om shanthi, darn it!

so from the beach madness, we decided to enroll ourselves in yoga prison...er camp. This is a place where you are requisitioned blankets and pillows and escorted to your slender plank of a bed with its flimsy mosquito netting and two inch thick mattress. A bell rings at 5am to get you out of bed (which you're actually thankful for because of the soreness in your back and neck thanks to the wispy mattress), you spend the morning and afternoon doing excercises, and work between excercise sessions by sweeping floors, cleaning toilets and cooking food. You also attend instruction on how you can reform yourself to become a better citizen in the world. Pretty much the same thing as your run-of-mill rehabilitation institution...except in this case you get the honor of paying them for the experience.

And best of all...it was worth every penny. The Sivananda Ashram is actually a wonderful place that both of us enjoyed and benefited from (and would recommend) Sure we dreamed of cheeseburgers and HBO, but we haven't felt this good for a long time. The asana classes (2 hours twice a day) were just what we needed, both physically and mentally. We're not cut out for long term ashram life, but for a short spell it is a great way for us to gain a healthier perspective on living, and learn what you can do to remain healthy when we get back to the world of work and Tivo.