I'm sure almost 100% of people here feel the call to go to India... reason?...Could be a lot, but the ultimate goal is to feel more connected with the source or if you prefer Enlightened! I went to a little holy city in the north of  India called Rishikesh. This place is like the Mecca for yoga and meditation practitioners, it's no doubt a very special place.   I spent a month there where I did a yoga teacher training, participated in ceremonies, learnt a lot about Vedic science and Ayurveda, shared experiences with a lot of different people that became friends, met gurus, visited ashrams, went to the Himalayas, tried a hole bunch of meditation techniques, pranayama, satkarma,  etc etc. We woke up everyday around 5 am and around 10 pm the lights turned off. The schedule was very busy and I almost never got time to be alone,  but we still got time to visit a lot of places but most of my free time was for self study. When you come to a place like India for the first time, your senses are so acute. So many colors, poverty and beggars, skinny cows and dogs, monkeys trying to steal food, honks from cars and  motorbikes every half second, so over populated, so many rubbish and dirt, so many incense and turmeric smells, so hot and wet climate...and when you look around with your head up , you see all this is wrapped up by the powerful Himalayas mountains and when you look down, there it is, the gangues river illuminating your gaze, so silent and peaceful. What a contrast this is...and everything is happening in your face, nonstop. This is seriously challenging for your inner stillness. To give you some perspective, I'm an active, disciplined seeker for the last 5 years, I meditate everyday, contemplate, read a lot, travel and experienced a fair bit, etc,.. So honestly I wasn't expecting to get surprised with much I would experience there!... I couldn't be more wrong!  It's difficult to try to describe what happen during my time there because was a shift inside me that no words can describe. I can tell you though that they have so much to teach that I thought to my self  "How I don't know this things already? How they have so much knowledge and nothing reaches the west? This is so powerful!" As I met people in town (locals and travelers) I started to notice how everyone was sort of vibrating in the same frequency... even the animals... the dogs behaved like cows.. the beggars where always smiling, even when I gave them nothing they would still be waving and blessing. Everyone there was in this fascination towards the present moment.  As the weeks passed, emotions started to take over more than I was use to for a long time in my life, I would feel this strong swing moods.. sad/happy, too challenged/too relaxed, disconnected/connected, vulnerable/secure...I even started to stare at objects as though I was seeing something for the first time...I thought "Am I getting crazy?  I shared a room with massive spiders and cokroaches, my bed was moldy and wet, the food was always yellow, the water impossible to drink and  I was always in verge of getting sick.. and eventually I got really sick... and going to an hospital taking an injection was definitely not in my plans. But so it happened..! I was not in my comfort zone at all. I later started to realize that the contrast that I was experiencing in India between cruelty and humanity, dark and light, ugly and beautiful, chaos and harmony, silk and rag, tears and smiles, odor and perfume... this are so intense opposites, that they were also happening in a micro level, inside me. I was in a process of acceptance, until I had completely surrendered...    That's when something in me started to change and I couldn't understand exactly what...It was something around my hearth. You know when you hear this things about "to open the hearth"?...Well I always thought "yes, yes my hearth is open, I can feel it"... No, no... I had no idea what that meant before! Your hearth can truly open in such a powerful way that will make you cry, laugh, shine, love....Love unconditionally...Wow I can't even tell you how liberating this is!! I dare to say that this is the most powerful skill you can ever hold. More than open your third eye, more than all the knowledge in the world, more than understanding life, feeling of purpose... more than everything because this is all that ...love is all that... It's what will bring you happiness. Now you ask "How do I know that my hearth is open to that extreme?" I don't know, only you can tell...Try closing your eyes and place your hands on your hearth and see what you feel. When I do this, I feel ecstasy running in all my body, like all my cells are excited to be here together, vibrating so fast... and they feel comfortable with everything around them, with no preferences. As weird as it might seem I feel I want to hug the hole world, everytime, especially when they look frighten or defensive at me. "How do you open your hearth?" Whatever works for you really... I found this worked for me: - Experiencing the opposite of what you think is your preferences and what you think you cant let go. - Being engaged in a likewise group where I let others helping me heal and also help others to heal through active listening.  - Very important: meditated at least twice a day using pranayma tecniques and engaging bandhas before the meditation. I find this to be the most powerfull meditations!! - Danced or just had a fluid movement of my body.  Do a yoga flow that you like and do it everyday with some music that you love - Be grateful for your body and mind, they are your temple. Instead of trying to avoid and camouflage the parts about you that you don't like, give them special care, like you would take care of a plant. - Also important, realize that whatever you are, you have a female and a masculine energy inside you that needs to be accepted and balanced. (I will do a post in the future about this) This are the first steps...Other aspects  you need to know will unfold naturally  within you. I hope you can feel inspired to take care of your hearth <3