India – the final days

Tomorrow is my last practice here in India, 6am Led Primary.  I’m glad it’s a led class because I think I will be full of emotions, so I will be glad to make my way efficiently through the series.  I will go home to shower, eat some breakfast, have some laughs with people, put the last of my things in my bags, and be picked up at 3pm for my 4hr drive to Bangalore.  My flight doesn’t leave until 3:30AM on Tuesday, but I don’t mind waiting in the airport for a few extra hours.  I am so excited to get home to see Wade and not look at the clothes I’ve been wearing for a month for at least a few days.  But I am also feeling sad about leaving.

Week 1 is still a blur, Week 2 was pretty good I had found a groove, Week 3 was Christmas and I was terribly homesick, and this last week has been challenging because I’ve been saying goodbye to beautiful friends left and right!  I also took on a “job” at Anu’s Cafe this week, just helping out during the smoothie hour.  Our friend Roni who was doing this had to leave early, so I stepped in to help for the week and to give me a role for my final week.  It’s actually been really fun and I’ve meet lots of people, it’s also really exhausting running up and down the stairs, taking orders, pleasing the yogis when something isn’t quite right.  This is something anyone can do at the cafes around Gokulum, you volunteer your time helping out and get paid in a smoothie or a free breakfast.  While not all the customers understand that & expect Western customer service, it is still a nice way to get to know fellow yogis.

I’m writing this final blog from India on the small balcony of my new room, I had to vacate my apartment at the Rashinkar Mansion today, but still needed 1 more night’s accommodation so I’m in a room at the Urban Oasis Compact location, it’s small, but quite nice, just fine for a night.

The last 2 days I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with some new faces in Mysore, Andy & his roommate Emma.  Andy & I connected on Instagram a few months ago when he told me he would also be in Mysore at the end of my trip.  I was so excited to be able to show them around, share what I’ve learned, it really made me feel like I have finally got the hang of Mysore, and India in some small way.  They are both staying for longer than I am so will be India superstars when they leave. You can check out Andy’s badass Instagram here & his blog here.   Andy even showed me some awesome acro yoga moves! He is so good at it!

It’s exciting to be a part of someone’s first days here in India, it’s like the perfect ending to my time, they are so excited and fresh to the whole experience, and I am completing mine.  But I know I will be back, it’s taken me almost the whole time being here, but there is just something that speaks to me here.  The feeling in the air, the energy in the Shala, the community I have become a part of here – the magic of India.  A friend I made here from Toronto, Nikesh, and I were chatting today on the rooftop of Urban Oasis about our experiences, his was very different from mine, but we both have the shared experience of being a part of the same friend group while we were here.

I think after I leave what will stay with me the most, at least this trip is the connections with people, fostering relationships and friendships and knowing that those are powerful and the best part of my time.  Because yoga is more than asana, and that’s a big part of why I came, to practice with the Guru, Sharath and learn from him, but in reality most of the lessons are from my friends, the people I have spent every day with for the last month, they are the teachers for me this trip.

And now home, to Winter in the American Midwest…that will be a shock to my system!  Look for more post-India musings in the next few weeks!