Manav Sadhna - Day 9
February 8, 2017
Last night Zach and I went on our second run here in Ahmedabad along the Sabarmati Riverfront. I'm so excited to have a routine. I am an organized, structured, routine kind of girl. A routine kind of girl who likes to do what I want, when I want, how I want, and won't think twice before changing plans and making something new happen. So I guess you could say... I like the routine with a whole lot of excitement and not a lot of commitment.
We ran three miles last night. It felt so good. The air here is disgusting. It really is. It smells and it's full of smog and pollutants. You can feel the pollution in your lungs when you run. I accidentally swallowed a bug and wanted to throw up. Who knows where that bug has been in India. We also went to our local street market to pick up groceries for the week. Ahhhh weekly groceries!!! It's amazing. We started a detox last night that we will do until we leave Ahmedabad (about 21 days). I love the markets in Asia. That is something I wouldn't mind having access to in the States. And farmers markets are NOT the same.
We are still on or vegetarian routine (including not eating eggs), and honestly I haven't missed meat at all. The Gujarati food is really good, but I am getting warn out on rice. Asia is all about the rice. We cook our own meals for breakfast and for dinner - and Manav Sadhna feeds us lunch during our break between classes. It's so nice to be able to cook again. Zach and I used to cook quite often in the States and we cooked pretty decent meals. Appetizers, cheese boards, nice wines, seafood, steaks, an array of different flavors. It was all always really good. I miss cooking, enjoying wine at home, and listening to smooth jazz while overlooking Lake Austin. Oh. And Goliath. 😻 I miss Goliath.
Tonight we go to our second session of Awakin (feel free to visit www.awakin.org to understand more about it). We stay really pretty busy here in Ahmedabad. Between volunteering, meditation, prayers, walking to and from the slum communities where our classes are held, getting back into a running routine, and walking to and from markets... we don't have a ton of down time. If I was in my normal environment, quite honestly I would probably skip the meditation group tonight (it's three hours long). But I'm not. And this is what I came here to do. So off I go for some Awakening. I know it will feel good once I'm in it. It's like running. Half the battle is showing up.
-AS @travelingsnow