Must. Stop. Buying. Books.
The quaint little bookshops in town are like a candy shop for me! They are filled with the most interesting, varied, inspiring, mind-blowing reads I've ever come across. Indigo schmindigo! But... I keep buying them and not opening them. My days are so packed and pass by so quickly it's just crazy. And my brain is being packed to densely with info from my Trika course and my Hindi lessons, that I don't think there's room left for books at the moment. I'll save them for my lazy beach days in the south a couple months from now. So, my backpack will be very heavy, but I'm sure it will all be worth it when I finally crack the covers.
Now, buckets. Well, actually, bucket.
Bucket part one: I've finally mastered the art of showering. Here's the process: turn water tank switch to 'on'. Wait 5-10 minutes. Turn shower on (yes, the hot water actually comes out from the shower head at this guesthouse!), thoroughly wet hair and body with warm water, and let the water fall into the bucket (bathrooms all come equipped with a large bucket). Turn the taps off as water starts to cool. Shiver as I shampoo and soap. Turn the shower back on, rinse soap and shampoo with the new batch of heated water, let more water fall into the bucket. Turn the taps off when hot water runs out. Do final rinse with bucket water. Sounds more complicated than it really is, once you've become a pro. This sounds like what many people already do back home (as far as closing the taps between wet and rinse), but the difference is that with the cool weather here and no heating, it's quite cold when the taps are off.
Bucket part two: Vamana dhauti. Look it up. It's my daily morning stomach water cleanse. In a nutshell, you crouch down "en petit bonhomme", chug a liter of warmed water, stand up, jump around and push your stomach in and out to shake the water around, then bend over at a 90 degree angle and vomit the water. I've been doing it everyday for a week, and have the whole process done in under 3 minutes. Like for the shower, becoming quite a pro. I vomit into the bucket, look at and analyze my puke, write a short description in my puke diary, and go on with my day. When I greet my fellow yogis in the morning, there's no, "Good morning, how are you?", but rather, "Hi! How was your puke this morning? Was it more Kapha, Pitta or Vatta?" (Whether it's more mucus-like or bile-like or bubble-like will determine which of the three doshas - again, look them up - are predominant.)
Bucket part three: After being gone for 2 weeks, I have finally done laundry. Yes, done. Not had done. My bucket is about 10 liters I'd say, and I couldn't fit all my clothes in it in one shot (I change my clothes about once a week, so I don't know how I accumulated so much!). So I had three "loads". Heated my water tank, filled my bucket, put in some soap, and put in some clothes. Moved them around as much as I could, using my hand and forearm as a spinner. After a few minutes, gave each piece a good scrub, took the clothes out one piece at a time, rinsed each one under cold water, wrung them out as much as I could, and hung each piece on the balcony. Load two: empty filthy water and repeat all steps. Load three: no time, took so long for the first two that I had to run off to yoga. When I came back hours later that night, hanging clothes were still wet, and some had flown down onto a lower story of the guesthouse. When I observed the hanging pieces, I noticed that all that effort produced nothing more than very mediocre results (not to mention the backache... difficult to maintain good posture while leaning over a bucket to wash, rinse, and strain clothing). Unlike showering and vamana dhauti, not a pro. Sigh. Ok, next time, laundry service. But I have to say, I'm very happy to have done my laundry by hand at least once in my life. I will now bow in reverence to the washing machine every time I fill it with clothes!
So, that's the story of my friend, the bucket. It helps me shower, receives my puke every morning without complaint, and cradles the filth of my dirty laundry. Don't know what I'd do without it.
Time to walk over to Laxmanjula, for my first meeting with Prateek, the astrologer!
The quaint little bookshops in town are like a candy shop for me! They are filled with the most interesting, varied, inspiring, mind-blowing reads I've ever come across. Indigo schmindigo! But... I keep buying them and not opening them. My days are so packed and pass by so quickly it's just crazy. And my brain is being packed to densely with info from my Trika course and my Hindi lessons, that I don't think there's room left for books at the moment. I'll save them for my lazy beach days in the south a couple months from now. So, my backpack will be very heavy, but I'm sure it will all be worth it when I finally crack the covers.
Now, buckets. Well, actually, bucket.
Bucket part one: I've finally mastered the art of showering. Here's the process: turn water tank switch to 'on'. Wait 5-10 minutes. Turn shower on (yes, the hot water actually comes out from the shower head at this guesthouse!), thoroughly wet hair and body with warm water, and let the water fall into the bucket (bathrooms all come equipped with a large bucket). Turn the taps off as water starts to cool. Shiver as I shampoo and soap. Turn the shower back on, rinse soap and shampoo with the new batch of heated water, let more water fall into the bucket. Turn the taps off when hot water runs out. Do final rinse with bucket water. Sounds more complicated than it really is, once you've become a pro. This sounds like what many people already do back home (as far as closing the taps between wet and rinse), but the difference is that with the cool weather here and no heating, it's quite cold when the taps are off.
