Monkey Lady Breaks Her Arm

Here's Natalie getting here first blessing.


Natalie calls this man "Number One". Yesterday another street vendor asked if he could be Number Two! hehehe


Here's Natalie with Starbucks. He makes good coffee!!

The end of our third day. On our way back to our room I stop and go into the office area by the "nice" bathrooms to fetch some water while my companions wait outside. I walk into the back room where the boys that Swamiji has saved from poverty sit to meditate and eat. It's dark and empty but feels safe. Pictures of Swamiji are everywhere. When he was a young boy he went out into the forest to train with the saints and sages that live in recluse. He returned to civilization years later to help others, start an ashram and save hundreds of boys from their cast systems' inevitable future. Now the boys are trained in spiritual teachings and educated by Swamiji and others. They become great yogis and we will be seeing a demonstration by them on the last day along side the great Mata Ganga River.

When I come out Natalie is talking to the "Monkey Chaser", as Natalie calls her. She is responsible for keeping the monkeys at a comfortable distance during the yoga festival. But tonight she is down for the count with her arm slung up in a cast. We assume she fell while chasing monkeys through the ashram but can't be certain as her English is very broken. Natalie also has named the man who serves her coffee every day "Starbucks", and Drew, the man who handles the keys at the ashram, "Key Master".

Today we woke up early again for the 6:30am class. This is a new experience for us as we practice yoga with Swami Yoganandaji. He is a 99 year old man dressed in all orange, including long underwear. He stands up on stage shouting out to us in Hindi. There is a translator present but he talks very quickly and she has trouble keeping up. After several moderate exercises he had us lifting our arms and laughing out loud, "Hehehe", he says, Ho, ho ho". We laugh even louder. His energy is so sweet. He is skinny and frail looking but obviously full of life. Eventually he picks up the pace and has us running in place, "Faster", he shouts out in English, "Faster, faster, faster! Lay down." Savasana. After several minutes he shouts out, "Get up". End of savasana. This class lasts an hour and we feel so light and joyful afterwards. People around the ashram love him and he seems to get so much joy out of teaching and sharing his vibrancy with us.

Me and Swami Yogananda.

Of course by now we are all addicted to our new Iyengar teacher, Raya UmaDatta. He is a native to Pune, India, where he had been a student of Guruji since 1989. He teaches at the Iyengar Institute where he took classes as a child. He has a Masters degree in Philosphy from Pune University. We all feel so much more in our bodies, as a yogi would say. Be connected to yourself, as he has told us over and over for the last four days now. He is telling us to "be with ourselves". I love that. His analogies are funny. He asks us, "even while I am talking, right now, are you some place else thinking about lunch or something other than your body?" Yep!


Tonight we went for another massage. I stop for my first blessing on the street in the market. (see pic) The man has me repeat sacred words and says that I will find good luck in my future. After our massage was over there wasn't any hot water so my girl keeps coming back to massage my head, my feet, my neck. Fine with me! Eventually we all get a nice hot shower and have some hot ginger lemon tea. Natalie negotiates a free facial and half hour yoga class for each us for our inconvenience when we return for our next massage. A steam and hot shower are part of the 1000 rupee deal.(that's about $20) Talking with the manager afterwards we find out that we are their first and only customers since they opened. What a great find. Here are some pics from the lobby and inside the massage room.







All of the effort in the world cannot stop someone from stepping in some sacred dung on the street. Tonight it is Priscilla. Uggggg! Thanks Natalie. Good thing we brought that water. Talk to you all soon. Please feel free to comment. I'll be posting more pics soon so keep checking back. Namaskar! Lynne