India #2 :: September-November 2007

Varanasi/Dharamsala/Rishikesh/Haridwar

On my way south to India by bus from Kathmandu, I spent 2 days at Buddha's birthplace, Lumbini, Nepal. about a dozen buddhist monasteries & temples from various cultures celebrating Buddhahood! This tree & pool is about 50 metres from the exact birthplace of Mr. Buddha!

India trip #2 ::

1) Varanasi – the oldest living city in the world where the big holy river Ganges flows & flows while dead bodies burn & lives yurn as this timeless sequence turns & turns. building & temples decay as young children play where the past has not yet met the future. many still living the old ways. took a few boat rides at dawn to witness the burnings & puja rituals

where the big holy river Ganges flows & flows while dead bodies burn & lives yurn as this timeless

tibetan buddhists protest march in dharmsala about china's new absurd law
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of prayer, music, candles & much devotion (they do this everyday in places along the Ganga like here, Rishikesh, Haridwar & actually most people in India do a little puja offering daily). I had no intention of buying silk but after they showed me the beautiful scarfs & fabric I had no choice. Maybe they hypnotized me? Good salespeople! “Just come look, you don’t have to buy!”. They got me!

Only 2 days here but worth the visit to see a city where people believe that if they die here, they will be liberated from rebirth, moksha, mukti, liberation at last. Guess that’s why it’s so crowded!

anandamayi ashram in haridwar with 10 swamis leading meditation & talks
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2) Dharamsala #2 – back full circle to where I started a year ago. 2 more weeks here (2 months total now). Volunteer at Rogpa Tibetan daycare an amazing & fun experience! Found a Tibetan 2 year old boy & his mom that I will sponsor (actually Tibetans don’t want handouts & value their independence so I will sponsor the mothers paychecks for new craft center job being created instead of just giving $). Good times visiting friend Sivadas & his yoga sangha gals, dinner at Korean restaurant 2x with fun groups, more yoga with Sivadas, a nice room I rented from him with balcony for hammock (oh yeah!), meeting Japanese friend Risa & hiking to Triund & overnight there again…beautiful mountainside!

one of my favorite india pics
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Tibetan protest rally march 2 km to Dharamsala with about 800-1000 people to protest Chinese dictating rules for their Tibetan Buddhism religion. And more good Tibetan food!

Momo’s & Thukpa soup, oh my!

3) Rishikesh #2 – came back with sole , soul purpose of studying serious yoga 2 month intensive at Trika school. Intense it was! 200 hours of yoga in 2 months, most don’t do in a year. More than physical yoga, this school taught us the full path of yoga with kriyas (cleansing techniques), dhautis, bhandas, mudras, meditation initiation using mantra (silent mantra internally chanting), macrobiotic diet, tantric sex, energy yin/yang polarity, health, healing, etc…

93 year old french man who has been at anandamayi's ashram for over 35 years!
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Never a dull moment! This school has 50+ month program in Thailand on tropical island that I will get teachers training in 3 month program & perhaps visit periodically/annually for more. Finally found my mystery school! You cannot find this information systematically given with group practice, lectures & papers daily to keep you on the path to self-discovery. www.AgamaYoga.com

4) Haridwar – Anandamayi Ashram , 4 days/nights at yogaashram nearby. came at right time, 7 day discourse retreat with 10 swami masters leading meditation & teachings, kirtan & bhajans & pujas daily. Good timing! Feel the energy is very high here! Guess meditating all day

1000 year old book in Tibetan Library archives Dharamsala

Om Mani Padme Hum :: Tibetans galore!

Dharmsala, actually up the hill in a place called McLeod Ganj, home of Tibetan refugees i

ncluding Dalai Lama & his monastary & temples. Beautiful mountain town

full of tourists, Tibetans, & Indians. Season July-November. starts to get cold

here in December apparently.

Welcome to Paharganj Delhi!
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_____________________________________

McLeod Ganj Tibetan monks
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At night, you get woke up every now & then by the Dog Orchestra.

No...it's not a new band, it is an orchestra of dogs barking in a valley

that carries sound very well. I think i'm finally adapting to it, or my

earplugs are working better now that i jam them in my ears further!

Himalayan campout & hike!
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Friday morning I woke up & went to Dalai Lama's puja chanting ceremony

at 7-9am. I sat 40 feet from him on the sides surrounded by hundreds

of maroon & gold colored robes with Tibetan monks inside them. Everyone

chanting along with His Holiness as they call him. This was good timing for

me ontop of Mountain
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me since the Dalai Lama is not doing any public speakings & this was it

for my time here. Wasn't allowed to bring a camera in, so hopefully you

don't think i'm just making all this up! i was really there! not like seeing

him with 15,000 people at PNE stadium in Vancouver April 2004.

beautiful Indian singers
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I've finally found a place to volunteer & signed up at LHA organization

to teach conversational english with 1-5 Tibetans at a time every

M-F, 4-5pm. this will be a good way to get to know some Tibetans

besides helping them improve the language of capitalism, aka English.

