Day 57 - Sivananda Ashram

Hare Om

Greetings from the Sivananda Ashram (internet cafe in basement - who woulda thought?). Been here for 3 days now and beginning to feel a little spaced out. The schedule is quite exacting, and you pretty much end up trailing from one place to another in time with bells (a bit like school really), and my days are pretty much the same...

A day in the life of Blessed Katherine...

5.30 Morning bell rings, some sadist turns the light on, I groan, fight my way out of my mosquite net, fall on the floor, pull on some clothes.
6.00 Morning Satsang in the Prayer Hall. Very happy clappy, lots of chanting "Hare Rama Hare Rama" etc. - some queer souls feel the urge to clap/bang a tambourine/sway with eyes extatically shut - I just sit in a rolled up ball of scarves and cusions and try to pretend my feet aren't falling asleep/I dont find the whole thing a bit creepy.
7.30 I'm freeee! Chai chai chai! We stand in huddles, cradling our precious chai and gossiping.
8.00 Yoga - morning I am stiff, so I take the easy class. Aweeesoooome. Try not to fall asleep in relaxation.
10.00 - Brunch, main meal of the day. Delicious vegetarian meal with several different bits - we eat sitting on the floor from a metal tray - I try to eat slop with fingures and not spill all down my front (mostly fail - you know what I'm like with food)
11.00- Lecture - Interminable lecture fromSwamiji about religion/yoga etc. - wouldn't be so bad if sitting on a hard floor wasn't agony by now.
12.30 - Karma yoga i.e. chores - my chores are helping in the health hut so this is free time.
1.30 - Again, sweet chai
3.30 - Yoga - this time I go for the burn and take the hard class, generally get pushed a lot - the teaching is excellent
6.30 - Evening meal - Simpler meal - more spillages
8.00 - Satsang (again) more meditation and chanting - back is now a screaming ball of pain and "Hare Krishnna" is repeating round and round my head - Braaain-waaashing
10.00 - Shower, bed, lights out by 10.30

So, that is my day- quite busy, so the days troop by quickly. Added extras include ayurvedic Massages (I have one booked for Friday - will let you know how it goes). The lovely experience of being bitten by mossies a million times a day. A beautiful lake that you can swim in (just watch the crocodiles). The hunting groans of bonking lions, drifting across the lake to inturrupt your meditation.

Times run out, there's a queue... must dash

OM Shanti and all that jazz