The word ‘rivulets’ has taken on a whole new meaning, now that I’ve associated it with the constant sweat that wends down my back, my arms, my stomach and my calves. I had no idea my thumbs could sweat, but even while I type this, the beads are formed on my fingers. Talk about sweating the writing…

The bonus is that the dry shin-skin on my legs (that heaven’s own amount of moisturizer couldn’t touch back home) has become supple and younger.  It seems a rather steep price to pay for youthful skin.

We are starting to get the groove of the ashram, though I’m sure our semi-hysterical moments aren’t quite what they had in mind during dinner. But what’s cool about this place is the very live-&-let-live atmosphere. You can show up to everything or come to none of the events at all. You are free to rest, relax or pursue your interests though we’ve discovered that the heat mostly inspires a lassitude of rather epic proportions.

So far we four ashramites have been very compliant. We are always on time for our 6 am meditation, 7 am yoga and are first in line to kick off our flip-flops in anticipation for the  very-welcome 8 am breakfast gong.  I haven’t cracked open my packets of instant coffee and am finding the breakfast chai, and the 3:30 pm chai break, enough caffeine to keep me going.

I don’t think any of us has ever had such sustained time of ‘nothingness’, and though a little discomfiting at first, I think we’re all starting to settle into this life. The yoga and heat is probably exactly what my body needed after the Offa’s Dyke trek and the foot massage in the healing clinic today was something sent directly from heaven. It would have been nice to have one of those sessions after each day on that trail.

I had some success with the cockroaches when the manager gave me a partial can of something equivalent to Agent Orange. I fumed up the room, left it for the day and that night I could turn on the light in the bathroom without the wall becoming a new type of buggy-nightmare wallpaper. The downside was the rather unnerving sensation of tingly lips and a rather odd cheek numbness, but extermination is not something to be trifled with.

The bad news is that the effect only lasted that one night. Alas, the killing fields returned and last night was another shoe-slapping extravaganza.

Luckily the bathroom floor-washing method is to throw a bucket of water on the tiles and then use the long handled super-squeegee to sluice it all into the drain in the corner. As the drain doesn’t actually fit, the buggy bodies can be pushed into the holes on the side. I’m sure it’s the very same holes that those bugs come up in the night, but so far, no matter what I place on top of that drain has proven to be a deterrent.

It has mostly been a humorous (not so funny at night, but much funnier in the morning) price to pay for all the other benefits we are finding.

I hadn’t counted on the Swami-factor. I came here mostly for the yoga, the meditation, the healthy vegetarian food, time to hang with my friends, a chance to catch up on some reading and writing, and the tropical locale. I figured I’d attend one Swami session and mark it down as an ‘experience’.

But the morning sessions with Swami Brandhev are proving to be my favourite part of the day (along with the morning meditation and yoga). He truly is a wise man and has given us many practical insights on how to live a more fully conscious life.

So. I’m becoming one with the whole sweaty thing…now if I could just accept those bugs.