The morning routine in the ashram is a 3 hour program starting at 6 am. It contains meditation, pranayama (breathing exercises), chanting mantras, yoga, and: yogic cleansing with the neti pot.
The first morning I wake up in the ashram I get a precise demonstration of how to perform this cleansing routine. In the garden, Lalita Ji, our teacher, poors the warm salted water through one nose hole to have it poor out of her other nose hole. After having done this both sides, she starts a lengthy performance of fierce and rythmic nose blowing. If it wasn’t for the fact I have to repeat this, I would burst out in laughing..
After the demonstration it’s my turn. It appears fairly easy and indeed my sinus feels free and clean after. I keep the neti pot with me for the rest of the week.
Phool Chatti Ashram is a 100 year old ashram located 7 kms north of Rishikesh on the Ganga river bank. Here, you can experience ashram life in a one week retreat program. This post is the first of 6 posts on my experiences in the ashram.
To read more about the retreat program, have a look at the Phool Chatti website.
John
I’m so glad I stayed behind ! (;-)