Happy Losar!

This year the Tibetan New Year, Losar was celebrated at the 14th of February. I was so fortunate that I could visit the Tibetan Settlements here nearby on this particular day. My dear Ladakhi friend, Gurmet took me along with a Chinese yogi from the shala (which was a real act of compassionate and undicriminative friendliness, as the Chinese are not really welcome on Tibatean areas in the last years...)
About 90 kms from Mysore there is a big land which was given to the Tibetan refugees a few decades ago. By now there is a real community which is said the biggest settlement outside Tibet. Little villages spread on a big territory of hills and grass fields. We had long walks in the afternoon sun between the villages, enjoying the emptiness of the fields, the silence of the landscape and the look of the monks passing by on they scooters, in sunglasses and traditional red dresses. It felt like a different country - no crowd, no dust, no dirt, but silence, tranquility and peace of mind.
We visited huge and magnificent Tibetan Buddhist temples with amazing wall paintings of the wrathful and peaceful Buddhist deities, talked to very friendly and ever-smiling monks (they were the first in India who did not want to sell us anything!!!), watched the little kid-monks playing or carrying water and just sat long on the temple-stairs. Sera, a clean and light village of tranquility has only monks as inhabitants, about 5000 of them study here advanced Buddhist studies. It turned out that the first day of Losar is celebrated with family and friends indoor, so besides the temples all shops and restaurants were closed and the streets were quite empty. We didn`t mind at all, after the everyday noise and crowd `outside` it was like a present to enjoy some silence. Thanks to Gurmet who knows the place and some monks quite well, we could visit places which are not open for every visitor: without realizing it first, we were taken by a monk to the residence of the Dalai Lama, which was like the biggest blessing for the coming year. It had a very special energy field.

That day we entered the year of the Iron Tiger - let me citate here the greetings from Tenzin Palmo about the coming year:

`No matter how fierce the next 12 months, as
Shantideva so rightly said, "This world is full of sharp stones and
thorns, and we cannot cover the world with leather to make it soft to
walk on. But we can put leather on the soles of our feet as shoes and
sandals, and that way, we walk everywhere."
However hard we try, we can never make the world perfect and according
to our own wishes. That is impossible. But, the good news is that we
can change our minds, we can change our own attitudes, we can, indeed,
learn how to come back to our own pure awareness where we stop making
judgments and trying to change everything to our own egoistic ideals
and just relax into the present moment.`

Mysore, madam!

It`s been almost two weeks ago that I arrived to Mysore, a medium-sized city (about 700.000 inhabitants) in the south of Karnataka where I am spending four weeks and study at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute - one of the main reasons coming to India.
Mysore used to be the seat of the maharaja`s for centuries. They were ruling the whole South-Indian area from here, and the city still keeps something from this historical elegance and respect. It is a city of palaces, the main attraction is an incredibly huge and really wonderful palace in the middle of the town. For the rest, markets, sellers, beggars, crowd, dust and smoke just like in every Indian city - spending one day in the center is like having an attack at my long and respiratory organs.
My yoga school is further away from the center, in a rich suburb area with huge villa`s, broad streets, big cars and motorbikes and elegant Indians. It almost doesn`t feel like India, so clean and neat is the whole environment. But the daily power cuts (reading in the evening with your torch, even preparing food at candlelight), and the lack of water remind me that I am in a different world with different values. I am staying in a little room on the roof, and can use the whole roof as my terrace and enjoy the starlight in the night. Coconut trees all around. It is amazing. In the morning the sun is just rising in front of my door, and the sounds of morning puja`s from the close-by temples make me awake every day. I live in the house of Indians, it`s an in-depth participating experience in their ways and lives. Mala, my landlady taught me how to wash my clothes on her `washing-stone`, hitting out the dirt in their traditional way, provided me with a gas oven to prepare my food on the roof and if the water just stops running from my tap, she is generously sharing her saved water from the big tanks. Once we stayed for two days without running water, doing all our washing and cleaning from buckets - a good way to fully appreciate the fact that we have water at all. Having water is not that evident here than at our side of the ocean - it is usually stored in big tanks on the top of the houses, where it has to be refilled regularly, but like in our case it can happen that it falls out for 1-3 days. So it is always good to have some extra savings and not to waste at all...

