OOO_Hey newsflash….Yoga is not just a form of exercise to make you bendy-er

Yoga (literally translated means union); discipline with the aim of helping individual practionner unite individual consciousness with the divine, achieved by raising awareness of true nature of self through spiritual, mental and physical discipline.

Ashram: centre where followers of particular guru gather to study and practice yoga science (or religion depending on who you ask)

As part of our adventure in India and our path to learn about Indian spirituality, and honestly to understand what all the hype was about, we decided to spend a week living in a traditional ashram.  We choose the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari ashram in Neyer Dam, Kerala. Amongst other reasons we selected this ashram because it came highly recommended by other travelers, its supreme location nestled in the hills around a lake in an otherwise empty town, decade’s long worldwide following of the 2 main gurus and its reputation as a traditional ashram not watered down for western vacationers.

Entrance way to the ashram

Ashram main gate

I think both of us went into the experience expecting a chilled out atmosphere, some time for quiet reflection and a ton of yoga to help us relax and shape up. Jonny and I selected the program entitled Yoga Vacation and opted to stay in the same sex dorm accommodations, spending our first nights apart in months, which only ran us 400 rupees/ day including all our food – or about $8/day. People can attend the yoga vacation program for anywhere from 3 days to 1 month +, but don’t let the name fool you, this is no simple yoga retreat, the 4 hours a day of actual yoga is just the tip of this jam packed daily schedule that all guest are strictly expected to attend. Yes, attendance is taken, and yes if you try and skip something staff will come and find you to inform you that attendance is mandatory (both Jonny and I know this first hand J ). Here is the Sivananda daily schedule;

5:20am – Wake up Bell

6:00 – 6:30am – Group meditation

6:30 – 7:30am – Group Satsang (devotional chanting to various gods in sanskrit)

7:30am – Tea time

8:00 – 10:00am – Yoga (the physical kind)

10:00am – Brunch (yes the first meal of the day since being awake at 5:20)

11:00am – Karma Yoga (essentially the chores or selfless service that you are assigned for the duration of your stay)

12:00pm – Yoga coaching – optional (opportunity to get individual coaching on poses that you are having trouble with

1:30pm – Tea time 2

2:00pm – Lecture

3:30pm – 5:30pm – Yoga class

6:00pm – Dinner

8:00-8:30pm – Group meditation

8:30 – 9:30pm – Group Satsang again

10:30pm – Lights out.

Triangle pose during class

Working on my headstand

Brunch in the dining hall

Ashram food following a Sattic diet, no meat, eggs, spice, garlic or onion - which all hinder meditation

Rather than just describe our week at the ashram I thought I would just share some of the personal notes I made to myself each day and some of the education information they shared with us.

Day 1:

• Arrived safely and checked in. Settled into our dorm accommodations, there are about 30 women in the ladies dorm but the accommodations are pretty reasonable; shared bathrooms, small single bed, mosquito net and fan over each 2 beds.
• Met the ashram directors, an older white South African dude and older British lady, both now live at the ashram full time and only go by their spiritual names….which I can’t pronounce.
• Had our first Satsang experience, I don’t really know what I was expecting but there was a lot more “god talk” than I had anticipated.
• All the chanting is in Sanskrit…..how do these people even know Sanskrit? This is taken a lot more seriously than I thought; people actually practice these chants and prayers outside of Satsang
• After chatting with other guest and looking around at Satsang, I’ve noticed that there are people here from all walks of life. There must be over 20 countries represented here, younger people, older people, couples like us, Yoga enthusiasts, yoga beginners, devoted want-to-be yogis, those in search of god, intrigued backpackers….. you name it, they are here.

