plain) 4:30 p.m.: second yoga session 6:30 p.m.: dinner (humble, veg, and plain)

Yep... many of us were hungry most of the time, but we got used to the simple diet (while sneaking some snacks into our dorms, which we shared with one more person, gender-separated), and we lost lots of weight by both dieting like this, and doing the vigorous exercise that the two classes demanded.
There are different kinds of yoga. I remember three particularly: One of the sessions we had was called "honey bee" (or so it sounded when the instructor pronounced that), based on uttering a sound from the lungs while doing the asanas. I kept ondering how such a tiny, sweet person that was our instructor had such powerful lungs!

The other one was laughing yoga, which in our case, consisted of finishing with our asanas and lying down, just closing our eyes and relaxing, only to find ourselves in the middle of contagious laughter bursting from the tiny chest of our instructor. So it happens that the first time we did this, like babies at a maternity ward, everyone burst with laughter ones and again just by listening to the others laugh, as in a domino effect. Everyone but me. For some reason my mind kept telling me that it was too illogical to laugh for no reason, or that it was too early, or too late, or that too hot for me to focus (ha! 'focus'!! instead of letting go!), while I was dying to be transported to the still-clean Ganges river to quench my thirst of cleansing and healing by sinking my feet in the water!

The second time we did this, I laughed like a baby... and loud... like a baby :) And the last one was with a different instructor, a soft-spoken Western man who introduced me to the magnificent world of the Chanting Bowl! that is the one what produces the OMMMM sound when played properly, and allow me to tell you that, with my eyes closed, in a yoga position, I listened to it and the feeling was so intense that I felt that first, no matter what, I should NOT open my eyes (in order to enjoy it even more), and second, that the sound filled the huge yoga room completely, as if a sword of air were going through our chests and whole bodies! it was amazing!
Rishikesh is more than yoga and hippies walking around with their backpacks, and heavily tattooed and pierced girls... it's a place to walk, to explore, to meet people and to see the afternoon prayers with the students who want to become monks. You are welcome at all the temples, as f you were a long-lost child who found the way back home (perhaps you are).

Rishikesh is a place where you can feel free from the harassment of men, where you can only get vegetarian food, and where you can just be. Whether you are alone or not, you can sit down anywhere to have momos or lassi, have a fantastic fruit salad at "The juice place", or enjoy the incredible view of the bridge from The German Bakery. Revisiting places...reliving moments...like sitting at the exact spot where someone you loved might have been sitting days, months, ... centuries before...
...and just like watching life and love pass by from the bank of a river, it all goes by.. and you must let go...

Rishikesh has been said to have made a huge contribution to the lives of many people worldwide. In my case, Yoga had already become a very important part of my routine back home, and it was precisely yoga what might have saved me from getting seriously ill with the stress at work. Yoga helped me reconciliate with life. It had saved me already, but for the first time, it became the center of my routine. My stay in Rishikesh helped me connect what I had learned in the meditation course with the yoga classes, and it showed me that connecting your body, heart, and spirit is actually possible.
Riwshikesh was that: Reconnecting. Mother Ganges. Love.