In El-Gouna, yoga saved Rasha Sadek from falling into the depths of despondency I dragged it behind me, it felt heavier than my luggage. The load was immense and for the first time I couldn't handle it. My heart was broken and I was unable to collect its shattered bits. I wanted to get away, but running wouldn't be good enough because I would still have my brains logged inside my head. I wanted to regain my life's balance and reassure myself that how I feel is not the result of circumstances beyond my control. I wanted to be in control. Then, just as my mind was about to explode came the yoga festival at El-Gouna. The festival which took place last month was the first of its kind to be held in Egypt, drawing in some 30-plus yoga instructors from all over the world. The seven-day programme consisted of practising yoga from the early morning hours, starting at 7am precisely and continuing till 8pm in the evening. It might have seemed fit that Orascom should be in charge of the event, given that it is the owner of El-Gouna. But it was TEN Tours agency, owned by Tareq Fawzi, that undertook the festival management with Hossam Darwish heading its organisation. My initial disappointment was quickly dispelled, however, when I knew that members of the media would be lodged at the five-star Steigenberger Golf Resort. The yoga instructors would be accommodated at the Mövenpick Hotel which would be the festival's scene of action. My frustration quickly returned however when the agency called, asking me to "confirm your attendance. You are to stay in a double room... with a woman who works in a magazine." Nooo, I thought to myself, some privacy please! I wouldn't object if I stayed at a one-star hotel so long as I had a room of my own. "You're lucky to have been provided for with a double," retorted the person from the agency. "Others will be sleeping in triples." We are not sardine fish people, take note of that. Orascom intervened at the last moment and set things right by booking me a suite with a front-view of the swimming pool. El-Gouna was a fascination in its own right as usual. Situated 23 kilometres north of Hurghada by the Red Sea, the townlet has come to redefine Egypt's coastal villages, setting a model with its neatly designed schemes which naturally blend into the surrounding landscape. The resort has an international marina which harbours hundreds of fancy yachts in its turquoise-coloured lagoons. With its scenic views and Utopian cleanliness, it seemed the ideal setting in which to practise the heart-healing sessions of yoga. JOURNEY TO YOU: "Yesterday is agony and tomorrow is worry. The now is the only moment with no pain and disharmony." Thus started the meditation class with Barbara Gordon. In a dark room with a lit candle occupying its centre, we sat, comfortably stretching our backs while not occupying much of an area on the floor in order to keep our body energy unscattered. "Now remember, you don't actually need to move. Stay still. The mind is like a naughty boy who will try to play tricks on you, just in order to get you to move. If you feel like scratching, don't listen to the urge... and observe: in 10 seconds you'll no longer feel the itch." Meditation is the uninterrupted flow of emotions, feelings and perceptions. It is like the continuous spilling of oil. With this in mind, I gazed at the candle flame, later closing my eyes to see that same flame dancing in the dark, swimming in all directions and changing colours. "These are the lights and colours of your mind," Gordon softly said. After a half hour of stillness and thinking of absolutely nothing, we chanted the Sanskrit's sacred "Aum" and other enchantments which, for some reason, sent strong waves of relief through my body that had, by this time, become nothing but an entity swinging in the sea of energy surrounding me. Our voices grew louder as more energy built up, and for some moments it felt as if my entity were vibrating and turning westwards. Yogis believe that meditation, being the seventh limb or level of yoga, can be attained in either five minutes, five years... or five lifetimes -- just as reincarnation is a belief inherited by most yogis. Meditation, in short, is just being aware of what is in the moment, "witness consciousness" is what the gurus call it. And, as happens when one watches a movie, while one meditates, the thoughts come and go. The important thing is not to capture a thought and make a story out of it. On the physical level, meditation lowers the blood pressure and expands the breathing capacity. On the mental level, it induces the mind to drift into a state of calm, a realm where it connects to that source which is greater than the individual self. There are many techniques of focussing which help the mind meditate, such as listening to your own breath as you slowly inhale and exhale, or focussing on a candle or inspiring religious figure. Another method of meditation is to repeat, or listen to, a certain mantra or phrase. One can also relax while listening to music without lyrics and without a specific melody to follow. Another form of meditation is to visualise a white light that grows inside you. The goal of meditation, after all, isn't unconsciousness or nothingness but a heightened awareness and sense of "oneness" with the universe. As yogi Nauru would best express it, "yoga is the science of going beyond limitations, and directing energy to experiencing inner joy and spiritual stillness." The