Nesting and Working.

Wow where has the year gone, were in Spring now and I really feel this year has just flown by, we have been back from travelling a while now and life has just got in the way of writing, I was writing my blog monthly when away and feel I have really neglected it since home, so here goes, I thought my first update this year i could share what’s been happening and what’s been making these last few months.

Work.
My working week is 3.5 days at Acorns working as a Children’s Counsellor with children impacted by domestic and sexual violence, the therapeutic work is carried out using play therapy techniques and is just wonderful to watch the process children/young people go through whilst working in the room.

My initial plan was to work more self-employed but my role at Acorns is amazing and diverse and I feel so many of my skills lie within this role, I have really put a lot of energy into it and its beautiful to say but I really do love it, hence why the private counselling I had thought of being more involved in has gone quiet.

Acorns are supporting me through a play therapy course at the institute of art psychotherapy www.artspsychotherapy.org which is an incredible institute and I hope to study further with them in the future. The course covers a number of different techniques, theory and experiential work to understand play as a therapeutic form, its hard going and means a lot of time back in London town but the learning I am getting from it is brilliant and is enhancing me as a practitioner each week I learn.

I am managing ½ day a week with Yogabud teaching one public yoga class and seasonal workshop’s which run on a Saturday and have a different theme each season. I have offered a few different options with the yoga but it feels right now the teaching I am offering is working best. The public class and workshop are going fantastic with full numbers and a mix of gender and age which is fantastic to see.

I have also been asked to par take in a workshop run by the lovely Shanti Bee www.shantibee.co.uk in June which I am really looking forward too.

Home.
Sam and I bought a house, bit crazy and unexpected but it all came about as I wanted my hens back and felt it was just annoying paying rent and not being able to have my feathered friends to say hello too. So we found a nest in an area we wanted and was lucky enough to have the offered accepted and now were in with our 6 hens and half decorated house. We weren’t sure whether we wanted to live country or city but felt that the stage we are in now the city suited us more with plenty of country adventures.

We had a few things we knew we wanted, like a wood burning stove and a good sized bath, which were two of the things we got sorted asap. We also knew we wanted to use reclaimed wood as a focus for shelves, my house plants seem to be growing so I wanted a place for good light for them. We also have so many books so wanted to use one of our alcoves to storage them so went searching in my dad/s workshops and found a number of old batons that we upcycled and made shiny and new. Really pleased with how far we have got and its really starting to feel like ours.

Bathroom Tiles.

Bedroom Wall

Hallway,

Stove tiles.

Hello to 2015.

I am well aware we are in May now, so saying hello isn't that new but wow so much has happened and so many decisions were made that I wanted to share a few with you all.

I made a few NY Resolutions and so far things seem to be working out.

• Starting 2 business - Yoga and Counselling.

The Yoga side of this has actually become more developed, which at first I found a challenge as that wasn't the plan and I wanted my energy to be more focused on developing a women's only counselling service, however with funding the way it is I wasn't getting anywhere and have decided to work privately at home with 1-2 women a week which is a nice balance with my employed part of the week. I am still managing to connect with women, offer my skills but work in an empowerment way which was the prime focus, its not about how many I work with, working with 1-2 women allows my full energy to be present, so although things haven't worked how first imagined I guess that's business and I feel its working right for how it should be right now.

Yogabud is booming, I use Tuesday as my 'yoga day' and work with 3 women privately during the day and then teach a class on an evening in Gosforth. I carried out my first workshop this weekend which I hope to do every 6-8wks, the workshop sold out and was really successful, with a lot of great feedback coming back from it.

• Start a new job as a Children's Counsellor

I honestly have to pinch myself at times at how lucky I feel, I have literally walked into a perfect role, I work 3 days a week as a Children's Counsellor for children impacted by sexual and domestic violence. The role is challenging, heart breaking and difficult but I love the balance of being there 3 days and then have two days to do my own thing, yoga, create, learn. I work in an integrative way and bring in a lot of play therapeutic style which is incredible when working with children. I am 5 months into the role and already have planned my next training to go further in the role.

