Isla Holbox

This is my new favorite beach place. Well i will probably say that a lot this trip, so it is my favorite thus far. Its a teeny tiny island 3 hours north of Cancun, right off the tip of the Yucatan penninsula. It has about 1000 inhabitants and the tourist industry is not heavily developed so while there is a large presence of tourists they only have small hotels and hostels. Hilton hasn't made it here yet. Although apparently there are plans in the works by some Mexican millionaire to build a huge resort on the island and turn it into another Playa del Carmen. I hated Playa del Carmen. Tulum also is developing really quickly, and as much as I loved Tulum, it doesn't have the magic of this little island.

We are staying in a little cabana hostel/campground establishment. Its incredibly cheap, only 110 pesos a night for the dorm room. And its really beautiful and clean with a nice garden and hammocks and space to do yoga. Last night we went out for dinner at an italian restaurant, and there was a table of really drunk people who were singing along to a guitar player, very loudly and not very well. But it didn't bother me, it was just funny. Juan Carlos joined in with them and then the whole restaurant sang a mexican soccer song together. It was great. Juan Carlos learned that these people are from the same city that he is from! So that was a funny coincidence. We saw them again today, and one of the people who had not been at the restaurant was Juan Carlos's neigbour from home!! Small, small world.

When we arrived we had to take a ferry across the bay from the town of Chiquila, but the boat was full before we managed to get tickets so we climbed in a "lancha", a small boat, with 5 other men. Juan Carlos was talking to them and I was understanding bits and pieces, but they said the were musicians and they come here to perform at a bar called 'Mescalito'. They offered some advice on places to stay and eat on the island, and then we said we would see them later at their show. They played amazing cuban/carribean music, a 6 piece band. The guys we met played the trumpet and trombone.

This morning we went for breakfast and I had these amazing mexican eggs, 'huevos motulenos'. It was like a layer cake with tortilla, beans, egg, cheese and ham. Mmmm. We walked around one end of the island to a protected area where some kind of bird lays its eggs. The beach was deserted, it was only us. Very peaceful and quiet. When we felt like re-joining civilization we walked back to the main beach and passed a lot for sale that had a run down house and an open platform which we decided would be perfect for Juan Carlos to use as a beachfront yoga studio. 

There is a carnival in town tonight, so that should be fun! I guess its that time of the year, all the places I visit are having the pre-lent carnivals.

Leaving Tulum...

Getting ready to go to Playa del Carmen to meet Juan Carlos. I like Tulum, but I am ready to continue my adventures! 

The last two days have been low-key, mostly hanging out around the hostel talking to fellow travelers and getting their advice on other places to go! The hostel I am in is nothing special, but its clean and the people are friendly. I have slept and showered and organized my things. Now my backpack is back in its cage and ready to go!!

I am not sure how to edit my google map from my ipad... It seems there is no editor fuction in the google maps app. Anyway Juan Carlos and I will make our plans together so I am not sure where I will be. All I know is I need to be in Antigua, Guatemala by March 10. Either we will go through Mexico via Campeche, Palenque, and San Cristobal, or we will go south through Belize via Caye Caulker, San Ignacio, and Flores. We will see.

I think my spanish is improving a little bit, its nice that the local people are patient and helpful when I try to communicate in spanish. Unlike French people who immediately discover that you are not a native French speaker and switch to English.

It is really hot. I am ready to head to the highlands in a few days and cool down.

Ruins, turtles, and carnaval!!

The past couple of days in Tulum have been eventful! On Friday (i think) we went to the ruins at Coba. Coba was a mayan city of 50,000 people at its peak. It also was the intersection of a number of mayan "highways" so clearly it was important. I can't believe the maya built roads out of sandstone, one goes from here to Chichen Itza, which is about 200 km away! The archaeological site is huge, apparently they have only uncovered 5% of the city. If you look into the woods and see trees growing out of odd, geometric looking mounds, those are more ruins. Coba has the only pyramid in Mexico that you can climb, so we wanted to do that for sure. It has 120 steps and is very steep. We walked around with a guide in order to actually learn something, as there aren't many plaques that explain what you are looking at.

On Saturday we did a snorkel trip to Akumal, where the sea turtles come really close to shore, and the reef is not far either. I think we probably saw 10 turtles, all different sizes. It was amazing. They just swam around, munching on sea grass, not appearing bothered by all the tourists floating over them. They reminded me of my dad's cows.

