Meditation Boot Camp
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2008
1
42
48
Trip End
Aug 2009
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Friday, March 13, 2009
Only half an hour from town but it seemed like a world away with its peaceful and quiet surroundings. Fruit trees, bouganvillea plants, palm trees and others that we didn't recognize provided a natural haven for the many birds and monkeys in the area.
The army base is also close by and during some of the meditation sessions we could hear the sounds of practiced gun fire in the distance, plus the odd music playing and wild dogs barking - it is India after all :)
As usual, the hardest part of the 10 days is the sitting - for the 10 hours each day, which can be quite painful. I (Rajiv) also realized that 10 days of silence is a dangerous thing, because the mind starts churning over past events and regrets, and it doesn't stop! It was good that we were in such a remote area because there was no chance for escape. We stuck it out for the full 10 days. Rajiv and I are both determined to keep up with the practice this time, meditating 2 hours per day, as recommended. It is hoped that after some time the practice will get easier, and the mind will get calmer...more equanimous.
After that, we stopped in Haridwar for one night to check out some ashrams but they were not for us so we are now back in Rishikesh. We will stay here for about 2 weeks to do some yoga and continue with our meditation. We are presently staying at the Parmarth Ashram, which is one of the largest ashrams in India - they have about 1000 rooms. It's well set-up to accommodate foreigners. Our room rate includes all meals, which is wonderful because we are getting tired of the constant going out and trying to figure out what to eat each day. After this we move to the Anand Prakash Ashram where we start our yoga. This is a small intimate ashram run by a couple from Ottawa who spend 6 months of the year in India teaching yoga.
After this we travel to the Kumaon Valley to volunteer with ROSE (Rural Organization for Social Elevation). This is quite a remote region so we have no idea about network access. It might be end of April/early May before we blog again.
