Travels Archives - Page 13 of 20 - Pragya Bhatt

Travels

Resetting

July 15, 2017

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The last few months have seen me travelling almost every two weeks. Last weekend I hoped on a bus to Auroville. I was hoping to work on my book as well as take a break from my routine (which has become increasingly hectic). I’ve been to Pondicherry twice before and each time I’ve done the usual tourist trail. Tax free liquor and lots of leather. Also handmade soap and pretty incense. Can never resist some of that incense….

Long bus ride. Waiting to be picked up.

Pondicherry has long been known for it’s French architecture and quaint cafes. Usually you base yourself in Pondicherry and then take a day trip to Auroville to get as close as possible to the Matri Mandir. You shop in the boutiques at the Visitor’s Center and go back to your hotel in Pondi feeling very excited with your exotic purchases. This is how my last two visits to Pondicherry have been, with the exception that last time I took a tour of a few temples and the paper making factory. You can register for this tour at the government run tourist info center located right on the beach.

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This time I wanted to go off the tourist trail a little bit. We got lucky because my friend Joel (an Aurovillian) booked us into a heavenly guest house. Joel, incidentally, is an amazing photographer. For those of you who follow me on Instagram and Facebook, you may already have seen a lot of the work the two of us have done together. If you’re looking to get a few shots taken you should contact him. He does really unique and artful stuff. You can check out some of it here.

InstaFit_1499937145 Our days in Auroville were filled with cycling to the beach, eating at Bread and Chocolate (highly recommended) and lots and of pool time. We submerged ourselves in the pool every chance we got. I particularly loved the Krishna statue perched on one side of the pool. After seeing my pictures of the guest house a lot of people have asked me about it. Here’s your link to the Sharnga Guest House.

And we can finally surf folks! While in Bali earlier this year I looked wistfully at InstaFit_1499937303 everyone enjoying the sun and waves and thought…one day. Little did I know that the day would come so soon. If you’re in Auroville I highly recommend going to the Kallialay Surf School and book a surfing lesson. The instructors are professional and experienced. Our instructor Eddy was amazing. He broke down the lesson into simple and easy to understand modules. This ensured that we eased our way into the ocean and handled the waves well. His instructions and manner is so clear and concise that I would recommend him to even those who don’t know how to swim. You can surf even if you don’t know how to swim!

And as always, my favorite part of my time in Auroville was connecting to nature. Whether it was the pool, surfing the waves or eating simple organic food at the various kitchens – I felt we were always connected to nature and the earth. This helps in resetting your system both mentally and emotionally. I try and remain centred and focused through daily meditation, but some time living the ‘simple’ life allows me to revel in the feeling of wellness. Luxury vacations with a huge group of friends to exotic destinations full of new sights and sounds is great. But every once in a while it’s good to pare down to the basics and allow your mind and body to detox.

@Bread&Chocolate. French-pressed, consciously sourced coffee with coconut milk.

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Travels

Hyderabad in 4 Days: Yoga, Heritage Runs & Hidden Gems

June 20, 2017

The running group.

The Hyderabad Diaries

Just got back from Hyderabad this morning. I love it when a vacation blends yoga, history and heritage and amazing food. If you’re also into wellness travel, cultural experiences, and fun activities, then this Hyderabad travel blog has something for you.

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Travels Yoga

Finding Balance

December 29, 2016

One of the highlights for 2016 for me is the workshop with Manouso Manos. Most yogis will recognize the name. A long time student of BKS Iyengar, Manouso sold everything he owned and came to India in the 70s (in his mid-20s) with his wife. And they both went back year after year to practice with the master and to discover themselves in the process. And now, decades later, I feel that he was able to put us a bit more in touch with ourselves, though we only had 5 days together. I usually blog about my trainings and workshops, however, this time I had resolved not to write about the workshop because I realized after the 1st day that this was more experiential and would require a little reflection, and therefore, it would be difficult to write about the ‘teachings’.

I’m still not going to talk about what I learned. My students will experience the difference in class and my friends will hear about it all the time (as they have been for the last couple of weeks). However, there was something Manouso would repeat during classes which I found intriguing. BKS Iyengar said, “Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.” Manouso would say something to the same effect.

