I have nearly been in India for six months, and yet it feels like no time at all. When I meet other travellers who tell me they plan to stay for two or three months I am reminded (as I am frequently throughout every day) of how fortunate I am. I feel fortunate because to visit this incredible country for such a short period of time would leave me feeling empty – unfilled and I feel fortunate because finally I am living another of my dreams.
I have wanted to visit India for so many years. Perhaps my first wishes to come here was during my first degree, when I spent two years listening to Professor Subrata Mita speak so eloquently about his country. In retrospect I actually think that I simply enjoyed the way which he taught more than the politics which he was teaching. I loved his unique perspective to the political, social and economic issues which he discussed. Ironically, it was because of Professor Subrata Mita than I have taken so long to come to India, as after my first degree he simply insisted that I take another. So I ended up studying for another two years. But Life brings you the unexpected with you least expect it and it was during those two years at Oxford that my paths crossed with another Guru – Mariella.
Mariella was my first yoga teacher, and this remarkable yogini continues to be an inspiration to me even over so much distance and after so much time has past. Mariella taught me asanas with such compassion and expression that I quickly realised their was more to yoga than simply 'stretching'. I spent two years listening to her talk about Mysore (the centre of Ashtanga yoga in India) and dreamed about one day practicing there. Although Mysore is in the middle of India and I am now in the north, I know that Time will carry me south eventually and in the meantime, I am now experiencing a new level of yoga which is making me feel so alive and yet grounded. Again, I am not sure that I expected to have such a strong reaction to three months of practice. However, these incredible new sensations have not come from within me, but with manipulation. My time here has been scattered with challenges – the erupting volcano under my arm, the bent neck, a chest infection, sinusitis... But for these – I am so thankful as without I would not have met a Healer who has healed even what I did not realise was broken.
Throughout the duration of my many months in India, I keep coming face to face with remarkable people. My eyes have been opened innumerable times from situations, experiences, encounters and most importantly from observing the reactions of these stranger friends: Real Social Workers, a Bengali Mother Teresa, a small pineapple girl, an Amazing Actor from Argentina, a tiny Buddha called 'Gita', a Magic Man, a Wild musician from Ancient Alexandria, a Crazy Yogini from Berlin who simply radiates energy, a Super Yogi Chef, a professional snowboard/sushi chef with the warmest smile, the waving fingerless lepers, and amongst many 'unexpected' others: A Healer.
I met the Healer in yoga. He kept catching my eye. I am not sure why, he just would. Then one day he asked how my head was. I had just had five days of severe head pain, so I replied honestly and told him 'not good'. He asked to touch my neck, and sure enough his touch ran directly to my forehead and then deep inside my body, making me feel a pain I thought had disappeared with Dhondup's Singing Bowls. After laying on the yoga mat for an indiscernible amount of time, the Healer had manipulated my body and my energy to levels it had never before known, and which has given me a firm belief in the power within our bodies and between our bodies. The Healer touched pressure points on my body which were so sensitive but which would lead my mind to flashes of forgotten images. I felt almost naked, as if he were reading my thoughts rather than just my tense muscles.
Unable to walk without assistance due to the intensity of his treatment, he led me to his room where I slept in a sea of colours and sensitivity. The next day I woke up literally feeling Lighter. As if my body had been washed of poisons and cleansed of self destruction. My yoga practice flew. The energy I felt streaming through my flesh felt so Alive, that I relaxed into the asanas, smiling uncontrollably from the combined sensations of the 'second layer of yoga' that was pervading my new body; my new self.
And this was how I made another Friend. Unexpectedly – like all of the Wonderful others - and as a result of a long chain of difficulties, and in this incredible country. It is another encounter which leaves me thinking that there are layers upon layers of experiences to face, challenges to dissect, and connections to remake and the importance of keeping ones eyes wide open.
Thank You from the Heart which you found.
