| Yoga and meditation in Pokhara After all the trekking I decided it was time for something else. Many people you meet here have been to India (or will go there) and have been involved in some kind of spiritual activity there, or here in Nepal. So I decided to end my trip in such a way. It took me a while to find a place in Pokhara where I could do some introductory yoga and/or meditation. Most places are closed because of the lack of toursists (caused by the Maoist threats). I did find a perfect place in the end. It is called Sadhana yoga. A 'retreat' about 30 minutes walking (with a stiff uphill bit that always gets you sweating in the end) outside of Lakeside Pokhara. Here you can stay for as long as you want and be a 'student' which means you take part in the daily ritual of lessons and activities. When I signed up, only two other students were present. Rohan, an australian guy, about my age. And Chris who coincidentally was one of Kim's (Onno's sister) trekking partners ( female, English, 58). Right away I was received with a lot of friendliness by Petra (German Lady, owner) and Asanga (Nepali, about 33, yoga teacher). I joined them, Rohan and Chris, Durga (Asanga's wife, 22), and Gyanu (girl, cooks and cleans) for dinner on the night before my three day introductory course started. The food was really good (even though it was some form of Dahl Bat). Next morning it all started. Here's the schedule: 6.30 am - 7.00 am: Morning Meditation Sitting completely still for half an hour trying not to let your mind wander. This is the first step in meditation. It was really difficult throughout the three days, but I did get better at it. No problems with sitting in one position, but couldn't get my mind to shut up for one minute. Takes years of practice though. 7.15 am - 8.00 am: Morning Walk Nice but sweaty walk through the great surroundings of the place! 8.00 am - 8.15 am: Yogic Cleansing: Bit of an odd activity. Pooring salt water into one nostril and letting it poor down the other. after this many weird sounds and faces to get all the water out of your nasal passages (if you want to know more, I'll tell you in person). 8.15 am - 9.45 am: Yoga: Many strange and challenging positions. Good fun, but I really missed my breakfast during it. 10.00 am Breakfast FINALLY!!!! 10.00 am - 12.00 am: Time off Relaxing, which usually meant I fell asleep to wake up just in time for next activity. 12.00 pm - 12.30 pm: Guided Meditation In this meditation we would sit still again for about 30 minutes. However, Petra would talk us through it which prevented your mind from wandering a bit more. 12.45 pm: Lunch Always a good and healthy lunch prepared by Gyanu. 1.15 pm - 3.00 pm: time off again Which for most of us meant: playing a game, some reading or sleeping again. 3.00 pm - 3.30 pm: Karma Yoga A nice way to describe: work. Everybody had to do something useful like cleaning, weeding, wool winding or something. This was followed by afternoon tea with cookies! 4.00 pm - 4.30 pm: Chanting Singing some songs in Sanskrit. Most of it were originally Hindu songs I think. It was much fun when Durga and Gyanu would join us. They used this trembling in their voice which made it sound really Indian. 4.30 pm - 5.00 pm: Talking About some kind of phylosophical topic 5.00 pm - 7.00 pm: Yoga Usually a bit tougher than the morning session, but also easier because you're more flexible in the afternoon. 7.00 pm: Dinner This would be the end of the day for most of us. Followed by some talking or a game of UNO and that was it! All in all, I really enjoyed my days there. We had lots of fun and I got a taste of yoga and meditation. Also, it was nice to meet some Nepali people and get to know them better! It has triggered my curiosity and I might try to learn a bit more about meditation and try to do some yoga in Amsterdam as well! Back to Main Page |