You went to an ashram upon the recommendation of your Kundalini teacher Gurmukh at Golden Bridge in California. What was it like?

I didn’t really understand it before I got there. It’s supposed to be a holy communal society. The ashram holds 5000 people. Four thousand orphans lived there. You cook, you clean, you do something to keep the ashram sustainable.

Your contribution, unbeknownst to you before you arrived was to teach yoga even though you had no prior experience right? What was that like?

The Indians love American culture so they want to sit with you; they want to practice their English; they want to touch you; they want to take pictures of you holding their babies. It was like being Brad Pitt for the week! But teaching women in saris… well… By the end I had them in inversions. I had little boys helping girls to show them how strong they were...

Where did you stay while you were visiting?

I was right on the where people throw the bodies in the Ganges river because they think it moves the soul up to its last karmic life. It’s the place that The Beatles made famous 25 years ago. People come on pilgrimages every day just to put their feet in the Ganges because it’s supposed to wash away all of your sins. So it was really amazing.

Were you able to take that sense of calm home with you?

Yes, but I always say it’s very easy to be spiritual sitting on the side of the Ganges in India. It’s very hard [to remain zen] on route 405 on the way to work when I have 15 minutes to get there and there’s a ton of traffic.

Any advice you’d give readers who want to follow in your footsteps?

Bring less stuff than you think you need. Try not to act like the obnoxious American. People are so excited to see us, particularly in India. Understand that they don’t really drink. They don’t eat pork. They don’t expose anything from the collarbone to the feet. Start off meeting their expectations as opposed to going to India to go whoop-whoop it up. If that’s what you want, go to Vegas!

Other Articles With Diane Farr

Yoga's Farr Out
Diane Farr went from magazine humorist to that wacky girl MTV’s Love Lines. Today you’ll catch a glimpse of her grown-up self on the heady drama Numb3rs (the new season starts tonight!) As a mom to a newborn son, Farr and her yoga practice have evolved. Trained as a teacher in India, Farr has made yoga more convenient. Not only does she practice in her own backyard but she and a close circle of friends who moonlight as yoga teachers alternate leading class.

An Interview with Farr on her Yoga Deck
Is it true that in your first Kundalini yoga class with Gurmukh , Winona Ryder was in your class and you thought that was how you became an actress?
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All Decked Out
Can you tell me about the deck your dad built?
My father was a contractor when I was growing up in this sort of very nouveau rich town on the south shore of Long Island where everybody’s dad was the vice president of something. They all got BMWs for their 16th birthday. I so wanted that father! Then you move to Los Angeles where nobody has any parents here and everybody needs my father! Watch the 2-Part Celebrity Workout with Diane Farr
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