Four month debrief

Just over four months into my journey, although I feel this is not really like a travel blog, more of an online diary of a YOGIC journey. Or really just an online diary! So if you are happy reading the complete, and somewhat insensible ramblings of an ageing yogi - read on!

It feels like so much longer than four months, I have learnt so much more about Yoga, and what it means to me than I expected. Actually I'm not sure what I expected, some answers yes, I have found myself to be stronger than I thought (but this was a lesson in self discovery I started back in September 2014) and way more independent than I ever thought possible. I have discovered that I really like my own company, in fact I feel I am in danger of preferring my own company to that of others at the moment! - note to self, must get out more!

Where it all began...

My body continues to amaze me with it's ability to get stronger, and more flexible and I certainly feel the fittest I've ever felt in my entire life. I don't want to harp on and on about the benefits of yoga but it really, REALLY works for me. And not only on the physical level, but I have already written on the mental level. The ability to stay calm in stressful situations I attribute soley to my yoga practice. Yoga is not just exersice for me now, it's a way of life, nay, a lifestyle. And with this comes less the urge to have the cutest yoga pants and take instagram selfies but more to delve into the self and challenge what you find there.

Feel like dancing...woo hoo

My travels so far have taken me to India, Thailand (well Koh Phangan) and a quick jaunt to Kuala Lumpar. I am now planning a short break (read visa run) to Bali, to hopefully get back on a surfboard and see how that is after almost a year's break! So far, my favourite place has been Mysore, but not just the city, it;s the Ashtanga Yoga and the magic that happens there which is difficult to put into words. You'll just have to go find out for yourself or take my word for it!

Me! Post hair cut on way to beach = happy Claire

Travelling solo is both exhilarating, liberating and lonely in equal measures. I have the luxury of having some of my oldest and dearest friends here on the island, and this was of course a big factor in deciding to move here, I also am pretty good at chatting (yes those of you who know me know I can talk the hind legs of a donkey) and therefore find it very easy to socialise at the retreat with all the guests and have met some lovely people here.  I have also met so many solo female travellers and they are inspirational.

Squad Goals

And then there is the beauty in the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Phangan. It's and island of hedonism and spirituality. It's beautiful beaches and fierce jungle. It's hot sunny days, and more recently heavy tropical downpours. I have to say I like the slight drop in temperature (about 28-32 degrees when raining) but I am getting a little frustrated with flies and those pesky, potentially dangerous mosquito's. So bring the gruelling heat back please - and if anyone has any tips on how I can bathe in a natural mosquito repellent that last all day and actually works, please message me!

Temple 

Home

Front Garden

The final thing I would like to add to this quarterly summary is that I have discovered not only do I need food to survive and supply my body with energy but I really do get pleasure from eating. My diet changed when I started living the single life, I became a 5:2 vegetarian and now I am almost no meat, but still eat seafood. I find this diet gives me energy, makes me feel better 'in myself' and maintain a healthy weight. And since the detox I have cut down drastically on snacks and alcohol, and caffeine but not completely, those things still have a place in my life just not as much!

Seafood Salad

Chia and Mango Pudding

Glorious veg and rice

Aubergine Salad

Friday's Indian Buffet

Vegetable Wraps

Just some of the amazing food choices I have here and what I eat on a weekly basis. I am keen to look into nutrition and very interested in food that heals. So this could become my new 'hobby'

If I would like you to take one thing away from this post it's that YOU are capable of anything you want, and whatever it is you want, go out and get it. Don't just dream about it - make it YOUR reality. I have been reading many travel blogs recently and particularly liked a post in one that mentioned would you still do you job if you didn't get paid for it? If the answer is yes, congratulations, if it's no, then change it. One of my favourite quotes at the moment is from Walt Whitman -

'Do whatever, just let it produce joy' 

I hope that reading this inspires you to get off your butts and go out and do something! Let it produce joy for you and yours, make your life mean something to you, and please please do not get caught up in the trap of working to live. 

Until next time - NamaSLAY xxx

Goa - a lounger's guide

Landing at Daoblim Airport it feels like India again (compared to the cosmopolitan feel of Bangalore) hustle, bustle, hot, humid and noisy.

Seated in (overpriced) pre book taxi I am grateful for air conditioning (who knew this would feel like indulgence to me for my travel stories!) and I sit back and hope that my driver can drive without too many close shaves, by now an old pro at coping with the mad cap driving habits of the Indian, I can just relax (enjoy even?) and watch the world go by outside.

Roadside vendors, men on mopeds, cattle and other animals all vying for time and space, the first hour is pretty grim with deprived looking towns and villages, dust and smog, but then the roadside buildings start to give way to lush green vegetation, a blood orange setting sun, and a sense of calm.