• Learn how to look after houseplants.

I decided when away I wanted to become more green fingered, so far so good, orchids are blooming, streptocarpus are flowering, spider plants are reproducing, its just the sneaky aloe vera that I haven't got to grips with yet.

• Use my day off on Fridays to be more creative.

So this hasn't happened as much as recently I have been back and forth to London, however now Sam is residing in the North I feel this is definitely a plan that will start soon, the knitting needles have been clicking on other nights though and lots of baby projects for friends in place.

• Spend more time exploring Northumberland.

This I have definitely been doing, beach walks at Newton by the Sea, walking Hadrian's Wall, exploring castles and going out to Kielder, I purchased two walking books with some Christmas money so lots more planned for 2015.

One Song Yoga; Wahe Guru

So I did it, I qualified, yeah! Wow what a whirlwind month it has been but what an amazing one at that, I still feel slightly in shock that I did it and finally committed to it but also feel overwhelmed how quickly it went and without any hiccups, it was a blissful, inspiring and mind opening month and I am so thankful to Denise and Bex for the experience I had, I wanted to commit myself to writing a full post in relation to my training experience as feel it’s so important to spread the message of the importance of yoga, without it being a stereotypical hipster thing to do, I remember I told one friend I was thinking of training whilst travelling and his reply was ‘you and every other fucker’ ouch!  I could totally see his point though and even more so when away, the ongoing conversations had through India of people studying here and there, the schedules sounded hardcore though and not the yoga I wanted to be able to share with others, I couldn’t find the right training I wanted to commit a month too, nothing inspired me and I kind of decided that maybe it just wasn’t the right time to train, which was fine, I kind of stopped looking by the end of India, I chose to enjoy my yoga practice for what it was and the right course would come up one day.
We when we arrived in Ubud we chose to stay a week and relax, I had read about the Yogabarn when researching yoga studios before coming away, so decided to go and attend a few classes there. I signed up for a few amazing workshops, and saw a Yin Yoga class that I fancied, I have only done one Yin class on my 30th birthday last year, I remember the teacher in Vietnam gave me the choice for the class that morning and I chose a Yin practice, it stayed with me as it was so relaxing and really made me feel a therapeutic sense of ease that was just truly beautiful, however when returning to the London I hadn’t found any classes nearby so therefore had just enjoyed that one experience, how lucky I thought trying it again in Ubud.
I can literally say going to Denise’s class changed my life, I can’t fully explain how or why, maybe it was the tennis balls (I will get to that), the information shared on the practice we were doing, the way she taught or the Yin practice whatever element it was I left that class so moved and energized for change that I knew I had to train with her and share the knowledge she had with others, luckily for me she was running a course two weeks later, after a discussion with Sam,  I was signed up to her course by the next day and ready to start training on the 18th June.
Denise’s training, One Song Yoga, is put forward as not your average training course, stepping beyond the physical and commercialization of the spiritual and offering the key to transformation of your own mind and body, it covers 4 different styles of yoga Power, Vinyasa, Hatha and Yin. When reading the leaflet and talking with Denise I just felt this course differed from any other I have read about or heard about and I felt it really sat with my principles of yoga practice in current society and would marry well with my previous counselling training.
My reasons for wanting to train in yoga is to bring this into my counseling/therapy work as I feel it can be a real benefit to clients I work with, I also feel Yin Yoga holds such important principles in allowing people to relax in their yoga practice and encourages people to take time out to actually slow down and be with themselves for 90mins, it works with the connective tissue and moves stuck energy that for some people can be causing such trauma in their lives, for me to bring this into therapy work will make great changes for the client, allowing them to start to understand their body more on both a physical and emotional level. 
Denise first class I took worked with both Myo Fascial and Yin, the Myo Fascial Release  is a soft tissue therapy for the treatment of the skeletal muscle. The Yin Yoga being more a therapeutic meditative style of yoga that works with the connective tissues, the poses used in Yin Yoga work by moving energy through the body to improve organ health and emotional well being, with both of these practices combined together in one class you can maybe see why I had a life changing moment in Denise’s class.