Yesterday we had our last day in Zazil Kin, the beach cabana spot. I have been waking up really early due to the sun and the birds, so I went to the beach and did yoga for a while. It was windy, so there were a couple of kite surfers out on the water. We packed up and moved me to a new hostel, because Chris left early this morning. I am really getting a good taste for budget accomodations in Tulum! I could practically write a guidebook! I am going to look at whether I can link from this blog to my trip advisor profile, so if you are interested you can see the places I have stayed. Tulum accomodations are fairly spread out, but we found it was all close enough if you have a bike. We got free bikes from the first hotel, then we rented bikes for 90 pesos ($7.50)/24 hrs one day after that. I would advise people coming here to choose a hostel keeping this in mind. The first hotel advertised dorms for 190 pesos ($16) and they had free bikes. Other hostels are 150 or 160 but the you have to rent a bike for another 90. Taxis from town to the beach are 70 pesos ($6) and the bike ride is probably about 3km from the town to the beach and ruins. In the afternoon we biked to a nearby cenote. A cenote is a sinkhole/cave in the limestone and its filled with beautiful fresh water so its lovely to swim in. There are a lot around Tulum, they were sacred to the Maya because they were considered access points to the underworld. Understandably. Last night there was a carnaval parade and dance show in the main square of the town. Dance groups of all ages dressed in sparkles and feather headdresses put on a great show. The best of it was the young dancers, they were the most enthusiastic and also uncoordinated. It was great fun. I guess the mexicans in this area have borrowed these traditions from their Caribbean neighbours.

Today I am resting, doing laundry, and catching up on my blog! Tomorrow I will have another low-key day in Tulum, maybe go to the beach one last time (though not the last for this trip!), and then Wednesday I am going to meet up with Juan Carlos, my new friend from the yoga ashram, in Playa del Carmen!

Tulum

It is my second full day in Tulum. Chris and I just moved lodgings from a nice-r hotel near town to a cabana on the beach. This is the real Tulum, I have been told. The hotel was great to get our bearings, I had been told that a lot of cabana establishments on the beach cannot be booked online, so we took the free bikes from our hotel and visited a couple of different ones yesterday.

 

Tulum is amazing, full of interesting things. Its a tourist town, so a lot of things seem overpriced (like all touristy beach places) but its still cheap by Canadian standards. Yesterday we visited the mayan ruins that are located on a cliff above the beach. These ruins were cool, but they were also overrun with tourists. We want to go to Coba, a larger ruin that is about half an hour away. I am hoping to go on a snorkel tour of the reef and also to visit some Cenotes (freshwater sinkholes) or the Sian Kaan biosphere reserve, but we havent booked anything yet. I am also ok with just hanging out, because I will have more opportunities to snorkel or see monkeys, but I wont be able to spend time with Chris.

Tulum is a really easy town, its basically just 10 straight blocks along the highway which turns into the main street. Lots of tourists, also lots of expats, so its easy to get by in English although people have also been tolerant of my slow, broken spanish. I think it was a good decision to start my tour of Central America here, because I am generally understood when I speak a mix of spanish and english, because there are a range of amenities for foreigners, and also because it is just a really chill place!! I am really happy to be here.

Time to go again!

My time at home has coming to an end. On to the next adventure!! I am so lucky to have the opportunity to do such exciting things this year. If I had been accepted into the one Master's program I had applied to, I would be doing that right now! Everything happens for a reason I suppose. Sure, if I had been smarter, I would have applied to more than one school. But maybe part of me knew that there were other things to do this year besides going to school!!

While I was in the ashram doing the Yoga Teacher Training Course, I felt like that was exactly where I needed to be. The skills I learned in my TTC will be so useful to me over the rest of my life, and they will be more immediately put to use in my journeys through Central America. My "yoga of travel" includes:

1) Non-attachment to possessions : I packed a few days ago, but I am thinking of unpacking and eliminating 1/4 of what I have and then re-packing because I know I will be grateful to myself for packing a light backpack! But I have to also be prepared to lose things along the way. Of course I will take every precaution that this does not happen, and I shouldn't be overly preoccupied with this, but I need not hold on to everything with an iron grip. I only have two hands so thats a little tough anyway.

