Relaxing in Agra

After a couple days in Delhi, Agra seems quite relaxing. There is a totally different energy here which works better for me. Maybe it's because we're staying at a hostel instead of a hotel. Maybe it's because there are clearly more tourists. Maybe it's because I'm no longer traveling alone. Either way, I'm happy to be here a couple days before the ashram.

Our arrival in Agra was the most worrisome time yet, though. We bought a taxi but the car wouldn't start. So, they gave us a new car. It sounded weak upon start up but we had already paid (yeah, backwards. It was a taxi station sort of thing). After we get our stuff in the truck and settle in the back, our driver jumps in and so does another man. Two men in the car when typically there is only one seemed a little off. Both Bianca and I became on edge. After only driving a short ways down the road the car dies. There is a traffic jam ahead of us but cars were getting through. We waiting nearly 40 minutes for someone else to pick us up. In the mean time, or driver tells us because of this jam they can't take us all the way to our hostel, only to the east gate of the Taj Mahal where we'll have to get a tuktuk. Clearly, this was not going to work for us. We got in the new car and he tried to find us a tuktuk (we told him he must pay). He brought us through many dark ally ways, adding several drivers before he settled with one. It was a more open space filed with, if course, all men. As he spoke to these several men in Hindi, they kept looking back at us and laughing. This is certainly a time to feel worried. You are being transferred to a different driver whom they cannot track like a taxi service in the middle of the night and there are only two women and roughly seven men. We got the tuktuk, again, two male drivers.  More dark ally ways and feeling completely lost. We finally got to our destination, Friends Paying Guesthouse, with relief. Later that evening, Bianca and I joked about the situation; Our new motto becoming, "just take a Rickshaw" :)
We have seen much already in Agra. More temples and gardens, monkeys, begging children, and roaming cows. Today we will visit the Taj Mahal and this evening we take the train to Khajuraho to begin our yoga training. It's a very exciting day.
All the sight seeing has been well, but I am certainly ready to go inside and explore myself.

Delhi Days

My Indian Adventure Begins

It's difficult to put these kinds of experiences in to words, and yet I've hardly begun. My heart feels joyful and terrified at the same time. People who care for me have struck me with fear and I'm trying to find the balance between being open to the world while being extremely cautious. What a wonderful first lesson to learn. As I explore Delhi today I'm sure I will find that equilibrium I seek.

My travels have gone well. I was blessed to see the most gorgeous sunset yet on my plane to Delhi. I do not know our location as it set, but there were tall mountains peaking through the clouds and the sun was a bright red/orange. It was so magical in those moments, knowing what was to come ahead and losing myself in the sunset, I began to gently weep years of immense joy. I'm actually accomplishing a dream I have dreamt for quite some time. It's an unexplainable feeling I'm sure I'll be writing many poems about.

I attached some pictures below of my first hotel. I look forward to learning how to bath and shower with only a bucket. I look forward to all the differences I'm going to encounter being here in comparison to America. I must also say, I'm thankful I purchased that navy blue silk bed/sleeping bag liner you see in one if the pictures. This is a pretty clean place, and I'm sure I'd going to be better than many of the places I stay, so it's nice to know I have this with me wherever I go.

I am very excited to have gotten my pack bag, yoga mat and all (it was strapped to the outside), and to have been able to bring my hoop.

I'm so looking forward to this adventure. Here's to being safe, smart, and open.

"I have arrived"

December Yoga Challenge

For the month of December, I commit myself to 30 minutes of yoga everyday. I would set up a consequence for not completing this challenge, but I am setting the intention that I will, without doubt, commit myself to this challenge.

I have been struggling with discipline within my yoga practice. Though I practice frequently, I often take several days off in a row, create excuses about being too tired, and find myself moving through similar sequences without a larger goal when I do practice.  This month, I am going to break this habit and replace it.

I hope that with this first run, I will be able to hold a yoga challenge in my community, helping inspire those to commit to a practice as well.

December Week One Goals:

Opening my heart, letting compassion flow through me.

Building core and arm strength for arm balance poses.

Building confidence in inversion poses.

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Deepest Fear

As I read this to my 10 (yay!) yoga attendees, I breathed deeply into the honesty that I fear all that I can do. I am only beginning this journey and already I am making a difference for some. I've had students who have never tried yoga before coming to my classes and fully feeling the benefits. I have others who are working themselves deeper into each pose, finding stillness and truth with every breathe. And myself, I am growing exponentially by facing my fear of success and going after it.  As much as I have dreamed about becoming a yoga teacher and being that person that others find peace and acceptance in, I don't know that I truly believed I could be that person. I sit here today, basking in the sunlight peaking through an old window, realizing that I am more than I have believed myself to be. 

All the doubts I hold in myself, all the negative thoughts preventing me from truly letting my light shine, are slowly being put out. With others confidence in me, I'm finding more confidence in myself. We feed off one another. We are all one; our belief in others creates acceptance and belief in ourselves. 

It's not that I have never realized this before. Today, I just feel it more profoundly. Today, with this quote, I've found more truth within the words and within myself. Today, I begin to go deeper into my being. Today, I let my true light shine through; flaws and all.

With this, I say thank you to those who support and believe in me. Thank you to those who attend my classes. Thank you to those accepting me and letting me shine. To you, I hope to give the same.

<3 Namaste <3

Singing Bowl Fun