The training started on June 18th and I was delighted to find it was a small class of only 10 people, we talked about what we wanted from the course and a small bit about ourselves, it was so interesting hearing peoples reasons for doing the course and although some were to be able to teach a lot were about their own yoga journey and practice. It was explained to us how the course would run and how we were able to choose which classes we wanted to par take in, both our teachers teach at the Yogabarn therefore we had a number of different classes in power yoga, vinyasa yoga, yin yoga, acro yoga and restorative yoga, I was so pleased to hear the diverse range we could chose to work with and although I planned to try all I knew my preferred choice would be the more yin, restorative, therapeutic style classes, however I did par take in a few vinyasa classes as this was the style I practiced at home.

That morning we took our first two classes of power and yin and after 3hrs of yoga I was so excited to be lucky enough to do this for the next 28 days.

The course definitely opened another range of emotions I had carefully tucked away, it was challenging in ways that is hard to understand unless you’re in that physical and emotional journey of yoga, I remember one vinyasa class with Bex, I went into Hanumasana and just broke down crying, I really understood the term ‘crying your way through hip openers’. When learning about this reaction and why this happens I started to understand our chakras more and how hip openers open our second chakra, Svadhisthana who’s identity is emotion and can develop between 6 months and 2 years, wow, my mind blew learning this and related so much to my own life changes around that age.  From working with Erickson’s stages of developmental I was now working with a whole new psychology system which related to our bodies and yoga, I was drawn to learn more and was recommended a book called eastern body, western mind which has now become my travel companion for learning more about this sacred chakra system (Denise informed me to wait till the course has finished before delving into this book as it will be a life informing read).
We carried out a whole day related to the chakras, no one knew how the day would go but we were told to wear bright colours and bring a friend/partner/husband. How the day worked was we went through different yoga asanas and set activities to open up each chakra and allow the energy to move through (obviously if energy is stuck they won’t necessarily just move, it’s can take time) but this was a way of looking at certain asanas and things we can do to start that process and engage in what it is like. We worked from our 1st chakra to our 7th chakra and went through a whole range of emotions dancing and grounding ourselves, flowing through sun salutations, playing on slack lines and silks, backbends, placing our hands on others hearts, sharing innermost secrets to mantras and chanting, the energy felt in the room was beautiful and it was a day I will never forget, it was a day that made me understand more about each chakra and its importance but also a day at where I looked into myself and saw were my energy could be stuck and the benefits of using chakras as a tool in looking at how people are impacted, but also using yoga as a tool for moving through this, the two marry together in such a complete way and I can’t wait to take this new information home and use it in my therapeutic work.
The course covered so many different areas of yoga practice that every day I was yearning for more, Bex took us through the history of yoga and took us back before Pantanjali and his Raja Yoga about 5000 years ago, we talked about what Yoga was and how mantra is the oldest form of yoga practice, Bex talked of the practices of the shamanistic and their out of body experiences, the ascetics who went out into nature and on their own having no attachments to basic living and the vedics who believed in fire rituals, mantras, dharmas and breath work. We moved through the years of pre classical yoga and how the Bhagavad Gita become such an important text, this then led us to the knowing of Pantanjali and the yoga most of us now know and love. This was all such information for me and my mind was so eager to take it all in, from this we started to move towards our yoga philosophy and Pantanjalis 8 limbs of yoga Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, for me seeing asana and pranayama as 3 and 4 was mind boggling as although I knew it, in our current world of yoga, we jump straight to the asanas before anything else and don’t even know about the other areas of yoga, this information and new knowledge just stood strong in my belief how yoga is more than just moving our bodies in certain ways and yoga can be found in many forms not just the poses.

