The experience itself was totally indescribable, beautiful, disturbing, and overwhelming. I'm from the U.S. and there was something different in the ether, if you will. It was almost like I could feel the love of the ancient Rishis who had lived there so many centuries before.

I stayed at CMI monasteries while I was there; the main one was at Vellayambalam where there were 3 schools which I taught Western Music at. Later, I also taught older college students at Neyyattinkara. They took me to many different places around Kerala; I went to Kovalam, saw the house boats and the backwaters, and so many that I can't remember the names of right now. (I should have kept a journal!) At Pattanapuram I studied writing Malayalam with a young priest in his 30s and taught priests-in-training some English worship songs.

So, though I consider myself as not belonging to any specific tradition (though advaita is probably the closest to my experience of spirituality) my experience was very much through the lens of various Carmelite of Mary Immaculate communities :-)

I was there from Oct. 2015 until March 2016; It totally changed my life. I'm an American by birth and it's the only foreign place I have been to so far. I felt more at home in Kerala than anywhere else and they considered me an honorary Malayali. A big piece of my heart belongs to India and it always will.