Colors!

Wow... I knew India would be a feast for the eyes, but I had no idea how beautiful it would be. I arrived on the holy day of Holi, a celebration of the beautiful spectrum of colors that come with a life devoted to Divine energy, as well as letting go and having fun. I saw a homeless man sleeping on a curb with a splash of green powder on his face, and another guy on his motorcycle with pink on his neck and face. The woman who I was riding with proudly told me about the celebration. We passed many bonfires with men dancing around them, and I wanted to stop, but the tourist guide who was with us wouldn't let us because it wouldn't have been safe. We arrived in the village of Rishikesh just after the evening celebration of light (arati) was finishing, and walked on a foot bridge over the Ganges River. I was so excited to finally be here, my heart was skipping around in my chest! I fell asleep in my ashram enjoying the sounds of the Hare Krishna devotees chanting away the cool evening.

The next morning, my new Indian "aunt" excitingly told me that the ashram was going to be celebrating Holi together, and was canceling some of the early yoga classes. I happily hopped into a little car with a few other festival participants and we drove to Haridwar for a ceremony where a lepper colony was being blessed. They closed with a couple chants and then the colors came! Colored powders were tossed in the air, and people came up to me and said "Happy Holi!" and smeared colors on my face, neck and clothes. The kids were really into it, and before I knew it, I had a bag too and was playing with everyone. It was SO much fun! I was laughing and loving life. There were also flower petals being tossed into the sky landing on all the colorful saris and foreigners who's drab clothes were now almost all splashed with vibrant colors! I kept pinching myself making sure that I was really there. I have been wanting to come to India for a long time, and it is still amazing to realize that the river I am gazing at is really the river Ganges, and the chants that I am hearing are really being sung everywhere, and the saddhus and saris that I am seeing are not photographs. This really brings me right to the present moment, just in time for me to dodge the cow poop that I almost stepped on!

The International Yoga Festival is a great way to begin my trip here, the Ashram has many beautiful gardens, and feels very safe and the food is wonderful. There are some amazing teachers here, including a saint and a few swamis, and I am learning some new things about the more subtle aspects of yoga including the philosophy and meditation and pranayama practices.

I took a break from the festival today for a hike out into the countryside with a new friend, laughing at the mellow cows that share the streets with the vendors, motorbikes, and cars. Small monkeys are all over the countryside here and make me smile. We were aiming for a temple, and ended up getting a ride with a friendly taxi driver who brought us to meet his "Baba" (spiritual teacher) who lives in a beautiful valley of a river that feeds into the Ganges. The valley is green with rice and wheat fields, and we were welcomed by sweet, happy puppies with wagging tails, and I knew I was in a good place. It turned out there were two "Babas" there, and I was so amazed that they both spoke English! One shared some sweets with us (a pastry stuffed with ground up nuts and sweets), and the other chatted with me about Chicago, and wanted to see his picture when I took it with my camera. Our driver then brought us to a little waterfall and I enjoyed splashing around in the cool clear water.

OK... I promise I will have pictures up in the next couple days! Namaste