From one amazing thought blowing information gaining subject to another we moved into yoga therapy and talked of the types of yoga that can be used as a therapeutic tool but also the benefits of yoga to an individual and ourselves, the list we came up with was endless and secured my knowledge again of why I was here learning this worthy and precious skill. We learnt about thai massage (and its origins) and the art of touch and Bex explained how we can bring this into our yoga sessions and the benefit this can have to students by having a ‘safe touch’ experience. The yoga therapy session resonated so much with me and I was already starting to know the type of yoga teacher I hope to be.

We were taught human anatomy by a leading French Ostepath, my mind was opened again to the biology of the body and the way we work, taking me back to school but with a deeper insight into the importance of learning and wanting to know the information to be able to put into practice when working with human bodies. I loved the way Francoise taught us, teaching us how Ostepaths look at the whole body, not just isolated areas, sharing her wealth of knowledge and experience allowed us to understand certain elements of the body in relation to yoga practice and how we can help others who may attend classes with aliments but also avoid aliments and understand them in our own practice. We discussed the importance of fascia again and how it’s a subject rarely covered but is as important as muscles, Francoise sharing how Myo Fascial release work being so important to the human body.

We took work home and learnt then presented information about different Hindu deityies like Saraswati, Ganesh, Shiva, Vishnu, Rama, Kali, Brahma, Sita and Hanuman and how they came to be the gods and goddess worshipped by many.  We took time to look at certain deities in relation to yoga and how certain asanas found their names in relation to the deity’s tales. It made me want to head back to India and make more of an understanding about the gods and goddesses worshipped there.

Our work led us to our yoga for the hands, mudras, linking these again to our chakras and how certain mudras can help release certain energies. We learnt the sacred chant of the Gayatri Mantra, one of the most oldest and powerful of Sanskrit mantras, the power of Om, the resonant sound of the universe.

We covered the different types of yoga in our modern day world and looked at the history of Yin yoga and due to it being new to the yoga world, only being founded by Paul Grilley in the 1990’s.

As the weeks passed by our teaching started to focus more on us as teachers and we learnt adjustments in certain asanas, attended real classes our teachers were teaching to assist and then started putting our adjustment practice into reality when adjusting people in classes giving them a deeper experience of the asana. We started to learn our own ways of sequencing and put these into practice by demonstrating in class with the eventual move to teaching in real class ourselves.

I was so scared to teach a real class and was so pleased I could teach a yin class as this being the area I wanted to teach back in the UK. I had put together a 30minute sequence for the class ending with shavasana, Denise took the start of the class and I took over with 30mins left, I counted 46 people in the studio and we were in the main studio upstairs, the whole experience was incredible, I was moved by the experience shared and by the energy felt in the room, it gave me the strength and sense of real security about how passionate I was about yin yoga. I looked over to my teacher, her smile overwhelmed me and gave the courage to carry on and even bring students out of shavasana, ending the class with a collected om.
My feedback was great, and I felt a great achievement that all my learning was going in and I was able to teach a class of 46 people and teach it well enough to be given praise.

We had a number of sessions in our learning group where we did 20min sequences and 1hr sequences and were given feedback in the form of Haiku’s (Japanese form of giving feedback). We looked at how we work with students in our classes and talked of double loop learning, using strengths to encourage our students and not put them off, it was all becoming so real and soon I was going to be leaving this training qualified to empower and share this art form with others.

With the course coming to an end and our learning shared with others both in a public and class forum I was feeling more confident with what I would be taking away and more confident in sharing the practice with others without feeling I have to be able to carry out every yoga asana to be a ‘good teacher’. My focus was now about what I could share and not what I can do, as Denise shared in one of her thoughts for the day ‘we can’t give away what we don’t have’, my confidence in my own ability was strengthening and my sense of self identity as a yogi was holding true to my own beliefs and values, my own niyamas.

