Reisetips til jenter alene på tur i India

Kulturforskjellene er enorme. På godt og ondt. Det kan være litt av et sjokk. Vær forberedt hvis du går rett inn i storbyer som Delhi. Mange opplever det fakstisk som en noe traumatisk opplevelse. Forskjellene er også store innenfor India, så undersøk stedet du skal til. Goa er et fint sted å begynne. det blir litt sånn 'India light' som vi kaller det. For jenter som reiser alene er det visse forhåndsregler man må ta. Vær for det første godt forberedt. Vit hvor du skal og med hvem. Ikke se deg blind på rykter hjemmefra. Ting kan være veldig anderledes enn vi tror her. Det er så mange som 1/7 av hele verdens befolkning som bor i dette landet. Alt fra rike bortskjemte, til fattige trengende. Det er høy grad av kriminalitet mange steder. Sjekk med lokale. Bli godt kjent. Vit at det er vanlig at menn stirrer. Og stirrer. Og stirrer. De kan også følge etter deg i grupper. Som regel vil de ikke gjøre noe, men ha alltid med deg noen du stoler på. De vil stirre selvom du går alene. Vær obs på festivaldager utenfor Goa slik som Shivratri og Holi, som er gode muligheter for å ta på noen hvite jenter. Selv et håndtrykk kan være stort og kan tas opp feil. Heldigvis er India på stor fremgang her. Men som sagt forskjellene er store.

Goa er som sagt et fint sted å begynne. Der er de oppvokst med oss hvite rundt, og det er mange av oss som kommer hvert år. Arbeiderne kommer også fra turiststeder i nord/Himalayas for å jobbe sesongen (okt-april). Problemer oppstår alltid på nyttårsaften, da mange indiske turister kommer men det ene målet å få se eller røre en hvit jente. Du blir tatt på selvom du går i gruppe. Ikke på en voldelig måte nødvendigvis, men alltid noe snik ta på rompe i køen, osv.  

Utafor Goa er en annen historie. Helt upassende og uventende spørsmål kan komme fra menn. Alle spør om du er gift. Vurder på forhånd hva du vil svare. De vil ofte syns synd på deg om du ikke er gift, se medlidende på deg, og spørre om hvorfor. Jeg har også fått flere ganger mere upassende spørsmål en dette, da det bare kan være en koselig oblegatorisk samtale om familieforhold og andre ting de interesserer seg for. 

Nå må dere ikke bli skremt og misforstå! I LOVE INDIA. Det er nettopp kontrastene som er så sinnsyke. Som er noe av det fine. At man kan se liv og død i løpet av sekunder i en storby. Døde dyr og vakre sarier om hverandre på landsbygda. Det fins selvsagt også mange veldig huggelige og oppegående indiske menn, som ikke vil gi deg andre problemer en det gjennomsnittlige guttevenn :P 

--

Reis med liten bag (og ha en hund) 

Jeg pakker 10 kg håndbagasje til flyet. Jeg liker å kunne se og bære baggen min når som helt. På flyplassen, på tog, overalt. Ha kontroll på tingene dine.

Denne hunden har fulgt med i mange år. Hundene er veldig territorial, og vil mest sannsynlig ikke la ukjente komme på din veranda.

Vit om festivaler og tradisjoner.

Her er jeg med en god venn som har jobbet mange sesonger i Goa. Dette er Holi festival, og jeg var trygg sammen med gode, indiske, mannlige venner. 

Kle på deg

I Goa kler jeg meg helt anderledes enn utenfor.

Her utenfor tempelet i Hampi, passende kledd. Ha alltid med deg sjal!

Namaste

Av flere grunner, kan det vær kjekt å ta hendene foran brystet i en tradisjonell *Namaste' hilsen. Både for å unngå smitte, berøring og følge tradisjoner.

Lag en scene! 

Si ifra med en gang hvis noen tar på deg eller gjør noe ubehagelig. La de rundt vite det. Folk i Goa vil komme til hjel. Men vær forsiking, kan lede til 'bamboomassage'. 

Don't stay out late!

Ta vare på deg sjøl og vennene dine. Ikke gå alene ute sent. Jeg går gjerne på rommet 19 hvis jeg er helt alene i Delhi. I Goa, gå jeg gjerne ikke alene barene er stengt 23. Går i grupper ved fester. Har scooter som også gir noe sikkerhet når man skal komme seg steder.

Have a safe trip. 

So I went into silence. About my first time Vipassana.

