I have arrived…

Today, at shortly after noon local time, I arrived at my destination – Rishikesh Yogapeeth in Rishikesh Uttarakhand India, the location of House of Om’s 300 hour yoga teacher training program!! Approximately 36 hours of traveling completed – 4 flights, a taxi and a steep hike! It is now end of day Wednesday here (mid-morning at home in Kansas City USA) and since I woke Monday morning I have slept about 8 hours in several short naps.

As I walked between terminals of the Delhi airport this morning, to make my way to the domestic departures terminal, I was in awe – the activity, the energy, the haze, the people everywhere, the noises. Prior to the final flight I met two fellow students in the same program and we traveled the last of the journey together – Julia from Germany and Kai from Patagonia (southern end of South America).

The last flight was a quick one (35 minutes total) and the cab ride was the quintessential India cab ride I have always dreamed of taking! We saw monkey’s, traffic that appears to follow no rules (none I am familiar with), drove through an Elephant Crossing area (didn’t see any yet), saw dogs wander the streets and cows roam among the people and we crossed the Ganga river (the holy river of Hinduism). We were dropped on the side of the road for our hike to the ashram.

It was just over a 30 minute hike – our guide (who did it in sandals) could have run up it but luckily he slowed down for the 5 of us trailing him and he humored us with a few stops to catch our breath. The porters were waiting and ready to haul our bags up.

I have unpacked, wandered the gorgeous ashram, listened to a group of children chanting before dinner, talked with others from all over the world (I have only met one other American), enjoyed two vegan meals in the dining hall and a nice masala chai in the cafe. I also snuck in a 90 minute nap (which I struggled to wake up from) and completed a physical assessment (we answered questions about physical symptoms, did some range of movement exercises and received guidance on areas of the body to target through our practice – for me it’s heart openers and upper back strength, hip abduction and ankle/foot pronation and supination).

Tomorrow is Day One! Starting with Hawan (fire ceremony), breakfast and orientation before we jump into our regular schedule of classes that we will uphold for the remainder of our training.

I am truly grateful and in awe – I have dreamed of traveling to India for a very long time. As we made the final part of the journey I was very aware of the significance of just this first few days – all of the new experiences, the beauty in the “different from my day to day” that is all around me, and a shift deep within to explore more.

I was struck by a note from a friend and this has been in my mind all day, the awareness of all that this could open – “I am so excited for your future “yes’s” beyond this trip because of this trip – it is a forever experience in that way.”