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Published: September 16th 2007
Meditation In the Himalayas
Couldn't imagine a more beautiful setting to become connected and grounded.After 2 weeks in Kashmir, the road to Leh was finally fixed and so I began my 18 hour- 2 day bus journey to Leh. A special bus ride- through the Himalayas, enetering the desert region of massive, barren mountains- a landscape I have never seen before. A dry, barren, mountanous region- looked as if we were passing through the moon. Amazing natural rock scultpures protruding from the hills- patches of lush, green valleys, where villages sprouted up over the years. Ancient stupas and gompas, where they have not yet been influenced by tourists and western ways- like looking back in time.
Leh, in the Ladakh region- northeast of India- referred to as little tibet, since so many reguges reside here, the Tibetan culture ibeing the main influence in the area. The highest and in the winter the coldest desert in the world- a magical place. I met up with an English couple the first week in Leh where we shared a room- just relaxed and explored a little of the town. The hundreds of gompas and stupas in the area- taking day trips to view the ancient temples. Found myself at a full moon party- an hour out in
Practicing Reiki Treatment
A beautiful room to practice and learn Reiki in, with amazing views of the Himalayas the desert- unbelievably amazing! Up there at 3,500 meters, about 11,000 feet (I think) it looked as if you could reach out and touch the moon. The amount of light the moon gave off was astonishing. Out in the sandy desert, surrounded by these rocky, dry mountains- you could see so much detail everywhere, the mountains glowing- really felt like we were on top of the moon. With a few fire pits, music and good people and vibes- a good night was had. Besides my impulse to wrestle with my Ozzy friend, Tim- I initiated a little wrestling, and lost- found myself sitting with a bummed ankle- sprained or twisted- two weeks later and I'm still waiting it for to heal completely. But I believe its helped me to slow down- literally- walking slower and staying in one place- in beautiful gardens- being more appreicative of the small details these days.
A case of bed bugs got me to move to another guest house on the outskirts of town- one of my Israeli friend, Einat (who i met in Kashmir) was staying there. A nightmare case of the little shits- huge welts all over my body, really gross and
itchy- but in a way had a positive outcome- it motivated me to move to this new guest house called Goba. A truly amazing place- a special energy there- calm, peaceful, and amazing people around. A huge garden outside where barley, vegetables and fruit are grown- most of us usually ate dinner there- in a family style room- where everything we ate came from the garden outside- fresh, very local, and organic. And the family vibe there was so nice and refreshing- needed when away from home traveling for extended amounts of time. A mixture of older travelers and a handful of younger ones- a lot of healers in the guest house- a Thai Yoga Massuse (sp?), a Yoga Teacher, and a Reiki Teacher- a few who have stayed at Goba for months and who come back every year- so a very close feeling to everyone- sharing meals and living spaces.
The Ladakh festival started on Sept 1st running for 15 days. Villages from all around the area come with their native costumes and perform their ancient dances- very culturaly interesting- with polo games, archery competitions and mask dances and concerts- much to learn about the culture during this
festival. Cool to see my first polo match as well- although the poor horses arent treated so well.
I took a few courses with this amazing Israeli woman named Oda. She's been living out of Israel for 10 years, spending her time in Thailand and India, coming back most years to Leh, where she practices, Thai Chi, accupuncture, Reiki and Shiatsu massage. A past law student, she is a very intelligent woman that has an amazing energy, and gift for teaching- especially making sense out of the somewhat ambiguous energy topics. I started off taking a 5 day Reiki course with her. Reiki- meaning universal life energy- (in the scientific world they have come up with the name 'bioplasma' to explain this energy that flows through all things). Reiki is a natural healing method for personal transformation- and that's exactly what I found the course to be. The course includes an intiation process where you're flooded with a huge amount of energy- raising your frequency level- a really amazing feeling and expereince. With this initation, a channel is opened in us, where you are now able to channel this universal energy for balancing, harmonizing, and energizing in a healing
Free Flowing
Dancing in the fields- flowing before the contact jam. Part of the Healing Touch course treatment form for ourselves and for others. At first my rational, western mind couldnt fully accept all of this- the energies and potential powers it has- but after the course- 5 days, 5 hours a day exploring these issues and experiencing Reiki, and learning about the scientific facts that back up these concepts- the idea of Reiki became undeniable to me. Everything, all matter is made up of molecules, which give off different vibrations (energy), and it just makes sense that all of these energies are interacting with each other- everything is connected. Focusing on each day- living in the moment. Learning and believing more wholly that all living beings are connected to each other, we are all interdependent. It is the same energy, the same breath of life that circulates amongst all things- non-seperation. 'Science teaches us that all is energy, that in the absolute there is no such thing as solid matter, only different interconnected levels of energetic vibrations. It is for this reason that even the tiniest amoung of 'positive' energy can assist indirectly in healing the whole planet. To love others means to love ourselves, and to love our Mother Earth.'