The yoga... well, the yoga in this world-famous shala where ashtanga is originating from... is intense... We have morning classes in the so-called `Mysore style` 4 days a week, which means that we are doing our self-practice and the teachers are adjusting and helping around. 2 other days we have led class, when we all move together and the teacher `conducts`, saturdays are free. There are also chanting, yoga sutra`s and sanskrit for those interested. The classes are fully packed, mats right next to each other, the temperature and the energy-level in the room high, and as expected, only the crazy ashtanga-freaks from the West... No Indian students, only the two teachers - the daughter and the grandson of the yogaguru Sri K. Patthabi Jois. Guruji was the person who made up this special structure of yoga asana`s what we call today Ashtanga Yoga. It is a very dynamic, intense, sweaty and yang-style yoga - from those more into the slow-motion hatha directions it is getting critic enough. Still, ashtangais very much purifying, builds up much of strength with a regular practice, and we just simply like it... I feel very grateful that I could come to this place and see how it is taught at the place of its origin.
Life is slow and peaceful here. In the morning we do this intense practice, some days take some filosofy classes till noon, and for the rest just hanging-around... Going to the pool, to the city, reading a lot, receiving many reiki sessions, giving massage, but all in a very slow motion... And the summer is coming closer and closer, which means the afternoons are getting sooo hot that we better avoid doing anything in that critical hours...

Travels

Rikshu!!!
This famous Indian mini-taxis are the absolute favourite way to get from one place to the other... Cute little motorized bicycles, like the Piaggo`s in Amsterdam often having only 3 wheels, and in a tropical style no doors and windows, all is open to the side. This allows you to get a more complete view of the road and all what is happening on the side of it, and of course to inhale deeply the terrible smoke and dust of the Indian traffic. With the driver in front it is most comfortable to travel with two on the back, but this rarely happens, the number pf passengers goes mainly up to 4, like sardinies pushing and pressing each other on the seats, having their bags on the laps, in the neck, hand, wherever possible...
Bargaining is obligatory, and you often make friendship with the driver at the end of the trip by exchanging the following questions (which seem to be exactly the same in every case): Which country? Name? Married? Sometimes some extra questions about age and currency (euro?euro?) are added. Before a bigger trip you may ask a driver to be on time in front of your house, but with the Indians you never know... they often forget being there and you can do your best to catch an other one, especially if you travel at night. Once I asked two drivers, which was silly of me as these two seemed to be reliable and were both waiting for me. But I got my payment as our car just stopped in the middle of the road in the thick Indian full-moon-night. We managed to catch another riksha to reach my train, and Babu, the other rikshadriver we just left behind, was already waving at us with a big smile at the station. I had a vague idea that he knew about our breakdown at the roadside... Here all is possible.

The Backwaters

The Backwaters is a huge network of rivers, canals and little islands a few kilometers from the coast. A boat trip on these waters is one of the Keralan touristic highlights and we were lucky enough to go there with a lovely local guy, Jayan. He owns our favorite homestay in Varkalla, the Shiva Garden where we were spending most of the time drinking chai, eating masala dosa and making friends with the personnel. So Jayan took us in his car to the place where he grew up, put us in a tiny fishing boat, gave each of us a branch of palm tree in the hands as a paddle and there we were paddling on the inland waters in the afternoon sun. All you can see here are the palm trees on the islands again, in between some local children playing (how different is the way they grow up!), some other boats crossing, birds, cows, water, water and silence. You cannot see the life behind the palm trees, you get only a glimpse of a burning fire or listen to the everlasting Indian chants breaking the silence of the waters. These chants which are literally rising to the sky are always present around this little traditional villages.
Than we stop at a temple island and in charge of 50 rupees admission we walk around the place were Shiva, Parvati and their son, Ganesh are worshiped. Cashew trees, banjan trees, bodhi trees and even more silence. The very strong energy of the island touches us immediately. The statues of the snake-god Naga are covered with the deep yellow turmeric and you do believe that your prayers on this place will come true. The presence of the gods is very sensible. After sunset the brahmin is performing his evening puja with the dancing candles around the god-statues and we paddle back to our car in the cooler breeze of the evening. Our boat is like floating now above the waters.

