Regular India visitor Mandy BeckerKnox remains entranced by ‘a glimpse of eternity’, the Himalayas.

'Search for the kingdom of heaven first and all the rest will come to you' ~ Jesus

There are some places on the planet that exude an air of peace and calm. In such a place you find the mind effortlessly moves beyond itself and becomes attuned to the serenity and beauty of the environment. In such a place you may feel a real sense of “connectedness” or “oneness” with the world around you and deeply peaceful, touched by the beauty of the moment. Everyday concerns are forgotten and time passing seems an irrelevant concept. The moment stretches into eternity and meditation is instantaneous and profound...once you leave such a place you should never, ever forget it.

Many of us go to great effort and expense to experience places of astounding natural beauty or mythological significance. Just a few moments in such a place evoke spiritual qualities within ourselves – stillness, expansiveness, peace, wonder – that would otherwise remain buried or unacknowledged in our everyday lives. This is one reason why the whole notion of pilgrimages (or holidays as we’ll call them!) is so important to so many cultures. For Tibetans, pilgrimage refers to the journey from ignorance to enlightenment, from self centeredness and materialistic preoccupations to a deep sense of the interconnectedness of all life. It is thought that by travelling to sacred sites, we are brought into living contact with the deities and energies of the place and we are able to receive their blessings or offer our thanks. Whatever the reason for embarking on a pilgrimage, when we return to our everyday lives we do so with a greater capacity to see the unique beauty in the human landscape, clarity into what is actually important in life, and the ability to remain inspired even when life is not perfect.

Cast your mind back for a moment...remember an experience of such a place. Remember how you felt while you were there...and observe now how you feel as you bring that picture to mind. It's as if your whole being remembers! The great yogi Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas reminds us to hold such places close to our hearts and, rather than succumb to negative thinking, to remember instead a landscape which inspires us and brings us peace. Such a landscape is, “the mighty Himalayas, the sacred Ganga, a lovely sunset, the infinite blue sky...imagine the whole world and your body floating like a straw in this vast ocean of spirit. Feel the life of the whole world pulsating within you...”

Once our minds get caught in a cycle of thinking that doesn't lead to freedom or resolution, our negative thoughts and emotions increase leading to further unhappiness. Endlessly turning over our problems will never, ever solve our problems! Inspiration comes when we remove our preoccupation with ourselves. Swami Sivananda says, “think instead of the Himalayas”.

Himalaya is a Sanskrit word which literally means "Abode of Snow" – a term coined by the ancient pilgrims of India. The Himalayan ranges cover an astounding area of 612,021 sq km, passing through the Indian States of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and the Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan. Beyond the Himalayan range is the Tibetan Plateau – the roof of the world – which forms the northern boundary.

People travel from around the world to visit the Himalayas for many reasons. Being the world's highest mountain chain, it is the “final frontier” for many climbers and trekkers who spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single expedition. The Nepalese Himalayas contain the world's 14 highest peaks including Mt Everest at 8850 metres. The traditional Nepalese name for Everest is Sagarmatha, which means goddess of the sky. It is here that the earth soars upwards to meet the sky and, according to many Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, is the literal abode of the gods!

The quaint English-style hill stations dotted through the Himalayas offer a retreat from the heat of the Indian plains, and there are the beautiful (but arduous) walks along pilgrim routes or well trodden trekking circuits through low valleys that abruptly rise up in high mountain ranges. One of the highlights of my time in the Himalayas was a helicopter ride in Sikkim. Seeing the Himalayas from the air gives a completely different perspective. On the ground the mountains challenge your strength, determination, your resolve, your very ability to breathe! From the air there is only the closeness and exhilaration of the mountains.

