India Spring Trip Recap
This year's trip was a huge success! We had great groups and everyone went home with a plethora of new stories and photos, a shift in priorities and perspective, and a whole new digestive system. Many thanks to Sarahjoy for teaching our yoga classes and to Holbrook for her help leading.
View Ashley's entire photo gallery
Read Sarahjoy's insightful journal entries about the trip
We began the trip in Cochin, Kerala where we acclimated to India and its hot weather. We were lucky to get to see an incredible performance by Zakir Hussein and also a traditional dance performance. Leela taught us how to cook 5 different Keralan dishes and we shopped for antiques. From there we traveled north to see Amma, the famous Hugging Mother. After an "interesting" experience and a bumpy all night bus ride, we landed smack in the jungle where we relaxed for 3 days of amazing ayurvedic treatments, daily yoga with Vargis, our Indian teacher, a wildlife trek and incredible food. Our next stop was in Allepey where we enjoyed a backwaters boat ride and a lovely family run guesthouse. We ended Kerala with a swim in the Indian Ocean!
Zakir Hussein crushes the tablas
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Amma
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Periyar Sanctuary
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Elephant Center
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Yoga near the beach with a guest Indian girl
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Cindy spots wild elephants
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Our amazing pool in the jungle
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After a long and crazy journey to the Rishikesh, we finally arrived at what Swamiji calls "Home." This year's International Yoga Festival did not disappoint and there were 400 people from 34 countries in attendence. We managed to sprinkle in some extra activities including a Ganges River swim and clean-up, dancing and games with a school for poor children, a grueling hike to Neelkanth Temple and a visit to the Beatles Ashram.
99 year old Swami, Swamiji, Shankaracharya, Gormukh
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Ashley & Sarahjoy lead a round of sun salutes for the Yoga Aid Charity Event
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Julie meditates at the Beatles Ashram
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Swimming in the Ganges
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Private meeting with Swamiji
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Reba gets blessed
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Beatles Ashram
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Ganga Valley School Visit
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Ganges River Clean-Up
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Suz gets soaked
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No trip to India would be complete without a visit to the magical Taj Mahal and we were graced with a beautiful sunrise. Our incredible guide Sanjay took care of us and we also enjoyed a visit to the Agra Fort, a famous jewelry store and a marble factory. We then trained it back to Delhi where we enjoyed a morning visit to Humayun's Tomb.
Ashley & Holbrook at the Taj
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Sanjay talks about the Agra Fort
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Sharon at Humayun's Tomb
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We finished the trip in Dharamsala which was the perfect place to end. The Tibetan people are so gracious and we all appreciated being in the magestic Himalayas. The Dalai Lama's teaching was short but sweet. We scored awesome seats and the small setting filled with an intense energy was something we will all remember forever. A Tibetan translator accompanied by a famous chanting Lama visited with the group. Their heartwrentching stories about escaping to India captivated us all and we learned the proper technique for meditation and got to listen to him chant in the lowest, most gutteral sound you could ever imagine. We learned to cook Tibetan momos and also saw how various handicrafts are made. The last day the group enjoyed a long but beautiful hike through fields of red rhodedendrons to Triund.
Yoga on the rooftop
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Chanting Lama
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Hike to Triund
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Lhamo teaches us the art of making momos
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