Archive for rishikesh

Rafting on the Ganga

March 15, 2008 at 5:48 am · Filed under rishikesh

At the spur of the moment we decided to go for a 20km rafting trip along the Ganga river.  I have to say, I think it was the best $10 we’ve ever spent.  It was supposed to start at 9:30am.. and in typical Indian fashion it started at 11:00am instead.  We’ve had to recalibrate IST (indian-standard-time) here as no one seems to be in a rush to do anything.  After driving north of Luxshmun Jhula for 45mins we arrived at our drop spot.  Received minimal instructions: paddle forward, paddle backwards, drop in, etc…  We were part of a larger group of Indian students from IIT.. prior to getting into the raft, the Indians pulled out snacks and a cake and had a small food break.  It reminded me of the dragon boating crew in Seattle.. paddling was always secondary to food :)

We weren’t really sure what to expect since we hadn’t seen any rapids whatsoever from the 2 bridges in Rishkesh… and anytime we saw a raft float by no one seemed to be doing anything (including paddling).  Turns out there there *are* some decent rapids, they’re just north of Luxshmun Jhula.  I was actually surprised at the size of the rapids.. it was so much fun!  At one calm point in the river our guide yelled “everyone out!”… I thought to myself “where?”.. he meant, jump out, it’s time to swim along the raft.  The Ganges isn’t exactly the warmest river, so it took a while to get used to the temperature.  Further down the river we came across some small cliffs (~20 feet) and were told to jump off them and into the river.  I had never done anything like that.  I waited for Brian to jump to make sure it was ok, then something in my head said “do it”.. and my body just ran off the cliff and jumped in the water.  It was so cool! 

In total, we spent about 3 hours rafting and I have to say it was definitely a memorable experience.  I never expected us to go rafting during our trip and it’s all the more special that it was on the Ganges.  For those of you worried that we spent so much time immersed in potentially toxic water, don’t worry.  The water is surprisingly clean up here.. I think it’s south of Rishikesh that it starts to get filthy with everyone dumping garbage into the river. 

On a different note, our friend Andy from Project Why has joined us for a few days.  As always, our plans will revolve around food.  We’ll probably wander over to Swarg Ashram to visit our favourite restaurant and eat their special Thali #2 for lunch, then get some Italian food later in the evening.  We’re also thinking of going into Haridwar and checking out a hilltop temple.. there’s apparently a cable car that takes you up to the temple and it looks neat. 

Yoga is on hold for today.. we needed a little break.. but we’ll probably pick it up again tomorrow once we find a good class in this area.

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Interested in giving?

March 13, 2008 at 5:15 am · Filed under Project Why, rishikesh

I know that a lot of people are interested in giving but it’s often difficult to decide where to donate.  You’re never quite sure if your money will reach the people and what your impact will be.  Here are two organizations in India that we’ve personally witnessed having a positive impact on children in India. 

BIG DISCLAIMER - these organizations do not have 501(c)3 status in the US so you will not be able to deduct your donation from your taxes.  For those of you at Microsoft, you will not be able to obtain a match from MS.

Parmarth Niketan
website:  http://www.parmarth.com/gurukul.html , http://www.parmarth.com/how_you_can_help.html
Parmarth operates an orphanage /gurukul in Rishikesh where 100 young boys live and study.  These are children that have been abandoned by their parents, found roaming the streets and have been taken in by the ashram.   We’ve personally witnessed these children running around the ashram, bright-eyed and filled with purpose. 

Project Why
website: http://www.projectwhy.org/support.htm , http://projectwhy.blogspot.com
We’ve written quite a bit about Project Why already.  It’s a New Delhi based non-profit organization engaged in education support and life skill enhancement of slum children and their families.  We’ve visited all of the classrooms and the women’s center and have seen the many women and children who have been positively impacted by this organization. 

I read an article by Vimala Thakar the other day which struck me as still being relevant.. here’s an excerpt:

“The world today forces us to accept, at least intellectually, our oneness, our interrelatedness. And more and more people are awakening to the urgency of arresting the accelerating madness around us. As yet, however, our ways of responding are superficial, unequal to the complexities of the challenge. We do not take or even consider actions that threaten our security or alter our habitual ways of drifting through life. If we continue to live carelessly, indifferently, emphasizing private gain and personal indulgence, we are essentially opting for the suicide of humanity.”

Have a wonderful day :)

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Pictures of Rishikesh

March 12, 2008 at 6:34 am · Filed under rishikesh

Not taken by us.. but in case you’re wondering what Rishikesh is like, here are some pics from the Parmarth Ashram website:

http://www.parmarth.com/gallery-ashram.html
http://www.parmarth.com/gallery-ganga.html
http://www.parmarth.com/gallery-aarti-yagna.html

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Hunkering down in Rishikesh

March 11, 2008 at 4:57 am · Filed under god, rishikesh

Hi everyone!  We’re still here in Rishiksh, where we’ve grown quite comfortable.  This place is fairly out of the way, enough so that it’s pretty relaxed and uncrowded, which is great.  And there’s yoga everywhere, which is even better :)

Does God Exist?

