since I stayed for 8 days, this the 8th part of this blog about my days in the ashram will be the last I think..

some things then to summarize my stay in southern India.

I am sure I will go again, perhaps I will go to one of their other ashrmas since this one is suppose to be the most "easy" one.
if or when I go again it will be for a longer period, but it is allways good to try first and feel like longing back then going for to long and dont wanna go back again I think.

I was expecting it to be more strict actually, but at the same time I really liked the way it was, and it is allways your choice what you do with your time when at the ashram.
a hard thing actually is all the hello's & good byes, when you get more used to that I think it is a chance to meet a lot of interesting people there. but actually I think they should make the minimum stay longer, or perhaps divide the dorms to 1 "long stay dorm" and one "short stay dorm", so that when you are stying for a bit longer you have a chance to get to know people more.. but at the same time, might be nice to be able to be kind of anonymous. I think the first time as with all first times in new places, there is a lot to take in, the next time you come it is not equally exciting and perhaps easier to quicker get into a more relaxed mood and get more out of the whole spiritual experience.

I actually in the end started to enjoy the long Satsangs more, I think for many reasons.
- the actual feeling of all chanting and the vibrations from so many people doing it simultaniously.
- you start to remember the chants and can easier follow without looking in the papers you get.
- physically you are more open and strong so sitting down on the floor is not as much of an issue anymore and you can enjoy everything else more, as with the meditation part before the chanting.
- you are more mentally calm also after a few days, and more ope to just join in with your singin, in the beginning it felt almost embarrasing ha ha.. someone told me that a real good statsang chanting becomes best when many not to good people chant/sing, then the all together sound becomes better and vibrations better aswell. and it is true, so many bad voices in there ended up in one collected beautiful chanting..

and actually chanting is consithered to be a spiritual devotional practice within the path of Bhakti Yoga.
and even if not relogoius you feel good after satsang.

one thing they talk about the really true yogis are that you should actually try to practice some of all paths of yoga, so you dont get fanatic about just one path wich is most common in our world, we have all or focus on Raja Yoga mostly..

ooh and I am not sure why bu I loved the Aarti we did every night wich ended each and everyday. and after Aarti you got some kind of sweets.
I loved the "Halwa" wich we also got often with our meals in the dinning hall.
Hawla can be many things and variations but we got somekind of sweet cardemum, coconut & rice version. sooo tasty!

the last day I saw them preparing for the new years puja, that I missed out on.
amazing what they do thieese patterns using their hands and powders etc.
cool!

the people at the ashram, the ones like me who came here to endulge a bit in yogic life, there is i big variety really!
most ones are for sure here for the asana practice, that is quit certain..
not all were already familiar with this style of yoga though. that was interesting.. quit many who got surprised over the way "we" do especially the asana practice. since relaxation is a big big part of this tradition for example and also the slightly more time you spend in each asana, especially if used to vinyasa forms of yoga that most western people are.
yes there were mostly western people there, but also some Indian naitives,
of course the Indian people have a total other fee here, I thnk perhaps 1/3 of our rate, but that is understandable I think and still for us it is not much money the amount we pay..

I met this one indian guy who stayed for 3 days, his name was [I think] "Lala" and he was the Indian national champion in "memory" or someting like that.. that ment they read or shown 500 objects in a row, and then he had to resay them afterwards, he got all 500 right and in the quickest time.. that is amazing! crazy really ha ha.

quit many here seamed to have this stay as a short part of their "doing whole India" journey, so stayed here for the 3 minimum days and then continued on, quit a few went to the ashram of "Amma", wichwas not to far away apparently,  you know the woman who is famous for huging everyone and in that way bliss them or something.
also some were regulars here, and quit a few were students of one of ther TTC's and some thinking of staying to the next uppcomming teacher training.

maybe it was my dorm but it felt like a lot of germans here, wich really surprised me at first, then I realized how big yoga is in germany and also that this form of classic hatha yoga is much wider known there then in Sweden.
I met only one Swede here, a girl that I talkt to a few times, they said though that there were a swede here who left just before me, ooh and there was this sweish woman there with her danish man, but she have lived in Amsterdam for many years.

  
there were I few that I got to know a little bit more, and some I didn't talk to at all. 2 guys who were both from Uk who styaed for just a few days, and the kind & über social italian/german man who I talked the most to he is a person I could actually see having contact with in the future, a danish girl who I found out she was an actress in her country I liked her somehow, her energy probably.. she did a shatkarma cleansing so she had a few rough days.. another german man who I talked some to, he was more of a quie person opposit the rumanian girl that felt like she was almost flirting around there and like a trendy person in hte ashram with her sunglasses on and tight clothes ha ha,
also this girl form australia that was "allways" next to me in asana class, there was something special with her we tlaked some also on one of the trips to the holy mountain [wich we did twice, 1 in the darkness for the Kali puja as I have written aready, and once more to see the BEAUTIFUL sunrise up there and morning meditation].
just one of those persons that you somehow feel connected to without knowing why, we realized after a few days that we didn't even know each others name.
the funny thing is for her I was "the scorio king" and without her knowing [I didn't tell her either actually ha ha] I refered to her in my mind as "the Scorpio woman"..
our first and many contats were in asana class during headstand variations when she was trying to manage to do the scorpio and I tried to help her in various ways.
in the end before I left she managed to do it and held it for quit some time, awesome!
she seamed like such a kind & humble person and her eyes were very dark and calm. she just gave an impression on me..
our energies connected or something. one class she was feeling weak and it actually felt strange not having her next to me during asana practice ha ha.
interesting how some people affect you in different ways without you actually knowing this person.

but also at the ashram there were quit a few "lonewolfs" that hardly even said hello when you met them, some of the felt like they were a bit.. what most people would have felt like "special" if you know what I mean,
but I enjoy that. I love it when people are themselves and are not acting and trying to be mainstream,
as long as they dont overdo it and try to hard to be NOT like others..

there were also some families there, there was this one family wich were Indian but they lived in Singapore, and they were really devoted and had spent much time with I think a school of another disciple of the Guru of this ashram. so they were very much into studying the vedic scripts.
on talent night the young boy 10?!? years sat on the stage and sang out many shlokas form the baghavagita in sanskrit, it was amazing to see! he was super smart tough that we had found out already on some of the lectures ha ha.
the even more great thing is when his father came up asweel and started to explain the meaning of some of the shlokas [shlokas are like poetic phrases / verses in sanskrit that are usually chanted], then he said to the young boy "do shloka number 52" and the bouy recitated that one and then the dad explained it ha ha. it was almost weird!