Day 2 Oh boy! It’s starting

Today was the first full day of the course. I woke up at 5.30am and showered (unlike most of the others). We walked about 300 yards to the place where Swami Vishnudevananda lived in isolation to conduct a havan (fire ceremony) prior to kicking off our first official day. All 80 of us were clad in our yellow and white uniforms singing “Om ganapatey namah” while making offerings into the agani (fire). The weather was lovely – 60 degrees with the sun coming up. The havan kund was situated on a platform of rocks located on the bank of small stream, which sang in our ears and cut through a forest of slender pine trees.

The people here are really nice – I’m sure some of it will wear off, but overall the people here really do seem nice. Of course there are a lot of “alternative” people here – at least they are from my MBA eyes. Lots of nurses, dancers, therapists, naturalist. Only a few people with what I would consider a “traditional” job. It’s kinda cool, but many of these people just seem kind of lost. The ashram is an estrogen overload – I am not used to hanging around so many women – so I’m hearing a lot of vetting of insecurities , analysis entirely unnecessary things, nagging, nagging and nagging, a lot of “ahhhh’s” etc.

By the end of the day, I would have paid someone to just simply let me go and sleep. We had done 4 hours of yoga – I actually fell asleep during sivansana in my first class, something I have never done. The crazy thing is that I am actually not that sore, but so incredibly tired. I think what is happening is that all the yoga and spiritual stimulation is releasing a lot of toxins that is really making me very sleepy. I actually told someone in confidence that I straight up wanted to skip satang (the evening prayer). I had woken up at 5.30am and fell asleep at 10pm – with only a 1 hour break in the middle of the day.

I set three goals for myself to attain while here at the ashram:
(i) Avoid chatter and thereby negativity – I have noticed through my travels and experiences that in group settings it takes one negative person to bring the energy level of an entire group down. Somehow, women tend to be the usual suspects. I am determined not to get caught up in this downward spiraling cycle of negativity.

(ii) Conquer the Headstand

(iii) Committ to the Moment & Learn – No dazing off in class, no thinking of to-do’s while in asana class. I want to be in the moment, be present and learn all I can from this experience.