2) Non-attachment to plans : Not everything is going to go the way I plan. Its still worth making plans, but I have to be ok with them not always working out. It will be good for me to practice going with the flow, and to adapt, adjust, accomodate.

3) Maintain a practice : When you are traveling, every day is different. I think it will help me to stay grounded if I have some practices that are consistent every day, no matter where I am. Not that I will be able to do an hour and a half of yoga practice every day, but I can try for at least a couple rounds of sun salutations and 15 min of meditation.

4) Live in the present : Traveling is the best time to practice being present, because everything you do is new and different from what you did the day before. Especially backpacking and touring around, travel teaches you that it is about the journey, not the destination.

5) Practice loving kindness : When you travel you are always meeting new people, so its a great opportunity for me to practice seeing and honouring the divine in each person. I hope to volunteer as I travel around, but one thing I am cautious of is "volunteer" opportunities that really just take the foreign volunteer's money and gives them a warm fuzzy feeling in return for not doing much at all. So I will look around for better opportunities. I am aware the "eco-tourism" in Central America is sometimes not as environmentally-friendly as it sounds, so loving kindness also applies to the activities I undertake in my travels, loving and respecting the land and the people who make their living off of it.

I have collected a range of tips from friends who have traveled through this area, but I am always looking for more suggestions so if you have any, let me know! Also, if any of my TTC classmates have other reflections on yogic travel, please share!!

So what is yoga anyway?

I am reviewing the notes that I kept over the past month and I have a number of lines that start with "yoga is..." 

Yoga is mystical hinduism

Yoga is union with the divine

Yoga is the distinction between the real and unreal, the unchanging and the changing

Yoga is divine evolution

Yoga is the goal and the process

Yoga is knowledge (realization) of the truth

Yoga is serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize

The 'highest yoga' is to bear insult and bear injury

Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha : yoga is controlling the thought waves with the mind stuff

Yoga IS NOT just a form of physical exercise : Asana is one step along the path of raja yoga, the path of meditation. Control of the body and breath --> control of the mind --> samadhi (superconsiousness)

((I never made it to the end of my notebook, but if you have any other definitions of what yoga is, please help me with my collection!!

Take home messages

I was so lucky to have 4 days after the course. I got to relax on the beach, go to a couple of interesting workshops of my own choosing, visit Atlantis and Nassau, and practice my spanish in preparation for the next adventure!

I also got to have some nice reflective conversations with other friends from the Teacher Training Course who were still around. I felt like all the knowledge of the course was starting to slip away, so I wrote down my "take home messages" from the month. Not everything we learned is directly relevant to my life right now, although it is all valuable material to have tucked away in a back corner of my brain. My main goal for this TTC was not to become a yoga teacher but to learn some skills that would prepare me to face the inevitable challenges that life brings, and I think I achieved that. I also wanted to be able to meditate FOR REALZZZ but I still don't quite know that would mean. One teacher told me that when he is "meditating"for 30 minutes he is only actually in a meditative state for the last 5 minutes. The rest of the time he is just trying to calm the mind and concentrate. That made me feel better. These points were the ones that resonated with me the most. Some of them are not exactly as we were taught, but I have adapted them. Many thanks to my classmates who contributed to this list.

1. Don't be a slave to your mind (EGO) - practice self discipline

The ego seeks pleasure and avoids pain. It will always look for the easy road, or the most comfortable one, which is probably not the best one for me in the long run. In the TTC we had a lot of imposed discipline but the challenge comes now that we leave the structure of the ashram. I'm not doing so great with it so far, as I sit here drinking my iced coffee in the airport.... Not that I planned on giving up coffee after the ashram, but its crazy how quickly I slipped back into an old habit. I will have to be more mindful of this. I need to work on some strategies to maintain some of the good habits I developed here, and to not let the bad ones come back. The ego doesn't like to be told what to do, and it never sees its own defects. Discipline helps us to observe the ego rather than to identify with it and appease it.

2. Cultivate balance

The keyword in the ashram is sattva. Sattva is one of the 3 gunas or, the qualities of creation. Sattva is purity, peace, tranquility. The other two qualities are rajas and tamas. Realistically I know that many things I enjoy are rajasic or tamasic. But I can definitely say there are times when I have had too much of either. So I think going forward I will continue to enjoy running and dancing (rajas), as well as eating junk food and watching tv (tamas). But I will try to balance them out, and make a concerted effort to bring in more sattva. Nothing in the world is perfectly sattvic, so my keywords are balance and harmony.

