Saturday, March 5

Saturday, March 5

Heather and I returned to the yoga studio for a 6:30am class. The studio's swami (like a monk) taught the class. The first fifteen minutes was a lesson on yoga philosophy where the swami explained the difference between Arian and Dravidian yoga. Arian yoga is pretty much what I've been practicing. He briefly explained Dravidian yoga by holding up his right hand and said the little finger represents good physical condition of the body, the ring finger represents positive emotional self, the middle finger for continued intellectual practice, the index finger represents maintaining intuition, and the thumb a spiritual practice. He said we were experiencing an ancient form of yoga. The class he taught was similar to the previous evenings class only we did not do any jumping jacks or running around during this class. We'll practice the Arian style at the ashram later this week.

The Swami also explained the three colors often seen on the forehead of many of the Hindu's. These are placed on the forehead while worshiping at the temple. The brown horizontal color represents the sandlewood used in the funeral pyre, the red color represents the fire, and the grey color represents the ash of the fire. They are all a reminder that we're on this earth for a fleeting time - carpe diem!

After breakfast we packed our things and at 11:30 am we were picked up by a taxi and transported to the Somatheeram Ayurvedic Health Spa. This resort is really nice and I have to continue to remind myself that I'm still in India. One of the first things we had to do before scheduling our treatments was to meet with the resident doctor. She asked a few basic health questions, took our blood pressure, and pulse and put us down for a 6pm treatment. Each of us are going to get a massage by foot, a massage by hand, and warm oil drip to our foreheads.

Rajesh escorted me to the treatment room. It was an large open air brick building with a thatched roof. There was one small compact fluorescent tube illuminating the room. He had me undress (this time there was no loin cloth), and sit on a small stool facing an alter where a oil lamp and incense were burning. There were four parts of the massage which again consisted of using lots warm ayurvedic oils. First, sitting on the bench for a head massage, second laying face down and then face up on a large mat where he gave me a massage with his foot, then face down and then face up on a table where he massaged me with his hands, and finally the oil drip to the forehead. The entire treatment was done with great respect and felt absolutely wonderful. I have a second scheduled for tomorrow as it's part of the package. Another nice day in India.