Floating High
The other evening strolling along the beach people watching I and some other around were just about knocked off our feet by a landing paraglider. http://www.goaholidayhomes.com/directory/info/700/a ambol-paragliding/. Some advertising stunt that was.

Anyway  for the less spiritual and more adrenaline junkies is the paragliding, off the clif at the end of the beach. It is beautiful to watch and every afternoon as the wind picks up the parachute keep floating well into sunset.

Only 1500 rupees for the bold, but remember there is no decent hospital within miles; me thinks maybe not.

mind the sunbathers

Spiritual Supermarket

Now that I have gotten used to the place I have been experimenting with attending and finding out about some of the classes on offer. I has been an education to learn just what people are being told, what interests people and how the idea of spirituality is enacted.

Relaxing at Magic Park 

On the night of the  21st Dec, when the world was supposed to end according to the Maya, Oshoanic (a  branch of the Osho ashram in Pune  http://www.osho.com ) held a women' s gathering to welcome in a new ear of the feminine, shakti energy (female power). Interesting I thought  so off I went to inquire. It was to be a circle of women, chanting, singing, dancing and sharing their thoughts in a beautiful candle lit, incense fill space in the tree grove by the beach. Sounds good  I thought  but the price tag was a wee bit high and when I saw the ladies arriving again I felt a wee bit under dressed in my plain short and t-shirt and lets say just did not feel the connection.
Yesterday at Magic Park, which is a fantastic restaurant /healing centre/ yoga ashram, http://www.magicpark.info/magic_park___arambol/home.html   I attended a talk by Neeru who is the spiritual head of Open Clarity. http://www.neeru.de/index.php/en. Neeru is an older lady and she talked on having awareness and being in the moment, every moment. Using the senses to connect the outer world to the inner world. All good stuff and basis to many religious spiritual paths but I have to question her technique which is breathing through the mouth. ?  Guess I should not knock it until I have tried  it but why then do we have hair in our nose if not to keep dust and dirt from entering our lungs? And when I see images of Buddha, Jesus or the various Hindu deities non of them have their mouth open?

body mandala class

Yesterday also I saw a gathering of ladies dressed in white flowing robes and white feathers in their hair doing a kind or interactive workshop. Talking with their partner, then  hugging and doing eyes closed trust building exercises then moving on to another partner. This was all in Russian  so I have no idea what was being said  but it was beautiful to watch. I would have loved to take a picture  but felt that would have been a bit intrusive and disrespectful to the participants process. Simon from our yoga class speculates it is a class on how to be a vestile virgin.
Today was body mandala class. Which was a different group of people, this time  with no particular style or colour of dress, again hugging and exchanging kind words. They ended the class with a wee collective nap, with their heads all pointing into the center of the circle. No doubt trying to share their newly created collective good vibe as they slept.

Contact dance seems to be a popular here, whether it is in small intimate groups or on the beach in large groups. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAlf9m8_kdw
http://goacontactfestival.com/joomla/ 
Not exactly sure what this is about but I think it has derived from the idea of the mosh pit from the days of real punk. Lots of folks dancing close, touching, hugging and just enjoying being close to another human, whom ever it is. Looks great but I know I would need a few drinks before being able to loos my inhibitions.I have however signed up for a Shamanic sweat lodge on  the 27th so looking forward to seeing what that will be about, If it will be according to the Native American tradition or a concoction of Hindu Indian meets American India meets western ego trip. Either way sweating is always a good way to get toxins out of the body. I think the moon will be full that night so maybe a few howls at the moon will be in order.
Tantric healing, Kundalini yoga and Tantric meditations are also on offer but I am staying well away from that none so sorry no reports about that one.

Ayervedic treatments are also very popular and I had an amazing massage at Ajay's Ayurveda hut on the beach. Only 500 Rupees and just amazing. I will be headed back for another before I leave for sure.  The Peace Park also offers ayervedic treatments an dis a beautiful quiet place on the beach with no loud music.

Yoga in Arambol 
Universal Yoga both in Arabol and Dharamsala with Vijay Amar who has over 40 years experience as a teacher. Vijay is quite a character, a very nice guy who love a laugh in his classes but is also a hard task master who pushes his student. His classes are a great work out and his helpers do a great job on adjusting student while in poses. http://www.vijaypoweryoga.com/about_yoga_teacher.htm

The Kashmiri Shaiism School of Yoga was also great a beautiful tradition house of mud brick just off the main street. The center founded by a Kashmir Pandit husband and wife who fled Kashmir in the 90's when the conflict began. I loved the attention to detail and the flow of the poses, the teacher also very polite, approachable and attentive to the students. The class is Iyanger yoga but the teacher training program teaches Kashmisir Shaivism philosophy, which I was told is what Osho bases a lot of his teaching on. I would love to learn more about this philosophy as I am told it differs greatly from the Hindu Idea of Shiva. They also have a school in Dharamkot, Dharamsala.  http://kashmirshaivismschoolofyoga.com/

Balu Ashtanga Yoga was a good class but the yoga shala is the bare concrete top leave of a restaurant in the middle of town and very noisy I found Balu to be distracted and not so attentive to his students, however his class was packed  so maybe he was having an off day. http://www.baluashtangayoga.com/

This site gives a list of all the yoga centers in Arambol  http://www.yoga.in/yoga-arambol.html

For more info on place in Arambol try this site http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/goa/arambol-harmal/things-to-do
Another interesting site to check out is this one
http://arambolexplorer.wordpress.com/tag/ayurveda/

Anyway for all yi spiritual shoppers out there Arambol is the place to visit, never a dull moment for sure.

crystal ball balancer

Cultural Contrasts at Sunset 

acrobatics

a lone ukalele player

hulu hoops a go.

