It is nine clock in the morning. I just lay in the most beautiful room of our "guest house" come and enjoy a Reiki treatment. From the hands of Simon, my mentor, which, fortunately, is also a Reiki Master, a pleasant coolness flows to my eyes. Outside, some participants are sitting under coconut trees on the large wooden table at breakfast. Up on the rooftop terrace followed by another part of the group as instructed by Prasad, our yoga teacher, in which each exercise looks so easy. We are in Kerala, the second smallest state in India, in the extreme southwest of the subcontinent. Front of us, below the red-brown cliffs, there is a wide sandy beach and the bright blue Arabian Sea. We are a diverse group and come from all over Europe. The motives for the trip to India are as varied as the participants themselves, some of the 30 - to 66-year-olds who enjoy a pure wellness holidays with yoga, meditation and daily Ayurvedic Treatments. Others want to visit some ashram to experience the paradise backwaters or go to the Periyar National Park, where wild elephants, monkeys, and - watch Tiger - with good luck. For me, a four-day trip to the 800 kilometers to Bangalore to visit a palm leaf library will be the highlight of my stay in India.
The central place of our journey, however, Varkala, a Hindu pilgrimage site, about 50 kilometers from the capital city of Trivandrum. Varkala has been discovered about 15 years ago by individual tourists. We are housed in three adjoining houses, each a gem in itself. I feel right at home here. If I want to share with other participants, I go to the main house, where someone is always in a hammock, eat fruit or on the bench outside the house sits and chats. Cliff to the north, where some resort, shops and open-air restaurants lined the beads as a chain together, it is to walk just over 15 minutes.
Relax with Ayurveda and yoga
staht In the early days especially Ayurveda - the science of long life - in the foreground. Doctor Manoj, our doctor, takes half an hour for me, looks me straight in the eye, measures the pulse and asks questions about my health and my life at home. Because the focus of his research is on Causes, not symptoms of a complaint. Of his regular visits Germany-he knows all too well that the diseases of the tourists are often psychosomatic. On the second day begin the daily head, face and body massages that I can take additional applications such as the forehead, foot massage or facials for two hours. I'm thrilled. The kneading, milling and pressing so nice, calm. After the massage, I feel completely relaxed and reborn. My mood improved from the first treatment.
The daily rhythm runs in Varkala quite different than at home. Clock at 6:30, at sunrise, I start with yoga. Then there is breakfast and the day's program will be presented: sometimes there is a little more, sometimes "only" a few meditation or Reiki. For me today is from the breakfast because I was given an application. After the massage I eat something and let the rest of the day simply relaxing only the soul. I am relaxing on the terrace in the garden and on the beach, listen to the cawing of the birds and admire the elegant style of flying eagles. My current difficult life in Germany is so far away, negative thoughts do not interest me. I focus only on the moment and enjoy this new facility. In the evening I have a feeling that I had a long day behind me, although I had not done much. Discovering and enjoying the slow pace makes me very satisfied.
The food is a new experience. Somehow, everything here tastes much more intense than in Germany. In particular, the local spices - cardamom, cumin, turmeric and chili - by my taste buds felt more strongly. The national dish in South India called Thali. There is an assortment of different vegetable dishes with sauces and pastes that is done the traditional way on a banana leaf in a semicircle around a portion of rice. I'm learning to eat with your fingers and realize that this is not all that difficult - and especially that it is much more sensual, the food include no metal cutlery with the mouth.
fascinating backwaters
The idyllic life in Varkala is interrupted from time to time by one-or multi-day trips. At the end of the first week we head to the famous backwaters, a 1500 km long, branched network of lagoons, lakes and rice fields. In addition to the typical Kerala coconut palms, banana and spice gardens lining the waterways. From our house boat I see children in school uniform on the way home, women wash their laundry on the canal and peasants who travel in small canoes past us. Everything is so exotic, yet look at these pictures look familiar. An old Man appears on the bank, then stops and looks me in the quiet and friendly eyes. His melancholy look tells a few minutes everything: light and shadow, joy and sorrow, life and death. I get goose bumps, can not escape me his view, however. Finally, he waved to me briefly and move on.
audience with Amma
lies at the backwaters and the ashram of Amma, one of the few women among the gurus in India. It has set itself the goal to embrace as many people as possible. Since they just bored in her ashram, we go out for a day. We are led to the darshan hall, where she sits on a stage. Right and left of their posts long Queuing. Amma hugged one by one, each says something in his ear and radiates to their visitors. I sit a while in the hall and watch the brief encounters that she has with the visitors. At last I may be incorporated into the series of women. A few yards in front of her, I suddenly feel very moved and fight back tears. This feeling disappears, the closer I come up to her. I am asked what language I speak, get instructions how to kneel down, and am only a step away from Amma.
My emotion is transformed into a strong feeling of happiness, and suddenly I am down to Amma's breast. She whispers me something in his ear, I do not understand, and pushes me again very shortly. Then tells me a disciple, Amma invite me to sit a few minutes quite near them. So I can breathe again briefly this special atmosphere and the many happy faces around me Amma around memorize.
palm leaf library: Looking into the future
In the last week I'm going with six participants from Bangalore to palm leaf library. From this visit, I hope that important information for my immediate future, because I've been a long time are in a deadlock. Already on the long train ride departs so far gained a quiet nervousness and large Fear. What do I do if I find that my life will continue to be very difficult? even a palm leaf for me will be there? According to legend, there should be a total of only about 1.3 million palm leaves with CVs.
the station of Bangalore, we are Matt and Rahima, our tutors for the high-tech center picked up and taken to the hotel. The first four of us have an appointment. Once in the waiting room of the library, I am still an oral examination. I drive away the time writing postcards and doing a bit of small talk with others who are also nervous. I finally my turn.
Gruha Nadi, the Palm-leaf readers are, I immediately felt in the right place to be. My fear is gone. He asks for some personal data leaves the room and come back soon with some 30 centimeters long and five centimeters wide, palm leaves, which look like wooden tablets, and are tied at the corners with a cord. Nadi Gruha pulls the cord, ask for more data and is very fast my personal palm leaf. He immediately comes to the bottom of my visit to talk and tell me what will change in the coming years and how I can shape my destiny positively. Although my English is very good, I'm glad I have Matt sitting next to me as an interpreter. Nadi Gruha explained to me why my life is what it is, and tells me about the strengths and weaknesses in my previous life. He tells me situations in my life so far and reminds me of certain feelings I had as a child. I lose all sense of time. Finally, I must still ask questions. The answers are reassuring.
Soon it's back to Varkala, which is after the noisy and dusty Bangalore a real oasis. I've got one day to enjoy this special place on earth that I would have never discovered without Mystic Travel well. The team, led by Tim H. Pfordte makes my life here as pleasant as possible made, what kind of India-novice like me was very important. Of the four caring tutors, I have learned how to behave properly in the city, shopping or talking to rickshaw drivers. Their personal stories that connect with India, have touched me. In the three weeks I realized that I too will travel a few more times in the subcontinent, to continue to find myself. © Marlies Moser
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