meaning of the very word yoga, in Sanskrit -- India's language of ancient gods and its classical tongue -- is the unification of body, mind and soul. Developed in India some 5,000 years ago, yoga is a spiritual practice which, according to one of the tradition's great sages Patanjali, "stills the fluctuations of the mind, then the true self appears." Believe it or not, babies are born yogis then age, get injured -- serious heart injury in my case -- and all-absorbed in the daily stresses and anxieties of their surroundings. According to yogis, depression afflicts us when we become separated from our source, but the insight that yoga provokes allows one to tune into the hidden energy that lurks in a crisis. This can then be used as a catalyst for spiritual growth. We learn this when we dedicate some time to turning within and exploring the "I", which is the core essence with which we were born. Then we realise that the "I" isn't the result of things we do all day, or the effects that those things have on our bodies, minds and souls. If we strip away our emotions, conditions and sensations, we find that somewhere deep inside the "I" is still there, present albeit perhaps long-forgotten. Savananda is a soft, gentle style of yoga that emphasises breathing and relaxation. Our first class of Savananda was conducted on the beachfront of the Mövenpick by Gordon, who, trained by Swami Vishnudevananda in Canada, has been teaching the method for 30 years. Our first lesson was in breath control or pranayama. The basic movements of pranayama are inhalation, breath retention and exhalation. The pausing of the breath sets the mind still, gradually purifying it of rushing thoughts and distractions. Prana is the word from which pranayama is derived. It denotes the life force or energy existing in all things, and that flows within each one of us with every breath. If you inhale for four counts then retain your breath and then exhale for at least eight counts, all the negative thoughts will be released. Go ahead and try this before you read on. Asanas or postures are the second limb of yoga. "There are 84 million postures in yoga," said Indian yogini Yogita who partook of the sessions with us. Yogita says her parents gave her this name because they knew, before it happened, that her future would be that of a yogini's. Patanjali says asanas or postures embody both sthira and sukha (steadiness and comfort). The no pain, no gain rule is definitely not one to which a true yogi will ascribe. If you're practising yoga and it hurts, then your exercise will have missed the mark since the purpose of yoga is to leave you feeling energised, not tired. Fatigue, which is against the very essence of yoga, will only result if you have been fighting yourself and forcing your body into poses instead of surrendering to them. The benefits of asanas are also numerous. The sun salutation, for instance, is comprised of 14 movements of standing, sitting and bending that move 1,000 muscles and about 700 ligaments. Standing asanas strengthen the spine and correct the body's structural alignment. Twists massage the internal organs, while forward bends relax the nervous system and lower the blood pressure. Yoga postures and breathing, in short, strengthen and balance the immune, hormonal, digestive as well as nervous systems, in addition to reducing the occurrence of mood swings. You can take it from someone who's tried it, and found that it works. In the sessions of hatha, which is the most widely practised branch of yoga, we performed exercises that boost self-confidence and internal courage. Wondrous as it appeared, I was able to bend and twist into poses I never thought possible. It was simply a question of relaxing one's mind, repelling negative thoughts and readying oneself to accept the notion that "I can do anything, and there's nothing I can't do." By the third day of the El-Gouna festival, things started to really change: only three days of yoga-practising and I was transformed from a wretched soul wallowing in self-pity into a mentally-sane individual who would not easily yield to depression or despondency. I was now someone who could handle stressful situations with much greater resilience than I had ever thought possible. I found out that it was not just me; the 200 or so participants at the festival had also experienced the truly amazing results. During our retreat, we had managed with a large degree of success to reach an interdependence between body, mind and soul. PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE: Surrounded by yogis who have dedicated some 20 years or so of their lives to teaching yoga to the likes of myself, so that they attain self-realisation, one couldn't but wonder at them. How could these people emanate so much love? Where, in fact, was their true self in all of this? It could be that what the Beatles' George Harrison (a long-time yoga practitioner) said was true when he proclaimed that "in a sense, you have to become selfish in order to become selfless." Gordon, for instance, started practising yoga at the age of 19. She was born a Jew but says that, eventually, something "didn't click with me. I wasn't spiritually connected to what was divine. Yoga, however, gave me a sense of purpose, a reason to be, which has stayed with me all my life and helped me through physical illness and difficult times." Gordon asserts that although the philosophy of yoga is derived from Hinduism, the