"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