Kerala - Day 1

It's the end of my first day of classes at Greens Ayur Centre in Kerala. The day started with a phonecall home to my grandmother who is in the hospital. She seems to be doing well after some heart palpitations. It was good to hear her voice. I haven't spoken to her for a month! Then, yoga at 8:00 am. Our yoga teacher is this sadhu-looking Indian guy who quotes Gustave Flaubert and recommends books like "The Function of the Orgasm" by Wilhelm Reich. He's awesome. The class was more talking than doing, but that was great because I've wanted to learn more about yoga.

Classes started at 9:30 am. Our first class was an introduction to Panchakarma. It was a good review and I learned a few things I didn't know. We broke early for lunch around noon.

Lunch was great. We had khichadi with a lot of vegetables in it and raita. The food here has been great. More on that later. Let me just say that I don't think I've eaten this well for so long in my entire life. I look forward to every meal and they've all been amazing.

Our afternoon session goes from 2:30 to 5:30 and is held in one of the beach hut treatment rooms. It was so nice to see the ocean. We learned a head massage sequence. I didn't realize that would be covered and I'm so glad it is! I love Indian head massages and don't know any place in LA that does them. Should be a great addition to my massage menu.

We stepped out of the treatment room to see a beautiful golden sun over the Arabian Sea. Some boys were playing soccer on the beach and asked me if I wanted to play, which I did. Pretty soon half my class was playing. It was a lot of fun and nice to run around for a while.

The night ended with a great dinner (hot chapatis and vegetable curry) and salsa dancing! We hooked up an iPod to some speakers and had our own little night club in the common room. After dinner I had a chance to catch up with my nephew and sister-in-law on Skype and my parents and cousin on my Vonage phone. Yay internet! This is the first place I've stayed at on this trip that has had free wifi. It's very much appreciated.

Looking forward to what tomorrow brings!