Bliss

I am elated that I chose to come to Integral Yoga Teacher Training and gave myself the chance to live a yoga lifestyle. It is so much more than just asanas (the poses that come to mind when you think yoga) This is my forth day of the 28 day program and its the first time I´ve had more than an hour of free time. And even the 15 minutes we have here and there is filled with bathroom breaks and squeezing in the reading assignements.

I live in a casita with 3 other girls. We are the young group of roommate, with each of us around 30. I am the youngest in the group of 16 studets. There are only 3 men- one is 65, the Finn is with his finance, and the other prefers men. No romance there. But that´s good, because learning and relaxing are my focus points. The casita is small, but clean with a palm thatch roof. Geckos are in the roofing and they laugh (well make some sounds) at all the right time. Thankfully, both the young yogis and the geckos get my sense of humor. As Abby F pointed out, we´ll just have to see if I can learn to be sarcastic in Spanish for the time after my Yoga TT (Teacher Training).

When I say its more than the poses, or hatha, yoga, I mean we are living like yogis. We take turns waking the others up by going around the property chanting at 5:15 am. Then we go to morning meditation, hatha yoga practice, breakfast, lecture, lecture, meditation, lunch, swim, lecture, practice teaching, dinner, and then two more lectures, and a meditation. It´s all a bit much at first and this is only day 4. Thankfully, we have Wednesday afternoons and most of the Sundays (after morning meditation and practice) off. By the time we end at 9:30 (we practice silence from after the last meditation until breakfast) we are ready for bed, but there is still more reading to be done. It is a lot of work, but I am glad I am here.

The Rancho is a great setting. We meet for lessons in a large round palapa with a shrine it it. (Don´t worry, shrine, chants, silence, I haven´t become a monk yet, just feels like it) The floor is concrete so we put blankets under our yoga mats. My hips and back are sore from sitting cross legged for 7+ hours a day, but my body feels great with all the pure food and breath exercises. During the first night frogs kept falling from the top of the palapa onto the concrete floor in the center of our sitting circle. The 50 foot fall shocks them and they lay flat out for a few minutes before coming back to life and hopping out of the circle. I now know where not to sit for evening lectures or mediations.
The laguna is large and the color of the Carribean sea. When the wind picks up it looks more like an ocean than a lake. Its a clean lake and it refreshed every 72 hours or so, a limestone bottom keeps vegetation growth low so there aren´t too many fish. I have only seen 3 species and the catfish are the largest, the big ones are about a foot long. I stuck my hand off the dock and touched one. Apparently they have barbs infront of their dorsal fins. I´m learning.