And So It Begins

It is 4:30 a.m. here in Rishikesh, India and I have been awake since 3:00! It is a 12.5 hour time difference so my sleeping pattern has been slightly disrupted. It doesnt bother me however, because I am excited to my very core and have been since I first stepped foot onto the ginormous Continental Airlines plane that flew me into New Delhi. 

 Since my arrival I havent needed to sleep that much as there seems to be a pulse of energy  this place and its people has to offer that replenishes my spirit and keeps me going: Every set of eyes that doesnt stray away from mine, each wild animal I see roaming free, the many smells that fill the air from curry to cow pie to bodies to flowers and incense... these provide me with the nourishment I not only currently need, but also have long desired.


My flight over Afghanistan was my first amazing sight. The desert hills rolled like chocolate mouse, mixing snow, salt, and sand together in a massively whipped walnut merangue of sorts. The perfect combination of delectable and dangerous Id say! I snapped pictures with my camera out of the window from an altitude of 35000 feet and they came out crystal clear! 

To my surprise I was able to see little colonies of people nestled in between long stretches of desert and I just had to wonder how they even got there in the first place. I mean, these people were out in the middle of NOWHERE and I doubt any animals or water exists in the places where I saw their villages and yet, there they were, living like it was nobodies business! 

I arrived in New Dehli and the first thing I noticed was that their airports are carpeted with elaborately decorated warm colored patterns of reds and golds. The restroom gender seperation was indicated not by a little white man and little white woman against a black backdrop but rather, an over-sized high definition color  photo of a seek with his head wrapped and likewise a beautiful Indian woman looking dignified and fierce. Above my head was artwork of large golden hands, each holding a flower in their palms with fingers bent to form various shapes of Om and Namaste. 


I found my driver, Hamaad, standing in a long line of drivers, all holding signs with different names and then we were off for the type of adventure whos only safety preparation would have been to never have come to India at all! The roads here are INSANE! I dont even know why they paint lane dividers or have stop signs or lights. Seriously! If there is room for a car- then that is where the closest car will go irregardless of what direction the flow of traffic is headed. There were skinny pedestrians,hard working bicycle riders, brave mopeds rollers, tasseled and painted city buses, over stacked vegetable distribution trucks, blue and white taxi cabs, and personal vehicles that were packed to the hilt with many many many- Indians! Forgive my memory for I may have overlooked a few more roadway participants! That was just on the road! That night was the world cup for the international sport, cricket, which apparently India was competing in against Sri Lanka for the title. It was all the buzz and every car or handheld radio was tuned into the game loudly. Every point scored there were blazes of horns and hoots and hollers of celebration. Fireworks were being set off and the streets were alive with vigor and excitement! India had won! 


All along the highways there are restaurants and huts where you can grab a snack or meal and socialize. These places appear pretty seedy and I certainly wouldn't go to any of the myself. Their American equivalent is probably a truck stop, biker gang, and vagabond ridden string of gas stations and diners! Nonetheless, I found myself in the car outside of one waiting for my escort. Just then two cars full of men pulled up behind me and all hopped out and peered into my car. I was nervous but tried to remain calm. I probably looked just as strange to them as they did to me! Well, there was a tree about 30 feet in front of my car and apparently that was the mens bathroom! So one by one each of the men walked over and pulled their pants down and took number 2's! Unbelievable! Just squatted right there directly in front of me and went and wiped and went on with their bad selves! I was soo stunned I almost took a picture but then I came to my senses and reasoned that would probably be rude and may even get me into trouble! So I refrained. I did snap a picture of the shop across the street however. Eventually I found a place where there was an enclosed space with a toilet and to my utter dismay it was a terribly dirty tile floor with a hole in it and no toilet paper! Luckily I had a hand wipe in my purse and I just figured, this is how its done here so I better get used to it!


Back on the road we passed through various towns, all of which were closed and the streets were virtually empty save for the handful of men that were out enjoying the nights cricket victory as well as the homeless population sitting in their buggies, aka: beds. Its true when you hear that India is dirty. Although I would describe it more as grimy and dusty because there really isn't trash anywhere or litter like in the states. Its just that buildings dont get washed and its really old school here so there is thousands of years of wind blown sediment and animal dander covering everything, including now my head which was hanging out of the car window in awwe! The smell in the air changed every hour or so ranging from the pungent scent of spices to the bright aroma of flowers to the mild stench of manure and sandalwood oiled bodies. 


We arrived in Rishikesh around 1:30 am and parked the car on one side of a long man made rope hanging bridge and we walked from there about a mile to my final destination, the Krishna Cottage. I was given a key for my home to be for the next 6 weeks, #114, accompanied by a padlock which was to serve as my lock and that was that!


The next morning I awoke quite early around 6:00 am ready to see what was outside and I heard the sound of many different birds, cows mooing, and people chopping and building and bustling around. I snapped pictures of my bathroom with is better described as a lavatory since that is where you use the loo, wash your body, your clothes, and anything else that needs a good scrubbing! No walls separate any of these areas its just one space. At first I was unsure about how to approach the situation when it came time to wash but I just shut the bathroom door and turned the water on and went for it! Water sprayed everywhere, over the toilet (which I am grateful to have!), over the sink, all over the floor... it was warm water and nothing beats that!


I immediately made some friends. There is S'ra from Australia, Tatianna from Russia, and Patricia from Australia. 


We spent the day together exploring part of Rishikesh that day. The streets were alive, the sun was out, and there was simply so...much...color. REALLY. Its like a dream. Women wrapped in florescent sari's, bejeweled and tattooed. Men dressed in orange robes with long beards and prezzled on the sides of roads begging for money. Street vendors stamping you with powder as you walk by and all sorts of locals and foreigners alike draped in the ever famous textile prints of India. Food is cooking around every corner, all vegetarian and delicious. We ate samosa's and drank Chai tea at a little place on the deck overlooking the Ganges river. You take your shoes off whenever you go inside of any place and there is always tapestries covering the floors so you can sit. Then we went by an Ashram and saw some monkeys and statutes. 


Cows are everywhere as are dogs and monkeys. Animals are absolutely a part of the crowd and we dont minds them and they dont mind us! Just watch where you step and its all good! 


We wrapped up our day with an Ayurvedic massage with special oils after a good ol' pulse diagnosis which rendered me as a "fire" body type which angers easily and cools just as easily. I should stay away from spicy foods was my reccomendation for taming this wild flame! The massage was fully naked and quite vulnerable. The lady rubbed my stomach aggressively for an hour and afterwards I was bloated for hours but by the next day the swelling went down and I released the buildup which was there and felt much better! S'ra and I went to Mother Ganges (pronounced, Ganga here) and dipped our feet in the sacred water for a while and drew pictures in the soot of the sun and moon. The soot is soo soft and silky, the water was crisp and refreshing and I felt very connected to the earth as I peered at the Himalayas and spoke of things with my new friend. 


Afterwards we ate on the rooftop of a small place overlooking the Ganges and each shared a little about ourselves. 


That night back at the Ashram we had our first innitial ceremony where prayers, mantras, and sutras were read in our honor to request that we be blessed with knowledge and hard working spirits to see us through the course and that the teachers have the energy and vigor to see us through. Gifts were given to the goddess, Shiva, such as sweet cake, flowers, apples, mango's, rice, candles, incense, and oils. We each then got our foreheads smudged and our wrists tied with red and yellow string to serve as reminders to try our best and to be our best.

Visualization into Creation

In pre school there was always 'storytelling time' where the teacher gathered all of us tots into a circle around her as she read out of a picture book. It was right before nap time~I remember the feeling of wanting so badly to read to the group and to be the one teaching the others and telling them stories! So one day, the teacher had us rounded up and she stepped away for a moment. I took that opportunity to jump up,  sit in her chair, and grab the gigantic Dr. Seuss book she had placed aside to read. As much as I wished I could, I was unable to actually read yet, so I improvised with my imagination and began to tell a story based on the pictures in the book. The teacher saw what I was up to and rather than stop me, she allowed me to continue on and informed the kids that I would be reading to them that day! She was an amazing woman for that~



