Day 14 India, Yoga

Day 14 "...And feel better the change in our minds and bodies..."

Today I figured I would give a bit of information on the yoga that we're doing here at Zamorins.

 I'm no yoga master, so bear with me. In fact, the very first time I did yoga was actually at the

 beginning of my sabbatical when Raechel and I were at Westglow Resort in Blowing Rock. I enjoyed it enough there that I figured I would give it a try while I'm here in India.

Each day at 11:30 our yoga master, Anil, arrives on his motorcycle. Amelia, my mother, and I are what constitutes the

 class. The session basically breaks into three separate parts. I'm certain there are formal names for all of it, but I would call it stretching, exertion, and meditation. Each requires concentration of the mind and proper breathing technique. In fact, I have a suspicion that yoga is just a means of increasing the oxygen level in your blood to give you a "high." But point being is that the stretching involves each member of the body in various loosening exercises. The exertion generally means positioning your body into some sort of contortion that requires you to exert force on your muscles. It's still in a stretching fashion, but in a way that makes you sweat and your muscles tense. The final meditation is a cooldown period, where our yoga master asks us to visualize our mind and body at rest and at peace.

I had some experience with the meditation aspect in college from my world religion's course. T

he goal is to focus on the here and now. If you've never tried it, you should. It's very hard you'll find. It's amazing the different kinds of thoughts that will wander into your mind while you are lying still, focusing on your breathing. I swear I've covered at least half my life's memories over the period of the last two weeks' thoughts.

The end result is a body that feels better. There are many ways to describe in what way, but I always have the image of being at peace, and at balance. Things feel more right when you're done.

I'm not certain if I will keep up with yoga when I return to the States. I hope I do, if only from time to time to help center myself.

I will always remember the sessions here for the cadence and tone of the yoga master. I'm not sure if it's because English is his second language or it is part of his plan to put our minds at peace, but he uses the same words and inflection each time during the session.

"And relax, to feel better the change in our minds and bodies..."
"Take time, and take our minds, and put it to free..."

"Relax.....relax.....relax...."