I had written an epic post two days ago entitled “Does God Exist”.  But, upon further reflection, decided not to publish it.  It turned out to be too much of a condemnation of Christianity, which was not the original intent.  The bottom line is that, throughout my search for “truth” in our existence (what can be called spirituality), I’ve found that I am attracted to the notion of God as a unifying force, or universal truth, that is revealed to the seeker through the active devotion to self-knowledge through meditation.  God (I prefer the term Truth) is all around us, we must simply fine-tune our internal awareness through the practice of meditation to see it.  Religions involving an omnipresent external being, that are faith-based rather than experiental, have never appealed to me.  I’m really happy to have found an alternative to agnosticism.  And a life partner who shares the same viewpoint :)

OK, enough of the weighty topics.  On to some fun!

Potpourri 

Some funny things that happen on a daily basis here:

  • Sunday night, about 9pm, we’re walking home from dinner.  Out of the ashram gate rolls a ridiculous looking contraption.  As we get closer, we realize it’s a gigantic speaker system on wheels, complete with 6 brass horns and 2 massive subwoofers.  And it’s 15 feet tall.  And it’s accompanied by a 10 piece band.  We wait to see what will happen (this place rarely dissapoints with no result).  Sure enough, they cranked it up, and we nearly lost an eardrum.  Yes, random bands on a Sunday night, loud enough to wake the dead.  But not loud enough to wake the Sadhus sleeping 10 feet away.  That’s India.
  • Poop.  Nothing is so prevalant in India as poop.  It’s everywhere.  Cows, dogs, sheep, humans, all seem to produce an inordinate amount of solid waste here.  Just the other day, Mira stepped in a nice little pile on a walk, while wearing sandals.  It was all over her foot.  Unfazed, she simply said “it’ll dry”, and continued walking onward.  That’s India.
  •  The monkeys are pretty hilarious, at least once you understand their game.  They are constantly lurking, ready to jump the unsuspecting pedestrian.  Many times, we’ve seen a monkey jump from a roof to quickly snatch a bag of food from a stunned passer-by.  Never carry an exposed food bag!  Many places employ a monkey-chasing dog to ensure the safety of their building.  The more advanced locales also employ a man equipped with a slingshot, which seems the most effective monkey-control device.  At the end of the day, though, the monkey usually gets its chappati.
  • The range of products and services on offer to the white man is staggering.  At the sight of my pale skin, armies of vendors mobilize.  “Ganesh?”, “Post Card?”, “Tea?”, “Elephant Ride?”, “Internet”?, “Taxi?”, and on and on and on.  It’s pretty funny to watch the wave of sleepy faces suddenly awaken to the potential jackpot that I represent.

That’s all for today.  Thanks for reading!

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The 98-year-old yogi

March 9, 2008 at 1:04 pm · Filed under rishikesh, yoga

The yoga festival is now over.  One of my favourite memories from the festival is of the 98-year-old yogi.  We had a humbling experience in his yoga class.  The class started at 6am, the tent had about 150 people and the whole thing lasted 2 hours.. all of us were tired from getting up early, but not the swami.  I’ve never met someone so old who had so much energy.  He was one fired up yogi.  He walked us through his daily routine which consisted of breathing and physical exercies.  Every once in a while he would stop whatever exercise we were doing and exclaim “I normally do this 40 times every morning, but I’ll only make you do 5″.  None of us doubted him.  My favourite exercise was the roaring tiger.  He had all of us make clawing motions and roar with him.. as I looked over at Brian roaring, I almost peed myself laughing.  What’s happened to us??  At the end of the session, the swami asked if we would be ok with starting the class earlier, say 5am?  The entire class groaned and responded, no.. hehee.. :)   This yogi had us all in a sweat but he was the *cutest* man.  Everyone I talked to wanted to go over and hug him.  I wish I could post a picture of him.. but as Brian mentioned, our pics are currently infected with a virus.  I promise to post of a picture as soon as possible.

Moving on, we’ve decided to spend another week or so in this Rishikesh/Haridwar area.  We’re hoping to take a few hours of yoga each day to help us prepare for our upcoming hike.  It’s really nice to stay in 1 city for a while.. we’re starting to establish a routine. 

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Namaste from Rishikesh

March 5, 2008 at 11:52 am · Filed under rishikesh, yoga

As Mira has mentioned, we have joyfully stumbled into a wonderful occasion.  The International Yoga Festival has been an amazing chance to learn from many yoga masters with many distinct styles and focuses.  It really is everything that we hoped to experience on this trip, perhaps even a little more…

The big event today was a “108 Sun Salutations” charity event on the sacred Ganges River right by our ashram.  12 different instructors each led us through 9 repititions of a surya namaskar (sun salutation) in their respective yoga traditions.  A sun salutation is a practice that is meant to welcome the sun, by energizing the yogi and giving thanks for the solar energy that enables life on earth.  In most traditions, it is a very vigorous physical challenge, as it is meant primarily to awaken the body from sleep.  Multiply that by 108, and you get extreme exhaustion!  It was 3 hours long, basically a yoga marathon.  I could barely move afterward!  I was extremely impressed with Mira’s showing, she completed probably 90% of the poses, simply amazing considering that before last week her longest vigorous yoga class was a little over 30 minutes. :)

What is Yoga?

