Yog-Ganga

Monday morning I visited Yog-Ganga, where I will be taking a 3-week Iyengar yoga retreat in November at the end of my stay in India. Pranav, one of the sons of the teachers, Swati and Rajiv, happens to be a student at WII and one of my good friends. He arranged a meeting for me on Monday morning with his parents and gave me detailed instructions for taking the bus 45 minutes to his house. But on Monday morning, Swati convinced him to come home for the day. So instead of the bus, I climbed on to the back of his "scooter" (motorcycle) and off we went, dodging cows and cars for 45 minutes up the mountain to his home.

To be honest, I was petrified for the first 15 minutes of the drive. Very rarely do motorcycle drivers wear helmets in India, and their passengers wear them even less frequently. So as we drove, Pranav with his helmet and I without one, my conscience repeated, "Oh my god, oh my god", and played out every bloody scenario possible. But Pranav is a very safe driver and after a few minutes my mind calmed, and I focused instead on the mango trees and mountains around us.

We arrived safely at his home. Located on a ridge overlooking Dehradun, his parent's home is my idea of paradise. Their property is composed of their private home, their studio (large enough for 40 students) and flowering gardens between. Heaven. The second we arrived we hurried to join Rajiv's yoga class, and practiced for an hour with the class. Rajiv runs a well structured class, with strict yet sensitive instruction, and plenty of jokes. I am looking forward to taking the retreat with him.

They had invited a 23-year old girl from Chicago named Jessica, who was attending the March retreat, to join us for lunch. We had a sweet conversation, and it was a relief to speak to someone with my accent for a change.

The lunch was delicious (I still can't get over all the servants here - 2 of them prepared and served us the meal) and our conversation with Swati and Rajiv very relaxed. They are laid-back, grounded, intelligent and caring people. I was especially impressed by their extensive familiarity with the US, most likely due to their international teaching and their son, who attended college and now teaches in America. Swati, Rajiv and Pranav are perhaps the most well-balanced and international Indians I have met thus far in my trip, and I am thrilled to know that I will be able to bask in their presence for 3 weeks.