Six weeks in India, and hardly a word written! In so many ways, this trip to India was vastly different than my last two. The primary purpose of this trip was four very intense weeks of yoga teacher training which left me energetically depleted, and although I found myself highly inspired in countless ways, I also found myself needing to conserve all my extra energy, which meant foregoing any physical or mental endeavors that weren’t part of my studies. And of course, a week of sickness in tandem with temperatures considerably warmer than I’m used to didn’t help my creative motivations at all.
While teacher training took up the vast majority of my time here, I still had many pockets of time filled with meaningful moments outside the yoga studio, and in many ways, because my entire circumstance here was different than on previous trips, Rishikesh opened up to me in an entirely different way. Staying uphill in a quiet neighborhood, away from the crowds, afforded me a different, more local view of this town I love, and likewise, being surrounded by locals (teachers and staff) as well as other students who had already had a chance to explore, helped me explore places I might not otherwise have found.
Teacher training aside, my time in Rishikesh still managed to bring me the very thing I love most about traveling: meaningful experiences… and as is always the case, I had many of them.
Circumstances being what they were and social media being what it is, instead of spending time writing the way I normally would, I found myself telling “short stories” on Instagram about the people I encountered or experiences I had instead. And so, instead of the narrative with which I normally approach my blog posts, I am choosing to take the same ‘short story’ approach here as well. But before I begin (in upcoming posts) here are some of the faces and places that keep Rishikesh near and dear to my heart.
Instagram:
Yoga, meditation and my philosophy on life @heart_alchemy
Travel and all things beautiful @bbella415
The Wanderlusting Files 