Ayurveda & Yoga...2 goodies in life

Hi everyone!
Well I've well & truely left the country of mountains, turquoise jewellery, eastern toilets (which I now prefer) & the best middle eastern restaurant ever (fantastic food, fantastic atmosphere & floor seating!)

I've landed myself in Gokulam (just outside of Mysore), in southern India for a month of yoga. I've completed my first week & love it. I'm living in a share house with 8 other yogis & an Indian family. This house, although it may seem packed, is completely liveable & there is a fantastic rooftop upstairs which I've spent many hours of the last 2 days sunbathing & reading my book.

Before arriving in Mysore I spent a week at an Ayurvedic health retreat in Ahmedebad, north of Mumbai. I had a contact there from an Indian friend in my Naturopath course & he turned out to be well worth the 10 hour train trip! He is an Ayurvedic doctor, a Naturopath & very knowlegeable about yoga & its many benefits, as it was combined in his Naturopath degree. I spent the week along with the other guests getting up at 4:45am to cleanse our nasal passages, wash our eyes with Neem & gargle warm salty water. This was followed by a warm lemon & honey drink, a possible enema then 45mins of walking or any form of exercise we felt like doing. At 6:30am we would all gather for an hour of yoga - where we focused not only on the physical movements but also pranayama (breathing techniques) & mudras (ancient knowledge relating to finger positions that aid in energy flow to specific parts of the body). After yoga we would enjoy 20mins of water therapy which involved walking in ankle deep water around a pond enjoying the acupressure on our feet from the pebbled bottom. This also gave us a chance to chat & soak up the morning sun. Herbal tea would be waiting for us in the garden where giant snails crawled over the dew covered grass & squirrels ran around in the trees. At 8:30am we would each be given a mud pack for our eyes & stomachs. Mud is believed to have endless benefits, however we were given these of a morning to take the fire out of bodies & calm our systems. My knowledge of the 5 elements (fire, earth, space, air, water) increased throughout my week. By 9am I was starving & we all sat down to a delicious breakfast that was prepared individually to our needs. Each morning I was given the same thing - a delicious selection of soaked nuts, figs, raisins, pomegranate juice or coconut water, curd (yogurt) & an oven dried roti. I'm not a big fan of dairy for my system so I was interested in exploring a new way of eating for a week. Twice a day between 9:30-11:30 & 1-3pm we would have treatments specific to our needs. This may involve many different types of massage, mud baths, aloe vera & neem packs (which involved being covered in green slime & standing in the sun till in dried then having it hosed off before being coated in oil - quite fun!), rose water facials, steam baths, sitz baths & punchakarma treatments (which are a little involved to explain). The therapists at the health retreat were all really gorgeous Indian women who were fun to hang out with, which was great as we did this for many hours each day. Lunch was my favourite meal - it was a variety of soup, salad, rotis (my favourite!) & always plenty of vegetables cooked in warm & interesting ways using various spices. I was lucky to have 2 hours every afternoon with Dr Chirag (the Ayurvedic doctor) discussing & learning many fascinating topics from him such as the importance of the 5 elements in everything around us, food, yoga, pranayama, mudras, Ayurvedic herbal mixtures & so much more. I'm still digesting it now as I tidy up my notes from my visits with him.

I'm surrounded by lots of great people in Gokulam & my yoga teacher is fantastic! I'm enjoying being grounded for a while & in the rhythm of doing yoga twice a day. There are some great little restaurants tucked away in people's backyards that are run by Indians, French & Swiss people. Smoothies are a big thing here - most containing nuts & Spiralina. One that I sampled the other day had frozen bananas, curd, almonds, figs & a small amount of water. It was so thick it was served in a bowl with a spoon! I think you should try making one at home - other ad ins are chocolate, dates, cashews...they're good!

Most of the yogis in Gokulam are staying in Indian family homes or shared apartments. There's a slow pace here with everyone being here for the same reason. Most people stay a minimum of a month with others here for six months or annual visits of 2 months. There are 3 main yoga shalas in the area.
I'm looking forward to improving my practice, lying on rooftops & enjoying others company.
I hope you're all happy back home.
Love Nellie xoxoxo