I'm Only Sleeping

Saturday 13 December 2008
Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwanthari Ashram, Neyyar Dam, Kerala

So the bell goes at 5:30 though I don't hear it and Evan wakes me up. It's still dark outside as we make our way to the main hall for the early morning chanting and meditation. We grab a seat at the back and after a few sonorous oms we close our eyes and meditate. I find my mind drifting off onto various familiar topics every now and then, but manage to bring my mind back to my breathing. My legs are occasionally uncomfortable but I deal with it without too many problems.
After we open our eyes again it's now daytime and they begin a whole bunch of chants, most of which I can't make out the words to. For those that I can it mainly consists of the names of Hindu gods and things promoting meditation, generosity and so on.

After that's finished there's a welcome snack of tea and jam sandwiches (we don't eat breakfast until later) before our first yoga class. It was slightly different from the yoga classes I've taken before, but as I hadn't done any yoga for a while anyway, it was still hard work. Given the environment too, I was sweating like a pig in no time. Afterwards I was literally drained.
We then had some food that was fairly good vegetarian stuff, though Evan didn't find it appetising. We went to get some extra food from a nearby hut. I had a red banana for the first time. It's like a normal banana but a bit thicker, and a slight taste of apple, but 99% the same as a yellow one. However with the yoga, the early wake up, the travelling and the general lack of food, I was knackered. We went back to the dorm and I slept for a good while.

We woke up to get some tea and the scheduled lecture for after wasn't taking place, so we went for a quick walk outside. The lake is next door so we had a look at that. It's fairly mountainous round here and though there is some cloud cover it still looked pretty good. There were a few locals and a couple of westerners swimming in the lake, despite a sign saying that there was a risk of being attacked by crocodiles.

After that we were still tired and went back to the dorm and slept some more. There was a second scheduled yoga lesson in the evening, but we're both so knackered that we decide to give it a miss. Instead we go next to the vegetarian meal in the evening and this time I eat as much as I can – I've learnt my lesson.

In the evening there's another session of chanting and meditation. It's the last session for the Teacher Training Class that have been here for a month and they're demob happy. There's only a brief session of meditation which is a shame as I like to get stuck into that, and then what seems like hours of chanting. The TTC group are really into it and at one point some guy stands up and starts dancing like a geek possessed. I can't really get into the chanting bit, especially when it goes on for so long. It's all about praising the Hindu gods and I'm all about No Religion Only God so it doesn't do much for me (Evan, being Catholic, doesn't get much out of it either).
Once that finally comes to an end there's the graduation ceremony for those on the TTC. They manage to deal with that quite quickly which is good work. After that however there is a so-called talent show. This consists of an MC who with bad timing and a heavy German accent tells some jokes that are actually quite funny but lose a lot in the delivery, like “If Sanskrit is god's language is that why only he can understand it?”

The highlight is some guy playing a shaky version of The Sound of Silence. There's yet more chanting which is a bit of a bore, a basic magician and a slide show that never occurs due to technical problems. There's a funny bit where the yoga teachers go through the whole routine in about two minutes to show how you can fit it into daily life, and it ends with a swami who can only speak in Hindi boring everyone to death.

It's now 10 o'clock and time for bed. Despite all the sleep I've had during the day I have no problem falling fast asleep again.