3. Don't be attached

I am so attached to things, people, my expectations, my principles. Our ego defines itself through raga dvesha, attraction and repulsion. But these are the cause of suffering. If I don't get (too) attached, I won't suffer (as much).

Another aspect of attachment is attachment to the fruits of actions. This is one of the main theses of the Bhagavad Gita. The Bhagavad Gita tells the story of the warrior Arjuna and his charioteer, Lord Krishna. The Gita explains the 4 paths of yoga: karma, bhakti, raja, and jnana. Arjuna is conflicted because he has to fight this war against his cousins, and he doesn't want to kill them he just wants to run away to the forest and become a sadhu (monk). Krishna tells him that the essence of karma yoga is action without attachment to the fruits of action. This is so contrary to the way our modern capitalist world works. It is strange to think of doing something when you don't stand to benefit from it in some way. Arjuna must fight because it is his duty as warrior, because he is fighting for righteousness. I wish I could say that I know my duty after this month, but I don't. Swami Ridiananda (I still don't know how to spell her name) told me to be open to opportunities to help people, and to always act out of love. 

4. Examine your intentions. Be an observer, but don't judge.

Everything starts with an intention, but I dont often think about what my intentions are. Why did I just buy this coffee? Did I really want it?? I'm not sure. There was a chant that we sang a few times. Swami Sivananda wrote it. One stanza of it goes like this:

I am not this body

I am not this mind

I am not these emotions

These emotions are not mine

Observe yourself and your actions. Observe your interactions with other people. Mindfulness is being able to pinpoint exactly what is going on in each moment. This is really hard. I am going to have to read a little more about mindfulness to be able to practice this. We had a few evening satsang speakers talk about mindfulness, and it is an incredibly powerful practice. 

The judgement part is also hard. If you know me, you will know that I am very judgemental. Of myself and of others. I guess this judgement is ego again. 

5. 95% of our thoughts are about the past or the future. We don't really live in the present.

This was a major AHA moment for me at the beginning of the course. Of course, it makes sense that we mostly think about the past or future because the present is so fleeting and often seems boring or unimportant. But we can do nothing about the past or the future, so why do we waste energy regretting things that have happened in the past and being anxious about things that are yet to occur? 

6. Love selflessly

I am still figuring this one out. We had a lecture about bramacarya one morning. Bramacarya is celibacy. Spiritual aspirants are told to maintain celibacy because sexual energy and spiritual energy come from the same place, and you don't want to deplete your spiritual energy through sex. Ok, fine, but what about romantic love? The lecturer said that romantic love is objectificiation, and we should work on loving the divine in all people. But he has been married twice so I don't really get it. I understand the principle of loving without attachment, but in practice I don't see how this works. A related lesson was to always act out of love. This sort of got burried for me, but my classmate reminded me of it yesterday. Loving is to share and to serve.

7. Consider every experience a learning experience

We learned so much in this month, but I think that was inevitable, given our purpose for being in the ashram. But the swadyaya or self-study must continue. If we are being a non-judgemental observer of our lives we can learn from each experience. This is the point of karma. We may experience the same lesson again and again, and each time it gets harder, until we finally learn it. So its important not only to observe but to learn. Its also important to do things you are afraid of, as this is where we learn the most. 

8. There are no accidents

I thought about my accident a lot this month. Especially in terms of karma. Its some pretty intense karma to have nearly died or wound up paralyzed, and then to recover completely. This lesson goes with #7, there are no accidents, therefore we must learn from our experiences. A good lesson from the accident itself was to slow down, and stop rushing through my life like it is a race from the top of the hill to the bottom. The lesson from the recovery was in realizing the power of single-minded determination and positive thinking. I can do anything if I set my mind, body, and spirit on it.

9. We are all one

I figured I had to include this one, although this was not new. The thesis of Advaita Vedanta, which includes many the scriptures upon which yoga is based, is "Brahman (the divine) is real. The universe is unreal. The individual soul is divine." There is no duality, we are all one, and that oneness is divine. A wave is not separate from the ocean. I don't know how to believe this in practice, but I think it all comes down to love. Love of self and other. Swami Sivananda bowed to everyone, and every creature, because he recognized the divine in them.

10. Change is the only constant 

Everything changes, this is the only thing we can count on for sure in this world.

