Yoga Teacher Training – Rishikesh

For most people India is the place to go on a spiritual journey, to find yourself. This is the place that my close traveller friends had always raved about, their ultimate travel location. For me, I am writing this post, in between spouts of diarrhea and vomiting, lying in the scrunched sheets of my bed of the past month with the fans on full speed to keep my temperature from going through the roof. The lessons of this adventure have definitely come in unexpected forms.

After spending six months in Italy I headed to India to complete my 200-hour yoga teacher training in the place where the practice began, Rishikesh, India. A now very touristy city, yet still full of spiritual charm.

Feeling sick of pizza and pasta, I was eager to be in such a drastically different country. India is full of new smells, colours, flavours and sights.

All of my transport, despite my concerns, went extremely smoothly. I arrived at Delhi airport and then took another plane to Dehradun airport, only a 1.5-hour flight. On both of my flights there was a kind lady from Lithuania, I assumed that she too was completing her yoga teacher training, as we were the only two white people on the planes.

Dehradun airport was crawling with upcoming yogis with their mats strapped to their packs. From the airport, we parted ways and I was picked up by a driver of my yoga school. Joined by another girl, Kate who was completing the course.

We arrived at the office in the centre of Rishikesh. We filled out paperwork and they gave us Tea and dates. It all felt very organised.

We met with the 7 other members of our group, creating fun nicknames for each other to give our minds something to hold onto. Steph the chef, robin redbreast, Katy Braidy, Alex the Lion, Pamila Anderson, Magic max, Myrell Streep, Carol cake and Queen Liz. Everyone in our group was from a different country!!

We were all driven to the official course location that was away from the hustle and bustle of the mainstream Rishikesh. Behind two big wooden gates, our like sanctuary was hidden.

The food was buffet style. Always delicious and very rarely the same dish. Yet always Dahl and roti.

An amazing blessing of our school was the location. We could not hear any cars and were surrounded by the mountains. We would wake up in the morning and walk down the small beach on the edge of mother Ganga. One morning I even had a refreshing swim!

The official schedule was:

6:00-6:30 am Herbal tea

6:30-7:30 am a hike in nature

7:30-8:00 am clearing (Jal Neti)

8:00-8:30 am fruit and tea

8:30-10:00 am asanas (ashtanga)

10:15-11:00 am breakfast

11:00-12:00 philosophy and mythology

12:00-1:00 pm alignment

1:00-1:30 pm lunch

1:30-3:30 pm rest

3:30-5:00 pm asanas (Hatha)

5:00-5:30 pm snack

5:30-6:30 pm meditation

6:45-8:00 pm anatomy

8:00-8:30 pm dinner

9:00 pm lights off.

Many of us tried to stick very strongly to this schedule, but after the first week we couldn’t do the walks every morning. It was amazing how we were all impacted by Asana class (the physical practice). We spent the first few days focusing on joint movement, preparing our bodies. After this we began to complete proper Ashtanga and Hatha sequences.

Yoga for me has always been a way to respect and love my body. I came to yoga through my unhealthy relationship with food and exercise. Yoga was a way to move my body while staying in touch with it. My teachers at home always taught me that the only way to be “good” at yoga, was to listen to your body. Here in India, they are more about respecting the posture over your body.

My body was exhausted and I began dreading the words, “now step to the top of your mat, ready for sun salutations”. Though I did really enjoy the consistency of yoga every day. Another highlight was the ritual of chanting before and after every class. “One day, Guru nam…”

There was an awesome technique that our Asana teachers would use to prepare us for teaching. From day one of class, they would call upon us individually to guide a small segment of the class. This made me realise that though I had come to purely deepen my own practice, I really enjoyed leading the class through the poses.

We quickly learnt not to rely on any schedule or so-called plan. Never knowing when a teacher would show up or whether we had a class.

Whether I knew it or not, I came with certain expectations of the spiritual changes I would go through and how the course would spark growth. I feel that in Italy I experienced so much measurable growth that I was searching for the same obvious results. I think that is a part of the lesson — to take each moment and place for what it is.

I tried to take every “unintentional” lesson that I could. Some of my unintentional lessons learned along the way were:

• I found (and ate) a hair that was in my food. This caused me to be more conscious when eating and to slow down.
• I love to drum and my passion has increased in India. Drums (Djembe) are made from animals, therefore not vegan. I have had to learn to find who I am without rigid beliefs or ways of living.
• I have made more vegan food “mistakes” than ever before. I have accidentally eaten dairy and even meat at one stage… for my perfectionist self, this is very triggering and sends me spiralling, losing hold of my sense of self. It is a reminder to forgive myself and to make exceptions because I am doing my best and what is important is doing what I can. I must also remind myself why I am vegan, which is for the environment, so wasting food is much worse than accidentally consuming a small amount of animal product. Discovering who I am without the rigid behaviour — as a person with a rainbow mind — not just black and white, is a long process.
• Feeling judged by others, as I am surrounded by some people that I wouldn’t normally group with. This causes me to look within and accept myself, because I knew that before India, I was the happiest I have ever been. I cannot let other people determine the value I put on myself. Or just as importantly, not blame others for my level of self-worth.

We had Sunday’s off. Many people would go into town. I did this one weekend, where I purchased my very own drum! The first purchase (souvenir) of my whole trip. The stars also aligned, because shortly after, I ran into the amazing Lithuanian lady that was on my flights to India! We were both filled with joy and took the opportunity to get a photo to remember the crazy moment.

On another weekend, we got dressed up in colourful dresses and learnt dances for the first group’s graduation. After music, dancing and certificates, we feasted on very delicious Indian food and desserts. My favourite thing was these sweet, soft, syrup covered balls… Golab Jamun (normally made with butter but I think a vegan version this time).

We sometimes had classes that were separate from the normal schedule. One of these was an Ayurvedic class. I really enjoyed this! The Ayurvedic doctor told me that I was high Vata and Pitta. Apparently, cabbage and cauliflower would make me hyperactive… I found this funny as I thought it was due to the black tea and my low tolerance to caffeine.

Almost all of my group at some point, came down with a sickness of some kind. For me, my worst time was an episode of throwing up and diarrhea. This incident thankfully happened in the last week but caused me to be repulsed by the idea of Dahl or any Indian spiced food. I couldn’t even think of eating roti. I lived the last few days on fruit, bread, porridge, cucumber and snacks from the little stores in the village.

Thankfully I am surrounded by beautiful people. When I was recovering, Robin would come and read Eat Pray Love (just the India section). We would also share yummy (almost western) snacks.

The final days of class flew by. We each had to complete a small practical “test” which was just leading a small group through the sequence that we had learnt. Before we knew it, the time had come for us to get dressed in our sarees and get our certificates!

It was a wonderful night of dancing and great food! We were all so proud to have made it through the rollercoaster of a month! Now we are officially yoga teachers! Who knows in what ways these certificates will play a part in each of our lives. One thing is for sure — we will all remember these four weeks at the ashram every time we are in a yoga pose!