The Path

Greetings from the banks of Mother Ganga in Rishikesh India.

For the past four years, I have spent all of November in this beautiful city at the base of Himalayas and near the headwaters of the Ganges River.  As part of a true journey, I have very few plans and just let each day unfold.  Most days begin at Surinder’s yoga studio for the 8:45 drop-in class and then the unfolding begins.

One day while waiting for the class, I met a lovely soul from Israel.  I had the signed copy of my book for Surinder and decided to share it with her.  Dorit has been taking class from Surinder for 17 years.  She was one of  his first students.  Of course we met.

I have a friend in Boise that comes here often.  I reached out to him on FB to see if he was in town.  He is not, but recommended that I meet his friend Apple.  I sent her a WhatsApp message and we made plans to meet in Surinder’s class and then have breakfast.  During the meal, I shared a copy of my book with her.  She turned to a page and knew one of the people in the book.  His name is Vishvas and he is currently traveling to China.  I have a signed book for him, but he will not be back in Rishikesh until after my departure.  Apple is from China and already had plans to return in two weeks.   She will hand deliver the book to Vishvas in China.    What are the chances?

Last Friday, I was laying on the beach by Ganga and reading a book on my Kindle.  Luinda from Brazil walked up and asked if she could join me.  Moments into our conversation, one of the flower children came up and tried to sell us a flower bowl to be floated down the river.  We had a nice time with this young man and she shared some cookies with him.  After he left, I found the Flower Children chapter on my kindle and asked her to read the story.  Of course she had taken a teacher training from Surinder last May.

Last Saturday, I woke up and decided to take a taxi to Haridwar.  It is only about six miles, but the ride was over an hour.  My heart did not feel like an all day adventure, so I shifted gears and did a three hour walk around Rishikesh.  When I came back to my hotel, I was having lunch with my friend Nic Ol.  There are only about five tables on this outdoor patio.  In walks Gurmukh.  She is probably one of the top five most influential living yogis and a personal friend of Nic Ol.    One of my favorite documentaries is On Yoga:  The Architecture of Peace.  Of course she is in the movie.  She was very kind and grounded.  Her eyes lit up when I told her I studied with Surinder.  My book is now in her hands.  On Sunday, I shared this story with my friend Narayan at his Yogis Brown Bread Man Shop.  He told me that Gurmukh created the name for that store fifteen years ago.

If synchronous events are not unfolding on a daily basis, I use that as king-sized message from the universe that I am on the wrong path.  That sure does not seem to be the case with this journey in Rishikesh.