Thai Yoga Massage

... this is how this wonderful technique is called what I just learned in Varkalla. In a 11-day course we were massaging each other eight hours a day, learning how to give a full body massage from the feet till the face. Thai massage is often called passive yoga (but this is definitely NOT the thai massage given the red light district in Amsterdam), as it aims the balancing of the male and female, the sun- and moonlike energies in our body, just like yoga. With pressure and streches it works on the energybody, and has a deep therapeutic effect if done properly. I find it very beautiful to receive, and even more beautiful to give. Though these 11 days were extremely intensive, as we were giving and receiving for long long hours. This means that we were constantly into each others energies, pushing and pressing and streching with our learning hands, developing patience towards the one who was giving to us, and loving compassion towards those who was receiving... Giving massage is an intense physical and energetic and spiritual job! This all happened at the roof of a homestay, between the coconut trees and the birds, five minutes from the ocean - the picture is trying to give back something of the location, but I didn`t take photo`s closer as electronic equipment wasn`t welcome on the roof. After the course I had to stay 3 more days on this paradise (which is inspite of all the tourists still a paradise) to let all this massagework go and be with the place, the friends and the locals. More about thai massage at http://www.thaiyogamassage.infothai.com/

Kerala beach - Varkalla

After having met my friends in the ashram, we departed all together southwards to the location of our massage course: Varkalla. This is considered as one of the most beautiful beaches of India, probably that`s why it is packed with Western tourists. It reminds me to the Hungarian Balaton-lake with a lot of shops, restaurants and bored half-naked tourists who just walk around from one shop to the other during the long days. It is quite a big contrast to see the Indian women going to a water spring at the beach to do their laundry and wash themselves in their big saris (taking shower in clothes, strictly on separate days from the men) and the Western people in their bikini`s walking around in town.
The Tibetan market I found something different, where traders from the North are selling their clothes from November till April, than return to Dharamsala. These calm, warm-hearted people are a peaceful island in this hectic coastline. In all the shops you see the picture of the Dalai Lama, and in the back of it you find the residence of the Tibetans: a 10m2 little space with their kitchen, beds and living room in one. Often they stay here with 3-4 people.

Life in Varkalla is very slow, quiet, we don`t do much in a day. It is also too hot to make big efforts. We wake up early, start with yoga at the roof of our homestay , than we slowly walk to the ocean and swim in the warm, salty water. After breakfast we start massaging and keep on doing it till the end of the day. I might write more about this course later. Than we sleep early, and the day after it just starts again. Food is basic but very good. We eat every day at Rani`s place, a beautiful, smiling, shiny Indian woman who cooks for us in front of her house, on fire and banana leaves. It is already a happiness to receive our meal from this ever-laughing woman. We eat all day thali, and thali and thali, typical Indian food of rice and different vegetables, dhal and chutneys served on banana leaves. A very important thing in thali is that you eat it with your hands, and that they keep on refilling your banana-plate till you don`t stop them... The whole thing feels like being stuffed by our parents at Christmastime, because Rani and all her family is busy making us happy while we stay with them.
And basically this is all what is happening in Varkalla: thali, massage, swimming and yoga. Today we had a full solar eclipse, to bring some extra excitement in our life.

South-India - Amritapuri

Dear All,
so here I start with writing down my travel experiences - and with making an experiment to do it in English so that most of you are able to read and follow it. I`m very happy that I have chosen a quiet and peaceful place for acclimatisation in India, avoiding the famous hectic of the big cities and coming to the ashram of Amma at the ocean in Kerala. This place is an amazing and huge international spiritual factory in the middle of a very traditional rural area of South-India. Thousands of people come here daily to participate in the life of the ashram and possibly to get a hug from their saint, Amma.
Amma is considered by her devotees as an enlightened being who came back to this life in order to help men. They compare her with Christ because she is a manifestation of love. After long years of ascetism and selfdisciplined spiritual practice she evolved with the deities according to the story, and since that time she is devoting her life for helping others. She considers herself as the mother of all beings on earth, and to demonstrate this, she is daily embracing hundreds of humans who come to see her. It is quite special to see all this people standing in long-long lines waiting for their turn to get a 10seconds-hug from their universal mother, but even more special to see this little woman embracing all this people for 10hours... Welcome to the strange world of India.
But still, even if it was hard for me to handle with this view which seemed to me a personal cult of a little woman, or blind adoration of some spiritual seekers, at the end I realized that what I saw might be something the Indians call bhakti-yoga... A path of strong devotion and love . (Though this love might be limited to the big mother, as I saw that the `devotees` could be quite negative towards each other.) And by the participation of these people in the everyday life of the ashram is it possible for Amma to do all her humanitarian activities - to build and run universities, hospitals, to give help after natural catastrophes like the Tsunami and to feed many many daily.
After the strict Vipassana-retreats I found the life in this place very free, almost caotic - if you want, you can wake up early and sing your mantras in the temple, if you want you can do your daily work, you can practice yoga or meditate, watch ecological movies in the afternoon or sit at the beach. And of course, go for a hug as many times as possible...