I still don’t know what to write, so I’m randomly choosing an emoji a day and writing 200 words about it. Another one of my writing slump cheats. Today’s emoji is ?

It’s becoming quite an enjoyable habit. Sunsets by the Ganga river, in communion prayer and song with everyone in the ashram. Ganga Aarti, it’s called. After the day’s yoga practice is done, we go there. In Rishikesh, everyone heads down to the Ganga’s shores for sunset. If there’s a yoga capital of the world, it would be here. If there’s holy magic, it’s here. In a BIG way, over-flowing and over-abundant, oozing out of every temple, every street corner, every rock and step by the river. We sit by the river-side steps, and watch the river flow powerfully behind the statue of Shiva. I heard that during the monsoon, the river flows so powerfully that it sweeps away Shiva. And they have to rebuild it every year. How apt. What a beautiful metaphor of the spiritual practice of yoga. That the deepest of our insights, our epiphanies, come and break us down, sweep us off our feet. It’s hardly the feel-good, pleasurable feeling of “woke af”. It’s the dark night of the soul. Practice enough, and invariably you will be tested. But thankfully, today we won’t be tested. Today we shall just revel in seeing the sky turn red and birds heading home to roost on their trees. Today, we shall stare into the river’s flow, as the guru’s Sanskrit chants reverberate across the river, into our hearts, shaking our souls. Today, we shall just close our eyes to sing. Sing to pray, song as prayer, offering to the river. They say you never step into the same river twice. And by our song, we aspire to never sing like the same person as yesterday. Today is magic. And it was great.