I made the story as silly as possible and came up with names for the different characters as I turned the pages. If you asked me today to recite that story I would draw a blank. On the other hand if you asked me to describe the emotional state that I was in I would tell you that at the root of that experience was a sense of playfulness* I was unafraid of what anyone thought or if I was right or wrong in my approach. I was unaware of the teachers or students observation of me and viewed that event as more of a group effort. I was not creating an experience for them, rather, we were all creating an experience with one another in a playful and participatory way. I remember the pictures being very colorful and vibrant, all of us kids laughing out loud, and some were even throwing ideas out to help me. It was exciting in a way that I very seldom become  in my adult life.



Playing with my peers, being creative, not even considering fear for a second... pure, unadulterated childhood...



My imagination was geared in a different direction during that precious time in my life. I only imagined games I could play, stories I could tell, bike rides I could take, what my dolls would say if they could speak, colors I had never seen before...and then I would promptly share those things with others and put those ideas into action. I would play games with others kids, I would make up stories and share them with my friends, I would ride my bike up and down the street just as just as I imagined I would, with the wind in my hair and sun on my face... I didn't know it at the time, but I was practicing a very elementary and fundamental form of what I like to call, "Visualization into Creation." I used my imagination to visualize in my minds eye some thing or event, and then I participated in its creative birth into my reality!



As an adult I often get creative thoughts and can visualize some pretty detailed scenarios. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way fear entered the equation and changed the direction of my imaginations life energy. I tend to find myself visualizing how great something could be...if only I was smarter, prettier, faster, stronger, yadayadayada. The truth is that I have so many ideas on such a regular basis that were I to write them each down as they came to me I would probably have a book by now and be a billionaire. I am serious! But I have allowed, up to this point, fear to dictate what I will even entertain as possible with regards to my ideas and what I believe I am capable of:



 "Well I would paint that image I have in my mind, but I don't know how to use oil paint and it takes time and costs money to go to a class, and even if I went I may not be good at it and people may laugh at me, and even if they don't they will lie to me about how good they think it is and Ill know in my heart that they are lying and dealing with that is just embarrassing for all of us and its really not that great of an idea for a picture anyways so I may as well just forget about it..."



Sound familiar?



What I did was I effectively visualized that event into extinction. Sometimes we get the courage to go ahead and take the class but then we spend so much time visualizing how it will not work out that we end up with a series of coincidental events cropping up in our lives that make it impossible for us to have a good experience:



~had to miss class because of work, lost the only paintbrush that can create the kind of line I need for this next piece, traffic, caught a cold, couldn't find a babysitter, put too much thinner in my white and I don't have a back up tube and I ruined my material...



and in all of that we can justifiably say to other people that we gave it a go, we showed up as much and as best as we could but it just didn't work out. Really what we did was we effectively visualized that original idea into shambles. We had fears that it wouldn't work out and the Universe met our visual demands with road blocks, random difficulties, and so on.



This type of thing plays out in the lives of so many people. For some it is why they don't switch career paths, or apply for that promotion or ask for a raise that is long overdo. For others it is why relationships fall apart or never begin, or why its so hard to quite smoking, or why creativity gets stifled. Whatever it is for you, my dear reader, it is not hopeless. There is a way out of this self inflicted conundrum.



I had a sponsor once who told me that when I get anxious or fear ridden, to take a moment to excuse myself to the ladies room (because no matter where you are in life it is always acceptable to do so!) and while I was in the stall to close my eyes and visualize myself doing an incredible job at whatever it was that I was facing. She told me to imagine what it would look like if I did a fantastic job at giving that presentation, or having dinner with that new family, or working with that new material. Then once I saw the vision, to go out and do it.



In later years, while in therapy, one of the first exercises my therapist had me practice, and continues to have me do, is to visualize what I would look like if I were the kind of woman I always wanted to be. How do I sit or stand? Where are my hands? What kind of space am I in? Is anyone with me? What kind of people are they? Is there anything else there that I notice? ... Interestingly, this is a difficult exercise because it requires that I not acknowledge fear based thinking and only move forward along a path self creation of a person I have never seen before in my minds eye without immediately destroying her. My therapist is essentially asking me to assist in the creative birth of my True Self...