This moment was pictured by my friend Carlos, while we were  waching the beautiful Hampi sunset by the 24 hour chanting temple. Love it! Chanting with this guys are fantastic.



It's been a while, first of all because I've been traveling, and this has not been a priority. I did in november my first 10 days vipassana meditation course. It was not really about the slience, the silence was just a tool to help us focus on our inner self. It's basically about self observation. It's really hard to keep it short, but I'll try to explain in a short matter. Yeah..about MATTER, it's about universial laws, that your body is matter, that everything arises and passes away.
The rules are simple. No talk, no eyecontact, only look at your path;), little food, wake up bell 04am, and 10 hours of sitting in meditation every day. No killing, wich I thought would be easy, but it turned out it wasn't.
The first 3 days are only breathing. Sitting cross legged (I use padmasana) observing breath, not changing. Anapana, not pranayama. Observing sensations in the triangular area in nose and upper lip.
With the sitting, not moving, eyes closed, we are also practicing strong determination.
Then, we start to observe sensations of the hole body, from head to toe. Then the days goes a little bit into eachother, since we are also not allowed to write. Everyday it's like a new thing to add, to go deeper into the meditation. This information we get from new boards every morning in breakfasthall and outside the meditationhall. At night we wach a movie by Goenka, the vipassana guru. Vipassana is thought the same in all his places by this videos, and it's also free everywhere in real vipassana centres.
In like day 5 we are supposed to get our flow on, just rinsing through the hole body, like a drop of ink that goes into water. First I don't get it right, but in day 6ish it happens when I'm lying in bed for night. Flow, flow, flow, wow! Is it really working? But it's hard, and we are learning about doubt, and yes I have it! My knee is hurting! I'm thinking, this can fucking not be good sitting like this 10 hours a day. I'm not even allowed to practice yoga, I'm getting worried about my fysical health. No running or streaching allowed. Only a small path for slow walking. This is of course not to be a distraction for others, and yourself. Actually I do have an old knee injury I kinda fixed with my yoga. We are allowed to ask the teacher, and they say it's doubt. Another girl had her thigh num for 3 days, and they said it was ignorance. Actually we traveled together after the course, and she was still num after many months. All this is due to vipassana old samkaras from past life or this life that we solve through meditation. Piercing the areas, getting deeper, getting equanomous with everything. Nothing is permanent. More universial laws. More matter.
Anyway, at day 7, we get into the wicked pagoda. I never knew what was in there! I absolutly loved the meditation cells! And, yes, they are in deed real cells. Smaller than the avrage jail isolate cells in the west. I had real good meditation in my cell. I had a really good vision about my long time shoulder problem, like the area was lost, and I saw the reason why.
Again, it was hard, I'm tired, hungry. The board say something about getting liberated and I'm thinking 'yeah, I could have been in Goa right now'. At some point here I comitted the killing. It was like 10-15, I don't know. Aunts. We are waching our dishes all together, and it's not so clean area. I see the aunts comming, more and more, and without thinking, I rinse them down the drain! Yes, I felt shame!
After day 10, we have to sleep one more day, and you get to talk to your room mate and the other girls. We were 40 girls, mostly indian, the rest mixed tourists. I think we all were tired and happy to talk, and I think everybody have a different experience. I was expecting some mental issues, but nothing came. I had a nice dream about my mother and my cousin, and anotherone about a friend. Other nights was hard, due to little sleep and hard restrictions.
Was it worth it? Yes, I think so now, but I have to think about all of this for a long time. After the course I went traveling another 4-5 months in India, and I was not practicing vipassana 2 hours a day like they recommend. I was buisy with beachlife and yoga. Meeting wonderful friends and learning, in Hampi, Varanasi, and my hometown Colomb, and many more. I still have this sansations from vipassana going on thouh, I should find out what to make of it.
 I will come back to all this wonderfull and not so wonderfull places later. Now I have been back home for a while, and getting used to the computer again. I should maybe write in norwegian, since my english is not so good, and I never check the spelling, but maybe I'll do a little bit of both.

Kundalini Shakti and Yoga Styles

 

As I see it, it's a total confusion about yoga styles going on. Yoga is an ancient tradition, with endless valuble knowledge. No need for new inventions before you learn the basics of the advanced system that is yoga. It will reach your organs and body aswell as your mind and spirit, inside out, from inner consciousness to universial counsciousness. It's so much to learn in this really interesting tradition. Sometimes the internet is not the right place to learn, beware that informations are sometimes getting lost on the way to the web. Back in the days this knowledge was given from master to student only by mouth.

