Completely safe

First off, let me say I am completely safe. I am very very very far away from Mumbai, probably at least a day by train. And I am in a very very very rural setting, not a hotspot for tourism at all, so not likely to be targeted by anyone. So please don't worry...

Second, Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you to everyone who sent me lovely thankgiving emails and updates. Its so nice to hear from everyone!

For thanksgiving this year, I ate a banana and a granola bar for breakfast (I skipped breakfast for reasons I'll reveal in a minute) and learned to pour salt water in one nostril so it comes out of the other nostril. And that was by the far the tamest of the Kriya (body cleansing techniques) they taught us in this mornings asana class. I also watched people demonstrate and then attempt some of the other kriya - including drinking 8 glasses of salt water and then making yourself throw it back up again, sticking a tube up your nose and pulling it out of your mouth, and the worst one of all, taking a long piece of gauze and slowly swallowing it down to your stomach and then pulling it back out... I took a pass on those techniques, despite the encouragement of our teachers to try everything, and then I took a pass on breakfast too.

However, the experimenting is not all bad - yesterday in the afternoon asana class I held a new posture I had never done before. I couldn't come into it in my own but someone caught my legs and helped me in, and I was able to hold it unsupported for a few seconds - it's called the Scorpion and you can see what it looks like here: http://www.santosha.com/asanas/scorpion.html.

I won't have internet again until Saturday or so, and my karma yoga gets switched Saturday so I don't know what my schedule will be like, but I will try to find time to write again.