A glorious day

I had a glorious day yesterday. I did a long asana practice and did 54 drop backs to celebrate being in Varanasi. I was actually feeling so good I almost went for the 108 but then I thought that might be stupid, being that the last time I did 50 I was a little tweaked. I added the 4 more and quite feeling great and had no tweaking and no negative repercussions what-so-ever. I think it is the juice of being in the great city of Lord Shiva.

I then ate a fantastic meal of curried vegetables, rice and chapati and then headed into town to visit the ghats one last time. While I was there I did a little walk about and also some shopping. I found an incredible shop with great sculptures. I also bought some silk scarves for some gifts. Now the thing that comes to mind is why, in the city where some of the best Indian silks are made, did I buy bronze sculptures when I am travelling with a backpack? Hmmm... these are the questions we really must ask.... And I find I have no good answer other than that I was pretty much powerless over the Shiva/Parvati sculptures they were selling and so I bought some very cool pieces to add to my collection of iconographic art at home. I got several fine pieces that really are about the right relationship of masculine and feminine energies. Somehow, while I love other images like Ganesh and so on, these Shiva/Parvati images really were the ones calling out to me.

While I stayed home yesterday the group went to Sarnath and saw where Buddha gave his first discourse after his enlightenment, they went to a temple there and then to a silk making factory and to a rug bazaar. People bought some great items and reported that the day was quite wonderful.

Last night we went to some friends of Genevieve's for a cooking lesson. It was an incredible example of Indian hospitality where we were treated like queens and given the low down on how to cook pakora, palak paneer and chapati. It was really some of the best Indian food I have ever had. I think they were disappointed in how little we ate. They told us that in India you can tell how well someone was raised by how much they eat when they are guests in someones home. I come, evidently, from a very bad family as I declined seconds and thirds repeatedly!

I woke up early and did my practices, had time to phone Kelly and then met up with the group for another rooftop yoga session. It was quite wonderful on the roof, although this time we had the heat of the mid morning sun to contend with as opposed to the chill of the morning air. We talked together some about the meaning of the invocation and about tapas. The yoga seems to be very grounding and unifying for people. I am really enjoying that part of the time together with everyone.

Okay, today is a travel day. Pray for us.