Peace + gratitude day

I have this habit of waking up @ 2am here to read and write. Its like we go so hard all day and I have no alone time to really put thoughts down, and by bed time I am so wiped out I just crash, but after a few hours of rest my mind starts to process all that I have seen and felt here...

This shot was taken from the roof over our yoga studio which overlookes the Ganges river - the very spot where the foto of Sri Swami Satchidananda was taken on the Yoga Sutras book (ancient scriptures) we study. I can't believe I am here!

Although its 70's here during the day we have to keep our skin covered during the day (no shoulders or legs allowed to show) but up on the roof and in the studio we wear our tank tops!

So its already thursday here -2:30am... And I'm sending you some peace from India :)

I have a favorite quote about gratitude since that is the true essence of Thanksgiving. I won't get it all right by memory, but its something like... "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity, problems into gifts and unexpected into perfect timing. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow". So, wishing u gratitide and peace this Thanksgiving. We live in an amazing, compassionite country.

And don't feel sad for me that I won't have turkey on Thanksgiving! The food here is amazing. I never really loved Indian food before coming here - trust me I'm not going hungry! We are being very well fed - for (Thansgiving dinner we'll probably have rice and dal with israli salad and naab (buttery good flat bread) - good stuff! With fresh hot lemon ginger honey concoction which I am addicted to since I somehow caught a head cold here! I will miss mom's pumpkin pie and of course being with my family!

I have a feeling my Thanksgiving day this year will stretch my spirit even more.

Happy gratitude and peace day to you. We are touring some Ashrams later today so I will try to send some fotos... Namaste

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry