The Tamesis
This is the magic power of Ananda. Thanks in large part to the caring staff, inner peace suddenly became less elusive. Take a yoga nidra class with my trainer Sakshi Sharma. Yoga Nidra is an ancient guided meditation practice in which you are guided into a deep relaxation mode halfway through the practice and then set into a relaxation mode. sankapa (intention). “The Intentions You Set in Yoga Nidra will Sakshi told me firmly, explaining that Sankalpas are believed to have access to your subconscious, where the mind is more receptive. if Your sankalpa happened, it’s a problem when– so it’s important to take it seriously. “
Another day, I had an “emotional healing” session with Ananda’s resident holistic therapist, Blossom Furtado. She explains that one of the surest paths to inner peace is through the practice of daily affirmations. I’ve always been skeptical of affirmations, but hearing Blossom explain how the mind-body connection works—how speaking your truth out loud helps you “talk to your cells” so they “know what to do”—made me question my previous aversion. Maybe it’s the spiritual environment, as her sunny office has various Sanskrit mantras hanging on the walls and huge windows overlooking the Ganges Valley below. Or maybe it was her soothing voice, the way she opened up about her own struggles after I told her about mine. Or maybe it was just that she was passing on ancient medical knowledge that had stood the test of time, I finally realized, in the words of Paul Simon, Who am I to swim against the wind?
On my last night, the hotel arranged a trip to Rishikesh, a city long considered sacred (and famous for the Beatles’ 1968 trip to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram to learn transcendental meditation). Every day at dusk, locals and tourists gather for the Ganga Aarti sunset ceremony to honor the river and the many blessings it brings. I had a feeling I would enjoy this experience because I love exciting rituals and I had been hearing about this ritual for years but didn’t realize it only How excited this would be for me. Priests dressed in bright saffron robes and red sweaters lit fires and incense and slowly twirled huge brass oil lamps, creating shimmering golden halos in the darkening sky. Others sang Sanskrit hymns, their steady voices carried along the river banks. My guide even insisted that I hold an aarti ritual lamp myself. I barely noticed the Ganges in the backseat of the car at the beginning of the trip because I was too worried about my fertility anxiety to actually see it. But there I was, and after two weeks and endless warm oil baths, I finally felt it. In Hinduism, the Ganges is considered a goddess: Ganga Ma. Mother of humanity. She is not controlled by mortals and moves on her own timeline. As I watched the river glide behind the blazing flames, I realized that maybe the lesson now is to learn how to move in my own timeline.
