Nothing compares to being in India and especially learning Yoga in India. Travelling to the homeland of yoga, both India and yoga have the potency to extract you from your comforts. Precisely what this vast and often misunderstood subject should be doing.

After 13 trips (now totaling 2 years in India), I still believe there is something more ‘spiritual’ and less materialistic in India than in the West. Mind you, roaming around the airport and hanging out on MG road (Mahatma Gandhi) in Bangalore might not give this impression. The billboards are triple the size leaving one to wonder where the stereotypical images of decrepit and demolished buildings with beggars have gone. These can be found if you venture past the tourist traps and out of the main cities; experiencing what Gandhi referred to as the ‘real’ India.

The real India, the real thing in general. It is an interesting idea to ponder (re: the question of real).

For me, real is that which brings us to our center, our inner nature and why we are living. Real is the on-going journey to experience our relationship to ourselves, each other and the earth. But real is also far more than this ramble of idealistic thoughts and dreams. It is what Buddhist nun Pema Chodron coined as the kitchen sink mentality; the kind of mentality that slaps us back into everyday life, the mundane and perhaps even the boring. It is like one Swami said about meditation. That is, if you want bright lights and action go downtown. Simply put, it is the kind of mentality that is not about running off to the mountain tops for enlightenment or hiding in a cave, but bringing beauty and peace to even the smallest detail of life. This might include how to brush your teeth and clean the bathroom.

Getting started with yoga presents an on-going journey toward coming to know your center and what is called your true nature or your real calling. Each day that I teach yoga I have students who have entrusted me with some of their life's events. They share what is happening from a bitter divorce, death, new baby and marriage to accidents and illnesses. Faced with the rawness and freshness of life I see clearly that life often throws some serious curve balls as well as joys. Yoga then becomes the ground in a somewhat insecure and groundless world. But getting to the mat is just a quarter of the effort. It is challenging to strike up a practice each and every day especially when the body is tired and the mind dull from sleep. When the Japanese writer Murkami who had taken up running as passion was asked in an interview if running was difficult for him. He later remarked this was a stupid question and let the interviewer answer the question. It is not easy to push yourself even if you know you need to. For who else will do it for you?

Life is not that easy and many things can get in the way of practice. Even if you have a 'good' life perhaps your travel and job keep you from a regular practice. As well, it is relatively easy to get caught up with the mundane, the petty, the trivial and the feeling of just trying to get by. I know this state well because while running my yoga school sometimes the details appear bigger than the main reason for teaching and/or practising yoga. No one mentioned bookkeeping, cleaning the toilet and the other jobs that are a part of maintaining a school. Still, it is from my regular practice and certainly my teachers whom I continuously return to for guidance and inspiration. I have always found both of these consistently in India.

Being immersed in the culture of India for longer than a month (sometimes 2 or 3 months at a time) is different than studying elsewhere. It presents its own challenges especially that of bringing the concepts of the practice to the West. In the West, yoga is more known for `body`exercise. Most people derive pleasure from this aspect and find meditation boring or something they can do while moving around in an asana. But it may come as a surprise to know that the teachings of Yoga including most of what we understand as Buddhism have been tweaked in order to help Westerner's understand something other than exercise or austere practices like sitting in an ice river to strengthen your mind. (Yogananada Paramahansa wrote about this in The Divine Romance).

For certain every practice of Hatha-yoga that we know today has ultimately been adapted to suit its audience; whether it be for cultural, social or political reasons. Most do not know that BKS Iyengar stopped teaching Ashtanga-yoga in Pune, India, namely because his students were older and no one was able to keep up with the practice. He talked about how he had to change the practice and work with his students using belts, straps and other props which later became his trademark. Case in point is also my own experience as a teacher and student of yoga. How I was taught is not the same as I teach; it would not work for a number of reasons. One of these being I am not my teacher teaching and two, the context is totally different. When I showed my manual on backbending to my teacher after thumbing quietly through the pages he looked blankly at me and stated, “This is not traditional”. In my defense I explained, "But, Yogacharya, no one can do it otherwise”. This might sound like it meant no one is physically adept but it actually was meant to imply that there is a lack of mental endurance and an openness to take a path that is not focused on ‘getting postures’. Under my teacher I learned this lesson well when he only allowed me to practice extremely simple postures for a month. It taught me a lot about my Western mind's need to perform, achieve and to get it. The process was about ‘being’ and not doing. In fact, the word simple is an understatement because some of the postures were held for extended periods. The mountain pose, tree or lotus no longer look 'easy' at this margin.

Paradoxically, however, it is through the practice of the postures that we come to know and feel we are ultimately working on something deeper; perhaps even divine. Physical limitations remind us of our physical and mental restrictions as well as the body’s innate (non-verbal) wisdom. You cannot force the knee to bend if you do not understand how to remove the stiffness or the residue that comes from a lack of practice. The practice of the yogasanas constantly brings this message back to us whether we are ready to receive it or not. That is, we may practice for body pleasure called preyas yoga or we may gradually reach deeper for something called shreyas yoga (yoga for liberation and emancipation).

So what can be next after yoga in India and my teacher? Probably nothing unless of course another trip takes the place of the last one.

Naturally then after India comes India.