om, dude

every morning at the ashram, we'd get up at 5.30 and be seated for satsang by 6. popular mantras are scrawled under the top bunk where i slept. somebody really grumpy wrote "lame" and it made me laugh whenever i saw it. i love finding graffiti in odd places, like the time i saw "jail is fun" on the back of a chair in a san francisco hall of justice court room.

after our satsang activities of meditating + chanting + lecture, we did yoga for two hours. brunch was at ten followed by an hour of karma yoga during which you assist the staff with whatever chores need to be done.

free time was usually slow and blissful. by midday everything is baking in the sun, so you're either tucked away napping in a sliver of shade or trying not to fall asleep in the library, one of the only public spaces with ac.

at 4pm, activities resumed with another two hours of yoga, dinner, and another two hours of satsang. by the time lights are ordered out at 10.30, you're already asleep because you've had quite a day!

it sounds like a rigid schedule, but i really enjoyed it! having a few days away from the great multitude of daily distractions plus all that good indian food was very pleasurable and i can't wait to do it again.


celine and i slept in a teeny cabin near the woods.


tons of blackberries grow around a small foot bridge on the ashram grounds. visiting children picked a bunch and made a pie.


right next to where we eat our meals, there are cute little bunches of grapes growing. i wanted to snatch some up but couldn't risk the karma.