Every once in a while he would say something like, ‘Find balance in the imbalance.” or “Find a state of equanimity in the chaos.” And once even, “Use the problematic pose to fix the problem!”

During the course of the 5 days he would say variations of this every once in a while, and I would think if only he’d allowed us to take notes I could jot down his exact words. But unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take notes.

However, what BKS Iyengar said decades ago and what Manouso was telling us now, is perhaps the single most important mantra for our lives and times. Since the new year is just around the corner, most of us are thinking (if only fleetingly) about our resolutions for next year. It’s important to think about resolutions. Last night I jotted down a few thoughts for next year, and its a good way to let your subconscious know that there are a few things that need to make a home in it. But I think the overriding idea and the main message we should all keep in mind is ‘Find balance in the imbalance.’

2017 isn’t going to magically change us and the lives we live. Your approach to your food or relationship choices won’t change overnight. You won’t start to miraculously wake up early and magically stop procrastinating. Because real change comes from within. And instead of us trying to go the 100-0 way, what we can do is try our best to keep our resolutions, but at the same time accept that to change habits requires a little bit of hard work, time and patience. Basically find a balance in the imbalance of life.

Taking it a step further, I would suggest to those of you looking at establishing a fitness routine to work with what you’ve got. Don’t plan on waking up early AND working out. That’s two resolutions you have to work on at one go, and if you’re unable to keep one, then you miss the other as well. If you’re not an early riser, then sleep in. Workout when you get up, if you have that sort of flexibility in terms of time. Or workout once you’re done with work for the day. It will be easier to keep your workout resolution during your waking hours than when you’re fast asleep. And being under slept and cranky don’t amount to having a good time at the gym.

Whatever the constraints in your life, there is a solution. Until then, find a balance in the imbalance. Learn to endure that which you can’t cure.

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Travels Yoga

On the 2nd of Oct

October 2, 2016

Today was my first Sunday after the gruelling month in Pune. All I’ve been trying to do these past few days is to get enough rest and practice all I’ve learnt. But I was looking forward to today because I wanted to catch up on some reading and just relax (I don’t practice on Sundays. I read late into the night yesterday and woke up without the alarm this morning.

1. 6:15 am: Geetanjali and I had decided yesterday to go to the library today to pick up some reading to get us into the holiday mood. As soon as I woke up I realized it was Gandhi Jayanti and the library would probably be closed. I texted her and then laced up for a walk. On days I don’t work out I like to go for long walks. I think I clocked 5 kms today around the lake.

2. 7.45 am: After 2 coconuts (feeling nostalgic about my post practice coconuts in Pune), I headed back home and did a bit of stretching. Post walk/run stretching is a must. Most injuries are because of lack of before and after workout stretching.

3. 11 am: Since Eloor was closed we decided to meet up on Church Street for brunch and book browsing. There’s always something going on on Church Street. This time I noticed a bunch of new stores and new artwork! There are so many awesome places in and around Church Street but we decided to go for our usual India Coffee House. By the time we got there all the idli and wada batter was over and so we could only have masala dosas. The dosa was delicious and I had two :). Reluctant to have coffee at the India Coffee House (fyi – they don’t have filter coffee), we headed to Adigas (down the road) for my first filter coffee after my Pune sojourn. But before we headed over I quickly popped into Namdhari’s to pick up some stone ground organic whole grain wheat flour (Navadarshanam).

Art on Church Street

4. 12 noon: We decided to explore the recently opened Bookworm instead of Blossoms today. They were still unpacking cartons of books, but we were able to browse. They have a wide selection of books (used and new) and they even have beautiful re-furbished classics!

5. 1 pm: After this it was either sitting at Starbucks with a coffee or heading back to my house to relax. Since Geetanjali wanted to copy ‘Downton Abbey’ we decided to come back to my place so that she could copy it. We came back home, kicked our shoes off and settled down in my living room. Geetanjali browsed my hard drive while I made us some refreshing lemonade. It had just the right amount of ginger, mint and lemon (if I say so myself!)

