yogic cleansing: not for the weak.

Haven't been updating recently because the tool is really coming down to the grindstone (is that a saying?) as we have LESS than two weeks left in our semester and that means that the 3000- 5000 word papers they assigned us in each class at the beginning of the trip that I was conveniently pretending didn't exist/hoping that at some point they would say they were just kidding about are now due allllll too soon. I have been spending my days puttering around the internet trying to find sources (the library here kind of stinks, but dr. rao assured us that wikipedia is a "very good source" so i dont think they're too worried on the absolute undisputed validity front) on dalit (untouchable) women and the goddess Durga and eeking out as many words as I possibly can from my poor shrivelling brain. Therefore there isn't much to report on the activity front, save my small bouts of insanity and majorly upped consumption of peanut butter as a comfort food. Oh! We did visit a yoga ashram which was pretty great---and by great I mean kind of grotesquely enthralling in the way that thriller/horror movies are great or touching something that you know will give you an electric shock just for the thrill of it is great.

In an effort to give us some idea of yogic life and practice, they decided to educate us on the ways that one can cleanse their body beyond just taking a bath or eating good foods. SERIOUS cleansing. After a short talk this little twiggy yogi in a white sweat suit hopped up to the front of the room and I was kind of expecting him to jump around or do some kind of twizzling pretzel poses that speed up your digestion and cleanse your colon or something. But ohhhhh no. No no no. He started with the neti pot, which for those of you who don't know (I didn't) means you pour water in one of your nostrils and then all the bogeys and creepers living up in your nose come out with all the water through your other nostril. Kind of weird, but also pretty cool. I was diggin it. Then he whipped out a string, and shoved it up his nostril til it came out his throat, and started flossing in between with this big smile on his face. At this point I was getting a little uneasy about yogic cleansing, but I thought this might be as bad as it got. He threw off his shirt next, showing us all these wild contortions of the stomach including one where he puffed out only the middle of his stomach in a line and then made it twirl around.....I know that makes no sense but seeing it made NO sense either! I tried afterward and could get nowhere near it--I mostly just puffed my stomach in and out and then farted a bunch HA. Anwyay so after the contortions he sat down on the ground and proceeded to (not exaggerating) swallow THIRTY FEET of white fabric (it took almost 5 minutes becuase he would have to gobble down only so much at a time and then wait--a lot of it is mental becuase you have to control your gag reflex and if you panic anywhere in there you are screwwwwwwwed) and once he had swallowed it all he pulled it back out!!!! Gah!!!! At this point I had only one eye open and was 3/4 hiding behind another girl's head because I was getting rather queasy and had already decided decisively that yogic cleansing is NOT for me. For the last hurrah, he drank water through his nose (I don't even know), shoved a tube down his throat, and then squeezed his stomach and all the water he just drank came pouring right back out of the tube. Man oh man. The rest of the day was actually really nice...we got to do a small movement class, go on a guided meditation, pet some loving baby cows, and listen to fantastical speeches on the origin and meaning of life by this WONDERFUL yogi named Narayana Swamiji who looked like a mix between Snoop Dogg, Eric (of Eric and Kris), and God.

Hooray it's time for lunch...I will update again soon I want to do an entry where I share some of the things that we have learned in class that have really moved me. There are SO many things and I either cry or get close to tears in class on the regular!

Wish me luck on my papers, and hope everyone is happy and healthy.