– part of Sadhana Yoga Ltd –
Here’s an excerpt of our 2014 viewership:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
It was kind of eerie standing on the beach at Mahabalipuram/ Mamallapuram (East coast -India) ten years to the day after the 2004 tsunami (26th December).
Today, this little seaside town is thriving and its laid back atmosphere reminded me of Koh-Samui, Thailand, before it became a popular tourist resort.
Every day, women of each household make kolam designs on the pavement outside the home for prosperity and good luck.
Mahabalipuram is also a famous national heritage site – the rock monuments of ‘Arjuna’s Penance'”are spectacular.
Definitely a place I will visit again and hopefully get to share it with a new group — its great place for yoga and meditation!
After a grueling bus trip from Madurai we landed in the most southern seaside town of Kanyakumari.
The goddess temple of Kanyakumari is a wish-fulfilling shakti-peeth (I plan to visit all 52 of them!), and is known for bestowing blessings and wishes upon the faithful.
We also took a ferry ride to the famous rock monument of Vivekananda.
On the island, we sat for about an hour in a really cool meditation hall dedicated to the soothing sound of ‘omkara’. It was the perfect end to a busy day.
Kanyakumari is a very popular Christmas holiday destination for the Indian masses. Our next stop is Ponducherry for Xmas day.
Wishing you all a merry Xmas & happy holidays!
The Meenakshi Temple is such a cool place – spacious, clean and peaceful.
However, as I was having a darshan (viewing) with the main deity – Meenakshi, I nearly got thrown out of the central shrine by the police.
No non-Hindus allowed (but I was given a pass)!
From the soft silver sands of Ram Jula in Rishikesh (North India) we headed south to the beachers of Chennai (Madras), and then further south to Rameshwaram, a holy site at the end of a long sandy peninsula near Sri Lanka.
This southern region is tropical with coconut palms, bananas and tamarind. The weather has been overcast and warm.
Many pilgrims come to Rameshwaram to seek blessings and bath in the sea, which is thought of as sacred.
Our next journey will be to Madurai and then onward to Kanyekumari for Xmas at the bottom of India … follow us there!
We are back in Haridwar & Rishikesh for my friend’s (Mary) birthday. Winter has arrived and the days have cooled down. North India is a great place to visit in Winter – December is cooler and quieter.
Rishikesh is a shopping & yoga mecca – books, clothes, jewelry, great food and not to mention high speed internet!
It was so lovely to visit Guruji’s ashram in Mathura. Beautiful peacocks and wild parrots sat in trees and picked through the shredded wheat. We saw many guests at the ashram and I taught yoga to local people.
In this place there is nothing but open country side and old villages dedicated to Radha. It is a great place to come if you want to practice the simple, peaceful life.
Follow the rest of our yoga journey in the posts below …. (Days 1 to 6)
Day 7 & 8 // Haridwar to Delhi
Day 7 was the group’s last official day in Haridwar. We did yoga on the roof in the morning and got a final group shot taken at our guest house near Birla Ghat.
For the next installment of Ali’s yoga journey in India watch this space! I am about to go off the grid into amazing new places, spending time with my sadhu family …
Day 5 // Devprayag – the meeting of two rivers
Steve, Liz & Kim joined Guruji and I on an adventure to Devprayag high up in the Himalayas. Here, two sacred rivers meet to make the official River Ganga. Sitting watching two rivers converge, one milky and tumultuous, one green and serene, was simply perfect. Steve got a special blessing for his ancesters’ well-being, as did I. Guru-ji gathered some water for our pilgrimage to Rameshwaram at the bottom of India.
P.S Annabelle and Tahlia’s rock-star lifestyle caught up with them and they laid low back at base! But there was a girl just like Annabelle at Devprayag!
Day 6 // Kali Cave – Adventuring into the wilderness
Annabelle, Guru-ji and I had an amazing journey to the caves of Kali Gophur. We passed a man preparing tumeric and sat in the depths of the natural caves. The sunset on our return journey was mesmerising! We had such a special day together, breath-taking journey.
P.S. The others decided to have a relaxing day back at base.
Main Bazzar Haridwar photo by Steve Mackinlay
Day 3 // Haridwar – Maya Devi Mandir, Manasa Dvi Mandir, Main Bazaar.
For the locals of Haridwar, Tahlia’s bright red hair was one of the main attractions. For our group, one of the main attractions was shopping at the main bazaar both in Haridwar and Rishikesh! Western mind … very big purchases!
Another wonderful part of being in Haridwar was introducing the group to the sadhus of Maya Devi Mandir.
A big attraction for me (Ali) was bathing in and being by the mighty Ganga (the northern Ganges River) … so beautiful, so serene, so refreshing.
Also, visiting Manasa Devi, via the ‘short-cut’ which entailed climbing up hundreds of steps, was so interesting … as was the cable-car ride down.
Day 4 // Rishikesh – More shopping & sight-seeing…
We spent the day in the yoga mecca of Rishikesh. After lunch we sat down on the soft white sands to watch the River Ganga flow past. The weather was a warm 22 degrees and we engaged with the locals.
NZ Yoga Centre - AOTEAROA 
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