Adjusting

Happy New Year~

I write from Kovalam Beach; 48 hours back in the (apparently) real world and still reeling. After 4 weeks in peaceful, disciplined, sattvic ashram setting, every little thing about life outside is abrasive. My sister and cousin have been waiting here patiently for my course to finish, and it is a joy to see them in India. We are trying to smile over all the little bumps of adjustment--but it's hard to convey exactly how much, of the littlest things, shocks me. (Just as, I imagine, so much of India shocks them but is now normal for me). Speaking before 9 a.m.? Having to choose food from a menu? Clothes strewn on the floor and un-made beds? Exposed bodies and the general, unending noise?

The background tune playing in my head: snatches of all the chants and devotional songs (kirtan), a comforting reminder of the sanctuary I've left, a literal bit of energy carried from there to here.

It's going to take awhile to make sense of the past month; of the events leading up to it and of where to carry it from here. I know at least that my experience of ashram life, and the Yoga teacher training course, were completely transformational--transformed to what, time will tell.

I am going to post themed installments over the next 2 weeks, beginning with "Auspiciousness," a reflection on the Mumbai attacks and my arrival at the ashram. Please check back in, and have a peaceful New Year.

Om Namah Sivaya.

On Time and Space

The new year has always begun in September not January, and I’ve always thought an academic annual rhythm would survive the end of my student days. Certainly, it would persist if I taught! But—here I am, September coming tomorrow, already 6 weeks into a school year half a world away...and time has lost meaning. It didn’t feel like September 6 weeks ago, either. August 31st brings news from my other worlds: last swims in the ocean, last waterskis, last visits, blackberries galore, frantic shopping, packing, relocating, returning. Reports of both jitters and of weary sighs: new semesters, new jobs, new programs; or back once again to the same-old. It’s hard to imagine: I left in early July, when the Canadian summer was just warming up, and in my mind home remains frozen in that spacetime. Meanwhile, over here, a shocking reminder from the principal: quarter reports due in 10 days. Quarter?!?! (I’m still operating without a semester plan for most classes). Reports?!?! (You mean actually assess these kids? But we were having so much fun just learning…)