Day 2

• Still getting oriented and getting used to the program and had another Satsang this morning another interesting experience. I think the mediation is something I could get onboard with, although I am finding it harder to “empty my mind” than they make it seem. The devotional chanting however is tough to get used to. Chanting prays to gods I have never heard of in a language I don’t know…. I am still working on that.
• Had our first yoga class today and found the beginners class to be way to easy, we probably spent the first 90mins doing breathing, so we’ll move up to beginners tomorrow
• We got our Karma yoga jobs assigned today, Jonny and I got assigned working in the boutique - probably the best job ever! For an hour a day we hang out in the boutique working the cash, folding shirts, stocking shelves and getting to meet all the other guests – much better than toilet duty.
• Went for a swim in the nearby lake today with some other guests during free time. Fully covered of course to follow ashram rules (no women’s knees or shoulders visible at any time). We later found out that there are crocodiles in this lake – opps! At least there hasn’t been an attack in 5 years.
• Reflecting on the experience so far I find myself wondering what I will take out of it (other than some mad headstand skills) since my reason for being here is not to find the path to god. Even though I may not be totally onboard with that aspect of the Ashram I do respect Swami Sivananda’s 6 basic philosophies – SERVE, LOVE, GIVE, PURIFY, MEDIATE, REALIZE

Day 3:

• In this morning’s Satsang we learnt why there is so much devotion and study included in the Sivananda yoga practice; to build the mind (wisdom) and use the heart in order to keep them in balance as too much of either is bad. Too much wisdom equals overthinking and not feeling while too much heart leads to irrational actions/thoughts
• Today’s lecture focused on understanding the various types of yoga that are included in the full practice
• Karma: Yoga of action i.e. self-less service, charity, etc.
• Bhakti: Channeling emotions into devotions i.e. chanting, prayers, etc.
• Raja: learning to control your mind. Body and thoughts through things like mediation, pranayama (breathing) and hatha yoga i.e. physical poses and postures
• Jnana: Knowledge and study of Swami teachings and yoga scriptures
• We started the intermediate yoga class today, first pose – Headstand. Definitely much more challenging, but in a good way

Day 4:

• EXHAUSTED today. The 5:20am wake up calls have finally caught up with me. I made it to Satsang this morning but slept through the whole thing, lucky for me sleeping sitting up looks like mediating.
• Morning yoga session was terrible today since I was so tired. I opted for a long afternoon nap during my free time
• Had an interesting lecture today on whether yoga is a science or religion. The short answer is it is kind of both. It falls into the religious category for obvious reasons; devotions, search for god, etc. But is also falls into the science category since it is something that can be repeated by many with the same result. Unlike conventional science which is the observations and experiments with the same result of the tangible and objectives things, yoga is study/test of ourselves and therefore more subjective
• The second half of the lecture turned into a very heated debate on the subject of god. Bring up god in a room full of multi-national, multi-background and multi-faith people and it will definitely turn heated!

Day 5:

• Tried to skip Satsang this morning and sleep in – Busted.  Got woken up by one of the teachers and then had to go
• We had morning yoga and then had the rest of the day off since it is Friday. We decided to take a day trip with a few other guests to the nearby beach town of Kovalam
• Kovalam turned out to be a very chilled out beach town with some amazing views of the Adriatic Sea. From one of the looks outs you can see the southernmost tip of India
• We returned pretty late and missed evening Satsang…opps.

Old fishing boats on Kovalam beach 

Local beach-goers enjoying the surf

Jonny joining in

India's southern most tip off in the distance

Sunsetting over Kovalam Beach

Day 6:

• Today is leaving day so I decided to rebel and skip Satsang…. Even when they came to wake me up
• Did one last yoga class this morning which was a really great session
• We had one last meal in the dining hall and then said our goodbyes to all the wicked people we met this week before taking off 

In the end we decided to cut our stay short by a day, partially because we had pretty much had enough of the devotional aspect of ashram life (I am still working on getting some of the chants out of my head) but mostly because once we got to the state of Kerala we realized there were a few other places we wanted to see so we wanted to sneak in another location before heading up north.  

Overall would I recommend the ashram experience to others, I would even recommend the Sivananda ashram to others. Even with the few aspects I didn’t enjoy we recognize that they were there to teach visitors their methods and beliefs not cater to foreign travelers in search of a yoga retreat. Plus the yoga, people and all around peaceful atmosphere made up for all the chanting :).  My only advice to those who are thinking of going to an ashram would be that you do your research and ensure that the style and program at the centre align with your wants, go in with an open-mind, participate and take away from it what you need for your life.

Namaste

OOO_Talia