Dear avid readers,

Hello.

I am currently faced with the task of blogging about our week at the Ashram in under 15 minutes so I can get to the Pakistani boarder in time for the show. And even I was stricken by the sheer weirdness of that last sentence. The week took on completely different meanings for each one of us as we all trekked through mountains and walked across beaches in silent meditation, visited waterfalls and tiny idyllic villages resting on mountain summits, ate chapatti after chapatti, bathed in the Ganga, and received ashtanga yoga lessons from Lalita Gi. Ah, Lalita Gi, this woman presented herself as one of the most serious human beings to ever walk the planet dressed in bright orange, until about day three or so when her stern countenance gave way to tiger pose ( a particularly sensational assana from laughter yoga) and the explanation that the reason Shiva can get high whilst us mere ashram-dwelling mortals cannot is because "Shiva can breathe and destroy the world, I cannot do that."
Reading was one of the main activities for almost all of the group, Herman Hesse being a general favorite with three titles currently in circulation amongst group-members. Other groups were also an important of this week as Carpe Diem and Leap Now! united with travelers from all over the world (seriously, I'm still wondering about the acrobatics doing, non-English speaking, exotic miniature instrument playing Russians) to make this week a meditative affair to remember. Actually, I'm still wondering about most of the souls that embarked with us on this journey and about the cosmic fiber that brought us together at this time in our lives and for this peculiar experience. Ashram life revolves around the yogic path in all eight of its incarnations and had us breathing, cleansing, meditating, serving, eating, renouncing, and developing a more intricate understanding of ourselves, together. The underlying belief of the path is that everything in existence is a manifestation of a single consciousness, a higher entity to which all beings pertain separated merely by the distraction of living, and the ashram was the optimal place to silence the distractions and dwell on our inner selves for a while. One big thing that suddenly commanded the attention of many group members was our individual relationship with food. Due to the emphasis placed on the ritual of eating, a silent and solemn practice at the ashram, our attention was brought to how we nourish ourselves and blessing our food and meditating on it before digging in is now a widespread practice. Nourishment, inner nourishment, I could say, became the central practice of the ashram as our greatest interaction became purely with ourselves for most of the day. The beautiful landscape combined with a supreme sense of self succeeded in opening the gates to a somewhat new mindscape that will continue to take form as we move on to our next challenge: a completely silent five day retreat. But before that is Amritsar, of course, home to the Golden Temple with its supreme beauty, overflowing and raucous kitchen, and BABY SIKHS!...all kind of Sikhs for that matter. Oh, and Dylan is still with us, for those of you who were wondering.

On a final note,

May the Long Time Sun Shine Upon You,

All Love Surround You,

And the Pure Light Within You,

Guide Your Way On

-Andi

Remembering Rishikesh..... Ahhhhhh yaaaaa....

Hello!!!!! It's been a while! Your blogger today will be me, Trevor Jermasek. This is my first blog on our trip. Actually, I think this could be my first time ever posting a blog. Period. So please please, bear with me, I'm trying. And I know that Amanda already put a little somethin somethin down about are travels up in those holy hills, and i cant say that I'll do much better, I don't know if you noticed, but Amanda really likes blogging.....

But To get back to the point, we were in Rishikesh. I guess I'll just start from the being, though its been a while. We arrived in Hardawar, an hour down the Ganga from Rishikesh. After emerging from the train ( 17 hours from Varanasi to Delhi, a 6ish hour "lay-over" there, and a 7 hour trip into Haradawar... All in all, a whole lotta travel. A little old woman curled up on my feet somewhere around one in the morning on the train to Delhi. I sat for about thirty minutes, stuck in a bit of bewilderment, thinking to myself, "WHO DOES THAT!?!" India does that. So i started to poke her like crazy. This made her only crawl further into her shawl. The woman across from me intervened, pinched the little shawl woman so hard she shot on to the floor of the train. All and all, another successful encounter with the Indian people......) ....emerging from the train a cold breeze hit our faces. WHOOOOOOO! We had made out of the hot sticky air of the plains, finally back into the mountains. The change in climate could not have made me any happier at that moment. The train station was quiet and sleepy, which I think was a first. A little later, me Jeff, Tiana and Andi were sitting in a rickshaw/bus, colored in this strange red light. The owner of this ridiculous machine cranked his equally ridiculous Indian music to eleven, and we took off. This was one of the most unerving rides that I think I've experienced, and have we had some sketchy rickshaw adventures... I kept daring myself to look out the road, only to be met with complete darkness. Our headlight barely making a dent, we charged into traffic head on, this guy was out of his mind yet so at ease, "shooting the gap" every minute or so at 50. Like always... we made it! A warm bed was just what we needed...

Rishikesh!!!!! A good breakfast of eggs and toast did the trick the next morning. The view from me and Eli's balcony was amazing, something that I could really get used waking up to, and we basked and lounged in its glory for morning. We walked down into Rishikesh as a group, got our orientation in white water rafting, and then had the day in town to ourselves, Which included the discovery, maybe I was the only one excited by this, of samosas... FILLED WITH FRUIT. So tasty, so life changing. We walked Rishikesh up and down, losing ourselves in its back alley ashrams, and making friends with its tiny, miniature hairy cows. Nelle and Eli made an attempt at the waterfall down the road, a little too late, and ended up having to turn around before reaching the big one (No worries, we got redemption a few days later). A guide warned us of the dangers of lions that prowl the mountain by night. Whether or not that was true at all, it was really dark, so we headed back home. The night ended really nicely, with good food and good company. Me and Eli then retired to our bachelor pad.....

Rapids!!!!! The day begin with an early rise and a scenic drive up the river. We got the low down from are raft guide from Colorado, Jedidiah I think? We did some drills and jumped in the water. This day actually went by pretty fast, it all just blends together into one great time. We hit wave after wave of water, but never got thrown. That was actually my one goal, get unintentionally thrown from the boat. But it never happened.... Well, at least not in my boat.... In fact, now that i remember, Dylan and (leader) Amanda got tossed on the first rapid.... The day ended, soon enough, group happy and soaked. I realize i've really gotten caught up in this blogging thing..... Sorry sorry, i'll finish up.

I cant speak for everyone, but the next day was extra special for me. Me Eli and Nelle (once again) made the push for the waterfall up the road in the morning, and finally made it. It was unbelievable. The waterfall was perfect, pouring into a crystal clear, blueish pool of the most unbelievably refreshing cool water. A bit of a rock climb up and there was another even more spectacular pool, the rocks created a sort of cave-like shade. It was wild, sitting up there, to think that somewhere so beautifully had been sitting next to us, for two day, undiscovered. We spent some amazing hours up there, swimming and relaxing in the jungle, and came down satisfied and content... So that pretty much sums up rishikesh, or at least my rishikesh... You might be asking, hey Trev, what about the Ashram, and didnt you just get into Amritsar last night?!?!?! Not my job people! its up to Nick and Andi to give you the low down, but let me assure we have been having some great, amazing experiences. Anywho.... Know that we are all safe, happy and heathy, sleeping under the Sikhs holy Golden Temple tonight, and know that we all love and miss you!!!!!!!! Thanks for all the emails/comments/love that you've been sending our way! Keep it comin'!

Trevor