(side note: Mira is continually making fun of me for putting structure into blog posts… you know, bolding and sections and topics and all that.  But it’s my party and I’ll bold if I want to!)

In the West, most have a pretty incomplete understanding of what exactly yoga is.  This is perfectly understandable, for yoga is merely part of a complex labryinth of science and faith that has evolved in India over millenia.  I will try to distill the practice as best I can (using my favorite method of summary, and further feeding Mira’s argument for my overstructuring of things, here are some bullets)

  • “Yoga” translates to “Union”, specifically referring to union of the One (person), with the Devine (whatever entity you consider devine, whether a classic God or energy or prana or whatever).  That’s the flowy defintion.
  • There was a ancient dude named Patanjali that wrote a pretty cool book called Yoga Sutras.  In this important work, he lays out the 8 limbs of the tree of yoga.  Climb these limbs (somewhat sequentially), and you will achieve union with the devine:
    • (1) Yamas and (2) Niyamas – You need to get your life in order.  Do good things, think good thoughts, etc.
    • (3) Asanas / Poses – This is what most Westerners consider yoga to be.  Pretzel your body into various crazy looking contortions.  Really, the whole purpose of this practice is to prepare your body for meditiation, the next limb on the tree.
    • (4) Pranayama – These are breath control exercies that regulate the flow of breath, or prana, throughout the body.  As we learned in a great class yesterday, the flow of prana really is a proxy for flow of csonciousness.  Here things start to get squishy.  This is the limb we are sitting on now!
    • (5) Pratyahara – Withdrawal of the senses in order to still the mind.
    • (6) Dharana – Concentration.  At this point, you have gained control over body, and now become able to control the mind.
    • (7) Dhyana – State of pure thought and absorbtion in the object of meditation.
    • (8) Samadhi – Superconciousness, yoga is now completely achieved.  Body and mind are transcended and Yogi is one with Self.  Good stuff!
  • Within the Asana limb, typically practiced in the West, there are many different styles.  My training has been primarily in Vinyasa, or Flow yoga, in which all poses are linked together into a moving meditation.  More specifically, my favorite form is Power Vinyasa (a Western invention I believe), in which the Downward Dog pose is used as the rest or home pose.  Power yoga works well for me because of my prior athletic training, and my desire for an intense physical experience. 

Okay, enough lecture for one day!  I hope all is well for everyone, and that the winter has finally begun to lift.

Namaste. (traditional greeting common in India and Nepal, means “I bow to you”, among many other things, used early and often, coming and going.)

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We’re soooo tired..

March 4, 2008 at 3:45 pm · Filed under rishikesh, yoga

Short post.  We woke up at 5:00am, attended a 2hr yoga class taught by a 98 year-old.. he was incredible.  Continued onto a Vinyasa yoga class for another 2 hours of intense flow yoga.  Then listened to a lecture on yoga and recent studies that scientists had done on the impact of breath on the body.  Attended a 1 hour class on Reiki.. then a 1 hour Pranayama class.  Went to our hotel room and dropped off our gear, then joined in on the aarti by the Ganges.  Just had dinner.  We’re beat.  Tomorrow, we’re doing 108 sun salutations between 6 and 9 am.  Wish us luck.

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Stumbling upon something wonderful

March 3, 2008 at 11:33 am · Filed under rishikesh, travel, yoga

We’ve arrived in Rishikesh.. the yoga capital of the world.  After a short time in Pondy we decided that we were tired of traveling and wanted to settle down in 1 area for a little bit.  It took us 16 hrs to get here.. and we’re incredibly happy that we did.  We just happened to stumble upon the International Yoga Festival.  How incredibly lucky!!  This is exactly what I wanted from our trip to India.. a mix of volunteering, tourism and if we were lucky, a dose of spiritualism.  Until now, our spirtual journey has consisted of visiting the occasional mandir and taking a few yoga classes.  This morning we signed up for 4 days of lectures and classes.  Our day will start at 6:30 with an hour of yoga, followed by breakfast.  From 11-12:30 there are various yoga lectures you can attend.  Following that, lunch.  After lunch, we can choose from 3 different yoga classes.  After the second yoga class, there’s a daily aarti ceremony on the Ganges.  Then dinner and another talk from the spiritual leaders.  We’ll do this from the 4th until the 8th.  On the 8th we’re planning on moving into the Parmarth Niketon Ashram and staying there until the 20th.  The ashram is totally full right now because of the festival so we’re staying nearby at a really basic hotel ($10/night) until the festival is over. 

You always hear and read about “enjoying the moment” and “being in the now”.  As Brian and I walked over the Ram Jhula bridge today, looking down at the Ganges, I couldn’t help but feel content.  Where else would I want to be right now?  I know it’s sappy.. but I’ve experienced some truly beautiful moments during this trip. 

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