There are 22 of us going to India, ranging in age from 30's to 60's, from advanced yoga practitioners certified to teach, to more casual enthusiasts. Some of us knew each other well before planning to travel to India together, while some of us will remain complete strangers until we meet at the airport in Chicago for the flight to Delhi. For some of us, this will be a time of reunions. For example, Diane and her cousin, Nancy, will be reconnecting after decades of living across the country from each other. For Brad, who practiced yoga with Inner Connections for many years before his job took him from Colorado to Arkansas, the trip to India offers a chance to nourish some of the friendships he left behind. Some of us are family. Juanita and her two grown daughters, Beth and Kat, have made the Inner Connections Yoga trip an annual "mother-daughter tradition" for three years in a row. John and Jeanne, the owners of the studio, and Michael and Shelagh are married, and Renee and Don are also a committed couple. Meanwhile, there are others in the group - like Gaylynn, Julia & Carolyn - who are traveling as singles, yet important members of what Gaylynn calls her Inner Connections "yoga family".
There are two things that bring us all together: an appreciation for our yoga experience with Inner Connections and a desire to visit India.
For each of us, the path to discovering yoga was different. Michael started practicing it at the advice of his swim coach. Unable to do the body dolphins necessary for butterfly stroke (while the other female members of the class had no difficulty) he came to yoga to improve his flexibility, and became so committed over time that he recently got certified to teach! This is a familiar story, in fact. The majority of us came to yoga for physical reasons but stayed because of something deeper, stronger and entirely non-physical. Kat got into yoga as a high schooler, obsessed with creating the perfect body for herself at all costs. Yet, through yoga, she came to a healthy acceptance of her body and got over the eating disorders that plagued her as a teen. Still, there are some in the group - Gaylnn and Juanita, for example - who were drawn to yoga because of the mental/emotional benefits. Both these women spent much of their lives being physically active, only to struggle later with physical injuries and illnesses that kept them from the activities they once loved, and found that yoga was the solution. Gaylynn says, "yoga was the perfect fit for me because I could get fit physically, mentally and emotionally." Juanita has a similar view, saying "I think it's a good way to calm yourself and calm your mind and change the way you relate to the world."
All of us have different motivations for going to India, some of us drawn to it because of our love of yoga and desire to gain a greater understanding of it, some of us intrigued by the culture, colors, exotic allure (and food!) of the country. Some of us - like Don and Renee - have some specific intentions for the trip, or are journeying in search of something. Others are excited about the open-ness of the adventure, come what may. While most of the people in our group have expressed some amount of apprehension about getting sick while traveling in India, Beth has a different view on it. She admits with nonchalance that she's been sick in every country she's ever visited (including - but not limited to! - Brazil, Thailand, Guatemala and Chile). "I'm pretty sure I'll get sick," she says. "But then it will be over and I'll keep enjoying the trip."
With departure only 24 hours away, excitement and gratitude are high. "Everywhere I travel with this group, we have such an incredible time," Gaylynn says. "We are all so lucky to go to all the places around the world we've been to - Brazil, Fiji, Honduras and now India." (She adds: "thank you, John and Jeanne, for all the hard work in making our dreams come true.") Renee expresses a shared sentiment when she says that she's excited about "everything" India has to offer. "I'm going to try to savor every moment there."
About Inner Connections Yoga
Inner Connections Yoga, in Castle Rock, Colorado since 2002, is a place where the ancient traditions of Hatha yoga are brought into the experience of our modern lives. John and Jeanne Adams, the studio owners, help their clients to unite the interconnecting aspects of body, breath and spirit, and also connect yoga enthusiasts in a supportive, friendly community. Every year, Inner Connections leads a group yoga trip to an international location. Past trips have included Brazil, Fiji, Honduras and Costa Rica. For more information, please visit www.InnerConnectionsYoga.com.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
The route
We have been planning it a long time. The Inner Connections yoga trip to India. Many of us have been dreaming about traveling in India for years! And now it's right around the corner... In just two weeks the journey will stop being a dream and become a reality, come what may.