Tonight was exceptional an beautiful sunset with so many activities and shows to watch and enjoy. So tonight I just strolled along taking photos and chatting with folks. Since it is the weekend there is a mixture of Indian tourists and foreigner travelers and it is so interesting to note the differences. In many ways the foreigners can take themselves a bit to seriously while the Indian just love to play like kids on the beach. Many of us travellers come to India in search of some inner peace, a meaning in life, an escape from the pressures of western life or just  time out to question  the world and be I guess. However sometimes our egos  can take over and  I notice it can gets played out in many ways. The dress, the hair, the attitude, the projecting of being cool and trendy or spiritually attained is a full time job. I have seen some amazing fashion statements here which make me seem rather dull, normal and probably boring to most here. No worries, I am happy as I am. Anyway the contrast between Indian and foreigners on the beach is maybe apparent in the photos.

Indian guys on the beach with a beer

Girls from Karnathaka selling jewellery

cricket boys

flooded sandcastle

Yoga course starts.

Day three of the course and stretching into it nicely.  

The Himalayan Iyanger yoga center here in Arambol is off the beach in a shady tree grove. The yoga shalla is a mud floor encased in mosquito netting; accommodation is bamboo huts with palm frond roofs. Basic, is the only way to describe the place but it does have a very peaceful atmosphere and the people all are very friendly. The center also has another place in Dharamkot near Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh which is a much nicer and well established facility.

http://www.hiyogacentre.com/  

Our teacher is a young lass from Israeli who has been teaching for some time. Iyanger style of yoga I am discovering is precise and very focused on getting alignment correct. So each class is slow paced and we use blankets, bolster, straps even chairs to prop us up and ease into a pose rather than forcing muscle and twisting spines into places they just do not want to go. It is completely different for the Ashtanga yoga which I have been practicing and yet I can see that a more in depth understanding of how the body is better placed in poses will only enhance the Ashtanga practice. What is nice about the Iyanger is that it goes deeper into poses and by using the breath, relaxing into a pose and lots of patience old emotional habits, or old blocked emotional pain can be unlocked and transformed. The weird thing is that after 3 hours of slow Iyanger I am more exhausted then 1 ½ hours of Ashtanga.  I think I have a lot to learn from this deep, focused yet relaxation technique.

Sunset Scene

Sunset in Arambol is the funnest time of day, everyone is on the beach and many crowd around the drum circle, here is a glimpse.

Welcome to Arambol

On arrival at here I discovered that the Yoga place had not made my reservation for accommodation so the first day was spent scouring the town for a cheap and quite place to stay. I have now got settled into a nice wee beach hut for the inflated price of 400 rupees per day ($8); the yoga center would have been 300 rupees ($6). Considering this is peek session I think I did not bad since the average price seems to be around 600 rupees per night and come xmas and new year the prices go up to anywhere between 1000-2000 per night; crazy considering it is the same bamboo hut with cold water. Anyway all is well and good now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arambol

Arambol is a 2000’s new age/hippy hangout. I mean every kind of alternative therapy is available from massage and yoga  to panchkarma, chakra ailment, crystal healing, contact dance, astrology and those are only the posters I have seen; I am sure there much more but it does make me wonder just how authentic all this stuff is. Also it is quite a scene here especially at sunset when the spontaneous drum circle, singing and dancing  start going. People also parade the beach  or sit and have a smoke or perform their many acts such as, juggling, hula hoops, tight rope walking, neon ball throwing, fire stick twirling and again I am sure a whole lot more that I have yet to see. The hairstyles are diverse, dreadlocks of many varieties and lengths and colours, clean and filthy with attached feathers, shells, beads or coloured string. Full head shaves or half long half shaved with a tattoo over the ear, long and short hair ranging from blond to blue, red and black left loose of tied up in turbans. 

People here are from all over the world. A lot of Russians, English and Europeans but only a few Americans. The nice thing to see here is a lot of India tourist too but they seem to be in couples or families and I am sure must take some pleasure in checking out all the crazy foreign tourists. Music is 24/7;  ok maybe a few hours between 2 am and 5am  there is only the noise of the ocean. The techno music  goes till late then the Hindi devotional music starts early. 

morning catch

early morning waves

To think I came for some peace and quite is really quite funny because there is none. Yesterday I did take a long walk down the beach away from town and it was  very peaceful  but just too faraway for the yoga class. It will be interesting to be here, see who I meet and what more I can see  but I have a feeling 2 weeks will be enough.

The yoga course I came here for offers 5 days course in Iyanger yoga. To find courses in Iyanger can be difficult as the Iyanger school of yoga prefer that student  practice in Iyanger style of many years before one can do a teacher training program. So these short course will at least give me the basics of what Iyanger is all about.

 Hard to leave

The teaching throne in Drepung

 It was hard to say good bye to the monks at Drepung and I do miss being in that ocean of maroon robes. Geshi Pema, Siri, Budong Rinpoche, his attendant and myself went by car to Vasco-De- Gamo, the main town near the train station and airport. We had a fun journey and even took the monk to the beach for the evening. It was fun to watch the other tourists reaction seeing monks on the beach. The next morning we said our goodbye and I headed up north to Arambol.

leaving Tsangpa Kampsten

sandcastle time

sunset in Bagmallo beach

 roadside market

pineapple juice