Uparati

Well folks I am 27 years old now. This year has already been big on change. I have totally changed my lifestyle. I am now pretty much a yogi through and through. I also got a sanskrit name. I am offically Uparati at Yogaville. Pronounced phonetically oo-pa-ruh-tee. (Sanskrit names are names given to you by swami's and its a spiritual name that helps you in your spiritual path). When I first received my name I instantly thought of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Then I thought I am never going to live this down however I have learned to love it. Someone also said it sounds like you should become a rapper or something. So it is good to know that I have options. The name Uparati means to draw-within, become calm, controlled, enduring, concentrated and faithful. But Dont worry you guys can still call me Hanna. Since arriving at Yogaville I have lost a total of 32 pounds. I have such amazing friends that take care of me here. They thoroughly spoiled me on my birthday. We had raw lasagna, truffle desserts and raw ice cream with cacao nibs. It was amazing. Then we watched The Notebook and cuddled. I am noticing that the older that I get and maybe its Yogaville. But I am turning into such a softy. I am so much more a lover than a fighter. This year is just going to get better and better and I just cannot wait for my life to unfold. Life is good!

90 Days

Sorry about the huge gap in posts. Three words "Limited Internet Access" . So things are going great my schedule is busy busy busy. I will be posting more stories and doing a little back tracking to fill you all in on the happenings of yogaville. So here is a photo of Tim and I workin it in front of Swami Satchidanda. He created yogaville and is an amazing soul.

Living here at an ashram for three months has totally changed my life. I am so happy and healthy. My blood pressure is now normal and I take no medications. I have lost around twenty pounds and I am continuing to keep losing weight. I feel like Im the wicked witch of the West just melting away. Don't worry I am still attached to my inner fat girl. Being a vegetarian has been very easy. Because that is all your options. For the first month of being a vegetarian I kept having this dreams of hamburgers and of going to Inn and Out burger with my family. I get up to the front of the line and ask for a veggie burger and the boy justs laughs in my face. So in the dream I just end up eating lettuce. Anyways the food here is so good. My body has never been or felt so good. But I have recently decided that my body wants me to go RAW so I am giving it a go. We will see how long this lasts. Its going to be a challenge but I am totally up for it. Ill keep you posted.

DETOX

Well I just wanted to show you how beautiful it is here with all the fall colors. I have been vegetarian for about a little over 6 days. It certainly has not been hard at all. I don't know exactly what they put in the food but it is amazing. They have this thousand island dressing that is vegan and I asked if it might have contained crack cocaine. They just laughed and said that crack cocaine is not organic. The first 3 days that I was here I was constantly sweating. One of the Swami's said don't worry it will pass. I just kept thinking I am freezing and I keep sweating. They told me my body is just releasing the toxins in my body. Apparently the fiber blend just wasn't cutting it with detoxing my body. Living here makes it easy to be a vegetarian. But the one thing is that it is buffet style. Its so easy to overeat. So I just make sure that I am using portion control. Everything that they serve here is organic and comes straight from the garden or orchard. The weird thing is that the first few days I could smell something foul coming from my body, so I asked why. What in the world did I eat. Swami M just said that those smell is the toxins just being released and that you are becoming more aware of what your body is doing. She also said that she can smell people that eat meat. I wanted to ask her if I smelled like chicken nuggets but I refrained from doing so. I replied that is disgusting and she just laughed. The weird thing is that I have not craved any meat. The first day out of habit I was thinking I need meat mainly for protein. But really the only thing that I have been craving is CHOCOLATE. I discovered in the tea shop that they sell dark chocolate so that made me feel more at ease. One of the other Swami said to me Hanna every person has a fat girl inside them saying you need to eat more. (I slightly got distracted thinking about the fat girl inside me and I was thinking about names for my fat girl within) What you need to do is tell your ego(fat girl) to shut up. You need to be mindful and aware what you are eating and listen to your body. I replied I think my body needs Chocolate! She said then if your body is saying it do it.

Satchidananda Ashram

After Covering 13 states, 2,500 miles. I finally have arrived. Some of the places I loved going through was, flagstaff, santa fe, hooker, OK, Eureka Springs AR,Charlottesville VA and finally Buckingham, VA. Above is the picture of the Lotus shrine of all faiths. I had to steal this picture because of my camera is not working. So just imagine fall colors it really is beautiful. Now I have arrived it is time to relax and get my chi on or something like it. Coming here is definitely a culture shock. It is slow pace and peaceful. I decided to take up yoga and integrate it into my lifestyle. So I decided to come and apply for the LYT program. The program stands for Living Yoga Training. It gives you the opportunity to experience traditional yoga in the modern world. Here you live in a community that is based on living yoga. I start the program on Friday. But I have been at the ashram for about 6 days now and I love it. I have only had 1 yoga class before this and I remember just laughing and lying on the mat the whole entire time out of pure humiliation. Mainly because I couldn't do any of the poses. My first yoga class was amazing. It was taught by Swami Martudi. I just call her Swami M because I find all the names are hard to pronounce. Swami is a monk meaning master of self. She is the cutest swami and my favorite. She just comes up to me and says oh your my Hanna you finally came and she smiles big. She looks like she is around 80 years old and she wears hearing aides she is very much a grandma type. So for my first class I was kind of nervous and I seemed to do fine. I came in just in time and sat right next to Swami M. However mid way through the class she totally passed gas and I was the only one that noticed. Because I was so close to her. She just stopped and smiled at me then continued doing the sun salutation. I absolutely loved yoga. Before my first yoga class I took a guided meditation class. It was great and I meditated a little over an hour with out moving an inch. I am also doing an experiment to see if my health improves and so far my blood pressure is going down and when I don't do yoga twice a day it goes up. I hope with this blog I can entertain while educating about yoga and meditation. With this type of practice you definitely learn as you go so hopefully I will keep you guys informed. I find this yoga world very new to me but very much so interesting. Oh and did I mention that swami's also wear pale orange. Don't worry I will not become a Swami anytime soon orange is just not my color.