Other attractions are the amazing array of orchids and rhododendrons of the foothills in spring, and the austere, but beautifully painted, monasteries perched on hillsides with shy Buddhist monks who graciously show you around and share their knowledge. Pilgrimages are also made to the rapidly receding glaciers at the source of some of the mightiest and holiest rivers in the world high up in the Himalayas. And, of course, there is Shangri-La, the mythical paradise some people believe exists deep within the ranges. Whatever the reason, a visit to the Himalayas is likely to change you in some way forever.

More than any other landscape on earth, the Himalayas are steeped in mythology and religion with many sites and features of the landscape revered. Just being in the mountains awakens your spirit and makes you aware of your soul's yearning for oneness, to merge again with the supreme and eternal soul of nature.

While I have studied yoga under various teachers and gurus and gained much from my time with them, it is my experiences in and of nature, particularly the Himalayas, which continue to sustain me on my spiritual journey. All human relationships have the potential to become co-dependent which a normal aspect of living amongst people, but co-dependence with a spiritual teacher does not seem to lead to freedom for either the disciple or the teacher. On the other hand, a relationship with nature leads to autonomy, spiritual expansiveness and a deep connection with both people and place.

Throughout history, many yogis have travelled to the Himalayas and taken up residence in caves or other simple dwellings. The modern yogi Krishnamacharya took many pilgrimages into the Himalayas during his early years. On one of these trips, he decided to find Sri Ramamohan Brahmachari, a yoga teacher rumoured to live in the mountains. Eventually, Krishnamacharya found Sri Brahmachari’s school which consisted of a cave at the foot of Mount Kailash in Tibet. Mount Kailash is the world's most sacred site, venerated by four religions and billions of people. It is thought to the eternal abode of Lord Shiva, yet is seen by no more than a few thousand pilgrims each year because of the extreme hardship involved in getting there. Krishnamacharya spent seven years at Mount Kailash studying the “Yoga Sutras of Patanjali”, learning asanas and pranayama, and studying the therapeutic aspects of yoga. At the end of his studies with Sri Ramamohan, Krishnamacharya asked what the payment would be – Ramamohan responded that Krishnamacharya was to "take a wife, raise children and be a teacher of Yoga". Incredibly, much of what Krishnamacharya learnt at Mt Kailash has informed our understanding and perception of yoga in the Western world! Krishnamacharya's students included BKS Iyengar, Sri K Pattahbi Jois, Indra Devi, TKV Desikachar and AG Mohan who went on to become the most infleuntial yoga teachers of modern times.

Of all the yogis of the Himalayas, the most enigmatic is Haidakhan Wale Baba, the avatar made famous in Paramahansa Yogananda's “Autobiography of a Yogi”. Acknowledged as the eternal manifestation of Shiva in human form, it is believed he neither takes birth nor dies, but rather manifests at different times. His most recent documented manifestation was between 1970 to 1984, when he appeared in a holy cave at the foot of Kumaon Mount Kailash in a remote village called Haidakhan. Many people from all over the world have mystically been drawn to Babaji through extraordinary events, dreams and visions. In the mountains, there have been trekkers who have wandered from the trail, or become lost in a snowstorm who claim a person from nowhere appeared and helped them find their way. During a trek through the foothills of Annapurna in Nepal, I had such an experience. As we wavered about which way to take, an Alsatian appeared to us and accompanied us for a day, delivering us safely to a village before nightfall. On arrival, the Alsatian turned around and disappeared into the forest.

After reading “Autobiography of a Yogi” at a tender age, I held romantic notions of travelling to the Himalayas, effortlessly finding a guru and meditating in a cave for many years before emerging with mystical powers. On my first visits to India I was definitely seeking something along these lines! A little more realistic now, I share the Himalayan experience with others, taking groups of yoga students to the mountains. With an intention of exploring the inner realms, the mountains are a backdrop to our yoga practices yet deeply inform everything we think, feel and do. Some people, new to yoga, experience the freedom and expansiveness of deep meditation for the first time in the mountains, while others are awed and inspired by their first glimpse of the sun's rays on the mountains as the snowy Himalayan peaks are illuminated, one by one, by pale dawn light. To see the sun rise over the Himalayas is a mystical and transcendental experience. It is a vision, an epiphany, an awakening, a glimpse of eternity...

