Here are some excerpts from my personal blog.

Welcome!

June 23, 2018, Chapel Hill, NC

Thanks for visiting! Please join me as I embark on a new journey through 21 weeks, 1750 hours of intensive, immersive, Hatha Yoga Teacher Training program at the Isha Yoga Center, set at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains in southern India. Wish me luck!

Especially since I never intended to be a yoga teacher, and yet here I am on the verge of this incredible journey. I love yoga! It is as simple as that. I love doing yoga. I love myself, when I am doing yoga, I love reading about anything to do with yoga. Whats not to love about feeling alive, feeling a sense of calm, being present, feeling divine, right ?!!!

So I have this boring story about how I fell sick and lost 8 years of my life to this awful autoimmune disease and blah blah blah.

The super exciting part is I am back on my feet. I start my new journey, on July 16. Come along as I fly to Chennai and visit my family and friends for a week before I fly onwards to Coimbatore on  July 24th. My training begins on July 27th and ends on December 23rd. Stay with me through my journey as my pillar of support. I am hoping to share with you various anecdotes about the various activities, my challenging day to day training (without copyright infringement), the exotic food, the stunning visuals and anything else that I might deem to be of fascination to you.

Untethered, I fly!

July 17, 2018, Heathrow Airport, London

I fly untethered, with one hand in hand with the Divine, the other laden with gifts of pure love and unflinching support from family and friends.

Weeks leading up to this moment were filled with contradictory emotions of excitement about the upcoming program and sadness at the thought of leaving my family behind for 5 months. These emotions culminated in my chalk art dedicated to my beautiful family!

At the moment I am at London Heathrow with a 7 hr stopover. American Airlines flight from RDU was pleasantly comfortable. New aircraft with upgraded entertainment system was a surprise change from the clunky outdated one I endured just a few years back.

A WhatsApp video call from a bunch of boisterous school friends in California who are having a sleepover was a welcome respite from my long stopover.

Another 3 hours more to go before I board my ten-hour flight to Chennai, India.

Until then, sending you all greetings from London, Keep Calm and Carry On until my next post!

Blissed out Baby Buddha

July 17, 2018

I would like to acknowledge that the Buddha illustration I have “borrowed” is originally from a post from isha.org.

In this illustration I see a Buddha at ease, relaxed and with an open energy, and a smile hinting at his secret to bliss.

This image depicts the ultimate state of ease that I strive to reach. I find myself drawn to achieve this state every time I glance at this depiction.

I wish you my reader, ease and bliss!

Love and freshly squeezed sugarcane juice!

July 19, 2018, Chennai

It has been 24 hours since I reached my home town of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. Blessed to have my parents. Nothing beats having a cup of hot filter Kapi made and lovingly handed to me by my Amma. Appa still skeptical about my current stint with Yoga.

Some highlights of the first 24 hours:

An impromptu visit by a school friend lovingly hauling a mini sack of yummy goodies -freshly squeezed sugarcane juice, boiled masala peanuts, freshly baked Ragi and cashew cookies.

Omg! The sugarcane juice deserved all the superlatives in the English dictionary!

Just a bite of the masala peanuts unleashed a flood of childhood memories of eating raw mangoes, cut into thin strips sprinkled with simple but unique chili powder masala, on the Marina beach with the sand tickling between the toes!

A visit from my sister and my cutest of cute nieces and being smothered by hugs and kisses ( both ways ) and hearing their squeals of ” Love you Meema “.

Acquired a Jio phone and JioFi WiFi Portable Router, thanks to my husband who smoothly orchestrated this from thousands of miles away.

Managed to stay awake and sync my circadian rhythm to local time zone. Not so sure how much sense I made with my conversations in late afternoon and evening before I crashed for good at 7.30 pm. Any non sense that came tumbling out of my mouth I blame it on my jet lag!

I write this on the morning of day 2 as I wait looking forward to a another visit from another loving friend!

Feeling blessed!

Sending you love and ease.