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.
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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!
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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.
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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)
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