6. 2 pm: Once Geetanjali left, I made myself a quick lunch and then dealt with the universal dilemma for book lovers. Which one to read first. The Ishiguro won, mainly because I’m returning it to Eloor for Geetanjali next week, and also because I’ve been meaning to read something by him for a while now and haven’t gotten around to it. And also because ‘Immortality’ is too heavy for a lazy Sunday. I spent my afternoon reading ‘Nocturnes’.

7. 5 pm: After an afternoon of reading I made myself a cup of tea and sat down to watch the latest episode of ‘Kalki’s Great Excape’ (Fox Life, Saturday @8 pm), an intriguing show where Kalki and Joel Koechlin explore the North East on these beautiful bikes. This show is a travel reality show and it’s great to see how other travellers negotiate the road less travelled.

Now for some dinner, maybe some TV and then lights out so that I’m geared up for the first day of classes after a month off!

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Travels Yoga

When the going gets tough…

September 22, 2016

I watched ‘Eat Pray Love’ and later devoured the book. I loved the book and the movie. I remember googling to find out what ashram Elizabeth Gilbert had checked into. My friends and discussed the book and its ideas to death. We planned similar journeys. And finally, all of us hoped that should we ever experience a life altering event, we would have the courage and strength to overcome it just like Elizabeth Gilbert.
Elizabeth Gilbert went on to write another book about her life post marriage with the love of her life (whom she met in at the end of ‘Eat Pray Love’). I haven’t had a chance to read that book yet, but I do hope to pick it up soon. Over the past few weeks the internet exploded with news that Elizabeth Gilbert has divorced her husband of 12 years – for the woman she’s in love with. The thing is, this news wasn’t brought to the world through newspapers and magazine stories; Gilbert put it up on her Facebook page herself. She included a picture of herself with the woman she loves.

Today while in the Sirsasana, with rivulets of sweat running down(up?) my torso and onto the mat, I think I gained a new perspective. This morning we were taught how to balance our shoulders and torso in the headstand. The teacher took us through various moves that helped us understand the positioning and behaviour of our shoulder blades and other parts of the torso. This was to give us insight into how we can improve our headstand. I was experimenting with my headstand and the experiments had me almost toppling and definitely very very unstable.

I’m sure falling in love while married, deciding to commit to the woman you love (despite knowing she has terminal cancer) and finally calling it quits on a relationship of 12 years with the love of your life (and which has been immortalized in a couple of best selling books) wasn’t easy. And it didn’t happen overnight. There must’ve been moments of uncertainty, of fear, of helplessness, anxiety, doubt, anger…and an overwhelming sense of insecurity. Deciding to go public with an intensely private matter of this kind also couldn’t have been easy for a woman known the world over for her soul searching trip to India and Bali. No one in the public domain is impervious to criticism. With social media being so pervasive, every detail of your life can be analysed. You can be publicly berated for your actions, opinions and personal choices. Therefore I think it was very very brave of her to be open about the choice that she made, and to risk a lot of bad publicity, ‘unfriends’, ‘unfollows’ and ‘unlikes’. In an age where lifestyle choices are beamed out to the world the second they are made, we are constantly under the scanner.

For health and fitness professionals, it is imperative to look their best in every post. Even pictures of them looking less than their best are always pictures of them looking fabulously less than their best. The constant scrutiny from fans and followers creates intense pressure to look a particular way or make certain choices. For fitness professionals choices such as drinking, smoking and indulging the sweet tooth present a challenge – to broadcast or not to broadcast? I wonder, for instance, as a yoga expert what if I were to one day get a condition that yoga is meant to prevent – how would I go public with it? Would I, like Gilbert, have the courage to talk about my experience? Or what if I were to gain all the weight back (a fear that I constantly live with)? How would I even begin to talk about it? Which is why I feel like the protagonist on ‘Eat Pray Love’ is more courageous than what was portrayed in the book. Her courage is uncommon and her quest for herself is very honest.

This is something we can all learn from. What if an event in your life forced you to re-evaluate everything you’ve stood for so far? Most of us are so fixated in our opinions and lives that we can almost never admit that we are wrong. And what if we had to do so publicly? I can’t imagine what Elizabeth Gilbert went through, but I think it would have been a process of immense growth and fulfilment.

When was the last time you were faced with a situation that challenged your basics and how did you deal with it? Was it a process of growth and learning? If yes, what did you learn?