The course came to an end with the beauty of a butterfly mandala, made out of an array of vibrant and stunning flowers and we discussed our writing assignments as a collected group, we shared our highs and lows and self discipline to carry on but overall our bond as a group and our collected sense of sharing as teachers.

I couldn’t have asked for a better training experience, I feel equipped to teach, I feel ready to learn more, as like life, yoga is a forever learning experience.

The vast knowledge of two empowering teachers has allowed me to develop and grow into the yoga teacher I have always dreamed of becoming and I am forever thankful for that experience, my time in Ubud will never be forgotten and I will ensure my practice gained will be shared worldwide.

Wahe Guru

(A few favourite snaps)

South India cont..

As the midday sun comes out and the temperature becomes uncomfortable I thought I would hide away and update you all on a new blog entry, and our travels since my last writing. 

We ended up staying twelve days in Gokarna, Kudle beach really is a dream and the beach is so pristine and idilic it just seemed silly to head elsewhere, with our basic hut and our adopted puppies we felt right at home and did nothing more then bask in the sun, eat, read and enjoy having the restaurants dogs around us. It felt nice to be based somewhere and not be on the move but also somewhere that doesn’t have that over the top traveler feel. Om beach seems to pull more of this crowd in and we did venture there for a day but soon left as was craving the quietness of Kudle and the comforts of our hut. We celebrated the Indian festival of colour, Holi festival when on Kudle and were covered like rainbows in vibrant colours, it was nice to enjoy the energy from others and smile and celebrate in the jovial way a festival of such beauty should. 

We eventually packed our bags and moved from Gokarna, heading to Goa, we felt it was time to move on and experience another part of India rather then getting too settled at Sunset Café beach huts. We got the train up to Goa and decided our first stop would be Palolem, we arrived at Palolem and sadly it was totally different to what my view of this idyllic peaceful beach would be, I knew Goa was a tourist spot for package holidays but had been told Palolem was different to the more popular beaches, my first thought was the opposite to this, the beach was lined with bars and restaurants and everywhere was offers of buy one get one free and nasty music. We managed to find a coco hut in budget that was set back from the beach, the room was clean with a comfy bed and suited us both, we spent our first few days on the beach and tried to soak into the palm lined beach, sadly I started to really dislike the place though and the general vibe was just so different to what was in my head, we decided that the following day we take a trip to old Goa to get away from the beach and the general feeling of drinkdrinkdrink. That afternoon though we decided to take a stroll to the right side of the beach and came across a treat of a stay, the cozynook www.cozynookgoa.com, stood nestled in the corner at the very end of the beach, its general feel was of beauty and its rooms were gorgeous, it reminded me of Mango Bay in Vietnam mangobayphuquoc.com, the rooms were basic but stood strong and just looked a dream to stay in, we decided to enquire but on our budget we just felt we couldn’t splash out so agreed we would enjoy the rest of the afternoon there and come hang out here for the remainder of our Palolem stay. The rest of the afternoon was blissful with good sounds, cocktails and comfort. Whilst lazing we noticed across the tide a bar on the far corner, we couldn’t work out how to get across as the tide was high, we watched throughout the day as people took the venture across and then vanished, we decided at about 5pm to take our chances, like a magical night time Glastonbury stroll we ventured across and with water up to our waist we came across the Sundowner, it was amazing, one coconut tree bar selling beers and cocktails and the most serene sunset views. My vision of Palolem was suddenly coming into view and I was feeling very very happy. 
The next day we still decided to head to old Goa, heading out on the bus we enjoyed the bangra music and windy streets on our journey there and a bus ride is India is always an experience you wont forget, when we reached old Goa it was a totally different atmosphere from the hustle and bustle of the left side of the beach, there was a relaxed sense with a real European vibe, we bumbled around the streets and basked in the midday sun, visiting the churches and really soaking in the bliss and beauty. 
The following day we headed back to cozynook and after a delightful morning took the plunge and decided to move in, we booked three nights to start off with, but with the enjoyment of the place and the smiles on our faces we ended up staying four, it was a treat and a half, we ate good food, drank amazing drinks and just generally buzzed around totally chuffed at finding this dream haven. Were already planning our next trip and definitely staying in one of the deluxe rooms. 