Being sick & stuck in bed for 46 hours I realized I was feeling vulnerable.

Sick & alone in a strange new place can make ya feel that way i guess.

Kind of survival instincts really. Pre-historically & therefore genetically

humanity has had to be strong & alert to stay alive. If you were sick in the woods alone, you could be killed by prey or enemies. So...i felt myself

wanting some attention. I asked a tourist gal next door to me if she

had any antibiotics for this travellers diarrhea & turned out she was a nurse.

I got 4 tablets (forget the name) & took them over 2 days. She also

bought me bananas as I was too weak to walk & get some. There...

i felt taken care of & was thankful for that!

To get out of this alone feeling that surfuced temporarily (for we are never

alone in a world of 7 billion people) I decided to meet some tourist.

I've bonded with 4 other pals (Jess, Marc, Tim, & Ben) & have been

sharing lots of conversation, meals, & an overnight hiking campout trip.

The camping trip was truly amazing! We rented a tent for $1.25 &

took a taxi up a ways to the trailhead. From there we painfully marched

upwards for 2 hours , with lots of mini-rests in between of course.

This trail led us through a rainforest & valley with gigantic Himalayan

sized boulders & asian style trees! Fantastic feeling being out of the cities!

We reached the top just before sunsed, pitched the tent, & then...

guess what...had dinner at one of 2 rustic hut/cafes that operate ontop

of this mountain in a place you would have least expected it!

Woke up to a great sunrise & hundreds of sheep & goats roaming by us.

The hike down we passed about 40 Indian women wearing the usual

bright pink, yellow, purple sari's that were sitting down singing the most

beautiful music. I captured it on video that i hope to put online eventually.

I've realized that international travelling can dissolve our nationalism.

We are brought up in the West with heavy programs used in our educational

system (learning history of mainly the country your born in) & the media

that naturally are all directally influencing us in multiple ways. We grow

up knowing there is a world out there, but never KNOWING these other

people & places & living in our nationalistic ways. I hear that only 5% of Americans travel internationally. Maybe if it was a majority that did instead

there would be a different mindset. And this would in turn enhance the society & influence the politics & would bring more of an awareness of the foreign policies

that have & AND ARE causing severe damage to good people in far away countries. I believe that to be too nationalistic these days is fatal.

We are now the global village & need to council together more. International

travelling is exhilarating (when it's not exhausting!) from constant rememberance that we live in that very diverse world of cultures, and each

has so many beauties & knowledge to share & help us grow! It allows us to leave our jobs for awhile (come on...you can do it! you can always get a new

job or get re-hired!). It allows us to leave our neighborhood & really explore.

It allows us to let go, surrender, & feel true freedom!

and i am addicted to this feeling. apparently i'm not the only one!

Well, not much else to say now except that I'm eating lots of good food

at various restaurants 3x a day! only about $1-2 a meal!!!

I started a new song on my laptop I call "The Lama Rhythm" (samples from

Tibetans). I'm getting quite comfortable in my room with my tools/toys

(laptop, mp3/video player, books, etc..)

So, it's been a fantastic couple of days!

I'm having too much fun & it doesn't look to slow down anytime soon!

feeling at home ...abroad!

feeling at home ...abroad! ::

The global village is our new home. Take your heart with you all-ways & you will always be at home. Shalom. Shanti. Peace to the people. Power to the people. Build a steeple in your inner temple & worship continuously to be the best you can be.

well, things have been coming together for me here in Dharamsala this past week. I am feeling at home...abroad! Very comfortable here. Being up in the mountains with lots of trees, green rainforest environments, & now October weather getting cold in evenings...this is alot like back home in Vancouver & Pacific NW. For the first 9 days here or so, it was all about eating 3 big fantastic meals at various global restuarants (they have Thai, TIbetan, Japanese, Korean, Continental, Italian, Indian...) & this was a big part of my day. The food is $1 for a meal. $2 if you want a drink & dessert! back home this would be $10-15, so with the $3-5 motel rooms & this price for food....life is cheap. And the talk is cheaper! well, not really. Had some good talks with a few fellow Canadians, Americans, & some English blokes, some Aussies, a Swedish guy, some Indians (mostly shopowners urging me to come in), & many new Tibetan friends. Went to see Superman Returns at one of 3 local theatres that are run inside someone's cement garage (very bad movie...save your time & money). But the past week has been about me getting involved in the community & doing more than just partying & eating like alot of tourists do here.