The other day a friend posted a video online by the Galactic Federation of Paleidians (which I wont get into right now!) which captivated me because of a particular line that was spoken:



"visualize yourself preforming the skill as a master in a parallel reality that already exists. Open your heart to this reality and surrender into the void which bridges you into it. Know this reality must exist for if it didn't your intent in manifesting would have never occurred."



All around me the solution is at hand! I am the creator of my own life. Or, if I haven't been up to this point I can certainly begin to take charge now. OR!~ I can assist my Creator with my birth by simply practicing the technique of visualization of myself as the Creator intended me to be.



Furthermore, I can begin to invoke that young spirit from back in my childhood days of playfulness during my practice. I can begin to imagine in a joyful and experimental way what community cooperation would look like were it to manifest. What would starting a conversation with everyone I feel so inclined to talk with result in possibly? What would the expression be on peoples faces if 1000 of us all stopped what we were doing and held hands? Or if everyone in the world set aside their tasks and chores at the same exact time for a moment of silence? What would it look like if it caught on for larger and larger groups of people to come together and agree to imagine the same thing in their collective minds eye as a form of group consciousness to advance an idea or feeling in the world?



ASK AND ANSWER MY FRIENDS!



BE UNINHIBITED BY WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW IS REAL AND OPEN YOUR MIND TO THE TRUTH THAT THERE ARE ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES AND ALL OF THEM ARE WORTH VISUALIZING INTO BEING!



CHOOSE PEACE. CHOOSE COLOR. CHOOSE LIGHT AND LOVE. AND ASK YOURSELF:



WHAT WOULD THAT LOOK LIKE?



THEN...



SEE IT IN YOUR MIND



AND



WATCH IT MANIFEST INTO YOUR REALITY*



Go back to place of when you were a child and you were completely unafraid to play new games and say silly things and make funny faces. Go back to that place where is was OK to make new friends, and try new and exciting things, and share your ideas with whomever will listen~ even if its just yourself in the mirror, or your pet, or your diary.



Break free from the limitations of what you think you know about yourself and this world. Use your imagination. Spread the word.



In pureness and pastel energy,



Namaste

Come What May

Some things in life come as a result of hard work; they come to us because we decide that there is some thing or experience we want to have for specific reasons and then we take the necessary steps to attain those things at all costs. I imagine that most people are like myself in that accolades of one brand or another are most often included in that list of accomplishments. Documentation or proof is necessary to fulfill that need of acknowledgement that we were able to set our minds to some feat and then one day at a time- surmount the once seemingly insurmountable. A college degree, custody of a child in a family feud, marriage to a good partner, a trophy for first place, a series of promotions that reveal our journey from entry level to the eschelon of the higher ranks, a successful business venture... These are the achievements of self will and worthy as they are of praise and approval, they are the sorts of gifts in life that we give to ourselves. While they may, at some point along the way, serve other people as a catalyst to motivation in their own lives, they are, at the beginning and at the end of it- self inspired and self serving.


On the other hand, there are experiences in life that are quite phenomenological; ways of living that show up unexpectedly without our specific request, and implore us to explore further. The types of things I am speaking of are talents that become manifest in one way or another that we never knew we had, interests that we had never considered before to be captivating, people we literally met at bus stops or in another country that said just the right thing or gave us a word of advice that changed our lives forever. And through these chance encounters our lives gain meaning and energy. From out of a deep slumber our inner Selves come alive with curiosity and vigor. The Universe in all of Her nurturing and might delivers unto us our true path. For us to follow that direction is a blind pursuit which serves no selfish material desire for gain and often times results over and over in the selfless service to humanity around us.


Yoga chose me.


What does that mean exactly you might ask, that a form of exercise chose a person? How is that possible and what good will it do to invest so much time into practicing so much? Is there not more to life? My answer to those questions are as follows:


I don't know.


