Radiant in Rishikesh: The Much-welcomed Ashram Aftermath

16/1/23

Our course is over. Today I woke up at 5:30 am, like clockwork. I feel Josh’s presence. I smile, of course, it happens this fast and this way. I smile from my heart, ahh such a legend. Thank you for always showing up when I’ve needed you, and for protecting me for half of my life now. Yet now it’s time for you to go. So we can meet again super soon. I have a thought pop in, maybe he will be my child and this freaks me out and is weird haha. Ok, it’s true, I overshare a lot. 

I am proud of myself, I got this. I have for a while now.

I read a beautiful story that resonated so much for me from a teacher in Bali.. 

I vow to honour myself and my body in its entirety. To bring aliveness to my emotions and sensations regardless of how uncomfortable that becomes. 

Opening up to receive it all,

I choose to keep my heart wide open despite its desire to sometimes close.

I choose to share with all of you my wild, my raw, my pain, my ecstasy, my authentic messy truth.

As I know that’s what we need, I know that’s what the world needs, what women need. 

To feel safe, too open, to stay open despite the pain. 

I am embodying this. And was inspired to create my own vows for 2023. Hence why I decided to share it all.

Feeling excited we get a new home today. Also reflections on the week begin. I said yes to this as Belle had found the place she wanted to study Tantra. I always loved learning and have never experienced an Ashram. Asked last night.. Would you do it again?

I pause… I don’t think it’s necessary for me to do another at this point in time. What it has outlined even more is my desire for my own sanctuary again. My own home. 

So I make my hot drink from my new Ayurveda mix. It tastes delicious and warms the soul. Western medicine is the exact opposite - however, it all has its place.

I set myself up in the sacred space next to the temple. Pranayama practice begins. I run through all of the Pranayama techniques we have practised in this course, enjoying the consistency and getting back to these again. As so many benefits from digestion to mind clearing.

I am loving my journal of growth, and my intention for the week is to speak my truth - even more. Sometimes, we don’t say things as people generally don’t want to hear the truth or we feel it is unnecessary as to why would we hurt someone with it. Reality is the truth is all there is. The more we ‘protect’ people the worse it becomes. As you are really not protecting them - we have to understand people will be ok with the truth. Regardless of the outcome, this life is theirs, karmas and all - who are we to get in the way of that. 

We should not. 

We have talked a lot about karmic paths, where souls go and the circles of life, ancestral traumas, and karmas that are present and created in this lifetime. And in reality, there are no ‘good people’ as it is hard for people to be truly one hundred percent good. And the reality is no one wants to be that. 

Then remembering my chat with Guru Ji about mustard seed oil. We meet in the yoga hall and here we go again. Mustard seed oil up the nostril, drops are put in. The burn is real, literally mind-blowing. 

We practice Pranayama again to clear it all out. I can feel it burning down my throat and into my ears. Trust it’s working! My entire right side is blocked. More massages will fix this. Any excuse to get back in the steam box.

We pack up our rooms and get out chat in with Swami Ji, he is checking our astrology charts. And gives us a quick rundown. I’m a little wary as years ago when working at the Hanuman Restaurant, the chef was reading palms, she took one look at mine and said NO. Years later, I figure out what else can go wrong really.

I’ll just fill you in, starting from 37, your life will begin to turn around. I am loving this so far. Basically abundance in life, sharing your knowledge and teachings. The next 10 years will be the rise of your successes, there will be a lot of travel through work and enjoyment. Happiness is coming your way - 42 is the highlight. Phew! And by 47 you will be set up financially and settled. Although. Super emotional and very connected to the moon.

The moon cycle affects me a lot, so stay away from cold food to be less emotional. Strong moon, doesn’t allow you to open your heart. More emotions makes it hard to make decisions. The moon is never constant. When the moon affects the mind, it is constantly changing. Moon fluctuations = mind fluctuations.

My moon is high degree, so heart isn’t able to open which leads to unhappiness and not sharing with others. Ok, I have been working on this.

He says in relationships, mental compatibility will not be the same as in I will think I think east, my partner will think north. To overcome, Astro remedies can be put in place.  Zodiac sign here is Gemini which means I will make a good wife. No guarantees I’ll be a good husband… phew. 

I need to adjust a lot - I need to manipulate and change myself to express myself more. High risk of Bipolar IF I don’t speak my truth. So this entails letting people know how I feel and not holding back. Look out world.. Joking. If it’s not appropriate, he said to speak to nature, the trees, dogs - I sure sign need a puppy, perhaps. 

Guru Ji shows me we are in the News over here, almost famous - My name is wrong. Patricia & Belle from Australia join the ceremony. So good.