The Kundalini Shakti can be seen as a divine female energy lying dormant in the base of your spine. You can start this limited within your own body, or you can draw your energies all the way from inside mother Earth all up to the Universe. This you can get to after doing different types of preparation like pranayama (breathing), meditation, and working with your body in asana. I mean, you don’t start any kind of this craftwork in your first yogaclass. Both Yoga and Kundalini Shakti are so huge subjects, and misunderstandigs occour. In the internet it is a lot of wrong information about this Kundalini Craft. Articles about kundalini sickness and all kinds of crazy stuff you can find.
I would really want to clear up some things about the Kundalini Yoga. First of all, Kundalini sickness, I've never witnessed, but did actually meet one that thoight she had it. High up in the Himalayas, back in the days, visiting my teacher (Guru Ji Swami Dayanand). This girl had been shaking and swinging like a pendant all through class. She could explain to us, that it was the 'kundalini power' after class. My teacher said nothing. When she left, he just rolled his eyes. It was a classic exsample of a 'kundalini' experience totaly taken out of the internet or a book maybe. I do anyhow get some kind of 'swinging' or pendant kinda feeling sometimes when I meditate. Then again i focus on my breath and try to sit still, as I am supposed to.

Another really big misunderstanding going on about Kundalini Yoga, is about this one, Yogi Bhajan.
Usually when meeting other western yogis in India, many of them think I follow him. I'm like, wait, what, nooo. It seems like many people think he like invented the Kundalini Yoga or something. This is of course not true.
Kundalini Shakti have been here for centuries. I don’t have anything against this guy, but for me he is just a Indian baba who made it to America, and I guess like that he made many followers.
Carl Jung was actually a big fan og the Kundalini Yoga. He's a more traditional and devoted practitioner of the art than this american one, I'll say. Would be more sutible to follow if you need to follow someone doing Kundalini. But why not just do the Kundalini and follow noone? Ah, devotion to your precious guru ji? It's all well and cool if you want to follow someone, or if you have a Guru, but please, GURU DEV, your Guru inside, is first of all.

All this talk about yogastyles I find a little frustrating sometimes. I think the Kundalini Shakti is important in all kinds of yoga. Just like vinyasa (flow) also is important in evey class. And the asthanga, the 8 limbs, and so on. I really think many times that ‘yoga IS yoga’, when people ask about my style. I feel it’s more about the tradition you want to follow. There are some things that have to be there to even call it yoga, your style is less important.

Always in yoga we work on the body/mind aspect and inner/outer consiousness. In all my classes I have asana, pranayama and nidra. I think without these components, it would not be yoga. However I don’t teach about Kundalini to new students or people at the gym, I teach them simply YOGA.

This amazing Aghori tradition and the left hand path is my personal passion in yoga and life.
Doing Kundalini yoga is like playing with energies. You would like to have free flow, right? This energy you raise through your spine and your chackras. This is very logical since we have the nervoussystem running the same way also and giving signals to your brain. So it kinda all makes sense in the end.

So, Shakti is the female energi, and Shiva is the maskulin energi. Just like the Moon symbolises the left side and the woman, and the Sun the right side and the man. It's all connected, as usual.




Sa Ta Na Ma

Meditating with burning bodies

When going to Smashan (place of the burning bodies), or the 'ceremony place' as we also call it, we put ashes on our forehead from the fire. This picture is from the holy town of Varanasi.

Aghoris are well known to meditate at the burning ghats. In India it is a normal sight to see bodies getting burned by the ghats or other ceremoney places. I don't really think you have to be a genious to understand that the energy in these places are very strong. 

Real Sadhus lives by the burning ghats in Vananasi for years, doing their Sadhana and rituals. My own teacher did this for years. This is mayby not just a happy life, but a deep spiritualy practice combined of course with a great deal of poverty, which is a good reason to live outside. However, the Sadhus does this by choise, and many of them have powerful Ashrams they can go to for food, shelter, and even money. 

If you want to do some spiritual practice at the Smashan, I recomend you do this with a trusted teacher with you. My first time I did with two of my friends who are Sadhus in the Nath tradition. It is important, if you want to put ashes, that someone can check the heart of the burning body. Only take ashes if heart is good. 

Aadesh!

