The Middle Yoga Teacher Training Post

Conditions in my corner have obviously deteriorated

My roommate's corner for comparison

There is just over a week to go in my yoga teacher training.  Just as I’ve finally settled in, it will soon be time to go. But I’m excited to go home. Things I’ve took for granted and can’t wait to return to include: air conditioned rooms to myself for more than five minutes, privacy and autonomy, sleep, and full showers. What is a “full shower”? Let me explain. We are supposed to shower before meditation (two times a day) and it’s hot as balls here so I take about four showers a day. Only one of those showers includes a hair wash and full sized towel. The other three showers occur in under 2 minutes and I use a hand towel to dry off so that I can carry it in my bag and “shower” on the go. The schedule I claimed was doable is pretty insane. Because we function on such a tight time bracket on just four acres, 15 minutes has become the equivalent of an hour in the real world. Five minutes is about 15, and so on. The ability to shower on the spot in any of the showers scattered about the ashram has become an essential skill.

I’ve observed that most (maybe all) the swamis (priests) and bramacharias (priests in training) are Israeli. There are also many Israeli students, and the Ashram even provides interpreting services for Hebrew. Apparently the swami who started our ashram (Swami Visnudevananda) had many disciples in Israel and so has a strong following there. There is even  a Sivananda Ashram in Tel Aviv. We had a speaker come and talk about the India/Israeli connection one night and it was quite interesting. He also painted an extremely vivid picture of intense spirituality and denseness of Jeruseluem. Israel is now high on my list of places to check out. I’ve always been enamoured with Jewish culture and traditions growing up in a neighborhood with a strong Hasidic Jewish presence. As me and someone, maybe Seattle girl have noticed, there is a certain energy to the Israeli staff and students. I will check this place out.

Despite the monoculture of the religious staff, the yoga teacher training class is very diverse. I wouldn’t say that Americans are a majority or even the largest group. We have Mexican, central, and south American, French, swiss, german, Canadian, Italian, Russian.

Different staff members (Bramacharias and Swamis) teach the curriculum depending on their particular expertise. One of the bramacharias is older, and was a physiotherapist so he teaches anatomy and physiology. He also bears a striking resemblance to my paternal grandfather but that’s a different story. Many of the yoga students have never taken anatomy and physiology before so they are learning anatomy names with a strong Israeli accent. It was hard not to laugh as he explained that the “esopha-goose” is different than the trachea and delivers food to the stomach.

Today is an Indian holiday called gurpurimna day. Basically it's a day where you give thanks for your teachers (gurus). As a result we have been celebrating it throughout the day. However, the culmination of this holiday occurred just as I was about to fall asleep at Satsang. 

Imagine it’s 930 pm and you are trying not to fall asleep in church as you sit cross legged on the floor. You woke up at 520 am for a separate religious ceremony. 520 is 15 minutes earlier than normal and a pretty big deal because you are sleep sensitive. Your eyes are closing and you catch yourself falling forward. And suddenly the priest is doing a special ceremony and you find yourself in a congo like line chanting and shaking an instrument as you follow the procession to every corner of the ashram to spread the blessings. Your fellow students grab drums and shakers. The religious people hold statues of the gurus and other religious objects. The party vibe is strong. Now you are awake. As you get trapped in corners of the ashram the front of the line turns around and walks past you. You wait for your turn to turn around while chanting and playing your instrument. You feel as though you are cheering on the front of the line and they feel the same way. This goes on for about 30 minutes or an hour. No one is looking at a clock so it’s hard to know. Now that you are awake and it is past your 10pm bedtime it's time to eat the many sweet treats prepared to celebrate the holiday on the dark outdoors basketball court. Now you have vicariously experienced a raging ashram party.