Om Shanti!

Best and Worst of TTC

A quick summary of my most favorite and least favorite things:

BEST

- evening satsang guest lectures and musical performances
- chanting

- chocolate

- philosophy lectures

- practicing advanced asanas

- homemade yogurt and granola

- early morning walking meditation

- anything on the beach
- thai yoga massages

- mantra initiation

- advanced pranayana

- karma yoga

- getting to know people from around the world

WORST

- lack of sleep (this was supplemented with naps)

- morning lectures (hard to pay attention due to the above)

- emotionally eating bread (bread is the junk food of the ashram. most of us did this)

- kriyas (while they were interesting, my overall experience was unpleasant)

- sitting 8 hours a day

- running from one class to another

- sand in my tent

- internet not working

- karma yoga (at first it was bad, but by the end it was one of the best things)

- not getting to know a lot of people

As you can see, it was the little things that would make it or break it. The good outweighed the bad, in the end.

Advice to new students

The February Teacher Training students arrived yesterday, they have their orientation and initiation today. I have been remembering what it was like when I arrived and thinking of the advice that I wish someone had shared with me before my TTC. Not wanting to scare them, but trying to help them prepare themselves, I have been offering the following tips:

1. Surrender

This was key advice that someone told me when I arrived, and I would pass it on to anyone beginning the training. Even though it sounds intimidating and foreboding. Surrender to what? But it really is a good word. You have to submit to the process and the teachings. The more you resist, the more difficult it is. 'Surrender' also applies to the asanas. Paschimothanasa is the pose of ultimate surrender, the seated forward fold. But Surrender does not mean to give up. Surrendering to the process or to the asana means to relax into it, to go with the flow. It was most challenging to relax into the structure and discipline of the course. To having no control over my day. In a way we also had to surrender to the teachings, and just absorb them rather than analyzing them and critiquing them right away. Sit and relax with them, and they will start to make sense.

2. Prepare to sit a lot, and take steps to make it easier on yourself

If you have read the earliest posts from my time here, you will know that this was the hardest thing for me. Discipline was hard, but it was familiar to me from my time as a competitive figure skater. Sitting 8 hours a day was new. We probably sat on the floor more in this month than we did in all of kindergarten, or ever since. Some things that made it better:

- going early to satsang to make sure I got supportive cushion to sit on

- doing my own hip opening stretches in my "free time"

- getting a massage on my day off
- running to lubricate the joints

And when I was sitting, the key was to move as little as possible. To a certain extent, physical discomfort is in the mind. Your mind is bored of sitting and trying to concentrate, so it looks for easy distractions. The more you give in to your mind and give it attention, the more you move. The more you move, the less focused you are, and you want to move more. Eventually you just want to move the whole time and you get completely focused on the discomfort and you have failed at calming the mind. Agitation begets more agitation.

3. Don't expect to become a wicked strong and flexible yogi

Actually for that matter, don't expect anything. Of course, everyone comes with expectations. For many of us it was "Yay! A month of relaxing on the beach and stretching to become super fit, strong, and tan". One of the first philosophy lectures was on the topic of the barriers a spiritual aspirant must face, and one of them was the barrier of preconceived notions. But about the physical practice. This was a very small part of the course. Because, as we learned, asana is a very small part of yoga. It is just one step in the 8 limbs of Raja yoga. I was pretty disappointed with this lack of exercise, in fact it is likely that I have gotten physically weaker being here rather than stronger. But stronger in the mind I'm sure.

4. Take time for yourself

This was key for me, but maybe not for everyone. I found it challenging to be constantly surrounded by people so I tried to go do my own thing at least once a day. I was lucky, because of my karma yoga I had all 3 breaks in the day. So I would go running, take a nap, sit in my tent and eat chocolate...whatever I really felt that I needed on that day. The course is really challenging, and I needed to get a real break. Sometimes after dinner I would go to the beach in the dark and, with my ipod blasting a dance music playlist from summer 2011, I would run and dance and jump around with complete abandon. I felt very joyful and free and alone. But don't tell anyone ok?

5. Logistical advice

There are a few little things that make ashram life and the TTC easier.

 - Don't go to Starbucks, at least until the end of the course. Even if you are not having caffeine you will become obsessed with going there, and its even more expensive in the Bahamas than in Canada. Some people were going every day by the end of the course. I didn't go until the study day before the exam, but since then I have had to resist the urge to go back.

