So I'm going to India from December 3rd, 2008 until January 13th, 2009. First, I will meet my great friend there, Ben Little, who has just got done with 2 years and 4 months volunteering for the Peace Corps in Tanzania, Africa. We will be practicing Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore for 2 weeks at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, home of the founder of this style of yoga: Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Afterwards, we will probably venture north, through Goa, a beach paradise. Then up further north, we will stop by the famed Taj Mahal in Agra. Then it's up to Rishikesh, which is suppossed to be the "yoga capital of the world". This is in the foothills of the Himalayas. Although I know it's improbable that we actually get to hike in the Himalayas, being able to see them in the distance would be a dream come true. Being a Montana boy, I love mountains.
This is all subject to change of course (not the first 2 weeks, that's pretty solid), as Ben has still yet to preview these plans. I'm sure he'll be down. Our 2 weeks in Mysore was unexpectadely cut down from the traditional month. I'm kind of glad that I get more time to check India out though. We will be on the other side of the world (12 hour time difference from Montana) and it would be a shame to stay in one town the entire time.
I've been practicing yoga since I was 19 (I'm almost 28 now) and I've been practicing Ashtanga yoga for about 5 years. I've taught it for the past year, and was a teacher's assistant in the Ashtanga yoga class at the University of Montana for 2 1/2 years under Katie Heath, owner of the Yoga Fitness Center. I've always enjoyed yoga (what made me love it at first was getting a good night's sleep). Coming across Ashtanga was a whole new world though. It helps my ADHD so much. It gives me energy, flexibility, strength, and humility. Getting to share this with my students has meant more than I imagined. Hearing many of them come up and tell me how much better it makes them feel makes me smile. I love the new-comers who walk up to me after their first class and tell me how they thought it was SO much different than they thought and I'd definitely see them next week makes me realize why I do it for free (the probably wouldn't be as likely to come if they had to pay). I hope to learn a lot as a teacher in India.
I'll be doing my best to keep my blog going, complete with pictures (feed in through my Flickr account). If you want to keep updated, jump on some email updates (see sidebar) or subscribe to the rss feed. You can also, of course just come back to the site. :)
Here's a map of India with Mysore marked:
View Larger Map
So I'm going to India from December 3rd, 2008 until January 13th, 2009. First, I will meet my great friend there, Ben Little, who has just got done with 2 years and 4 months volunteering for the Peace Corps in Tanzania, Africa. We will be practicing Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore for 2 weeks at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, home of the founder of this style of yoga: Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Afterwards, we will probably venture north, through Goa, a beach paradise. Then up further north, we will stop by the famed Taj Mahal in Agra. Then it's up to Rishikesh, which is suppossed to be the "yoga capital of the world". This is in the foothills of the Himalayas. Although I know it's improbable that we actually get to hike in the Himalayas, being able to see them in the distance would be a dream come true. Being a Montana boy, I love mountains.
This is all subject to change of course (not the first 2 weeks, that's pretty solid), as Ben has still yet to preview these plans. I'm sure he'll be down. Our 2 weeks in Mysore was unexpectadely cut down from the traditional month. I'm kind of glad that I get more time to check India out though. We will be on the other side of the world (12 hour time difference from Montana) and it would be a shame to stay in one town the entire time.
I've been practicing yoga since I was 19 (I'm almost 28 now) and I've been practicing Ashtanga yoga for about 5 years. I've taught it for the past year, and was a teacher's assistant in the Ashtanga yoga class at the University of Montana for 2 1/2 years under Katie Heath, owner of the Yoga Fitness Center. I've always enjoyed yoga (what made me love it at first was getting a good night's sleep). Coming across Ashtanga was a whole new world though. It helps my ADHD so much. It gives me energy, flexibility, strength, and humility. Getting to share this with my students has meant more than I imagined. Hearing many of them come up and tell me how much better it makes them feel makes me smile. I love the new-comers who walk up to me after their first class and tell me how they thought it was SO much different than they thought and I'd definitely see them next week makes me realize why I do it for free (the probably wouldn't be as likely to come if they had to pay). I hope to learn a lot as a teacher in India.
I'll be doing my best to keep my blog going, complete with pictures (feed in through my Flickr account). If you want to keep updated, jump on some email updates (see sidebar) or subscribe to the rss feed. You can also, of course just come back to the site. :)
Here's a map of India with Mysore marked:
View Larger Map