It’s dark by the time we arrive in Patnem and I am glad a pre-booked my bungalow, the ‘road’ ends at a row of motorbikes and I’m told I must walk down the beach to my huts ‘Namaste’…oh no! With a lot of luggage it’s a testing 200 metres until I arrive sweaty and swearing at the huts and get shown to my hut, way back in the depths of the tropical garden, it’s named Krishna, so hopefully this is a sign that it will be ok.

Basic but clean, with a hideous bathroom, I’m too tired to care, there is a mosquito net, a large double bed with clean sheets, so it is ‘fit for purpose’

Next morning, after my normal Mysore bedtime of 8.30pm, I’m up with the birds and ready to have a beach stroll and take in the surroundings…. there is something so wonderful about dawn, it used to be the time I was getting in feeling dazed and confused from a club or party, but now I love it for the time to feel alive and appreciate the world. A cooler temperature (around 24c) makes for a wonderful walk along the shore, my first toe dip into the Arabian sea, and a chance to view all the hut ‘resorts’ along the beach, also to check out the yoga shalas that are visible from the beach and, most importantly, hunt down the ‘Patnem Chai Shop’ that I had researched – 7rps chai – this is more like it!!!  - Goa is super cheap for Western visitors, but much more expensive than Mysore.

After breakfast at my huts own restaurant I settle into the day on the beach, a sun lounger with shade and a nice swim the warm, but clean, sea.

As a beach lover it’s easy for me to while away hours and hours, reading, relaxing a people watching, exactly what I came here for!

There is a gentle breeze to help keep you cool in the scorching 36c that it climbs to that day.  And I also manage to keep cool with my first alcoholic beverage of 35 days – an ice-cold kingfisher beer – boy did that taste divine ;)

After a sweltering walk I find a nice restaurant for lunch, April 20, where I have a delicious Dal Makhani, served in a small silver bucket, and a lime soda, and sit enjoying the breeze. It’s towards the north end of the beach which I have already decided is nicer and more chilled that the centre and southern parts.

Next day, I get up and practice in my room, shower and head up to my next resort, La La Land, where I excitedly wait the arrival of none other than Ms.Lynsey MacDonald, one of my closest and dearest friends.

By 8.40am she is here, and the ‘holiday’ begins!!

The following week is spent in beach bungalow luxury, as our resort is brand new, and beautifully landscaped into the hill at Colomb Bay, a picturesque little fishing bay nestled between Patnem and her big sister, Palolem.

We settle into our daily routine of morning yoga, breakfast; sun lounging (favorite lounge spot the uber friendly Salida del Sol) sunset watching, evening snacking and early night to repeat again the next day.

I won’t bore you with the details, but highlights were the day we spent on Galibag Beach (Turtle Beach) a real deserted spot (save for a few locals) and the most wonderful Oysters (90p – yes pence – for 7) and the freshest barbequed prawns from a little beach shack called Surya’s, who also provides hammocks for you to have your food coma in.

The beach is wild and waves quite big, and the Talpona River, a lush backwater river, backs it. If you do find yourself in South Goa, this beach is a must.

Patnem (north end) was my favourite place to chill, although Palolem wins on looks, she sweeps in a perfect arc of palm trees, but to me it felt a bit too developed and packed in, and one too many ‘you come see my shop’ hassle’s.

We were, however treated to the shortest show on earth, see Lynsey’s video for this joy – Palolem’s Got Talent??

Other highlights included the beautifully breezy ‘Boom Shanker’ for breakfast, and then again later for sunset cocktails (happy hour cocktails are just £1.50)

The smiley happy Nepalese boys at Salida del Sol (most of the service staff in Patnem have come down from Himalayas/Nepal) and the beautiful Vinyasa class with Koko, at the stunning shala in La La Land.

By the end of the week, despite a small bout of the infamous Delhi belly, both Lynsey and I felt relaxed and ready to take on the next chapters in our lives.

Saying goodbye to Lynsey at the airport was sad for me, as it was like saying goodbye to home again. But now the next chapter of the saga begins…. and I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Holi - it's not just for Christmas

So this Wednesday was moon day (day off of practice) and also Holi - The Festival of Colours, or arrival of Spring.

Historically Holi was a festival to celebrate Holika, a woman who was sent to the pyre with her nephew, Prahlad, by Prahlad's father, an evil king (no shit!) Hiranyakashipu as he (Prahlad) was forbidden by his father (the evil king, remember?) to worship Vishnu.
Holika was believed to be immune to fire....so as they sat on the fire Prahlad prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe....Holika was burnt to death, and Prahlad survived without a scar.....

