Visit to a Yoga Institute

Prasad's cousin Ravi lives and works at an Ashram. It is a Yoga institute and teaches yoga classes and pranic healing. The institute has performed extensive documented research on healing multiple ailments through special breathing exercises, yogic asanas and satvik cooking. One of their main success stories is controlling and healing diabetes with no medication. They have a hospital, ayurvedic center and teaching institute. People come from all over the world to either take one month long yoga or yoga healing classes or to heal themselves. Everyone that comes to stay at the ashram needs to follow a rigid schedule. Meals are served at specific times and there is no television or internet access in the rooms. We went to visit the ashram a few weeks back. It is situated at a very picturesque location and is very peaceful. Ravi, his wife and baby daughter live at the ashram and they lead a simple life. The kids had fun running around the ashram and visiting all the different sights. We met with the Guruji who started the ashram. He was a NASA engineer that moved back to India many years back. He looked at Rushil and said that if we brought him to the ashram for a week, they would be able to heal his skin problems with asanas and breathing exercises. I was quite surprised and also wasn't sure if Rushil would be able to follow the prescribed exercies but the Guruji was confident that he would be able to. Anyway, Ravi's sister Aruna, her children and their parents were also there so we spent a nice afternoon together. Sindhura and Sruthi, Aruna's daughter really hit it off. We saw them 3 times in a span of a week so the girls really bonded.

I have to share one snake anecdote because my rendition of the visit would not be complete if I didn't. There are many cobras in the area. Ravi's wife Sudha even saw a snake multiple times in their front yard and the hole that the snake resides in. It worries her quite a bit and she's very cautious not to let her 2 year old roam around unsupervised. A few weeks back, a snake even entered their home through the bathroom window. In the 25 years that the Ashram was opened, they had one incident recently where a gardner was bit by a cobra, fortunately, he survived. The Guruji suggested that we bring Rushil in for a week during his summer time. Sudha shared she has seen large scorpions and she saw them frequently during the summer time so I guess I won't be going there during the summer season.After I got back, I asked a few people in our colony if they have seen scorpions in our area, fortunately they said no, otherwise, we may have to consider moving. :-)