Coming Full Circle

For the past three weeks I have lived in Mysore, India, studying yoga and comparing the philosophy and practice of Ashtanga Yoga to Zen meditation. While I had a wonderful time, I am quite happy to be back in my original study-abroad home of Bodh Gaya, Bihar—something I didn’t think that I would ever say. However, my time away from Bodh Gaya has allowed me to reflect upon the three months that I spent there. While it is a spiritual place, it is also full of hustle and bustle everyday; the streets are filled with cows, goats, rickshaws, and people running to and fro in order to get things done. It was definitely a challenge to maintain the patience necessary to handle this new environment, but I can definitely admit that it has helped me to grow.

I am most grateful for my time spent here in India. While it was not always the most wonderful thing in the world, and always pushed me beyond limits that I didn’t know were there, I would not change or trade this experience for anything. I will not cry on the plane this time (or maybe I will). I most certainly will rejoice at the fact that I will shortly be reunited with my loved ones, but I will always value and cherish  the lessons that I learned in India. I am coming so close to completing the circle that I started in late August.