Jan 22

Where Am I?

It is hard to believe that the training program is already halfway over. With such intense sessions and a jam-packed schedule, we all appreciate our Saturday off. I still woke around sunrise and did “my” asana practice. After all this week’s yoga adventures, it was grounding and comforting to return the something familiar. I stuck with the grounding and comforting theme and had an awesome massage, followed by a much-needed haircut.

Now, centered, grounded, fed and coiffed, I don’t feel at all like writing about the training, so I will take the easy way out and talk logistics. I won’t dwell on the weather because most people reading this are not presently enjoying warm sunny days and gently comfortable evenings. So I will move on to geography. Where exactly am I?

Geographically, it is straight-forward enough to say I am at the Whispering Lakes Retreat Center between Arambol and Mandrem in Northern Goa (on the West Coast of India). I am living in a simple bungalow on what appears to be a small man-made lake or a large man-made pond.

The retreat center surrounds the oval body of water. If the lake were a clock, the yoga shala (where we practice) is all by itself at 12 o’clock. The bungalows, kitchen, dining area and reception area are all along the bottom (from say 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock).

We are a short walk from the beach and a totally different world. If you have never been here, it is difficult to describe Goa. Our part of the beach is tame compared to infamous party towns like Arambol (a 20 minute walk North) and Anjuna (a 40 minute taxi ride South). Imagine a multi-national Burning Man with an ocean to jump into when things get too intense. There are fire twirlers, drum circles and always music to be found somewhere (some of it welcoming some of it frightful). More than once we have chosen our dinner venue based on the sounds permeating outward.

Unlike other (more “respectful”) beaches in India, many people are very nearly naked. Not surprisingly, those wearing the least, often have the most to cover. That being said, the crowd still leans favorably toward the “more attractive” end of the global spectrum. Maybe that’s the yoga?

There are people doing yoga everywhere. I lost count of the number of places offering yoga classes. Many people just do their own practice on the beach (or at least show off there). With this yoga culture comes a wealth of healthy dining choices including “Raw” food and some very tasty vegetarian hang-outs.

Thankfully, there are no large gaudy resorts here. Instead, the accommodations are generally simple and flawed in that “what do you expect on the beach in India” kind of way. We have come to knock on our “attached bathroom” door before entering, just to make sure we don’t surprise whatever might be in there. While relatively expensive for India, lodgings are relatively cheap for the rest of the world. So the world comes and much of it sticks around for a while.

There is a whole community that come to Goa for “the season” (roughly November to April). It might be there winter get-away, it might be part of a migratory lifestyle that includes other calendar-appropriate stops in places like Thailand, Bali and wherever home used to be.

Not surprisingly, there are many Russians here. Their winters are famously uninviting. Their domestic beach options don’t come readily to mind. Goa makes sense. One of the reasons I have been told it is a “slow” season is that the Indian government recently cut the maximum Russian visa from 6 months down to 3. Why bother going for a mere 90 days?

For me, 5 weeks is the shortest of my five visits to India so far. I can see the appeal of staying here longer, but I am also looking forward to coming home. Then again, I will only be home for a week and a half before heading to another beach (this time Mexico). I love my life!