Christmas Eve in India

Chrismas Eve in India. Headed to Madurai on Friday after practice with a British gal and one of Lino's assistants. Madurai is renoun for the which is abut 2 -3 km square easily. It was a 7 hour car ride and that was enough in and of itself. We stayed at a hotel that brought the neigboring temples' elephant in for breakfast.

Meenishka was amazing and huge and it was easy to get lost but not so easy to go where only Hindu's were allowed. Somehow we made it into one "Hindu only" section but got pulled from the main queue for the mother of all temples. We all got blessed by an elephant and made offerings with lotus flowers, coconuts, garlands, bananas, and ghee. We spent nearly 2 1/2 hours in that temple and could have easily spent the whole day there.

The next a.m. we had breakfast with the neighboring elephant and then headed into the city and saw an incredible palace and ate with the locals and shopped and rode in a rickshaw and auto-rickshaw with views of more churches and temples. The car would not start when it was time to leave so we headeback to the neighboring temple and meditated while the mechanic worked on it. And voila! It started up within an hour.

We were blessed to be taken around by locals who just saw us gazing up at the work of the ceilings and showing us the old parts of the temples and the OFF limit sections and visting the bats and rats and old dwellings that are closed to the public. The car ride back was a little scary. Witnessed several cars and a truck turn over and I was ready to administer first aid.

I'm happy to be back in the ocean today and David Garrigues made it down from Mysore for Kirtan last night but needless to say we were a little late from the drive. Did get to frolic with him in the ocean this late a.m. and he and Julie serenaded me on the beach with their guitar and violin. Live bluegrass here in Kovalam. I felt right at home. It was awesome and quite the scene.

I'm well and loving my time with Lino and grateful to all I have learned from, Nancy and my other teachers. Tim, Nicki and Eddie, and of course Suzy Gill.

I am very excited to share all when I return and until then I wish everyone a very safe and wonderful holiday week. Blessings from 7 degrees North of the equator.

Much love, Randa

Ten days in India

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

I have been in india now just 10 days and feel as though I have been around the world and back. The first week of practice with Lino started with led First Series for 3 days then 2 days of Mysore. Which everyone was asked to do First Series and then always led Primary on Fridays.

The crowd keeps growing. The shala is great. It is up on the roof top of a hotel. Tall roof with bamboo walls that drape from the sides. Proabley 3-4 times of our studio.

The weather is very warm and humid and the Arabian Sea is such a beautiful welcomed relief after practice. It is quite warm too, but feels very good to frolic. And the waves have been amazing for surf.

I have been doing a lot of body surfing and really enjoying myself.

Yesterday I headed to the most Southern tip of India. Kanya Kumari, where the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea all meet. There were many temples and palaces to see along the way. Blessings and offerings were made and bestowed upon me by various monks and the architecture, granite carvings paintings on the ceilings and history was overwhelming. Not to mention the drive

The driving here is surreal. 6 hours in a taxi. Weaving in and out of towns and cities and not more than 3 minutes max would pass and the horn was blown again and again and again. Covered in black soot and had a bit of a headache on my return but it was well worth it.

My time here is very precious and I have already picked up a lot of knowledge from lino. He has an incredibile way of giving. He does not miss a beat.

I sit with him at 5:30 pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for Pranayama and every other Sunday afternoon is technique workshop.

The people intrigue me and I have embarked on an Ayurvedic course, so we will see what happens.

Much love, Randa

Click here for a map of Inida.