The Ashram Diary - Yoga Vidya Gurukul -India ( PART II )

The Ashram Dairy (PART II )

Continue My wonderful Yogic lifestyle & Learning ,in India ;-

salute to the Sun

Hand to Toe

Ben , Stella , and me , threesome

fun!! me,Ben ,Sak on the hillside on sunset

Dancing out the night!!!!!!!!!

Bhajan - singing with full of devotion

Yogic Food

Pure , organic & Wholesome - called Sattiv Diet in yoga

they use moutain rock salt ; ghee ,soya bean milk ; they cook & eat what is in season - veggies and fruit; they use wholemeal. all in all , the diet is simply delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!

it's unlike the usual indian cooking - hot & spicy , strong masala favour!!!

Yogi Belief;

A sattiv diet brings purity and calmness to the mind , and is both and nourishing to the body , it promotes cheerfulness , serenity and mental clarity , and helps to maintain mental poise and nerous equilibrium throughout the day

Think about it ! change your eating and diet habit , and see if any change in you

chappati , potatos and rice for Lunch

fresh fruit & oat meal for breakies

Basic ingrdents for the cooking

Sharkama

Dhauti , basti , net , trataka , nauli , Kapalbhati, are known as Sharkarma or the six cleansing technique process in HATHA YOGA. Neti - nasal Cleansing with neti pot the night before practising Net , we were to put ghee into our noses, for lubricating purpose specially ,for first timer!!!after Neti was done, followed up with Kapalbhati breathing exercise .

Neti is a counteract the effect of pollution and dust. it is beneficial to people with asthma, allergies and other respiratory problems

Putting Ghee in the nose , looks disgusting and scary ya?????????

Master Cleansing - Shankaplsen


Not everyone enjoyed this one.It is a technique , begin with drinking with two glasses of warmth water ( mixture of lemon and salt ) , and carry on to perform 2 sets of 6 sequeced asanas - which designed to push the water forcefully into the disgestion system and do the cleasning jobs. after completing 2 sets , you need to drink another 2 glasses of water and continue again, you need to keep doing till you feel the urge to go to the toilet. The whole process ends till you see the clear water came out from the other end.it was quite physical exhausting . No sugar or sweet , glutinous food allow to eat , what we ate nothing quite like this - lentil porriage with ghee ,not just a bit but a full cup of ghee.

You got the special permission - YOU DO NOT - if you have menstration , stomach problem ,diarrea or low in the energy level.

Toast!!!!!let's begin now - Master Cleansing!!!!!!!!!!

Sequenced asanas performed after drinking

Free & Easy at Nasik


it was our Free & Easy time on Sundays, you could either choose to stay at the Ashram , or go to nearby place - like visiting the sacred temple at Trimbak , or just strolling around in the country side to see the local. or go somewhere you like. most people choosed to go Nasik town and checked out emails , shoppings or do personal things. Nasik town , is quite decent & clean. you could find modern facilities like ,Banks, restorans , cybercafe , boutiques , cinema , big bizza and variety of retail shops.

Friendly ,innocent local boys & girls

Trimbakeshwar Temple, is one of India's most sacred temples , contains a jyoti linga , one of the 12 most important shrines of SHIVA. worth visiting!!!

Jeep took us around , to and fro on Free & Easy time!!!!!!!!!

Clean , decent Nasik town

The local Sweet & snack paradise,serving array of indian delight of sweet, nice & mouth-watering , but is non -Sattvic !!!

Aerial view of Big Bizza

Me , Alex and Karen enjoyed food - at the Big Bizza 's food center

My favorite snack vender outside the Big Bizza , i missed that Masala favour Sweet corn

Can spot which bollywood Celebrity you are Familiar????posed at the local cinema

Everything around here , was positive, blissful & peaceful. i am missing every single moment. The Ashram fulfiled my dreams , to be a certified yoga teacher. Thanks Yoga Vidya Gurukl , All my teachers & the staffs

Hariom !!

www.yogapoint.com

My Yoga School -Yoga Vidya Gurukul - IINDIA ( PART I )

Yoga Vidya Gurukul - Nasik, India

• There are many wonderful memories to remember ; this is one of those a month-long complete yogic lifestyle and teacher training course at this Ashram, - Yoga Vidya Gurukul in year 2005. A year later, I made another trip back there for the Yoga therapy course because of all the wonderful people, the lifestyle, the place with full magnetic charge.

The Ashram Diary;-

• 5.00AM before dawn, waked up time, do whatever personal cleaning for morning meditation, followed up by two hours of Asana / Pranayama practical session.

• Every morning you could hear Gayatri Mantra / other sacred chanting played from the dining hall and quickly the soulful mantras infused your mind into a deep clarity. The feeling was very nice and super. The morning herbal tea they served, was equal quality as STARBUCKS coffee, non caffeine drink started your day at the Ashram with full of positive energy!!
• We have to do the initial and finishing prayer for the practical session and OM chanting as well I enjoyed the vibration of OM, I felt deeply in my whole body, in my head and my heart........

• And for 12 rounds of classic Surya Namaska (Sun Salutation) incorporated with each particular mantra. Each round symbolizes a special meaning / explaination for the practice while the mantra connected you into more spiritual sensations.

• NO modern comfy facility provided in the practicing hall. NO branded yoga mat used ; they used only the natural straw-made and rug for Asana practice; the practice was really took you into your true self, as NO mirror to see yourself or others.
  

• Anything was simple and basic here. The whole atmosphere played a role to remind that everyone ws equal in humanity. As you were living at the Ashram, it encouraged you to be non competitive, non material and non personal oriented. The only thing you had to do is to be present in the class and it was our chief teacher's motto - do practiced your yoga sincerely
  

• I enjoyed the precious moment of interacting with other course-mates after sessions. We interchanged ideas on yogasana practice and other theoretical part of yoga study. Some of them who were already yoga teachers but not me, so I guess I was the most beneficial one as their invaluable advices and lifetime experiences & techniques that they shared were hard-to-find gem for me.

• Theory class was Academic alike, with several breaks between the class, rest, yoga nidra and meals times. we had to sat there and jotted down notes on the lecture
  

YOGA NIDRA - nidra means 'Sleeping'

• If it is directly translated, it means 'yoga sleep', however, it is not practiced that way. It was developed by Great Swami - Styatanada (founder of Bihar School of Yoga). Practising Yoga Nidra actually brings you into a state of boarderline between sleeping and awakening. And the practice taps into the deeply layer realm of your sub-consciouse mind with good , positive, affirmative manifestation
  

let say, If you are asked to undertake a task

with this practice, over period of time;
YOU would say YES, and I love to try

without
you would probably say NO, or I think I would try, or let's see

the former is more AFFIRMATIVE whereas is less AFFIRMATIVE in the latter

Yoga Nidra practice Before lunch time, about 11.00am daily The steps and guideline played from a recorded CD, it's a half and hour practice. Most of time, half way you could hear snoring sounds in the room as some people already fell asleep, though the instruction keeped on reminding that DO NOT FALL INTO SLEEP .

It is proved that it 's a total relaxation and the mind transformational technique if followed through all the way completely without ZZZZZZZ,

Yoga Nidra like Meditation, you need day-to-day practice, to reap the result and see any significant change on a mental level.


to be continued in PART II ..........