Room i was to rent for $110 month, a nice room!
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Finally found an Ayurvedic massage course & am on day 2 of 4 week intensive program. Learning Anatomy, Oils, mostly Ayurveda full body, Shiatsu, Reflexology, & other stuff. cost $250. would cost $2000 back home.

Relax your beautiful self!

My teacher, Shivadas, is from Kerala where this science comes from. I will be doing his yoga classes as well & have moved out of the Green Hotel & into one of his flats. There are 2 photos i will upload, one of him sitting near drums, & other of outside his & my room with his business signs.

Room i was NOT going to rent, even for $45 a month...a dump! dirty cement & a wood board for bed!
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I've been doing yoga all week 2pm-4pm from this gentle older guy, Vijay at his Universal Yoga, but it will be more convient to do yoga with Shivadas right outside my room before breakfast, much healthier than right after lunch with a full tummy like i have been doing (a big no no... feel sorry for the people in my gaseous vicinity!).

I have been teaching conversational English all week 4pm-5pm to a group of 4-8 Tibetan people (some different people each day). This has been FANTASTIC! I learn from them, they learn from me. This has been a real good exchange & has got me really involved in the community. I"ve said it before & i'll say it again, these people are kind, loving, inquisitive, & gentle souls! Obviously, like any other people, there are all kinds of personalities & one should not idealize a group of people such as the Tibetans. I'm sure they have there assholes & jerks, but generally speaking, their stereotype is what i mentioned. In class, we have talked about things ranging from Tibetan Buddhism (their favorite subject), vegetarianism vs. meat eating (a very interesting subject with them considering Buddhism is against killing, but most Tibetan Buddhists eat meat due to traditions of survival on remote land & their history), world events such as North Koreas recent atom bomb test, China & their atheist view that Tibetans are religious fanatics & need to be cultured, etc... After class, I have been hanging out with this guy Dhorji, & sometimes 2 Tibetan 20something girls. (see photo i will upload, although nobody but me is looking at camera!). I am trying to learn some Tibetan jokes & have asked them to bring me some for homework! Some of these young Tibetans have literally escaped from Tibet by hiking a dangerous 21-45 days out of Tibet over the Himalayan mt range & to this community of refugees. If they get caught coming or going...3 months in jail & that includes beatings & torture by expert Chinese military aggression with no mercy.

My volunteer teaching English group. Notice i'm the only one looking at camera. fun group!
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I hear that the Native Amercican "Grandmothers Council" of a few 70 something elders that i saw at Earthdance festival are here in town & giving a week of lectures on current affairs, earth changes, prophecies, etc.. I hope to meet up with them & help take photos to document their trip.

so...my days are like this & im loving it!

yoga class everyday 8am-10am, massage course 6 days week 10am-1pm. stuff my belly for lunch! English teaching Monday-Friday 4pm-5pm. after...hang out with TIbetan friends 5-6pm then...pig out some more for dinner! watch movie, or read, hang with others...

Big Buddha at the Main Temple of Dalai Lama's residence & Government In Exile.
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oh yeah....MISS TIBET pageant this weekend of all things! I think...it is cheesy like Miss USA & like other young Tibetans i have talked to....I will miss MISS TIBET pageant & choose to do something else.

Some author is in town doing a slide show called "Gurus, Ganges, & Goa" that i may go see so that I can get a better idea of places i want to go throughhis 20 years of travel experience here, and so that i can get inspired to do the same type of presentation with my photos, videos, & stories some day soon!

My Ayurvedic massage & yoga teacher Shivadas, who runs Kailash School of Yoga, Massage, Reiki in McLeod Ganj.
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Last but not least...

some tips i picked up (some i already knew & was reminded) that i'd like to share for those interested ::

always sleep with your head facing to the East (the direction of the rising sun).

This allows the magnetic North & South poles to influence our bodies in a good way. If you can't do East, then South. Never West or North.

Shivadas school, his room, & my new room from outside. We do the yoga on this marble patio.
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best to drink water & drinks in between meals & never during ....for better digestion.

best to avoid white rice, white flour, white sugar (the 3 white poisons) and instead use brown rice, spelt/kamut/wheat flours, & sugar alternatives like stevia. White rice has no nutrition & sits in your tummy like a big gooey white ball that will give you a round belly eventually. white flour clogs up our system. white sugar, obviously is just pure taste & indulgence & is very hard on the bodies immune system.

best to avoid red meats as much as possible. some blood & body types seem to need meat more than others. just try & eat organic free range, meaning no drugs injected into the animals & not raised in super tight cages & animals allowed to roam free & happy (before being murdered).

best to eat light breakfast, heavy lunch, & light dinner (dinner around sunset best natural time.....not too late like most Europeans 10pm-11pm....and most definitely not before going to bed!

eat fruits in between meals as not to mix acids with alkalines! eating a mono diet of fruits is actually best. Bananas one day. Apples another day. not mixing them (this i don't understand why yet), but watermelon definitely on its own & in between meals as it does not mix good with other foods.

get regular massage to detoxify, improve blood circulation, improve immunity, help with sleeping better, release emotions, & RELAX YOUR BEAUTIFUL SELF!

that's enough for today. limiting my internet use to a few hours a week & trying not to be online too much when there is so much to experience & do outside of cyberspace!