Our next stop was to Arambol where I was doing a five day yoga course with Himalayan Iyengor Yoga Centre www.hiyogacentre.com, the course was a real self journey and was 4hrs over 5 days, yoga started at 7.30am each morning and was a different yoga to the usual Ashtanga yoga I practice, it was a overwhelming experience and definitely allowed me to learn certain aspects of the yoga I would bring into my own practice. The group was really nice and my northern bonds brought me to a new friend from Glasgow, it always helps having someone you can talk over the class with and we enjoyed our daily discussion of what we had learnt and what we will take away. The course brought up a range of emotions as certain asanas were really moving and took me to a new place in my yoga practice, the inner quietness I felt was really powerful and something I defiantly a feeling I still felt after the course completed. Iynegor Yoga uses a lot of props which is something I sadly won’t use as much of but did enjoy learning more around grounding oneself and trying out something that challenged me to another level, I even managed a full wheel unassisted, which is something I have been practicing and unsuccessfully failing at, so yeah to me. I was really proud of being part of something like this and felt experiencing it in India just made the time more special. 

Arambol itself was quite interesting, the same as Ajuna which is where we ventured after Arambol, because everything was starting to close down it really felt as if our time in South India was coming to an end, like there was no need to stay, as there wasn’t much to be staying for, with the closing of season soon approaching we enjoyed our last few days on the beach and prepared for our beast of a train journey up to North India.

We arrived in Rajasthan last night, sadly we didn’t plan this part of the trip as well as we hoped, its turning into Summer time in India meaning throughout the day its blazing and not the best for ambling around the dreamy streets and bazaars, we have managed to get an adorable room with lake view so have decided to use this as our hideaway and then spend the mornings and afternoons exploring, the city has such a beautiful feeling and I am so excited for the next three days here and the next few weeks in fairytale Rajasthan.

Link to photos - i have added more to the old album so scroll down to the new ones:

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India - A Love/Hate Affair

Since arriving in India I think I have asked myself a hundred questions about myself, my reason for travel, my reason for organised fun, my map of where we must be when and most importantly if I am strong enough to manage a whole eleven months away from family and friends , now some of you may laugh at this last statement but for me it’s probably why I have never travelled longer than five months before and why every time I move away from home I always pulled back to where my family is and where I feel I belong. Being close to my family is so important and when on my last trip my step grandmother passed and for me there was no question I needed to be at home and be there for my family, in our family there has always been things occurring and being apart from my Moomin is like losing a limb, she has always been my rock and sometimes I do wonder without her I may just crumble, luckily with wifi and skype its working out alright, with the aid of viber I have been able to speak to family and friends weekly, kept up to date with the Grandparents and kept in the loop with anything going on, it’s also important for me to be able to offer an ear to those friends going through difficulties and even if I am not there in person I can be there on the phone. 

