Rishikesh is a place which has spiritual power, by sitting at the holy Ganges river. Many people are coming there to be part of religious events and also many coming there for meditation and yoga. Bana and I wanted to do the same, at least the meditation.
Finding a place
Actually we were stranded in Tapovan which is a part of Rishikesh, but that’s where all those centers for retreat are located. We went from hotel to hotel and were checking the rooms, prices and activities.
It wasn’t easy because there are many places and you really need to see which one is the best for you. People who were with us on our ride from the temple back to Rishikesh were offering us to share the costs in their apartment. If we would have done that we could have saved some money, but we found something different.
We decided to stay at a little Ashram in which not really foreign people were going. It had a great location and the people who were there were really kind and open people. They wanted to teach us meditation from their spiritual leader Osho.
The place wasn’t fancy at all and also it wasn’t that expensive which was great for us.
Doing our meditation
It was interesting to do meditation with several people in one room. For myself I am doing meditation too, but just by myself or with maybe one other person, if that happens. I still felt safe doing so, the people gave me a safe feeling by being included and that was feeling good. It felt like you could do nothing wrong.
We did Dynamic Meditation.
- The first 10 min we had to breath heavily through and out of the nose.
- Then it was 10 min of getting crazy, screaming, crying, jumping, just do whatever you feel like.
- We put the arms in the air for 10 min and were jumping straight up and saying “Hu”.
- The arms were now in the air, but we were not allowed to move for 10 min and had to keep them straight like that.
- For the last 10 min we had to dance and celebrate to a music which was playing in the background.
This was quite hard, we’ve done it two times and the second time was easier, because we knew roughly what was happening. It had a positive effect on us, but we were also quite exhausted.
After and before the meditation, the people in the Ashram were telling us about Osho and his beliefs. Telling us to be grateful for life and stuff like that. For Bana and myself it was quite new, even though I am into meditation and everything, I haven’t done stuff like that.
It was great to make some new experiences while being there.
Bana also seems to enjoy it, he fell asleep quickly when the relaxation started happening, at least that what it sounded like.
Going to spiritual events
In Rishikesh there were many fire ceremonies happening and we were joining one the second day of us being there. During the ceremony the people were listening to religious leaders talking and being part of a performance with fire right next to the Ganges River.
After being done with the official part of the ceremony, people were throwing flowers and other stuff in the river and were getting their “blessing” on the fire, so did we. We wanted to be part of the ceremony and not just sit there and watch.
The party started! People were playing some music and everyone in the middle was jumping and dancing, while singing something, which we were joining as well. They were amazed to see us wanting to be part of it. We received some flower gifts from them and felt like being part of the community which felt great.
After being done with the ceremony we were going over a huge market right next to the event. I had to buy a suitcase, because I had a plan to come later.
The people in the market were doing fair prices, which I wasn’t used to because I tried to get it cheaper all the time, it just wasn’t able to work. They had all the same prices, it was quite unsatisfactory, but in the end I had to buy a suitcase anyway and there was probably the cheapest option of doing so.
Meeting Austrians
While exploring our region, we were meeting two girls from Austria. They were in India together wanting to go there to learn some yoga in the hotel. Both of them did yoga quite often and the one girl was also a yoga trainer, which was quite cool.
It was interesting hearing her story, she was working before in a different field, but switched to her passion, which motivated me as well in maybe looking jobwise in a different direction.
We were getting along very well and were actually exchanging contacts and were meeting over the next days several times. We went to explore the region, went to their hotel as well and checking out the cool yoga room and trying the different restaurants all over while suffering alone from the spices.
It was cool having other people with us as well during some activities. Also it was interesting for me, because they felt so much safer with us around. We haven’t encountered any dangerous situations, but alone as a girl it seem to be quite different. Not only have I heard it from them, but also from other solo female travelers. So important to take care for sure.
Doing business
I had the idea of getting this trip for free, so I thought of buying singing bowls and syntactic sticks and reselling them in Germany with profit. Running around in the city to find good offers wasn’t that hard as I expected. After checking around 6 stores I found what I searched for and bought a lot. I bought 16 singing bowls and some syntactic sticks. Not all were meant for resell, some I wanted for myself and for some friends as well.
When having everything together I realized, I have way too much luggage. I came to India with 8 kg and one backpack and at that time I was over 45 kg, so a big change and difference. For me it is normal traveling with just a backpack, but now I had a suitcase, which I bought after the first fire ceremony, as well. Such a weird feeling, but I wanted the idea to work out. Singing bowls are a great opportunity to resell higher, due to the hype in Germany and in general.
Water Rafting
In this personal blog article I feel like I could have made several articles, but some of the things are making sense to mention in my own article, same with the water rafting.
Bana and I went with the new Indian friends to go water rafting in the holy Ganges river. The Austrian Girls were concerned about it, due to health concerns. We went anyway, just without them.
We were driving in the mountains and were released at a small beach with other boats as well. The water was freezing cold, but still with adrenaline it shouldn’t be an issue. I tried to motivate the crew, by screaming “Let’s go” in all languages I know it in, also it hyped me up a bit when being honest. I believe everyone on the raft was motivated, instead of Bana. He was like sitting there and enjoyed the other people in the raft doing the work for him. The one Indian Girl was great, she slapped him in order to be doing something. Sadly all her energy toward him was not achieving anything, such a bummer.
At the end we were often in the water and it was a lot of fun.
Religious ritual
After trying to get warm and dry at the shore of the water, it was time for some religious ritual. When being at the Ganges River, you are supposed to stand and go seven times completely underwater. It was interesting for me, so I just had to try it out and it for sure felt good to do so!
Bana and the rest of the crew were also doing it.
After this great event we were driving back in the city and were going off to the next activity. Even though we tried to relax and clear our mind during our time in Rishikesh we were doing a lot of things, always moving around to not allow the mental part of the body to relax. Still we did nice things there, I don’t want to talk this down, it is just that we probably could have done it all better for ourselves.
An idea after another
When I am with Bana, there is no time for wasting time, the original plan was that he would go and meet a friend, so that I would have 4 days by myself, before flying back home. Well his friend canceled his trip, so basically we had more time together then expected. For Bana there was no option of staying in Rishikesh until the end, so we had to come up with something else.
What’s up next?
Bana and I went for an unplanned trip together, check out in a week what will happen.
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