To celebrate Holika, on the first night of Holi bonfires are held, the next day is the famous paint smearing, mainly celebrated by the young people and children, and also mainly celebrated in North India, so we had to create our own bit of fun, on the roof of KesoTes....

Such fun! Completely ridiculous, and yet hilarious too!

Just when I had spent HOURS in the shower, scrubbing myself and then the bathroom, I walk home only to be 'attacked' by some friends - the people who work at the wonderful Anokhi Garden....so I also got a taste of real 'Holi' celebrations

Into The City!

Yoga post coming tomorrow, for today it's more of a pictorial post, a kaleidoscope of colour as I ventured into the city to the Devajara Market and to eat in the 'famous' Malari Dosa cafe (bit too pancake-y for me)

I love a local market, this one had some spectacular photo opportunities so I will leave it to let the pictures do the talking.....

First Impressions

So today was the first day of practice for me in Mysore at KPJAYI, Saraswathi's Shala. A later post on this.

But before the yoga bit, a little summary of life so far in India.....

Arrived after 19.5 hours of travel and very little sleep to stand at the carousel waiting, waiting, waiting, yep, more waiting....UK Claire was starting to get in panic mode, India Claire thinks, well, if the carousel is still moving it's not over yet...there is hope - and with that thought, out it popped!
I was so tired and shocked that I watched it sail past me until I realised - it's here!!!
Poor Teresa was stuck in the main airport waiting for me to arrive, thinking where is she??
So we hot footed it to our taxi, which Kes has organised, a really comfortable large vehicle with a/c - fab.

On first impressions I couldn't get over how modern Bangalore was, the airport seemed gleaming and sparkly and the roads near the airport seemed new (and orderly? wait? is this India?) after about 15 minutes though that familiar frenzy of mayhem that is the Indian driving system kicked in, and after 2 hours of honking, squeezing in unearthly gaps, almost being driven into on all sides and just chatting to Teresa to keep our mind off it, we reached the city limits and started to pick up some speed. After another hour and 3/4 we make it to Mysore (only stopping for a 5 minute leg stretch/chai)

Amusingly, Kes is staying in Kino and Tim's house - so I recognised it from watching her Periscope's whilst she was here in December and January. Claim to fame!!! My yogi friends back home will be impressed!

After a refreshing shower the guys brought me to my new home, the beautiful house of Meena Gupta, above her famous Silver Nest shop.
My room is HUGE!! with the biggest bed and lots of shiny new marble floor space. We also have a massive kitchen and an outdoor balcony/lounge area.

my new home

We then had time for a quick lunch (scrambled tofu and spinach for me) before we made our way to the main shala for registration. Excited and nervous to be at this mecca for Yogi's/Ashtangi's but so jet lagged that even saying my own name was difficult...I finally managed to register and we were given the times of 9am daily practice, 7am led class (Sunday's) and 12.30pm chanting three times per week.

Now, the practice times are a big topic of conversation here in Mysore, as it is regarded the earlier your practice the better, the ideal 'spiritual' time to practice being the 4.30am slot....so we were thinking 9am is late! 7am would be the perfect time for us, but we get what we are given and that is that.

So now I'm thinking I'm ready for bed, so tired I can barely speak and at this point but Kes invites me to eat with them that night with a bunch of his friends. I have a little chill and then get picked up by my trusty steed, Kyle, one of Kes's housemates, on his motorbike, and we bike across town to a place called Cornucopia. This place is beautiful and in any other country would be a top class restaurant with the prices to match, we have a lovely meal (BBQ'd paneer with rice and vegetables) and a lime fizz drink and pay just 400 rps (about £4!) I love this country!

After a fantastic sleep, of almost 9 hours, I get collected again by my trusty steed (people are so nice here) and whizzed on the bike for breakfast at the fabulous Anokhi, ran by Marie, a lovely friend of Kes and Teresa's (yet more names to remember). After a scrummy omelette and large cup of tea they inform me we are heading to the pool....hallelujah, what a beautiful way to relax and ease myself into the life here.
The Hotel Regalis has a lovely pool area, full of yogi's relaxing on their day off - and we while away a few hours here in the sun...perfect.

In the early evening we grab a tuk-tuk to go and see one of the most famous sights in Mysore, the lighting up of the Palace (yes people visit here not just for Yoga!)
The crowds to get in are manic, but we finally get in and just in time to see the lights go on (although I was looking in the other direction at the time)
They only light it for half an hour once a week, as as you can see from the photos it's a LOT of bulbs. But it does make for a very pretty picture.

So, that's it for the first two days, off to bed for a sleep before the real reason I'm here, my first practice with Saraswathi in the morning.

namaste