We gather our belongings and deliver our luggage to the new place, which by the way looks pretty fancy. Off to find the Ganga View Cafe, mission. We are on our own for 5 minutes and already the taxi dropped us off somewhere… we call him back and he drives us a little further up the road to the next bridge. We had no idea we were walking across a bridge as we’d paid ‘to go over the other side’. Time wise it is quicker if we walk apparently. We jump out and head over the bridge, maps says 35-minute walk. Opting for ATMs, we scope out 3, all to no avail. Finding a roadside coconut, we drank before asking the price, we are now paying 120Rp, the most expensive of the trip and we have little to no cash. We’d tipped our chefs from the Ashram, so good karma? We venture down the road seeing all the new and cool places we will be staying, receiving tattoo’s, yoga classes.

The cafe is OK, the view is nice. We order salad and veggies and decide Indian food is what we are here for. Back on Thali train.

Takes us awhile to navigate our way back over the bridge, seeing all the things we want to buy. We give the last of our money to a cute little girl, who’s back of goods to stolen by a monkey. He sat on the bridge emptying and eating, she had tears. We found a Tuktuk driver, we found an ATM, and we are back on track.

The hotel. Well, it is the best one we’ve stayed at yet. HOT showers, comfy beds, working wifi, a cute note with chocolates on our bed to welcome us. I know I’ve just learnt to live without comforts and they are the biggest destroyer. Yet I am stoked to be here and filled with gratitude that I am warm and comfortable. The small things. 

The king of Thali is what dinner was made of, back to the favourite Paneer Tikka, Dahl Makani, and stuffed Naan.

I am unable to breathe I am so full.

Night x

17/1/23

We begin our moring at Moustache Hotel rooftop. We are back baby.

We’ve booked a yoga class, Belle spotted a name and number in a poster, after a WhatsApp message, we’re in for 9:30am today. 

We enter the class and it’s us and one other girl. He seems very strict and it focussed, I love attending classes while I’m away. Especially being in the birthplace of yoga. The class begins and the layers come off, Rakesh knows how to teach. Warmed our bodies up straight away, we hadn’t sweated this whole trip and within two minutes of practice, we are feeling it. His teachings are very focussed on us getting the basics. I absolutely adore this type of teaching, where he is focussed on us entering the pose correctly and knowing our bodies capability. Our own kind is our own biggest blockage. The narrative we create oh no my body doesn’t bend that way, or I’m not that flexible or I’m in pain. He is super quick to diminish all of these.

We hold the poses for 5 or 10 breaths, this is where frustrations, anger, tantrums, and sweat all arise. This is yoga, the staying power and overcoming your mind. Maintaining a steady breath is each pose, while his loud instructor voice bellows out we move into each pose. 

Then he walks around and adjusts, I mean the pandemic hands on touch for all yoga wasn’t allowed and I’m not sure this would fly in Australia as it’s quite intense. We are comfortable as he seems to know his stuff. The entire class feels like a chiropractor, massage, workout, and meditation in one. We are hooked. We book in again for tomorrow’s class. Feeling great as this is what I love about travelling, getting back into my practice, and loving it. Feeling the intense workout we both received. 

Brings back another layer of healing the physical body again in my own way. Acknowledging what areas I need to pay more attention to. There is no flowing through a pose, these deep long holds expose all. 

I head to the 60s cafe. A beetles-inspired cafe, with a turmeric latte to die for, it has a while date squished, and since I’ve been recommended by the doc to eat pancakes I try the beetroot pancake stuffed with spinach and cashew cream. Yum. 

We are booked in for a cooking class, there is no hiding the fact that Belle and I are obsessed with Indian food. Learning Ayurveda cooking has always been a passion of mine. We make a semolina Halva. This is generally made for breakfast or a dessert. We don’t add much sugar and it’s delicious, it’s similar to a porridge, we add crushed almonds and cashew and green raisins with shredded coconut on top.

We made a Khickadi, Chana Masala, and an Eggplant dish. 

The great thing is, all in one pot cooking. Works for me. And the base to create them is similar. I’ll be having cooking nights when I return home. You’re welcome. 
During the course, he cracks jokes, shares his wisdom about the dosha types, and the ways to eat. Rajastic, Tamasic and Sadvic. Which I discover is the three fork prongs meaning on Shivas fork. Everything is symbolic over here. It all is connected and tells a beautiful story. 

Oh, and we also learn the Masala Chai recipe. He convinced me to drink it with milk. Over here dairy is everywhere, I drink half a cup and their cups and a quarts the size of ours in Australia. Also, send us home with a powder which will ensure I don’t bloat. We both take this drink before bed, it’s very herby, and a little spicy. 

We had 10 minutes to spare, he teaches us the way to make Ayuerveda massage oil. All the properties and how to prepare in ceremony. I’ll be making loads of this. It’s incredible. 

Tomorrow is tattoo day. Another hot shower, comfy bed and early night for us. 

Continue to surrender.

18/1/23

Rishikesh is definitely a return place, I am loving it here now.

