Exploits & Escapades of a Neophyte Anthropologist: At the Enchanted Mountain.......

After spending 10 nights here at the Montana Encantada yoga center all I can say is it’s amazing how time seems to be flying, and yet when I think of all I’ve learned in the last 10 days it seems impossible that it has only been 10 days. Montana Encantada is located on the southern coast of Brazil, in the state of Santa Catarina. It’s nestled in some of the greenest mountains I’ve ever seen and the beach is about a 15 minute drive away (only an hour bike ride if I had my bike with me!). The area is lush and alive with vegetation and water. It has down poured rain every day we’ve been here, with the sun making very brief appearances once and awhile (thankfully for our one beach day off). Although my desert self has been loving the rain, I do feel bad for the folks who were expecting to get a nice sunny break from winter at home (Europe and North America). In any case at least the rain nourishes the beauty around us and I think for that everyone is grateful.

There are 30 of us in the group- 5 from the United States, 2 from Canada, 6 from Brazil, 1 from France, and the rest are from England, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, 24 women and 6 men. Our ages range from 20-60 years old and the variety of experiences we are bringing to the group definitely makes things interesting. My roommate is French and we get along perfectly; I feel very lucky to have such a wonderful roommate. I am learning a lot from her and she takes good care of me (giving me massages, rubbing my bug bites with cream, and giving me good yogic advice).

Our days are intensely full but in a way so different from my life in the U.S. that I can’t complain at all. What we are learning fulfills me and stimulates my mind as much as my anthropological studies have, and I am beginning to see that yoga and anthropology go together quite nicely in ways I’ll explain sometime soon. Here’s an idea of my daily schedule:

6:45am: Alarm goes off, get dressed stumble in the rain to our practice room overlooking the mountains.

7:15-9:30am: I am on my mat for an intense yoga practice lead by my teacher David.

9:30am-9:45am: I work on my concentration (dharana) and mediation (dhyana) after our practice- so hard!

10ish: Yummy breakfast of oatmeal, papaya, toast with guava jam, and Brazilian coffee. =)

10:30am: We start our next session with a dance party. Each day someone different picks a song for us to dance to. I had yesterday and picked Michael Franti’s “Say Hey.” I love this part of the day! Then we sit to learn about one of many fascinating topics such as: yoga philosophy, anatomy, how to break down and teach poses, practice teaching, prenatal yoga, acroyoga, Thai massage, etc. etc. I have been LOVING learning this all, although some of it is challenging (like anatomy!).

1:00pm: Lunch (yumminess) and afternoon break until 4:30pm. During our breaks I’ve been enjoying getting to know people, working on some new poses, helping others work on their poses, playing some AcroYoga, sleeping, swimming in the fresh water pool, etc. etc. Sometimes during these breaks I feel a little lonely, which is strange because I’m surrounded by wonderful people, but I wish I could have close friends and family sharing in these experiences instead of starting all over again and again. But, I realize I wouldn’t have the amazing friends I do have all over the world if I didn’t open myself to starting anew, and so that’s what I have to remember. I can already see that I am going to develop amazing friendships with some people here; I just have to give it time and patience.

4:30pm: Another class session like the 10:30am one.

7:00pm: Dinner: More vegetarian Yumminess

8:30pm-10:00pm: “Wisdom Circle.” Here we close the day by singing mantras and having a group discussion. My teacher plays the guitar and some other trainees play the drums and guitar. I’m starting to get more used to singing the mantras especially when they are supported by really beautiful music playing. Wisdom Circle is the hardest session for me because by that time of the day I am ready for some non-group time- not necessarily alone time, but not formal activity time. But I know it’s important, and even therapeutic some days to sing your heart out, so I always go with a smile on my face. Plus listening to people play beautiful music always makes me happy!

This is our schedule 6 days a week. Pretty crazy but the information is so interesting that I am soaking it up like a sponge. My emotions range from being blissed out, to content, to incredibly challenged with everything I’m thinking about myself, my relationship to others, etc. , but the for the majority of the time I feel very happy and VERY lucky to be here. Saturdays are our day off and last week we went to a beautiful beach with great surfing (or surfing watching), played some AcroYoga and capoeira and watched and danced to live music playing at a restaurant on the beach in the late afternoon….[insert blissful sigh here].

I have so much more to share with you all about what I have been learning here, but I am out of time and will save that for my next post. Ate mais…… [Oh and I added photos to my previous post so scroll down to check them out].

Montana Encantada- Dining Hall, Lounge, Etc.