Last night I took my first official yoga class in India with a man named Surinder Singh. He's probably in his 50s, with long black hair and a big black beard. The class was about two hours long. At times it felt more like a teacher training because he would stop to work with one student as the rest of us watched. He was amazing. He was very good at offering adjustments, sometimes with just a gesture or a word, often by just standing next to you and looking at you a certain way. I was both amused by his presence and intent on being a good student, unlike any other class I've ever taken. After the class he gave a brief talk about going inward. I often find talk of meditation a little hard to follow, but everything he said made sense. Basically, if nothing else, my trip to India was worth it just to meet this man. Awesome.
Tomorrow I head out of Rishikesh. My train leaves in the afternoon and I should arrive early the next morning close to Dharamsala. I'll be spending 6 nights in McLeod Ganj, home of the Dalai Lama. He, unfortunately, will be traveling, so I won't get to see him. There's a big community of Tibetan refugees there, however, so it should be quite a different vibe.
Random tree that caught my eye.
The yoga master sounds interesting. I feel you'll get some interesting images on the next leg of your journey.
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