"Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya...........Om Namo Narayanya, Om Namo Narayanaya............Om Shanti Om.......Hare Krishna, Hare Hare, Krishna, Krishna.........AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! The chanting was still resonating in the back of my head as I paddled into stormy surf with Stevo, Steve poking fun that he was glad Jess and I made it back from the Yoga cult seemingly unbrainwashed. Secretly I am sure he still locks his door at night to be sure. Jess and I arrived back in Male yesterday at noon and were happy to be back on the familiar streets with everyone ignoring us instead of hassling, haggaling, and begging.

Living in the Sivinanda Yoga Ashram in Kerela, India was an experience not to be forgotten in the near future. We arrived to a full house, about 200-250 students from around the world were there to learn and/or practice yoga. It was a mix of people interested in teaching yoga in there home countries and individuals travelling India who had dropped in for a few days to a few weeks of yoga. Our first day we missed yoga so were introduced to the other happenings at the Ashram before ever getting to practice the physical side of yoga. Supper was served in a huge open air hall that also hosted lectures and asana classes during the day. The dishes were laid out and we were served food from large stainless steel buckets, vegetarian curries, rice, salads, and chapatties were the staple. The food was amazing and as we ate with our right hand (no untensils) I turned to Jess to comment on the food. "SILENCE PLEASE" A deep voice echoed from the front of the hall, our first lesson at yoga camp, no talking during meal time as it is a time of meditation. We waved over the servers for more food and they hunched over to serve up more curry as we all sat crosslegged on the floor to eat. After washing our dishes, setting up our tent the bell started clanging, it was off to Satsang. What we were about to experience was a half hour of misguided meditation followed by daily chanting. It was amusing the first day, bearable the next morning at 5:30 and ridiculous from then on. The next morning we arose for an early Satsang, followed by Chai Tea time and then 5 hours of Asana classes (The physical act of yoga) with a break in between. Really the only thing that we were interested in. After realizing the beginner class was a little to slow for us we switched to the advanced classes and found them more our speed. The yoga was amazing and by the end of the 12 days we spent there Jess and I both felt we made huge advances in our yoga practice.

Half way through the 12 days we had a day off and we joined a trip down to the southern most tip of India, Kanya Kumari. This is also where Ghandi walked on water, or wait was it made salt from the sea to protest the British taxation on salt. We visited the Ghandi memorial where his ashes were kept until they were scattered into the three bodies of water that meet there, The Arabian Sea, The Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. We were meant to swim there but the dirty water filled with bathing pilgrims didn't seem too inviting. The day turned out to be a nice break from Ashram life.

The Ashram was great in the fact that it brought travellers from around the world together, we had the privilege of meeting some great people and interestingly enough found ourselves teamed up with a crew of other Canadians. We ended up ditching out early with two sisters Jess and Lily from Vancouver and hit Kovalam beach for 4 days of retoxification. All in it ended up being an amazing trip.

We are packing again for a trip with Derek and Leticia up to Dehli and onwards so will definitely have more adventures to come.

Om

Scott and Jess

Three and half months, wow, for Jess the days have flown by. Although it doesn't seem like we have been here long we both are looking foward to getting off the island and exploring some new terrain. Jess was supposed to get 2 weeks off for her holidays but has somehow talked them into 4 weeks. For the first two weeks Jess and I are going to study yoga in its birthplace, India. A friend of ours had reccommended this Ashram (yoga institute) in southern India.
http://www.sivananda.org/neyyardam/index.html
It is going to be a pretty intense two weeks with nearly 5 hours of yoga a day! Vegetarian diet, Meditation, and early morning wake up calls. This can hardly be called a vacation but we are considering it our Honeymoon. We are both really looking foward to it the flight leaves tommorrow the 16th. Returning on the 30th or 31st we rendevous with Derek and Leticia who are coming for a visit lasting over a month. They arrive at 10 in the evening on the 31st and we have them flying out of Male Feb 1st at noon. Not much rest but there were no flights going out for a few days after that. We then travel to Delhi where we will give Derek and Leticia a day or so to rest. Jess and I will round up some plane tickets and the next day we will be on our way to the Taj Mahal and onwards to Varanasi to visit our friends sister who runs a Hostel/School for underpriviledge children.
http://www.basichumanneeds.net/
Jess will be travelling with us for another 2 weeks but will then have to go back to work. The three of us will travel India for another 2 weeks and then we will head back to the Maldives.
So thats the plan and hopefully we can keep the blog updated from the road. Also I think the adventures will be a little bit more interesting.

The weather has made a shift for the better and we have been enjoying windy sunny days. Wind enough to ruin the surf but not enough to kiteboard. Mornings and evenings are a little calmer and we usually manage a sunset surf. Our house is quickly turning into the Surf Shack as anyone with a board wants to store it at our place. I usually send at least a few text a day giving a brief surf report for those pilots who aren't lucky enough to have a beachside residence. Steve our new flatmate has returned from Aus. He is a laid back surfer who has turned out to be an awesome guy to have around the house. Between the two of us and all our friends we have about 10 boards scattered throughout the house. That's life in the Maldives for now, in total I will be away for the next 6 weeks so I am sure it will be a new place when I return.