Arambol

After leaving Sanpoorna and becoming a YOGA TEACHER (blog on this coming soon) myself and Lizzie, a girl I’d met basically on the course, decided to travel north to Arambol, north Goa with two of the lovely teachers we met at Sampoorna, Sue and Jennifer. The journey was really good as we shared a taxi that had aircon (thankfully), we even stopped for gorgeous samosas and Indian cashew sweets on the way.

It took about 3 1/2 hours from Agonda to get to our hotel ‘The Love Temple’ which was situated on Arambol beach.

Lizzie looking out of our window

The little beach shack rooms were … interesting, let’s say an experience but the location to the beach for just £8 a night between two of us was definitely worth it… for the experience which I’d put in my top 5 weirdest places I’ve stayed. Would I be back again? Probably not…

Arambol was filled with tiny streets, colourful stalls and lots of travelling beach goers.

Fresh fruit stalls on every street

We walked on the beach in the evening where we saw a mix of performers, including a magician who moved with such grace balancing on one arm and levitating magic spheres around him (I can’t even really put into words his magic trick but it was enchanting).

Then we sat at a table facing the ocean, the waves and stars for entertainment and ordered delicious and extremely affordable vegetarian Indian food.

The next day we got up early to enjoy the Love Temples vinyasa yoga, the teacher, Azusa, who was originally from the south France had a lot of energy and gave us an interesting and challenging balance vinyasa flow.

Following this we headed into Arambol’s town centre, where we hunted through the little shack shops filled with colours and Indian products – resisting buying it all!

We enjoyed breakfast at a really cute terrace, where it was only £1 for muesli and fruit. It was great to be with Sue and Jennifer who offered really great advice for my own yoga journey.

The rest of the day was spent on the beach, in the sea, and watching the cows hunt for corn on the cob from the market stalls set up along the beach.

After seeing how much the cows enjoyed the corn we decided to try it – and it was so good, for 50p we had the nicest flavoured corn I’ve ever tried. I definitely recommend trying if you ever find yourself on Arambol beach.

We watched the sun set and wandered along the beach, where people were set up on matts selling handmade items and all sorts of creative things (I really wish I’d had some art with me to join them in showcasing my work). I ended up buying an essential oil that was handmade in front of me by an aromatherapist.

The oil was made up of relaxing smells which I will be using when I go home in my practise for giving people an even more soothing shivassana.

Then we sat under the stars and ate our final evening meal together – so grateful that I had time with these people as they’ve become a huge part of my journey and inspiration.

The next day we went to Azuna, the teacher here, who taught a warrior flow workshop which was a lot of fun – we used firey, energising breathing techniques to warm up and then worked through a series of balance asana movements which again really inspired me.

Following this we wandered into the vibrant centre and dived through backstreets finding the cutest cafe, Organic Vibes, which was a beautiful garden kitted out with tiny tables, hammocks and swing chairs. Breakfast here was gorgeous and the perfect end to our short trips a four.

Practising some partner yoga

Thoughts on India so far (aside from all things yoga which will be covered in my other blog): if you go to the right place the food is amazing, the sunsets, stars and beaches are insanely beautiful, there’s friendly dogs and cows everywhere…