discipline itself embraces all religions. "India is the yogi's Mecca, but you don't have to go to India to be a true yogi. A yogi is one who realises that the philosophy of yoga is about love. If your heart isn't open, then just forget it." Anthony Sadashiva could be considered another embodiment of the yogi who emanates love to people and the world. He picks up from where Gordon left. Sadashiva's philosophy is to "live in truth, be good, do good, and be kind and compassionate". He says his purpose in life is "to enable people to discover their true nature so that they can develop." As for India, Sadashiva says, "many people run to India for spiritual awakening, but you don't need to do that. You have to go within. One of the greatest obstacles to this, though, is ignorance and the attachment to material things. But with yoga practice -- which of course goes beyond physical postures -- you learn to become more aware and see things that enable you to grow mentally and spiritually." Sadashiva, all dressed in white, adds, "with this development, you start to view the world and yourself differently, and, one would hope, in a more realistic way that can enhance both the quality of one's life and relationships with others. By cultivating the foundation of inner strength you become unshakeable... you have no fears." Before I head back to Cairo Sadashiva gives me a little tip, "don't throw the coin into the well then search for it in the light." In The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, the sage compiled 195 concise aphorisms which are essentially an ethical blueprint for living a healthy and moral life, and incorporating yoga into one's life. These "guidelines to enlightenment", as many yogis like to describe them, include the eightfold path of yoga. This starts with yama, which is social behaviour and the way an individual must deal with the world and other fellow-beings. The eightfold path ends with smadhi, which is yoga's ultimate goal. Smadhi is absolute bliss and pure contemplation by which one attains "super-consciousness"; becoming one with the universe. Those who attain this stage of self-realisation are definitely enlightened; they are, in the words of Paramahansa Yoganananda, another great yoga sage, "in the state of God-Union". If anything, yoga is a journey of self-exploration. We close our eyes, not to shut ourselves from the outside world, but to turn to within to where our true selves lie. When "I" loves "I", one realises peace with oneself. Although this is no easy task, it begins with one's thinking: "I am beautiful inside out. I love me; let me share this love with those around me." And so, believe me when I say that salvation from stress and depression is literally one breath away. Forget about travelling to India for extrication. Just sit in your dark room and cross your legs with your arms relaxed, eyes closed and back straight... then, breathe -- the yoga way. THE CITY: The Red Sea resorts have accustomed travellers to the sight of five-star hotels packed, haphazardly, it would seem, along the beach in a sporadic development born out of the dire need to populate the coast. Seeing El-Gouna is absolutely enough to purge one's mind of any such impression. Spread over an area of 11 million square metres and harbouring a secluded beachfront of 11kms, this resort is like a fairytale city. Most of its buildings are one or two storeys high, with complete infrastructure, facilities and services. Enhancing this appealing architecture are the pastel-coloured domes that distinctively characterise El-Gouna. The resort's throbbing heart is the Abu Tig marina and the downtown area. Both provide travellers with all they can possibly desire by way of services and entertainment. They are rife with restaurants, coffee shops, night clubs, bazaars, art galleries, Internet outlets and, even, a museum and aquarium. Sun-bathers and surfers find their haven in two lively beaches, one, north of Abu Tig, is called the Mangroovy. This was recently recognised as the prime spot for kite surfing on the Red Sea. The other beach is Zeytuna, located on a secluded island and idyllically surrounded by the sea and lagoons. As for the facilities needed for diving -- that magical and universally appealing endeavour which is evoked whenever mention is made of the Red Sea is -- they are of course abundantly present at El-Gouna. With this, comes the promise of heavenly constellations of underwater creatures, wild dolphins particularly, along with nature's exquisitely inlaid gardens of coral reefs. So, if you want to enjoy El-Gouna to the full, while still maintaining the yoga spirit, you can either rent a bicycle and tour the townlet, or better still, go on a lagoon cruise where you may view El-Gouna's ever- growing community from a sea-borne perspective. The resort provides 14 hotels and resorts, all of which are in close proximity to either the downtown area or the Abu Tig marina. The pride of El-Gouna is the five-star eye-catching Steigenberger Golf Resort with its 18-hole championship golf course and 220 rooms, including family rooms and apartments. Constructed seven years ago, the design was made by the American architect and designer Michael Graves. The Steigenberger Golf Resort's Ocean View Hotel, true to its name, occupies a breathtaking view of the Red Sea whose pristine waters surround the hotel from three directions. Shuttle buses run every 15 minutes from everywhere to anywhere in El-Gouna.
