Rishikesh, India
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2006
1
49
55
Trip End
Ongoing
Rishikesh,
India
Monday, June 25, 2007
we spent the 1st day just checking out the area and looking for yoga classes. we settled on one recommended by our hotel owner. it was good but we ended up trying classes in two of the nearby ashrams. it was primarily hatha style. we only learned a few new asanas but lots of pranayama (breathing) techniques. in addition to yoga it was off season for international travellers like ourselves but peak season for indians making a pilgrimage to one of the many temples and ashrams. lots of sadus (hindu monks?) were also in the area. we were blessed by several (for a small fee). very interesting watching people visit the hindu temples in the area and bath in the holy river.
we got our holy baths too when we went for a whitewater rafting trip on the ganga. the water was chilly but also very invigorating considering the heat. we went on the last day of the season and were lucky to get to go as the water level was extremely high. beautiful scenery combined with fairly mild class III rapids made for a very enjoyable trip.
the food was also good in rishikesh. we had lots of food indian but also the occasional wester dish. good to be in at least the foothills of the himalaya again and really was rewarding to get a holistic approach to our yoga practice. most days we had 2 classes a day. it was very hot and humid but 8 days later we were in good yoga shape and ready to move on to dharamsala. home to thousands of tibetan refugees including the most famous one his holiness or hh, the dalai lama. he's always on the road though so fat chance of seeing him...