So in answer to the other questions, I have been reading a book lately and have been able to answer a number of these questions and I realise my structure comes down to the fact I need to make sure (in my mind) things won’t fall through, there is a plan and this plan makes me feel safe. Its most probably the first time in my life where I actually do feel fully safe in who I am and therefore I have come to realise why I am questioning my sense of organisation when it’s got me to where I am, in a place of commitment, contentment, happiness and safety. I guess which then leads me to another question of why have I chose this journey of travel, does there have to be a why? For me yes, it makes sense to have one and I hope over the next eleven months it comes to me, it’s interesting, you hear people talk of finding themselves, meeting likeminded people and obviously experiencing new cultures. I think the latter definitely holds strong for me, as for the others I am not sure how much of a journey to find myself I am on anymore, I think a number of hours in a counseling room in Streatham helped me with that journey, but also my own learning in becoming a counselor myself has defiantly allowed me to find an inner peace within my soul and with others who I have had challenging relationships with, where peace has either been made or I have removed their toxicity from my life, allowing a deeper sense of happiness is  found. Spiritually I believe I am always on that journey, working out where my faith lies, when I told a friend once I didn’t believe in god, she asked me why not, I told her I just didn’t believe someone created the world and don’t believe a lot of the bible, she told me she was shocked I could think so one way when god can be anything, this friend told me she too didn’t believe in god as the bible states but she said for how spiritual she felt I was didn’t I believe in a higher power, to which I replied yes, to which she said, well there’s your god. I was slightly dumbfounded by such an easy explanation but it really got me thinking and I realized there is something in me that does believe in something, what that is maybe this travel trip will help me find out. I read an amazing book a few weeks back it was called the colour purple (Alice Walker) and in it a character explains god as the colour purple, this I like, there has been times when I have felt a strong sense of peace and whatever that is maybe that’s my god, to actually finally feel peace within myself at 30 is a pretty beautiful thing and maybe this whole trip is being took as I am eventually happy and free to do it, so why not. 

Let’s begin.
We decided to start this trip in India, somewhere we had both been before, I had only travelled a small part of India so was excited to get right into the heart of it and have our first few months taking in the delight of what it had to offer. We headed down to Pondicherry, somewhere I had always wanted to go, Sam constantly asking me why, my reply, I just want, it sounds so beautiful and that was what we found. Pondicherry has a mix of French, Indian citizens and has a real diverse experience when you go there; you have this idealistic French part of the town then across the road a manic Indian way of life. We spent two days wandering the streets, taking in the sites, people watching and smiling at the colours of the houses around us. It felt nice to be there and a real sense of relaxed from the typical entry into India, the hustle and bustle was quite calming and we were left to enjoy our days humbling and bumbling. 

On our second day we went to a beach side café and whilst there, I bumped into a friend who is very close to me, I sadly haven’t seen her for a number of years due to certain circumstances but it felt like that was why I was meant to be there, the madness is this friend lives around the corner from my Mums house but due to it being too difficult to see one another on a personal level it finally felt right to see each other, here in India, in beautiful Pondicherry. We embraced and chatted for some time and agreed that on my return we would be in contact again, my heartfelt warm and happy knowing she would be back in my life, I couldn’t believe this was the start of my journey, wow what a beautiful way to begin. 

We moved on from Pondicherry to meet our friends Beth and Cian for Beth’s 30th birthday, 6 days in and meeting friends, I felt very lucky, how could I miss home when home was with me in India. We spent the day looking for our houseboat and making sure it had a sun deck (Ms Liddle's must have) in order to experience the Kerala’s backwaters the way they should be. Our mission was completed and we managed to get a bargain price, a crew and a beautiful houseboat for 2 days and 2 nights. The next 2 days were a highlight of the trip so far, we chatted the days away, enjoying the true beauty of what was in front of us, there was so many amazing birds and people watching was just beautiful, to see everyone getting along in their day to day doings, using the backwaters as we use motorways, it was another world and a world I was so pleased to be exploring. The crew were a treat and we enjoyed so many wondrous treats when on the boat, being pescaterian  is definitely worth it in South India, the food prepared is amazing and every bite is just a spice delight, we ate like kings and queens and all felt satisfied with our money being well spent. Sam and I had lugged a bottle of Moet for Beth’s birthday and it was joy to see how happy she was with the gift, we cooled it and had it lunch, giggling at us ‘travelers’ dining on Moet on our boat at lunch time. Our evenings were taking up playing scrabble and stop the bus, with raucous laughs and giggles at who needed a cuddle and who/why would you smack in the face (celebrities this is) – all in the name of a stop the bus category, it was true friendship at its best and I felt so lucky to be sharing this experience with my adorable husband and two very good friends. 

