Ashram in the cool hills

Trip Start Sep 06, 2010

Trip End Ongoing

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Where I stayed

Govindananda Ashram

Flag of India Amboli, Mahārāshtra, India
Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Leaving Arambol was difficult I I felt very at home there and also met lots of amazing people. It made sense to leave though as the season there was coming to an end and I'd already booked and paid for a 2 week yoga course at an ashram 100km North. The ashram was run by a Swami called Govindananda who was previously in the Sivananda organisation but was asked to leave because his ideas differed from theirs.

I got 3 local buses to the ashram which thankfully was at 1000m elevation in the cool hills. The days there were still sunny and warm but the nights were nice and cool. There was only me and 3 other students on the course which meant it was very relaxed and we all got to know each other well in the 2 weeks we were there.

The course was good although difficult to begin with as it took some adjusting to get used to the 5am starts and general level of discipline after being in laid back Goa for over a month

Me and Charlie

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I left the ashram and got a bus to Pune where I hoped to go to a Krishnamurti study retreat centre. However when I contacted the centre from Pune I was told that they were having building work done and weren't accepting any guests. It was a bit of a shock to be back in a big city where there was lots of beggars, crazy people and people fighting on the streets.
I decided to leave and managed to get a ticket for the 30 hour train ride to Delhi that left the following evening. The journey seemed long as I had to stay in my seat nearly all the time as if I got up to walk about other people take the seat.

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