For many in the Montreal yoga community, India beckons, as the home of yoga, as a pilgrimage to a place that works along different lines.

Daphnée St. Pierre, teacher at several locations in Montreal, including Joy of Yoga and the YMCA, has gone to India for study and seva. She reported in on Jan 18:





Namaskar,
I have arrived in India safely. I landed in Delhi, and a friend was very kind to ask her family to welcome me into their home. So I stayed in Delhi for 2 days. I then took a 16 hour train to Mumbai, which was an interesting experience in itself....Once in Mumbai, the Kripa foundation Family was there to greet me and welcome me warmly. After meeting with Father Joe, he decided to send me to Puna, because starting in March, the weather is unbearable. So he wanted me to take advantage of being in the Iyengar city of yoga. So I am settled at the Kripa center here in Puna. It is actually very pleasant, more in the country side. Puna's air is very polluted, everytime I have gone into town, I come back with itchy eyes, a sore throat and a cough. Apparently I will get used to it....I took my first class with my new yoga teacher today, his name is Abhay. It was very interesting to see a class where everyone is doing something different. Depending on their needs and ailments, the teacher teaches each individual. He also has 3 assistants with him for a group of 15 students. I look forward to studying with him for the next few weeks...
Father Joe is coming next week, so I will find out where he will send me next. But I would like to stay here as long as I can stand the heat.
Since I was well surrounded during my arrival in India, I have not felt too much of a culture chock, except for the fact that there is extreme poverty on the same street corner as extreme wealth. People live in these huts under the highway, and apparently they are all registered with the government. So it seems there is order in all the chaos. OH, and the driving, wow, I have never in my life thought that it was possible for bicycle, rickshaws, motorcycles, pedestrians, buses, trucks AND most importantly COWS, to be mixed up frantically going in the same direction on the street....again, it looks like chaos to me, but there is order.

I must mention that what I have heard is true, everyone stares at me constantly.

I have bought the traditional dresses so not to clash too much, but my complexion and hair colour give it all away. I am looking for an Hindi teacher to be able to feel comfortable travelling on my own and talking the language.

There is so much I could write about, ie: the frustration of the rickshaw drivers constantly trying to rip you off, my first purchase of a sari dress that makes me look like an easter egg, or the way Indians seem try so hard to forget their culture and become more like westerners... Know that I am healthy, and because of careful precautions, I have not been sick (knock on wood).

(photos: Indian street scenes, courtesy M. Veitch)