Ayurveda Daily Journal – Day 6

Feb. 8 (Day 6):
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS:
It’s misty this morning which makes the place feel like another world entirely. The fog hanging over the lake like wispy clouds makes this place look like heaven. I sit here in my wrought-iron chair, listening to the birds twitter and the staff softly chanting their morning prayers. As I watch the little white heron playing in the grass at my feet, it occurs to me that maybe this is heaven. Or at least a version of it.

Yoga is something we are encouraged to do whenever we feel well enough. The yoga class begins at 5:30 each morning, which is crazy-early, but when you’re doing yoga outdoors in India, you have to make some adjustments for the heat. I seem to wake up automatically every morning at around 4:30 anyway. When I told Dr. Sankar that, he just smiled and said it was normal.

The yoga here is more restorative which is right up my alley, and the teachers are careful and thorough. One funny thing though: Both teachers kept referring to our hands and legs as “Buddha hands” and “Buddha legs.” “Please place your Buddha hands over your eyes.” “Please straighten your Buddha legs behind you as you lie on your stomach.” FINALLY, today I figured out that they were saying, “Please place your BOTH hands over your eyes.” Ah…both hands…both legs. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. I guess I need to tell Dr. Sankar that I have a problem with my hearing as well.

THE TREATMENTS:
Kalari Uzhichil is the new treatment for today. It was another oily massage, but this one was much deeper and more aggressive. They really “dig in” on this one — working through all those knots. I LOVED it, even though it felt like I was a piece of meat being tenderized.

In fact, while they were slinging me all over the table, a funny thought struck me. With all this organic food they feed us, all these massages and the ingestion of ghee, I’ll bet all of us would be tastier and more tender. So…what if this place is just one big, organic farm for giants and we’re the veal? I may be delirious from lack of protein, but I couldn’t stop giggling.

THE DOCTOR:
Dr. Sankar is going to start me on the ghee in two days. I’ll go more into detail on what this involves later once the process begins, but for now all you need to know is that the ghee is the start of what everybody here considers the worst phase of the detox. It’s crazy; the first time anyone on the staff meets you they ask, “Have you done the ghee yet?” When you say “No, that’s later,” they make a face and then say, “Well, it will be over soon.” It cracks me up.

WORDS OF WISDOM:
“Remember that life is created moment by moment. Even if you are off the road, you can create a new road.” — Dr. Sreelal Sankar