Bucket part two: Vamana dhauti. Look it up. It's my daily morning stomach water cleanse. In a nutshell, you crouch down "en petit bonhomme", chug a liter of warmed water, stand up, jump around and push your stomach in and out to shake the water around, then bend over at a 90 degree angle and vomit the water. I've been doing it everyday for a week, and have the whole process done in under 3 minutes. Like for the shower, becoming quite a pro. I vomit into the bucket, look at and analyze my puke, write a short description in my puke diary, and go on with my day. When I greet my fellow yogis in the morning, there's no, "Good morning, how are you?", but rather, "Hi! How was your puke this morning? Was it more Kapha, Pitta or Vatta?" (Whether it's more mucus-like or bile-like or bubble-like will determine which of the three doshas - again, look them up - are predominant.)
Bucket part three: After being gone for 2 weeks, I have finally done laundry. Yes, done. Not had done. My bucket is about 10 liters I'd say, and I couldn't fit all my clothes in it in one shot (I change my clothes about once a week, so I don't know how I accumulated so much!). So I had three "loads". Heated my water tank, filled my bucket, put in some soap, and put in some clothes. Moved them around as much as I could, using my hand and forearm as a spinner. After a few minutes, gave each piece a good scrub, took the clothes out one piece at a time, rinsed each one under cold water, wrung them out as much as I could, and hung each piece on the balcony. Load two: empty filthy water and repeat all steps. Load three: no time, took so long for the first two that I had to run off to yoga. When I came back hours later that night, hanging clothes were still wet, and some had flown down onto a lower story of the guesthouse. When I observed the hanging pieces, I noticed that all that effort produced nothing more than very mediocre results (not to mention the backache... difficult to maintain good posture while leaning over a bucket to wash, rinse, and strain clothing). Unlike showering and vamana dhauti, not a pro. Sigh. Ok, next time, laundry service. But I have to say, I'm very happy to have done my laundry by hand at least once in my life. I will now bow in reverence to the washing machine every time I fill it with clothes!
So, that's the story of my friend, the bucket. It helps me shower, receives my puke every morning without complaint, and cradles the filth of my dirty laundry. Don't know what I'd do without it.
Time to walk over to Laxmanjula, for my first meeting with Prateek, the astrologer!
Erika, If you are buying book bring them here . I am looking for a book "Health in your hand" Written by Ved Vora. It is a very nice book for acupressure it is a healing technique.
ReplyDeleteIts Indian price is 100 Rupees and here it is 10 To 19 Dollars in Amazon.com SO I have told Deepak Saxena my relative in New Delhi to buy and send it by post. Actually one of my relative is Post master so I am sure it will come safely.
I use to do vaman dhouti in my teen age when I use to have cough and cold every fortnight.
For laundry find out from your hotel or guest house owner, they have washer man who will take your dirty clothes to their home and return it 3rd or 4th day well pressed with a minimal charge. Sometimes they can return just after 10-12 hours.
You are in a cheap labor country. If you will take work from them you are providing bread to them.
Do you still want me to look for a copy and bring it to you even though your relative is also doing so?
ReplyDeleteIndeed, there are a few laundry services around here run by the locals which I intend to use :)
No my relative has found volume one and looking for volume 2. I think I wil get them in first week of Feb or if very late in last week of Feb.
DeleteBut if you get this book buy it for yourself. It is a very good book.
For laundry you can ask the maid of swati she can was for you and ask minimum charges. Or Swati can ask her to do and pay her what ever she thinks enough for the work.
We atke this kind of help or favour from friends or neighbour.
I did my research and I don't know if daily vomiting (even if it's only water) is good for you for an extended period of time. See this post written by an M.D.
ReplyDeletehttp://theyogadr.com/vamana-vomit-day/
Thank you for your concern and research Dr. Enright :)
DeleteOf course, Western medicine will often try to contradict more Eastern and natural methods, but I read the article and it seems to make sense. I will ask my teachers about the points he brings up. But just to clarify, Vamana Dhauti is not done daily forever. If you are just starting with it, you do it for 49 consecutive days (49 is a significant number, but I'm not sure about the details of why) as an initial purification, then the frequency diminishes. You reduce to every 2nd day for a while, then once a week, and then, if you have a very healthy diet, you may only need to do it once every few weeks, or when you have eaten something particularly bad the night before.
Voila.
Your blog is quite informatory.
ReplyDelete