Namaste (Indian Sanskrit for the divine in me recognizes the divine in you)

Tashi Delik (Tibetan for hello, please to see you, thank you, goodbye)

prayers for peace...many meaningful events :: McLeod Ganj/Dharamsala

prayers for peace...many meaningful events! ::

I'd like to quote some Yoga text to begin.

"Yoga works on several levels at once. On the physical level, it makes our bodies strong, balanced and light, and rejuvenates tired limbs. Internal organs are massaged & toned and vital glands like the thyroid and parathyroid are made to function properly. At the psychic level, we become more relaxed and more aware. Through the practice of awareness-in-movement, we become able to observe our minds and bodies, and to become less implicated in our inner turmoil. This growing awareness naturally predsiposes one to meditation. At an emotional level, we are able to release harmful emotional and psychological blocks through purification of the body. Emotional wounds leave traces in the body, in the form of knots, misalignments and tension. In the asanas, we release these physical tensions, and the corresponding emotions are free to rise to the surface and disappear. It is in this sense that yoga is a holistic science, and treats the individual as a psycho-spiritual and physical whole. Yoga works on all the chakras (energy points).
Yoga is not a religion, but it is a powerful technique of self-realization. It teaches us to live in the present without worry, stress or anger. We make peace with ourselves and from this inner harmony, comes peace in our relationships. This makes yoga of immense relevance to our age. It is Yoga's goal that you may find the true meaning of your life, and go on to make the world a better place."

our group went to visit "The Oracle"

Indigineous Grandmothers Council :: 13 Grandmothers from around the globe.
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Apparently us westerners worry too much. We live faster lives in our post-modern technogocial realities. Rushing here & there. Working too much.
Relaxation & emotional release, as well as physical exercise is SOOOoooo
important, and on a DAILY ROUTINE. This takes great discipline (believe me, i''ve been trying to find daily discipline for many years). But...whether it's yoga,
or swimming, or soccer, whatever....we need to DO our discipline daily.
I say this because i know of many people with depression & other unhappiness
that can be cured partly from doing this practice. They say, "practice makes perfect"! I asked a Tibetan nun doing a teaching at the temple here the other day about the millions of depressed people & how to solve it without pharmaceutical drugs. She said that Tibetan Buddhism says to practice everyday.
For them....it's chanting, meditation, visualizing peace-buddha-heavenly realms.
Only a routine can save us from despair & more suffering.

Indigenous Grandmothers with "The Oracle" of Tibetan Buddhism
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Not that i've been suffering (except when sick), but i've been trying to find a routine to increase my well being. My stomach ache & cold has
kept me from my previous morning yoga-breathing exercises & volunteering
teaching english, but now i'm recovered and about to get back into the swing of things again!

Instead, the past week i've been attending the amazing 4th annual Indigenous Grandmothers Council here. 13 Grandmothers, including an eskimo, Hopi, Mayan, Tibetan, 2 Ogalala Lakotas, African from Gabon, & a few others have been gathering daily for prayers for peace. Let me tell you...these women are not your average grandmothers. Most are practicing healers/shamans & hold a very strong presence & vitality. For 7 days they have been here, each sharing their own traditional ceremonies with about 150 participants....uniting faith & installing hope in our hearts.
This has been a truly special event. uber-special!
Two nights ago, i attended a Mazatec Huitla grandmothers ceremony
which was absolutely incredible. She brought medicine from her Oaxaca mexico region. truly amazing!

Agnes Baker Pilgrim & daughter doing First Nations prayer for peace!
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The following day...our group went to visit "The Oracle" of the Tibetans. He has been recognized as the reincarnated oracle who can go into a trance to answer questions for His Holiness Dalai Lama (some of you may have seen this in the movie Kundun). He had the greatest happy wide smile! He is in the photo with 13 Grandmothers.

The next big trip I attended was going to visit the 17th Karmapa at his monastary. This was a special treat as we got a private audience with him which is rare. He is recognized as the 3rd highest lama in Tibetan Buddhism. Dalai Lama being the 1st, & the Panchen Lama the 2nd, who is currently held captive by the Chinese atheists government who are trying to kill Tibetan culture.

Dalai Lama's summer residence