Thousands of Indian pilgrims share this view (at least theoretically!) and make the 4am trip to Tiger Hill just out of Darjeeling for a glimpse of the first rays on Mount Khangchendzonga. Tiger Hill, pre-dawn, is like being at a late night dance party with a really bad sound system. People huddle around car stereos blaring Bollywood hits and drink strong milk tea from little plastic cups which they gulp down in a single mouthful and discard with wild abandon while waiting for the first light. The few Westerners among the crowd (including us) are wrapped in beanies, scarves, shawls, blankets from hotel beds, anything to keep warm! Expectations run high and the crowd is excited. The light changes, silhouettes briefly emerge as real people until a thick mist closes in, obscuring any potential view of the mountains. Tension mounts as the crowd prays for a glimpse at least...and for a brief moment the mist parts and an illuminated peak emerges...the crowd cheers and hugs and cries with relief before rushing to the postcard stand to purchase images of mountains (any mountain range will do, most of the postcards are from Nepal!). We leave Tiger Hill astounded at the intensity of the people and their passion for their beloved Himalayas. It is obvious to us though that to really experience the Himalayas it is necessary to leave behind the crowds and travel deeper into the mountains.

The roads into Sikkim, an autonomous state in the north east of India, are precarious and dangerous. You look down at deep river gorges, the car's wheels literally centimetres from a fall to certain death. There is nothing you can do but pray and surrender your fears. At every hairpin bin on precarious mountain roads there are signs to remind you of what is important in life: "Live for today, arrive for tomorrow"; "Bridges cross natural barriers", "Nature has everything to meet man's needs, but not his greed"; "Be in harmony with nature, culture and adventure"; "See green, save green" and, more ominously, warnings of potential hazards: "You are approaching slide area"; or even worse, "Sinking area ahead".

There is an abundance of everything in Sikkim. The landscape is lush and green, water pours from rock walls causing landslides and roads to disappear down the sides of mountains. Road workers in labour camps are kept busy along the roadsides. They use their bare hands as tools while their dirty, bedraggled babies sit in the gutter, contentedly playing with stones. Huge cardamom and ginger plants grow wild along the roadside. A village man handed us samples through the car window and laughed good naturedly as we innocently tasted them and an explosion of sweet bitterness left us gasping.

Pelling is a tiny village with a panoramic vista of the north eastern Himalayas. It is a deeply peaceful place with only a few hotels and a monastery. A couple of kilometres out of the village are the Rabdentse Ruins, an archaeological survey site which was once the capital of Sikkim. Sitting on the crumbling wall of the ancient palace I feel as if I have returned home. My other life back in Australia seems merely a dream. Sitting motionless, with a mind as large and empty as the universe, it seems as if I projected that other form of myself into being – that form rushing around in the business of life, raising children, working for a living, sipping lattes in beachside cafes for fun – my only thought: "How can that be real when all I want is to be still, at peace, here in the mountains?" In a moment like this, you realise that a journey to the mountains has really been a journey within, and that wherever you are this stillness at the centre of your being remains.

Nature constantly presents us with experiences and pictures of profound beauty which instantly reawaken our faith and connection to our world. Moments such as these restore our enthusiasm for life, inspire us to live better, do more, make the world a better place! It is these moments of inspiration strung together which give life its meaning, and it is our perception of these moments and our ability to notice beauty in the world which determines our happiness. There are potentially many beautiful pictures in life yet, in all our busyness and preoccupations, it is quite likely that we walk right by without even noticing. When we travel for inspiration we make a point of noticing. The world is an amazing place, to see what we can of it with our eyes, to experience it through our own senses, to revere it and respect it, is part of what being a human on Planet Earth is all about.