This perspective and living
Jam Session at Goba
The dining room we ate dinner together- some nights filled with violins, guitars and jimbya jams your life accordingly, getting more connected to this universal energy- I'm finding is a beautiful way to look at life. To think that nothing happens by chance, 'that there is a divine or universal purpose in everything' it makes us become students of life. To be more perceptive of what happens around us, who we meet, and the potential importance in these events for our lives. Taking the perspective that there is no such thing as a wrong choice- what ever choices we've made in our lives, or choices we are making is leading us on a certain path where we're meant to go- and the maybe choices that we have percieved as 'wrong' were actualy need for us to learn a certain lesson at that time in our lives. I know these kinds of perspectives and views and connection to these energies seems a little 'hippish' and maybe out there- but whether its true or not, I'm finding it to be such a peaceful way to view life, and to learn from every interaction and situation- finding peace and balance through this perseptive- and I've decided that thats whats important for me.
The Reiki course intergrated meditation, the
chakras and then channeling the Reiki- an amazing combination- and has led me to start to look at the world in a new way. This was exactly what I've been searching for- and I feel so grateful that I was able to listen to my inner voice which led me to Goba and gave me the opportunity to take these courses. The last few weeks I've felt more grounded, more connected and more internally happy than I ever have before. A 21 day cleansing period begun for me- a little over 2 weeks in and no cigs, no hash, no alcohol, no meat, and no sugar (well maybe a little here and there 😉- easier than i expected this life change to be- greateful to have this motivation to clean up my body- and starting to feel the effects of a clean body and mind. Reiki and what I'm learning I'm finding out to be a wonderful concept of living.
The Reiki course came to an end and there was such a special group of people and vibe to the whole place that we all decided to stay for another week to take another session of Oda's classes- Qi
Gong and Healing Hands. The Healing Hands course was characterized as a journey of exploration into the world of transpersonal communication and healing through meditation, movement, body contact, and physical touch. We explored issues like; listening (with more than our ears), surrender and trust, awareness and emptiness, heart and compassion, and the last day integrating all into flowing- learning these techniques to know better how to trust our intuition and in healing terms how to listen and understand what the person really needs. Along with this course we also did a Qi Gong practice each morning, close to sunrise. Qi Gong is a Taoist Yoga- Chinese exercises to develop the body's internal energy system through soft, flowing movements that energize and strenthen the body while focusing and calming the mind. Working more with the energies of the universe all around us, brining it into our bodies and energizing our dantients, our energy centers in the body according to Chinese practice. I used to watch the hippies across the street from my house in the park doing these kind of practices- and always with a somewhat interested eye, but mostly looked upon them in a judging manner- thinking they were 'way
out there'...and here I am- getting 'way out there' myself....but its more of a feeling of becoming so strongly connected to the natural world, and the energies that are constantly interacting around us.
So a very spiritual month for me at Leh- for the last course I worked out an exchange with Oda to take place for my payment and ended up giving her drawing lessons!! Hahaha- i wouldve never thought that I would be giving drawing lessons, but she seemed to learn a lot and it was an extremely enjoyable way to make an exchange- I guess I do have some of the Haynes artistic talent in me 😉 A few nights at Goba we had some jam sessions- with some violins, a guitar and my jimbya- and the night before I left Goba was the Israeli New Year. There is an insane amount of Israelis traveling around India- almost inescapable- but it was a really nice evening and nice to see another culture's tradition, lots of sweets and smiles.
So I left Leh for another enermous bus ride- leaving at 1 am in the morning and driving for 18 hours straight to Manali- a little more
south, at the foothill of the Himalayas. The bumpiest ride I have ever had in my life- my brain is still shaking in my head I think- and the coldest ride- it was snowing part of the way- and with no heating in the bus- it felt as if we were sitting outside in the snow- watching our breathe in the bus- and I couldnt seem to get to sleep AT ALL- so it wasnt the most comfotable ride to say the least, but it was the MOST AMAZING ride. The fresh fallen snow- driving through the Himalayas- just amazing views.
Arrived in Manali- beautiful to be back around green mountains, pine tree parks- reminds me of the redwoods- big and fresh. Crusing down the street in a rikshaw- cows tails swatting lazily at the rikshaw as we dodge them in the streets. Cool to take a step back and feel like I'm really in the middle of India! Met a guy who gives jimbya lessons so I'm actually going to see him this afternoon- learn some beats- took some pictures with a baba who has cobras and an anaconda- apparently! Freaked me out, but cool experience. And now
Free Pedicure
This soldier insisted that his was part of his job to wash my feet- he must have had some kind of foot fetish. After he walked with me for about an hour and kept on insisting- I finally let him wash and scrub my feet....oh these Indian men... just relaxing, and planning to head down to Rishikesh this week to start a yoga retreat- meeting back up with my Australian friend, Cin, that I took the Reiki course with. Excited to continue my self development and centeredness and searching.
I hope all of your are finding your own center and balance in the craziness of our society! May you walk your path with awareness and lightness in the heart!
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ian
non-member comment
amazing
i just browsed through your latest blog and mind blown with what you had to say, only scanned through but what i got was a sense that you really are living the real life there, ....so the dollar has stretched for you out there,its a long time sinse nz? how long can you keep travelling for? xxx