All I can say is that while I have lived my life along a safe and narrow path of social achievements, doing what I have thought expected of me, there has been a vast river beside me that I have been blind to. My life thus far has been a camping trip at the foot of the Himalayas and surrounded by fresh air, open sky, life and laughter-and I had unknowingly spent it inside of my tent! But life, as most can testify, holds no consistency for too long and it was only a matter of time before some of the pebbles on the path shook lose and I lost my footing, landing my body in that rushing river delivering me to a place I have never been before. My eyes have been opened to possibilities unimagined specifically in any detail. The landscape earlier described as my campground has always been a place in my heart; a place that my inner Self always longed for. That is the place that I was meant to arrive, a way that I was born to see, and an outlook that the Universe intends me to have.


I came across yoga in that way. I was walking along that path beside the river~fresh out of college and had just begun work at my new 9-5 'big girl' job. I had attained all I could think if to acquire up to that point in my life: a drug free existence, a legal visitation order with my then 11 year old son, a fully insured new automobile with a license to accompany it, a 2 bedroom apartment in a nice neighborhood next to an ice-cream shop, a college degree, and a nice steady routine. But I was in serious trouble. My heart was breaking. I was lonely- terribly and undeniably lost I was engaging in behavior that I thought would fill the hole in my soul. I was dating a man that I should have walked away from the first time we met. In a desperate attempt to create a family I stayed. He was drug addicted and very hard to live with. After many break-ups and broken promises, and right before I was desperate enough to run away and hide, we became pregnant. That was the final straw.


I could no longer think of myself and the life I insisted could work if only I tried a little harder and didn't give up. There was a child inside of me that needed me to take care of her. I called my sister, Meghanne, and she came and got me. We grabbed some clothes and I stayed in hiding at her place until the boyfriend stopped coming around. I lived in fear that he would return and destroy everything. He haunted me in my dreams and threatened to douse my life in black paint and gasoline- drowning my spirit with his addiction and hopelessness. Dramatic, I know! But that is exactly how I felt every single day, for many days in a row. I wanted to keep the baby. Without going into detail I will say that I did the best I could with planning and researching to see if there was any way I could provide for my child alone with all the resources that were available to me. I made a clear assessment of how likely it was that the boyfriend would not come back around if I bore his child. Let me be clear when I say, I WANTED TO HAVE THAT BABY... But I chose not to and believe it or not, it was for her sake. I had her best interest at heart.


It killed me to kill her. I prayed that G~d would personally send his hand down to earth and carry her out of my womb into a better and safer place. Then, escorted by my best friend in the world, I was hollowed out by a vacuum. My daughter was gone forever.


From the depths of my soul I screamed out to the Universe and begged for relief. On my knees and down to my face in my minds eye, I prayed for a new life so that I would never again have to make that kind of decision or live that kind of way. And right at that moment I lost my footing and fell into the river. The Universe, I believe, in response to my calls, had compelled my feet to slip into a new way of life. My tears were the water that washed over me and swept me to a new and unfamiliar place.


Shortly after, I was droning around with a friend and helping her move to a new house. While there a girl showed up that I hadn't seen in months. That girl was glowing and looked so happy! She and my friend were chatting and I overheard them talking about hot yoga. It was the first thing I had really tuned into since that sad day weeks before. I went home and got the idea to look up this "hot yoga" and discovered that there was a studio less than a mile from my place of work. The schedule matched up perfectly with my in and out time and on a whim I gave it a try. I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE IT BEFORE IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE!


The room was soo hot and class was so long and hard, but it was perfect. Perfect because it resembled that sort of purgatory I had become accustomed to living in with the way of life I had previously chosen. It was unmatched in transitory efficacy from an old way of life into a new way of being. My tortured soul found a familiar place where it could express itself while my mind learned discipline and my spirit came to life* I went nearly every day. Some days I cried in class, some days I laughed and was overcome with joy. Some days I experienced anger and rage at the heat. But I always had an experience to remember and a lesson was always learned that I could apply to my life outside of the studio.


