People say you love or you hate India but it's definitely a real cultural chock.
The objective of going to India was to practice some yoga and to rest a little bit.
My first night in Delhi was terrible, the worst night I ever had for 10 months. The taxi driver (who was an official taxi from the airport) couldn't find the hotel I booked, he stopped several times to ask for directions and to call my hotel. But someone on the phone told me that my booking was canceled. It was almost 11PM, I was exhausted and not feeling very well so I believed them... It was of course part of their game. So I stayed in the crappy expensive hotel. The next morning the taxi took me to 2 different travel agencies swearing that they were the official tourism information center, again it was not true and so on and so one until I got sick of Delhi and decided to take a private taxi, that cost me 4 times the price I was supposed to pay, to Rishikesh, the world capital of yoga.
The 2 first nights I stayed by myself in a hostel, trying to get used to the dirt, the cows and their shit, the monkeys, the Indian people staring at you and taking pictures of you, the heat (it was about 40 degrees at that time) and the local food... not easy not easy...
Then on the next Monday, I registered for a 3 weeks course at a yoga school. My program included everything, the classes, the food and the accommodation and even 2 ayurvedic massages per week and a rafting trip. It felt really good not to worry about those things for 3 weeks.
But the program was tough.
6AM: Waking up
6.30AM: Herbal tea, nose cleansing (using a neti pot by pouring water into our nostrils) and chanting (prayers in Sanskrit)
7AM - 8.30AM: Yoga class
8.30AM: Breakfast
8.45AM - 10AM: Philosophy class
10.30AM - 11.30AM: Anatomy class
1PM: Lunch
6.30PM - 8PM: Yoga class
8.15PM: Dinner
10PM: Bed time
Sunday was off.
Yoga was not easy for me as I was a beginner. The teacher was a short funny Indian guy who always pushed us to try all kind of crazy poses. My whole body felt sore everyday but I felt really good in my mind and my body.
There were 2 or 3 other persons in my yoga class depending on the week and for the other classes (anatomy and philosophy), we were about 35 people from all over the world. The atmosphere was very relaxed even tough the program was strict.
After 3 weeks of intensive yoga, I still can't do the crazy poses but I'm able to stretch myself much more than I've ever been able to. But above all, I have a better understanding of yoga and its spiritual meaning.
Yoga is definitely part of my daily life as of now.
On the last Friday of the course, we did the body cleansing. It was terrible. The principle is very simple, to drink lots of salty glasses of water and wait until everything is cleaned up from your body.
So we started at 5.30AM with 3 salty glasses of warm water. It was quite disgusting. After half a glass, I already had the feeling that I had to throw up and this feeling stayed every time I was drinking the glasses of water. After drinking, we did some yoga poses for 10-15 min and then we started again with the salty water and the yoga poses. Until our stomach was making weird sounds...
It took me 15 glasses of salty water and 8 times to the bathroom to "clean" my body... I was exhausted after all this.
But it was definitely a to-be-done experience!
To be honest I didn't feel a big difference the next day and my stomach is still causing me lots of troubles, but I'm glad I did it.
After 3 weeks in the yoga school, it was time to come back to the real Indian world. So I decided to travel for a week with Jen, a girl I met at the yoga course.
Next stop: Delhi, Taj Mahal and Rajhastan (India).
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