My Perfect Yoga Retreat

“Where would you like to go for your birthday?  I was thinking Paris.  We’ll be half way there.”

Oh my goodness.  How long ago does that conversation seem.  Walking in the autumn afternoon at Burleigh Beach.  Planning a life.  Our life.  To standing on Udupi Railway station.

Paris, or more generally France, had represented Le Tour and Le Cordon Bleu, plus some yoga thrown in, by myself.  Now it was clearly going to be a different sort of trip to France and that was okay.  But as the time moved closer, and travel weary me took stock, we synchronistically decided from different continents, that Kerala was the better option.  And this is how we came to be waiting for the train to Thiruvananthapuram in the early evening, fast becoming late evening.

I’ve waxed eloquently about train trips, in particular overnight train trips in India, before.  Suffice to say my apprehension was growing with each passing minute ... hour we waited.  Of course the train finally arrived and with a minimum of fuss, deposited us at Trivandrum Station as the dawn light filtered through a pre-monsoon drizzle.

After some less than luxurious as advertised properties, and an anxious lead up to our visit to Somatheerum Ayurvedic Resort, all fears were allayed starting with the seamless pick up from the railway station at 7am.  Our chariot awaited, an Ambassador with driver and chaperone, and we slipped out of the city to the northern beaches before breakfast.  Arriving and checking-in in a cooling rain.  The sound, sight and smell of the salty ocean, we could see while lying on the bed in our light filled, airy, clean bungalow with crisp white sheets and towels.  The bountiful South Indian cuisine; crunchy living vegetables.  The sometimes hilarious Ayurvedic treatments.  Yoga and meditation twice a day.

One evening at dinner I was telling Brian why this was my perfect yoga retreat?  All my needs were met:  When is yoga?  When is my next treatment?  What great food can I eat now?  He got up from the table and remarked, “It’s good to see I don’t get a mention.  Except when you need the credit card.”

Next day Penny sent me this YouTube link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYgdvMELSAQ with the warning, “You’ll wet yourself laughing.”