I had traveled to India twice before. Once to Mathura, the birthplace of Lord
Krishna and the second time to Varanasi, the holiest city in Hindu
Mythology. I have always been very
curious about the Hindu religion. Being
the oldest continuous school of faith says a lot about the inherent adaptable
nature of its edicts and people who practice it. In Varanasi, I stayed at an ashram, where I
was introduced to the mystical world of Vedic chants, pranayama, and yoga. Now I had practiced yoga many times in my
home town of Toronto. Of course, it was
a hip and trendy thing among my group of people. But, in India, I saw the real thing. Studying
yoga in India, the birthplace of the art is a totally different thing. That is
why it is on the top of the list of yoga practitioners worldwide. In India, practicing yoga with gurus, with
Sanskrit hymns in the background is very different from the choreographed
sessions in the air-conditioned aerobics halls in the west.
I can empathize with the North Americans view of India as
a place filled with con artists, filth, and miles of red tape. I understand why it can be a dangerous place
for a western woman. But that's where I
found the beauty of it. The moment you
step off the plane, you start developing a heightened sense of surrounding and
become more conscious. The land forces
you too!! The daily Indian lifestyle,
interspersed with statues of mystic goods, puja rituals, the scent of incense
mixed with the pungency of urine, the lot!!
The country is rooted in the deep devotion to its goods and
tradition. If you watch the throngs of
Hindu people gathered on the banks of holy Ganges, at dusk, for Aarti, you will
forget the troubles you had with your case of Delhi Belly. You have to work through the physical
challenges of a hot and humid country towards your goal of learning and
education. Isn't that the first lesson
of the yoga school of thought?
In India, you will find yoga gurus everywhere, some
fraudulent and some no different than the ones you find in the west. The key is to find a reputable institute that
really follows the traditional yoga principles.
I was lucky to have a friend in India, whom I first met in Toronto
eighteen years ago when she was an Exchange student in my school. She told me about Yoga Bhawna Mission in her
hometown of Uttarkashi, India. She told
me that it is a venture of Ujjain Yoga Life Society, a prestigious trust in her
country. And that it is also a certified
as well as registered yoga school from YAUSA. We talked at length about her
experiences there and I decided to give it a serious thought. I did some research and found that, since it
is an internationally recognized RYS for teachers, your certificate will also
be recognized globally. This institute
offers many yoga teacher training courses to yoga students as well. I opted for RYS200, a 200-hour yoga teacher training course. I
reckoned, it must be a step ahead of the student courses and must delve deeper
into the sutras of Yoga. And boy, was I
right!!
How is it different
Most western people consider learning yoga in India as a
hip and cool thing to do, something that can be bragged about to our non-
traveling compatriots. On the other
hand, there are some who view it as a quest to learn the true art from its
original masters. Frankly, I was a bit
of both. I wanted to be cool and at the
same time, I wanted to experience the true art form. I wanted to see how far I could take my body
and whether I could really elevate my mind and spirit towards oneness with
nature. At any rate, I believed it would
be an enriching experience. Being a
better practitioner of yoga was the least I could expect from this
sojourn.
The institute is located on the banks of the holy river
of Bhagirathi. It is quite some way from
the town of Uttarkashi and situated at an elevation of 1158 meters from the sea
level. It is in the lap of nature and
one can sometimes spot the animals from the nearby jungle in the campus
grounds. No carnivores though! The entire campus is one big building. It
consists of a prayer hall. A practice hall, classrooms, kitchen, living area
and living quarters. There are separate
dormitories for male and female students and each room is twin shared. Rooms are well equipped with modern amenities
with windows of each room facing the river.
It is a delightful place to stay.
Practicing yoga in India is very different than the
west. In our countries, we put a
commercial spin on everything. We have
limited yoga to ninety minutes gym memberships, where we practice flexibility,
burn calories and say a few mispronounced mantras and feel we have become
enlightened.
In India, it is all about a disciplined life. Yoga is not merely about twisting your body
like a contortionist into various asanas.
That is only the physiological part of it. The goal of yoga is to attain a perfect
harmony with the universe, a spiritual and metaphysical quest. It is to attain the true control of the mind. And controlling one's body is only how you
start the journey. Asana practice is
only one branch of the yoga tree. The
main bodywork of yoga works on the mind.
It includes a study of its edicts, written down centuries ago by sage
Patañjali and added on to by numerous others.
The yoga as we see in the west was only a stretching practice for yogis
so that their bodies remained in top condition while they pursued loftier goals
of the metaphysical.
Our days started early at Yoga Bhawna Mission. At five in the morning, the practice hall was
full. The learned ERYTs conducted a
pranayama session. Prana means the air
we breathe and Ayama means dimension. So
literally pranayama means the various aspects of breathing. A good control of one's breathing is of vital
importance for a yogi. At very advanced
levels, yogis can perform some astonishing feats. We learned from the basic ones like
Kapalabhati, Bhasrika, and anuloma-viloma.
Kapalabhati improves the blood flow to diaphragm, spleen, liver, and
kidneys. It also builds up the stamina
of lungs. This simple exercise for ten
minutes daily starts to show results as soon as within a week. My bowel movements became much better and I
felt light throughout the day. Bhasrika
requires a minimum level of strength in the lungs, which is to be first
developed by Kapalabhati. It is
basically a workout for your lungs and targets to reach towards one hundred
percent use of one's lung capacity.
Anuloma viloma, while also acting as a cool down, improves the balance
of the breath and is particularly beneficial for sinuses.
A twenty-minute meditation session followed, which by the
completion of the course stretched towards one hour. It is more than just sitting upright in
silence. One learns to shut down all the
senses one by one and focus on the body's energy alone. It takes decades of practice but at least I
know the true goal and form of meditation.
At its most advanced form, it requires a complete control of one senses
and metabolic rate. There are certain
examples, where yogis reached an almost hibernated state and performed some
extraordinary tasks by channeling the Shakti - the omnipresent energy of the
universe. And that is why the body needs
to be in a particular condition before the true benefits of the meditation can
be reaped. And that is the true purpose
of asanas and pranayama.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner, I must mention were holistic
vegetarian affairs prepared from locally procured organic produce. Students were encouraged to take part in the
preparation. A very strict rule was
never to waste any item. Kitchen garbage
went to animals and what animals left went to the manure chamber to be used in
the gardens. We said a prayer before
every meal.
Asana sessions followed breakfast. This part is well known to us westerns. We started with simpler poses and gradually
progressed towards more advanced ones.
What the course differed in, was the theory classes after lunch. We were told about the origins and purpose of
yoga. How it is the gaming of mind more
than the training of the body. We were
explained the human anatomy and how various parts are affected by various
postures. If a particular organ or
muscle group or joint is weaker than it should be, what asanas can remedy? I now see a huge role of yoga in sports and
rehabilitation.
We were encouraged to take nature walks and take part in
the chores. It was a very cathartic
experience.
After finishing this 200 hour ttc
course, I can definitely say that I
feel like a different person and I have an even stronger appreciation of Indian
culture. Though the strict discipline of
Indian yoga learning might not be for everyone, if one can look past a slight
discomfort, it will prove to be a most enriching experience.
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