Chantel Brischke
chantalita
I'm living life as widely as I can; going where the wind takes me. I have an open heart that only wants to love and an open mind that only wants to learn. My ultimate goal in life is to be a wise old woman sitting in a rocker, spinning tales of adventure and, hopefully, inspiring others to go out and LIVE!
Forgive me any assumptions, I tell it as I see it.
Travel Blog Posts
May 20th 2012
You can get an Indian driver’s license if you were Indian in a past life. Road signs urge parents to “Never Encourage Your Children to Drive!” Cows take siestas on sidewalks and elephants walk alongside highways. There are over 330 million gods available to answer your prayers. World-renowned lamas come over for afternoon tea. Sequins aren’t reserved for special events. Tailors still make clothes. Scaffolding is built with bamboo. Guards outside of banks carry original 18thcentury muskets. People are named Vijay. Body odor is sweetened by sugar and spices. Chana masala and masala chai. Bollywood. The Ganga. The Indian head waggle that communicates countless exchanges, such as: Yes; I Understand; As You Wish; No Problem; Go For It, and Thank You, but No. People are capable of waiting without losing patience and are similarly nonplussed when ... read more
April 22nd 2012
It’s been over a month since my first Vipassana course. In that time, I haven’t done much. In that time, chance – or fate, or karma, or however you want to call it – brought me to a century-old house in Dehradun, where the kindly proprietor fed me a healthy diet of vegetarian curries, and dreams. He filled my belly with tasty food and my mind with lofty plans, lots of plans. I was going to visit this temple and that monastery, learn this meditation technique and that yoga pose, attend this healing course and meet that exalted teacher. I was on my spiritual path and running full speed. I couldn’t see that I was trying to sprint a marathon, untrained. I didn’t recognize that I was bound to exhaust myself and fall short of the ... read more
March 20th 2012
Take a Vipassana course. It will be the best thing you ever do for yourself – and for those around you. Vipassana is an ancient meditation technique that means to see things as they really are. By becoming a neutral witness to the changing nature of your body, you experience first-hand the universal truths of impermanence and suffering. Nothing lasts forever and everyone – no matter what size, shape or color – feels pain and sorrow. As humans, we’re programmed to react to information from our environment with feelings of pleasure or distaste. When something feels nice, we want more. When something is unpleasant, we start to hate it. These cravings and aversions feed into an endless cycle of misery. We all understand that in order to be happy we must break out of this pattern ... read more
March 6th 2012
The time has come to take a break; to unpack my bag and stay awhile. I will soon retreat into a meditation center in the north, where I will focus all of my attention on my breath – and not what’s happening on Facebook. As such, don’t expect to hear anything more from me for at least two months. I’m sure that I’ll flood your inbox with stories when I’m back in the “real world,” but for now, don’t worry about me. Trust that I am safe, and happy. Instead of sending me an email when you think about me, send me love and light. Take care.... read more
March 3rd 2012
Last March, I received a message from an old friend of mine, Philipp. We’d traveled together in South Africa, and again in Costa Rica. This time he was coming to my hometown in California with his girlfriend, Franzi. For two short days, I showed them my old stomping grounds and waxed lyrical about my future travel plans in India – a dream I shared with Franzi. It took us a year, but we both finally made it, Franzi preceding me by a month. By the time I arrived, she had already planned a weekend trip for us to Agra, a small city with a huge monument: the Taj Mahal. Franzi told me that she’d booked seats for us in a sleeper car. I liked the sound of that. But if an Indian sleeper car isn’t a ... read more
March 2nd 2012
Before my arrival here, the mention of Delhi conjured an image of too many people and too many rickshaws, of crowds and traffic struggling for space, of staring eyes and blaring horns. It evoked the smell of spices, frying oil, and human excrement. To be sure, Delhi is all of this, but it is also much more. As my host Vidhi told me, “Delhi is built on the ruins of seven different cities and more than 50 different empires. It has over 1,400 monuments, most of which are over 400 years old.” If you don’t know where to look, it can be easy to miss the secluded shrines and tucked-away temples; to walk right past the history. The most surprising thing about Delhi, however, is all of the green – the tree-lined roads and parks where ... read more
March 1st 2012
For those of you who have been following me for the past few months, you already know about the amazing woman I met in Israel – my fellow wander gatherer, beach runner and an incredibly gifted and compassionate yoga and meditation teacher – Anat Zahor. It is for her that I am writing this entry. This December, Anat will be offering a few yoga and meditation retreats at the Alya Retreat Center in San Juanillo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. From December 1-7, she will conduct a Yoga & Meditation Retreat which will allow its participants to deepen their yoga and meditation practice by connecting to their minds and bodies while living in perfect harmony with Mother Nature, eating healthy, organic food from the center’s garden and enjoying the unspoiled beauty of Costa Rica... read more
February 29th 2012
The first Bedouin I met, I loved immediately. His name is Hamdan and he owns a few huts on the beach in northern Sinai (a camp called Yasmina, near Al Mahash, if you want to go visit him – and I recommend you do). With every Bedouin I’ve met since then, my appreciation for them has only grown. They are some of the most genuine people I have ever met and I completely dig their view on life. Money is not an issue for them; instead, sharing is caring. They share endless cups of tea, they share food, they share stories. But, most importantly, they share positive energy. They love seeing people see through their eyes, and they love to see people smile. While most people go to Wadi Rum to experience traditional Bedouin life – ... read more
February 22nd 2012
Although it seemed like a good idea at the time, it probably wasn’t the best plan to spend my second-to-last week in the Middle East alone on the beach in Sinai, with my nose stuck in a book; isolated from reality both geographical and mentally. I was stuck between here and there – between the Middle East and India – vacillating between a nostalgic desire to stay longer and a growing anxiety to be gone already. And I had no one to bring me back to the now. I left my private beach and went to Dahab. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of being just another tourist, but it’s there that you’ll find some of the best dive sites in the Red Sea – and it had been far too long since I had accumulated ... read more
February 17th 2012
Often, when I’m alone and surrounded by the beauty of nature, I’m filled with a love so intense that it frightens me. I want to shout it out at the top of my lungs. I want to find any outlet to release it, spread it around, and watch it grow. Inevitably, I end up crying silent tears. They are not tears of sadness, but tears of love – love that has outgrown my heart, pushed through my tear ducts and streamed down my cheeks. I think of all the people I love; of all the people who have made me big with their love. I hope that they know how much they mean to me, and I worry that I haven’t told them often – or recently – enough that I love them. I compose heartfelt ... read more
I've Lived Here 
I'm Here Now 
I've Been Here 
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