Pilgrimage to India

How a trek to holy Gomukh, the source of the mystical waters of the Ganges, deepened one writer’s understanding of yoga’s teachings.

- Meghan Rabbitt

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 10,000-plus feet, I’d felt winded simply walking to the trailhead. Now, stuffed and fighting for air, I was attempting a 28-mile trek that gained another 2,500 feet 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.

We walked silently, choosing to conserve our energy rather than expend it by chatting—except for Singh, who excitedly told us why so many Hindus make this pilgrimage.