Professor Raghuram, a world renowned Yogi from the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samasthana (SVYASA), encouraged our practice of yoga as a means to consciously realign our minds and bodies into a harmonious life force void of the tension accumulated in everyday trivialities. To help us, students, balance our academic and athletic efforts, Professor Raghuram suggested we rise early to practice Sun Salutations, a total of about twenty postures three times over, every morning during the semester. His prior work with Olympic athletes has proven this morning ritual enhances performance by allowing the body ample time to relax at its baseline. His efforts to perpetuate yoga therapy and its benefits are doubled with the help of the Yoga Research Facility, a conjoining department at the world class yoga university which provides contextual evidence supporting the practice. In the labs, students research the effects yoga has on cognitive neuroscience, bio energy, psychophysiology, and much more. Talitha Wisner RTGAmbassador At the halfway point of our journey in India, our itinerary in Bangalore is as fast paced as the traffic, with as many sightseeing adventures scheduled during the day as possible. Amid the hubbub of activity, it is easy to forget the importance of patience, respect, and acceptance of ourselves and others. We visited the Elephanta caves near Mumbai. We took a ferry for an hour to the island where the caves are, and that was surprisingly relaxing. Once there, we climbed 120 steps to the top of the island mountain and found ourselves at the threshold of a massive, aged, basalt memorial. Found in the 18th century, this memorial was made for Shiva the Destroyer. Unlike the other edifices we saw that were made for gods, this one was not a temple of worship, so we did not have to remove our shoes to enter. It is believed that this structure was built between the 5th and 7th centuries, but today some of the work has faded and been lost. We learned that it was not created by slave workers, but by generations of skilled artisans. The seven caves were hollowed rather than constructed. After enjoying the great structures of Shiva, Aghora,Tatpurusha, and Vandeva with Sadyojata within the caves, we proceeded back down the mountain, while encountering many, friendly animals like cattle, dogs, and monkeys. Carlos Fuentes RTGAmbassador
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