Yoga chose me and I don't know what it means but I do know that it is a gift and it feeds me like nothing else has the ability to. It nurtures me, compels me, and unites me with currents of livelihood that I truly believe I would have missed but for the practice itself and for that I am grateful. Aside from loving the gift of yoga, I aspire to have no expectation about it lest I rob myself of its mystery*


Come what may*


I have since began my own practice of yoga outside of the hot studios in my home, at the park, or in a gym. I suspect however, that over the years to come I will return from time to time to the hot rooms.


I hope that over the course of this blogging endeavor I can convey to you readers a glimpse of the type of miracles yoga has had on my life as it continues to unfold. My future tellings will focus more on the actual yoga practice and experience itself and I will no longer step into my past moving forward from here. I will be honest as I can about the truth of the yoga process in all of its grit and grace alike*


Namaste

A New Year. A New Life. A Beautiful Coincidence.

When I turned 30 years last September, I decided I wanted a fresh take on life. I spent all of my 20's desperately trying to be in control of my own destiny. I would create goal lists, check lists, to-do lists. I studied and worked and kept to myself for the most part. I was going to become a respectable, degree holding, dignified and well established woman who would be eligible for serious and responsible courtship. I would get a high paying, service oriented job, and I would marry a man with the same. We would produce 2 children, buy a home, go on vacations, and die happily after many years of that life together. The end. 
I thought if I could just get through college, if I could just get that job... then everything else would fall into place. I would be happy. So all of my goal lists, and check marks, and organizing were all geared towards attaining that vision I had of a  perfect life. I toiled away many hours and had tunnel vision and rarely looked around to enjoy life. In fact, I was frightened to look around because I may become distracted from my terribly important task at hand whose completion would satisfy my need for safety, security, and belonging. 
So... here I sit. Blogging at 12:02 AM, alone in a very small room that I rent out of a house. Here I sit, a 30 year old, college degree holding unmarried female with 3 part time jobs waitressing- wondering what happened. I thought I had it all figured out. My plans, my well organized, tightly regimented, fully focussed plans- didn't work as I had so desperately hoped. I have spent time going over my goal lists in my old diaries trying to figure out what I had done wrong. The only thing I really noticed was that each year, I strayed further and further from my outlined pathway to happiness; my road to the perfect life. 
It may be the case that I should not plan so much. That I should just be open to life. That I should look around and engage people around me more, go more places, dance more, cook more, stay up later. And yet to even think of what I should be doing differently is me planning! Oh the irony! Is there any way out?!


My mother gave me a tiny dragonfly pendant for my 30th birthday. She said it symbolized new beginnings and that she hoped the next 10 were new and exciting. I wear that pendant every day with the hopes that that little dragonfly will carry me away with it when it zipps off. Or that maybe, just maybe, it will attract some stroke of luck that will change my outlook forever* It was only weeks later that I pulled up the Yog Peeth Ashram in Rishikesh, India online and very quickly made the deposit for my stay. I was going to try something new. Me and my dragonfly were going to India~


I was watching a movie tonight called Outsourced about a man who goes to India to train his replacement on how to market to Americans. There was a scene where Holi, an Indian holiday of color to celebrate the changing of the seasons, was being celebrated. People throw brightly colored powder and liquid at each other all day long in the streets! Everyone gets covered in rainbows! They really do this over there! I was overjoyed at the thought of getting to be there for that holiday because I love love love color so so so much* I decided to look online to see when it was in 2011 and it turns out that I will miss it by 2 weeks. boo. 
THE GOOD NEWS on the other hand~ is that my training actually begins on April 4th which is Bikrami Samvat (the Hindu New Year)! Tell me that is not a beautiful and undeniable coincidence ehe? And guess what? Only several days later on the 12th of April there is the celebration of Ram Navami. I don't fully understand this holiday just yet but I can say that in my first search for more information on this holiday I read the following:


"It is believed that listening to the story of Rama cleanses the soul. Meditating on the noble Rama and chanting his name is believed to ease the pains of life and lead one to moksha, or liberation."

http://festivals.iloveindia.com/ram-navami


Yes, this sounds very coincidental to me as well because this is exactly what I think needs to happen in my life. I seek liberation from the ideas I have about what will ease my pain and bring me joy. I long for my life to unfold without expectation or attachment. I think the stars are aligning and shining on my hearts wishes. I think the Universe is letting me know that it has been listening and that everything will be ok* 


My 30th year will be spent in in India, learning a new way of life beginning on their New Years Day, during the month of liberation* 

Train ride from Haridwar to Agra

While sitting on the floor in the Barnes and Noble 'International Travel' section and silmultaneously sipping a peppermint mocha frappuccino  and thumbing through India travel guides- I was elated to learn that I would be able to see the Taj Mahal before heading back home to America!


I had no idea how mobile India actually is. For some reason I had my mind made up that India, being a third world country and all, had no major established comuting routes to safely get tourists from one place to the next that was fast, efficient, or affordable. To my surprise I discovered that India has a multiplicity of short and long distance commuter option available that are both rediculously affordable as well as safe.


~India, my friends, in well connected! ~


Some options seem more modern and clean than others, but for an average of $5.00 US dollars to travel hundreds of miles I will not complain! There are inner city modes of transport such as city busses, taxis, motorbikes rentals, and those cycle riders that ride you around in thier buggy. Then there are a variety of ways to travel long distances which include all of the above, (except for the cyclist or course! That poor guy would wither away- Jayzus!), as well as airplanes, trains, and car rentals.


Since I have never ridden on a train before, and since the train system in opperations seems to run smoothly enough, I have opted to travel by train from Haridwar to Agra before heading back to the states to see the Taj Mahal*


I am very excited about this decision because once I began planning my train trip and found that I have many trip options and will likely see stunning countryside as well as developed mini metropolitan cities with smatterings of anciet temples and places of royal worship. I will see these places and things with my very eyes right in front of me! Can you imagine?


... moment of silence here as I envision the sun setting over a golden town, tucked away in some green landscape with only hints of glittering rooftops catching the rays and revealing the existance of itself - as I watch, rolling by in the train, through the window...


Ok. That was nice~ Now back to work!


According to the following link:
http://www.mustseeindia.com/how-to-reach/from-haridwar-to-agra


Haridwar, which is only a 30 minute bus ride from Rishikesh where I will be staying, is a major starting point for a vast array of trains that travel all over India and back. I will most likely depart Haridwar on Monday the 16th May. That gives me a day to relax after my training ends and I become fully certified as a yoga intructor and consientious practitioner of the art* So it looks like I will be taking the Kalinguatkal Express Train service which has a route which stops in 14 cities not including Haridwar and Agra. I will have a lot to take in!


The sights are as follows:
http://www.mustseeindia.com/trains/Kalingautkalexp-8478


My work now will be to see some history on all of these places. It may be the case that I will want to stay overnight in one of these towns before heading to the Taj. Who knows how this will unfold now that I know how easy it is to travel there*


Namaste~

 

I FOUND OUT THAT BY TAKING A TRAIN FROM haridwar to deli and then to Angar I will be able to tour the Taj Mahal! THE TRAIN RIDE SHOULD ONLY BE 1 DAY AND IM SUPER HAPPY*

Brand New!

Ok. Bare with me I have never created a Blog before. It WILL get more interesting I just gotta play with it for a bit longer!
ओके. बारे विथ में इ हवे नेवर क्रेअतेद अ ब्लॉग बेफोरे. आईटी विल गेट मोरे इन्तेरेस्तिंग इ जुस्त हवे तो प्ले विथ आईटी फॉर अ बीत लोंगेर!

Hahahaha* I thought it would be cool to have Hindi translations for all of my posts. Then I recalled using an online translator to help me in my 3rd year Spanish course and how messy the translations got once translated and then converted back to English. So I copied the Hindi translation that Blogspot provided of my above post into a google translator for HIndi to English and this is what came up:
OK. With a blog about the e Ahve Never Bephoare Kreated. IT Will Get More Play With Inteareasting the IT FOR ME Juast Ahve Alonger a pass!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME. THEY WILL ALL LAUGH AT ME!!! lol

Testing!