Yoga_Journal_-_February_2016_USA_

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANANDA IN THE HIMALAYAS

MY TRIP TO INDIA started with a two-hour delay on the Newark, New Jersey,

tarmac, making the flight to Delhi 1 7 hours instead of 1 5. When you’re trapped

in a Boeing 777 with 3oo people, there’s not much to do but give in to movies,

magazines, and sleep. And as it turns out, the holdup and long flight were per-

fect training for my 1 o-day trip to a country where control over anything is an

illusion and surrender is the key to a glimpse of the sacred.

From Delhi, I puddle-jumped 11 9 miles northeast to reach Rishikesh, known

as the birthplace of yoga, near Tibet and the foothills of the Himalayas. I spent

my first night there at an ashram called Parmarth Niketan, on the banks of the

Ganges River, and treaded cautiously that evening to a devotional fire ceremony,

called Ganga Aarti, that Parmarth hosts daily on big marble steps that descend

into the Ganges. I cringed when I was asked to take off my shoes—the smell of

chemical disinfectant mixed with cow dung and the swarms of attendant flies

gnawed at my mild germophobia. But I sucked it up and found a seat sand-

wiched between two Indians armed with iPhones, snapping selfies. I watched

with wonder as one person after the next approached the river—a swirling mess

of milk-chocolate-colored water—to perform unique rituals and make offerings.

A middle-aged man scooped up water in a copper pot and poured some over his

head; a young girl lit a candle among flowers in a banana leaf and set it sailing;

others drank from the Ganges. Witnessing their faith helped me embrace the

chaos, eventually getting lost in collective chanting and serious self-reflection.

Rishikesh, India

EXPLORE RISHIKESH

Round out your spa experience with time

in this iconic yoga town:

ATTEND A CLASSIC FESTIVAL

Held March 1–7, the International Yoga Festival

is hosted by Parmarth Niketan ashram. Join

hundreds of yogis from around the world

for kirtan, dharma talks, asana, and more

( internationalyogafestival.com).

GAIN LESSONS FROM THE STARS

Visit internationally recognized yoga teacher

Anand Mehrotra at his Sattva Centre in the

jungle just outside Rishikesh. Mehrotra

specializes in yoga, wisdom talks, and Vedic

astrology readings, and he can help you take a

celestial look at your past, present, and future

( mysattva.com).

TOUR THE BEATLES’ PRACTICE SPACE

The Beatles visited and worked from Rishikesh

in 1968, when they came to study Transcen-

dental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

The ashram they stayed at is no longer open,

but you can still wander the graffitied grounds

and get a sense of what it might have been

like in its heyday.

Reflect and renew in

FROM LEFT Ananda Spa offers daily hatha yoga

classes; a 19th-century palace houses part of Ananda;

hiking and day trips complement the spa experience.

By Tasha Eichenseher

22

february

2016

yogajournal.com

live well

ESCAPE

continued on page 24