Our trip sadly had to come to an end and Beth and Cian moved onto Sri Lanka and us to Varkarla, we spent a week in Varkarla, literally just relaxing on the beach, eating amazing food and enjoying the sun’s rays underneath our sun shelter. It was a good week, with extra lbs put on and happy smiley faces. On our last day, whilst having breakfast at our favorite restaurant we were told a pod of dolphins had come close to the shore, we went onto the cliff in anticipation and managed to see them, swimming, bobbing and enjoying the currents, it was a sight of beautiful nature at its best and I couldn’t have asked for a greater gift as we left the Varkarla cliffs.  

From Varkarla we moved to Periyar, again another highlight and took a trek to Periyar National Park, we met a really lovely man who used to work at the park who advised us to take the border trekking trail around the park. What a result, the trek was amazing, we were told we may see no wildlife and to look at the trek as a beautiful walk around an amazing park, it seemed our luck was in though, throughout the whole day we came across 18 elephants, ahhh, amazing and a number of other wonderful wildlife. It’s strange in India, animals are worshipped/used in so many different ways, I watched a dog die yesterday and no one would help (apart from me and two other tourists) dogs are literally like feral foxes and nobody has any care or concern for them, but cows are worshipped??!! The other thing I hadn’t realized before coming to India was how elephants are used; yes I had seen pictures but closed my eyes as didn’t like it. Since being here though I have defiantly found how strong I feel about the use of elephants as working and tourist means, they offer elephant rides everywhere and it breaks my heart that people think it’s acceptable to ride/use these beautiful animals. I just don’t get it, seeing these animals in the wild was where they belonged and not for the use of entertainment or work. One thing India is bringing out is definitely my sense of being pescaterian and how animals should be treated whatever animal – I now lie with the argument around camels, as a friend said are camels not used the same as horses, I need to sit with this one. 

After the amazement of Periyar we moved to Munnar and stayed in the hills in a lovely home stay, it was really nice to just be in and a home stay and not eating out every night, this is something I knew would be a struggle for me as I love being in my home doing the things I like and cooking, to have to eat out every night feels like such a burden and Munnar offered what I needed in staying in and enjoying the tranquility of eating with a family. The Munnar hills were beautiful, being surrounded by tea and spice plantations was kind of surreal but it was lovely blissfully wandering around and soaking in the atmosphere of workers and tea smells. 

From Munnar we made our way to Hampi which was definitely where the love/hate relationship started, Hampi is a place so many people have talked about to me, telling me how much I would love it, how tranquil it is and beautiful. I did find it to be this but also I found it to be a place I didn’t enjoy and felt it had lost its beauty by catering for the stereotypical backpackers dream – nightmare to me, where we stayed was literally full of travelers, there was no culture, beauty just everyone smoking weed, talking of how drugs should be legalized and how many bang lassi people had had, really? Is this what it’s about??!! After a second night of random rubbish school disco music we decided to pack our bags and get out of there. 

It did however offer one day of blissful tidings, where we hired a moped and enjoyed a number of temples, we climbed to the Hanuman Temple on the evening and it was total beauty, we enjoyed the chanting of the Sadhus, watching young boys learn prayer and took in the beauty of Hampi from the skyline, another highlight to add to the travel bank. We then climbed across a number of boulders and enjoyed watching sunset over the beautiful town. At this point Hampi was what I had been told, peaceful, and beautiful and a delight to enjoy. 

Our next jaunt on the trip was to our favorite beach in India, Kudle beach in Gokarna, We arrived Saturday and managed to get a room in our favorite basic beach huts, Kudle beach is a dream beach with a few cafes, a relaxed vibe and a strong sense of peacefulness in the air. Since Saturday I have been practicing my yoga in the morning, reading most of the afternoon, submerging in the warm sea and enjoying the rays, we have over a week here and with approaching our first month yesterday I feel were celebrating in the perfect curly way. 

Photos so far…    

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enjoy (even without a facebook account you should be able to see these snaps - copy and paste into tool bar and fingers crossed)