Goa and blissful yoga wih Tim Miller

Left Pune on a night bus, a sleeper bus. A 12 hour bus with a single sleeper turned to 15 hours of sharing a tiny space (much smaller than a single bed) with an unknown Indian at the very end of the bus on the top sleeper.

Needless to say I was looking forward to Yoga the next day.
Arrived at Purple Valley retreat center in Goa to spend 2 weeks here with the great teacher, Tim Miller.

Morning practice, really great food, mostly by the talented Sayuri (A 32 year old Japanese girl that looks 16 at the most), some swimming in the beautiful swimming pool (yes, not really India here...), an afternoon class and great dinner. Lots of eating, some Indian food and some western.
It is really nice to have the balance.

Tim is a great teacher, knowledgeable and very compassionate. It is a gift to both practice with him, and meet him on a personal level, to learn from his wealth of wisdom.

Some days I get to use Ozge's scooter and go around Goa. So much fun to ride the little roads, through the palm trees, across the river and along the ocean. Indian scenes happen every moment, and at times I need to remind myself that this is all real. There is no movie set here, even though there is an international film festival going on.

Each beach with it's own character. hippies, yogi's, party goers, the packaged vacationers...
Indeed Goa is changing every day.

From the first time I arrived here in 1992, landed to a quiet postcard place, with cows eating pineapple peels and newspaper on the beach (they still do), some full moon parties and the smell of ganja. Through 2003 when parties were still going wild in Anjuna but Yoga was already hitting the beaches, to today, where Yoga is taking over, and the big party seen is quieting down.

Many more western restaurants around, more and more westerners that live here, and lots of people coming to practice Yoga here, and pay more than they would in the west.

Yoga is a special place, a meeting place. Land of plenty. Pineapples, papayas, coconuts, bananas, fish and lots of sand.
A place where Christianity (The Portuguese ruled here many years) meets Hinduism and blends together like a fine curry.

Curry and Lasagna share menus in peace, Russians, Israelis, American, British and Italians all share the same Shala (Yoga studio), and chant the sound of Ohm together.

Grateful to be here. Sending sunshine and gratitude in a curry of Love.