- Don't wait for the day off to do laundry, and don't bother with the dryer. The laundry room was packed on the day off, and some people spent their whole day there. Better to find time another day, even though you can't wash both uniforms because you will need one to wear that day. Also the dryers don't work very well so its better to just hang your clothes. I used the dryer once when it was raining a lot.

- If you are late to breakfast and there is a huge line, just try to politely grab a bowl and spoon and go to the other part of the buffet where the bread, oatmeal, cereal, and YOGURT is. Eat the yogurt and granola, its delicious. 

- If you plan on keeping a journal, you might have difficulty finding time for it. Bring your notebook to satsang, then if the speaker does not interest you, you can just pretend to be madly writing notes but actually writing your journal instead.

- Don't waste time trying to use the internet after meals. Everyone tries to get on at this time, and the connection is either deteriorated or completely out. You don't have time for this.

So there you have it! My advice for incoming or prospective Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training students.

The exam and graduation

I have been on vacation now for two days... It is really nice. I will post my final thoughts over the next few days, and I leave on wednesday afternoon.

So the last time I posted was Tuesday. I tried to post on thursday but the internet connection here seems to be getting progressively worse. Anyway I have a few days to catch up on.

In our last class with Swami Brahmananda we were told all the questions that were going to be on the exam. And all the answers. It was so strange. But from the start of the course I realized that this was not going to be like university. We have not really been required to think, just to learn and remember. I suppose they expect the real thinking to come after we finish the course. Which I have been intending to do, but... maybe tomorrow.

Anyway, thursday I had to go to Satsang in the morning as usual, then after satsang Ambika offered a yoga nidra deep relaxation workshop again. Yoga nidra is amazing, I really recommend it to anyone who has trouble relaxing or falling asleep. Then I had brunch and went to study with the devil.. aka Starbucks! The starbucks is just down the beach, as I said, and I avoided it the entire month! But caffeine is helpful for studying... and I also think the setting was helpful for me because I studied at starbucks so much in university. I did a bit of group study, which also reminded me of McGill, and it made me miss my friends. I can't wait to be back in school. Well I can wait until september I guess. More adventures to be had in the meantime. I studied for a while, then I went and practiced some more advanced asanas with my teacher Saraswati. I still can't do the crow (kakasana) and my headstand (sirsasana) is ok but only for like 10 seconds then i have to come down. Apparently for the real benefits of headstand you have to do it for 5-15 minutes. Then I had a run and relaxed on the beach. Then I studied with a different group, and had dinner. At that point I told myself I was done and I wasn't going to study any more so after dinner I went and ate chocolate in the Laksmi lounge outside the boutique.

Friday morning we had to go to satsang again, but it was shorter. Then they fed us breakfast, imagine!! Not brunch, but real breakfast! Then we had to go back to the garden platform to write our exam. I was nervous about the sitting, as usual, because they told us the exam was 3 hours long. I was sure I would not be able to stand up after that. Actually, I forgot this story but I will just add it here: After our class on advanced pranayama a few days ago, one girl hadn't realized her foot was asleep and she stood up and sprained it! The hazards of meditation haha. Anyway, the exam itself was totally fine, they had told us exactly what was on it, after all. I finished in under 2 hours, and then I got to have lunch!! Wow, breakfast AND lunch!

After brunch I went and took a nap on the beach, and then I went to Nassau! I couldn't believe it, in 30 days I had not left this little island! I had only left the 4 acres of the ashram once, to get ice cream. Oh and Starbucks, to study. I went a little crazy in Nassau. I had a beer. ONE beer. Then i went and bought more chocolate. I have been eating dark chocolate all the time. It might be a problem. But everyone does it, so dark chocolate seems to be an integral part of the spiritual journey.

We had been instructed not to leave the ashram after the exam, because the teachers were busy grading them, and if they wanted to ask us something about our answers we had to be around. But I was pretty confident that I would pass. And I did!! In the evening satsang we had our graduation ceremony. It was long, but really nice. It was similar to the beginning where we had an initiation. We made an offering with the priest, then we sat with the swamis and got anointed with sacred powders, then we got our diploma and our new "spiritual name" related to the mantra that we were initiated into. After satsang some of us went and sat on the beach. I had wanted to have a celebratory dance party, but we were all too tired.