17/02/2025
This place is known as ‘God’s Own Country’.
If one were to imagine a paradise on earth, it could easily be like this:- luminous with the whole spectrum of colour and rich, verdant plant life, birds of all types and gorgeous clouds of butterflies 🦋. Add to that a natural, humble warmth and hospitality of its people, sunshine warming your bones, heart and soul. Always sunshine.
I’m simply describing where I am now!
In a quiet location in jungle lands. South India. The Dravidian heartland.
Here the river goddess flows unhurriedly through the shady tropical forest, impossibly long, twisty, winding vines drape from high in the trees , dipping into the water.
Noble white herons preen and parade on a branch , smart, bright blue kingfishers dart low to the water exhilarated by their own speed, teal feathers gleaming in the sun light
I love returning to Kerala as it’s where I began my yoga teaching journey, just shy of 20 yrs ago, in an open sided temple which looked down into a jungle ravine on one side. The incredible sound of birds, insects and frogs a constant thrum and cacophony was the backdrop to the entire day, starting with 5:30am meditation. The sun rose behind us and was so hot by 6am the single trickle of sweat down my spine beneath my meditation shawl reminded me to sit up straight.
I am so blessed that I have traveled the world practicing, studying and teaching yoga. And yet there is nowhere quite like India, where yoga and her vast teachings were divined through the ether and preserved initially through oral tradition before eventually being committed to written form.
And within India, Kerala feels like hOMe .
I’m writing this on the veranda of the little cottage I stay in when I’m teaching here.
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