Tattoo day begins with out new ritual of morning rooftop meditation and Breathwork, and yoga with Rakesh. 

It feels great on the body and kind to have some routine. We cross the bridge and we even have that down pat. TukTuk to the bridge, walk across, call Ravi and he drops us at the shopping space on his motorbike, or death trap as Belle calls it. She is a little hesitant but knows how much I love them!

I try a savoury masala porridge to break my fast. It’s delicious and warming, I haven’t had a savoury porridge before. I used to add coconut milk and honey. This could be a game changer. 

Tattoo selection… we ensure we get this one right. We’ve been known to get the wrong spelt tattoo together. I mean, it’s a way funnier story to tell than a normal tattoo, so I actually love it. I did find it funny straight away, as I couldn’t still cannot speak Spanish and a letter was missing. It is on the back of my arm, so everyone could see while I was travelling. There is room for me to add it in. But I choose not to. Belle was a bit more freaked when she found out. She called me to tell me - now we laugh. As we realised, we’ve done through all the years of mishaps in our travels together. 

Life’s better when you laugh. 

Seriously what else can you do? 

My tattoo is a beautiful reminder for me about how far I’ve come, the levels of life and healing I’ve moved through to get where I am. 

The way we move through each chakra, each blockages, each challenge in life. It’s one big beautiful lesson.

19/1/23

Rooftop meditations in 6-degree temperatures are now a thing, with smiles on my face—It’s my choice now.

Yoga sessions with Rakesh are now my absolute favourite. An advanced 90-minute class feels like all the body adjustments you need. Accessing powers that have been hiding for a hot minute.

We’ve been given a list of Shiva temples to visit and watch the Ganga Aarti.

Letting go of our blessings in the river.

20/1/23

Bowl blessing about to commence. 

I rise early pick up my new backpack and head for the river. It’s a short walk and TukTuk ride. The sky is super clear the morning as it rained last night. It doesn’t feel as cold either. The streets are so chill at this moment. Another content moment as I wander along the road, my mind and body feel super calm. Super is the new word, it’s used a lot over here. 

I have the belief in life and in travel that it always works out. The first driver I see offers me a ride, the Ganges is also quiet at this time. It’s my favourite to watch the city wake up. I mean not like the old days when I would still be awake with the city. Now it’s fresh feels as I find my spot. 

I unpack my bowls and one by one, wash them in the river. It’s flowing fast at this time as ice is melting from up the mountains, so also means it’s the cleanest it will be all year. We’ve planned to go for a swim, against all Google recommendations. As I consider this more, I hear my bestie, Lynn, “Babe, that water isn’t safe . You’ll get Ecoli or even worse, the India equivalent! 

Belle and I discuss, especially after tattoos, plus if it got in our ears, mouth, and then even our privates. It wouldn’t be a great end to the trip.

So up to our thighs is the final agreement. 

We’ve heard that Patna waterfalls is the best place to do this. On googled maps is 11 minutes by car, recommendations that we can walk. It’s hard to trust either of these. We do our usual trek across the bridge, and call Ravi our awesome motorbike guy. He drops us at the taxi rank and thinking at this point, we have it sorted. The cans say 1200 which is more than it would’ve been from our hotel. Nothing makes sense.

Call Ravi and he organises another bike, so we can cruise to falls, wind in our hair, and awesome views of the river. 

As we’re driving, I hear something about him telling his partner to go behind him, basically one of them didn’t have a license. So we cruise through all the checkpoints, no worries. Arriving at the waterfall, Ravi says just up there 2km and points up the mountain. The fun thing about going with the flow is that no research is done prior to giving yourself reasons not to do something. After our intense yoga classes muscles are burning - a good way to keep the body warm and limber. Up we go!

He and his partner come with us, she’s feeling it as much as we are. It’s muddy and rocky, yet beautiful to be in nature again. The top provides the goods. Hot chai, a cave, and cascading waterfall. Happy climbers.

The return ride, Belle's driver takes off like no tomorrow cruising home like she’s on the run. Perhaps it’s her with no license. 

Ganges has such a strong connection to the heart. The flow of life, and it’s running fast at the moment. The worship to this river and unique shared love. It holds such beauty, yet filled with beautiful contradictions at the same time. Life really. 

We purchase some gifts and post the bundle back to Australia’s, trusting it makes it way as some cool presents are inside.

Our last supper in Rishikesh. The favourites have been the French bakery, which is healthy desserts.. and the place we first ate our King Talhis at. 

Chocolate Ravi cake, vegan sugar-free chocolate slice for the wins. And all the curries - in bed!

Another rom com movie and tucked in bed super early. I love that we are both on the same page when it comes to this trip. 

The polar opposite to our Mexico trip years ago. It’s a beautiful thing to keep friendships and both be on the same pages of life. 

X