Australian_Yoga_Journal_July_2017

Pilgrimage
India
TO
By Meghan Rabbitt
How a trek to holy Gomukh, the
source of the mystical waters of
the Ganges, deepened one writer’s
understanding of yoga’s teachings.
WE STARTED UP THE STEEP, ROCKY PATH from the village
of Gangotri to the headwaters of the holy river Ganges
after a big breakfast of rice, beans, and Nutella on toast.
A minute in, I regretted my decision to heap seconds of
everything onto my tin plate. At 3050-plus metres, I’d felt
winded simply walking to the trailhead. Now, stuffed and
fighting for air, I was attempting a 45-km trek that
gained another 762 metres of elevation in three days.
I glanced nervously at our guide, Sandesh Singh. The
lithe 42-year-old shot me a wide smile that put me, an
experienced hiker yet India first-timer, at ease. Singh is
a native of Haridwar, considered one of the most sacred
cities in India because it’s lodged where the Ganges
emerges from the Himalayas and starts flowing through
the plains. He has walked this path with pilgrims from
around the world nearly two dozen times, and his
gratitude for getting to show it to tourists like us—six
American yogis on a spiritual journey through North
India—felt profound.
july 2017 yogajournal.com.au
87