Day 3: Trekking and Tratak (Cindy)

Our new friends Payal and Nitika invited us to meet them for a “trek” up a small mountain behind the center. At a sleepy 5:30 a.m., we hiked up in the darkness, the orange moon hovering above us. We tasted some berries—would you believe even their fruit is spicy?—and saw some interesting shrubbery, like funky-looking cacti. We watched the sunrise over a serene lake, which invited some of the members of our group to meditate (and me to be slightly freaked out by the ants everyone pointed out were swarming around me...hence the geeky expression!). It was such a beautiful way to start the day, even if it meant skipping our morning yoga practice.

Today’s breakfast was our favorite so far. Called Upma, it’s a super tasty porridge-like semolina dish, with vegetables and some flavorful but mild spices. We were told that this food is in the style of North India, and that other regions have different varieties of food. It’s definitely healthier than Cocoa Puffs!

During our ayurveda learning session, Dr. Krishna, a naturopath, taught us about the concept of dhatus, or different substances in the body, like blood, muscles and adipose tissue. It’s interesting because ayurveda, considered the science of life, is similar to Western science in terms of knowledge of the body, but with a spiritual bent. For instance, we discussed that there are three types of mala, or waste products: urine, feces and sweat. We know this to be true from our science courses at home. But if the malas do not separate from the body at appropriate times and in proper quantities, the accumulation causes imbalances that damage the function of the dhatus. So, if someone does not sweat efficiently, it is thought to increase the pitta, or the heat, in the body—in turn causing certain illnesses.

Before our kitchen practical, we had a bit jaljeera juice. In India, a lot of the drinks are more salty than sweet—made with salt, cumin and other savory ingredients. I’m not a huge fan of these, I have to admit. They kind of taste like pickle juice. They are supposed to have a cooling effect on the body, though, and you can actually feel that immediately. In our cooking session, we rolled out some roti, kind of like the Indian version of a tortilla, eaten at every meal. What’s cool is many dishes can be made from the same few ingredients. After making roti, we moved on to paratha, the same thing as roti but cooked in ghee (clarified butter) or oil. Using the same wheat flour, we also made attahalaa or sheera, a kind of sweet porridge. It’s really simple to prepare: you simply cook stir the flour with ghee until it become golden brown, add water and continue stirring, add sugar and cardamom powder or seeds.

Then it was on to the afternoon yoga class. The yoga here is really different from yoga at home. They are following the classic Ashtanga lineage, which is still challenging but gentler and more relaxing than Ashtanga classes I’ve taken elsewhere. They do savasana or other resting poses in between many asanas (poses), and different pranayama (deep breathing exercises) before each practice. The focus is not only on the asanas here, but also the other aspects of yoga typically forgotten about in the U.S., like the mental and spiritual components.

Before dinner, we went to a tratak class. It was unlike any type of meditation I’ve done before. The instructor had placed yoga mats in small circles surrounding a candle holder, and he led us through a really cool exercise where we had to watch the flame without blinking (I cheated!) until our eyes became kind of watery. Then we were supposed to hold that image of the flame in our third eye, and then finally lie in savasana. I was in that blissful state in between sleeping and consciousness, and felt really peaceful afterward.

After dinner, we sat in on a lecture about the benefits of yoga and the most effective way to meditate. I think it worked a little too well...by the end, Jessica and I were both falling asleep!