Calm down with Eka Pada Pranamasana - Treepose

One legged prayer pose - Treepose, here outside my hut in Palolem, Goa

This asana sooths the nervous symstem and gives balance. Keep your Drishti (where you se) on one point or gaze in front of you. Even if you can't get your foot all the way up, it doesn't matter, just to stand on one leg in any kind of way, gives you benefits for balance and focus. 

Like most other asanas this is also a strengthening asana. You gain balance, foucus, consentration and calmes the mind, but also you stand on your one foot with all your weight, making you strengthen the leg, ankle and foot muscles. Gip and grion operner are added when you can get your fot all the way up.

You can also use this asana while you feeling totally pissed of. To calm down, go to a quite place and practice this asana. To practice this, you have to calm your mind. If not, you are simply not able to stand on one leg. 

Breath; normal yoga breathing troughout the practice. 

Hare om tat sat. 

Your 10 kg Travel Bag for India

Traveling in India with hand luggage. Here I'm getting ready to leave Palolem Beach. The yoga mats I'm sending home before I leave Goa. I don't wanna be carrying that in the Kumbh Mela. 

I've been to India 6 times now, and I'm learning a lot on my way, also about packing. You don't really 

need a lot of stuff, especially if you're in for a beach holiday. Also if you are a blond girl traveling alone, you don't get any positive vibes from dressing up. In fact you should be dressing down. This is in deed to protect yourself for even more unwanted attension than you've already got. 

There are so many reasons to pack light. You save time at the airport, you have control over your things at all times, and you don't have to much to carry. If you are traveling around it's even more important to have a light bag. Usually I have a bike or a friend with a bike, and with my 10 kg hand luggage it's easy to get around. Also in overfilled trains and busses you got a huge benefit with your small bag. I also have to mention that people keep on loosing their bag in the planes, which is a huge factor to why I'm not checking in anymore. Usually you get your stuff back after a few weeks, but anyway.

So, you're thinking you need a lot of stuff. Remember in India it is a lot of poor people, and you don't wanna be flashing around all your stuff from your amazingly rich country. Be modest. It's normal in India to use the same clothes every dag. Your clothes you can handwash on your way, or get them washed by local people or hotels for a small amount.

And what about your yoga gear? Well, I buy my mats and yoga gear in India. I guess you also will be shopping a lot when you get there. Don't worry, now that you have your 10 kg hand luggage, you can buy a bag to fill with mats and yogapants and check it in when you go home. It's also possible to send things home while you are moving around. Usually I send things before I change places. I like to manage my own bag at all times, and when being a solo female traveler, it's good to get your bag as light as possible while moving.

WHAT YOU NEED IN YOUR BAG WHILE LEAVING YOUR COUNTRY

-solo female traveler-

Clothes: 5 underwear, 2 socks, 2 thights, 2 singlets, 2 loose pants/ali baba pants, 1 long dress, 1 long skirt, 1 scarf (over head or chest while needed), 2 shirts covering shoulders and albowes, 1 sarong (also to be used as towel, scarf and skirt), one blanket.

You will also be wearing when leaving home; underwear, socks, thights, big yogapants, singlet, shirt, hoodie, jacket with hoodie, shoes, 2 scarfs (to combine as needed). 

All this THINGS, is of course to be combined in every kind of way. I always wear stuff I can use in India in the airport. To travel light, you have to think like that. Scarfs are important. Always have a scarf with you. I also wear rudras, tulsi mala and silver ancklets while traveling. Both for my belives, and for indians to see I'm not new in the country. Whatever you do when arriving; do not look confused, they will imidiatly try to sell you something. 

Beauty: 1 toothbrush, 1 small conditoner, 1 mascara, 1 eyeliner, vaseline, tea tree stick.

Stuff: set of earplugs, bandage, phone, camera, tread and needle, probiotics.

Always bring some stuff to give away, like headsets, old phones, and loads of pens. Children are crazy for pens only like 20 km outside the touristarea.

Remember 1 small book with information, phone no, and notes, and more pens for yourself.

Now you are thinking you don't have enough stuff, well when arriving India you will buy; shampoo, toothpaste, sunscreen, 2 blankets, a new yogamat, beautiful clothes, also warm clothing is avalible for buying if you are going north. 

Don't forget your tickets and passport with visa! 

-have a nice trip-

Gorak Nath

Gorak Nath Yogi. Followd by a huge and powerful tribe of Naths within the Aghori tradition.
 




One Gorak Nath Mantra;
'Om Shiv Gorak Yogi'










Blessed be all. Adesh!