Assuming, bus drivers don't go on strike and the airlines don't run out of fuel, here's the plan:
We start in Delhi on December 1st (following a 20-hour plane ride from Chicago - YIKES!). We will spend a couple days sightseeing in Delhi before taking a train up to Hardiwar and Rishikesh in the region of Dev Bhumi ("Land of the Gods"), an area which is one of India's major spiritual centers. We will be staying at an ashram and spiritual retreat center dedicated to:
1) Restoring yoga and meditation to their ancient and traditional purity, yet teaching the same in a modern scientific framework.
2) Exploring their application to the modern world, and fulfilling these purposes by training spiritual guides and teachers of international stature.
After a few days of studying yoga and meditation, and nurturing our personal practice of yoga we will head back to the Hardiwar train station. We'll need all that meditation practice at that point because we will have a 10 hour train ride to Agra!
We'll get an early start in Agra on December 7th. There, we'll visit the Taj Mahal before taking a bus to Jaipur. Jaipur is renowned for being meticlously planned, a place of royalty and grandeur, often called the "Pink City" because of the pink paint of all the houses in the old city.
From Jaipur, we will fly to Goa, where we will explore and enjoy the scenic beaches and sleepy Portuguese-influenced villages that this area is famous for.
Finally, we will journey to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) for a final day of adventure before we fly out and return to to the U.S.
Phew! When we first started planning, 2 weeks seemed like such a long and luxurious amount of time (our past yoga trips were usually 1 week). But now that I'm looking at how much territory we have to cover and how many things I want to see and do, it doesn't seem long at all!
About Inner Connections Yoga
Inner Connections Yoga, in Castle Rock, Colorado since 2002, is a place where the ancient traditions of Hatha yoga are brought into the experience of our modern lives. John and Jeanne Adams, the studio owners, help their clients to unite the interconnecting aspects of body, breath and spirit, and also connect yoga enthusiasts in a supportive, friendly community. Every year, Inner Connections leads a group yoga trip to an international location. Past trips have included Brazil, Fiji, Honduras and Costa Rica. For more information, please visit www.InnerConnectionsYoga.com.
Assuming, bus drivers don't go on strike and the airlines don't run out of fuel, here's the plan:
We start in Delhi on December 1st (following a 20-hour plane ride from Chicago - YIKES!). We will spend a couple days sightseeing in Delhi before taking a train up to Hardiwar and Rishikesh in the region of Dev Bhumi ("Land of the Gods"), an area which is one of India's major spiritual centers. We will be staying at an ashram and spiritual retreat center dedicated to:
1) Restoring yoga and meditation to their ancient and traditional purity, yet teaching the same in a modern scientific framework.
2) Exploring their application to the modern world, and fulfilling these purposes by training spiritual guides and teachers of international stature.
After a few days of studying yoga and meditation, and nurturing our personal practice of yoga we will head back to the Hardiwar train station. We'll need all that meditation practice at that point because we will have a 10 hour train ride to Agra!
We'll get an early start in Agra on December 7th. There, we'll visit the Taj Mahal before taking a bus to Jaipur. Jaipur is renowned for being meticlously planned, a place of royalty and grandeur, often called the "Pink City" because of the pink paint of all the houses in the old city.
From Jaipur, we will fly to Goa, where we will explore and enjoy the scenic beaches and sleepy Portuguese-influenced villages that this area is famous for.
Finally, we will journey to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) for a final day of adventure before we fly out and return to to the U.S.
Phew! When we first started planning, 2 weeks seemed like such a long and luxurious amount of time (our past yoga trips were usually 1 week). But now that I'm looking at how much territory we have to cover and how many things I want to see and do, it doesn't seem long at all!
About Inner Connections Yoga
Inner Connections Yoga, in Castle Rock, Colorado since 2002, is a place where the ancient traditions of Hatha yoga are brought into the experience of our modern lives. John and Jeanne Adams, the studio owners, help their clients to unite the interconnecting aspects of body, breath and spirit, and also connect yoga enthusiasts in a supportive, friendly community. Every year, Inner Connections leads a group yoga trip to an international location. Past trips have included Brazil, Fiji, Honduras and Costa Rica. For more information, please visit www.InnerConnectionsYoga.com.
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