Hilo – Honolulu – Tokyo – New Delhi – Rishikesh

Feb. 25th, 2015

Accompanied by Spirit, everything seems to be flowing ever so smoothly..

Super grateful I got to experience the first part of the trip with my beloved: Hilo to Honolulu. He was doing a demonstration at the University in Oahu and we timed the trip so that we would leave Big Island together.

In Honolulu, he was with me until the last minute through all the lines and check ins.. we kissed and smushed and wave at each other until we couldn’t anymore. Ahh.. this love is soooo sweet!

8 hrs and 30 min from Honolulu to Tokyo.Watched movies, read (gosh! this book I’m reading is phenomenal!: Prana and Pranayama by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati ) walked, stretch, slept… I was the only one with western eye’s shape.. ! Everybody was from Asia.. some wearing masks and some going to quarantine because of the “outbreak of ebola” in Africa.. wow.

The lay over was about 18 hrs in Tokyo… which somehow I was not aware of, until I got to Japan. Sat down, got to chat with beloved and he suggested I get a hotel.. and so I did.. I got to the “exchange rate house” seconds!  before they close, took a 15 min Free shuttle to the hotel and found the last room available .. sweet!

Feeling so grateful.. I got to sleep and have a bathroom all of my own!! yes! and well, I surely enjoy this apparatus.. LOL!

Even the toilets at the airport have these!

—

Misty Morning in Tokyo – view from the hotel room

Feb. 26th, 2015

—

Yen

—

9 hr flight from Tokyo to New Delhi – Feb. 27th

View from the AIRBNB lanai

There are so many birds in this city! Parrots, Crows, Mana Birds, Doves and others.. singing singing this misty morning.. Dogs barking, men talking.. I’m awake.. it’s 3am. Did some Oregano vapor to relief the burning of my nostrils (from the cold air at the airplane (brutal! ) ) did some reading, some Sat Kriya.. then got outside the watch the birds, chat with beloved Dan and Lisa sister and ate some omelet for breakfast. In about 1 hr I’ll be riding in a taxi to get to the airport. 3rd day traveling.. can’t wait to get settle. Rishikesh will be my home destination for the next 6 weeks. Yes!

—

At the airport in New Delhi on my way to Dehradun

Feb. 28th, 2015

Finally made it.. 3 days of traveling. The taxi driver left me kind of far away from the hotel and I had to pull my heavy suitcase through rough steep hill.

Feeling exhausted, a bit scared, a bit overwhelmed, happy, curious, doubtful.. and much more.

The people at the AIRBNB speak mostly Spanish.. almost no English actually.. curious eh?

and did I mention I have THE BEST view of the Ganga river from my room? It’s so so beautiful.. I can hear the Gayatri mantra being recited in the distance…

March 1st, 2015

Today, I woke up at 5am. Skyped with my beloved Daniel and walked to the Ashram where the International Yoga festival is happening. I didn’t know how to get there and almost no one speaks English here… so I adventured. The walk was short, sometimes dangerous, sometimes stinky, sometimes beautiful.. exhilarating and scary.

It was windy and crossing the long bridge across the Ganga was interesting as it kept moving back and forth and up and down..

I didn’t take my super camera with me as I didn’t know how things where going to be.. and I’m glad I didn’t as it got pretty rainy and muddy afterwards..

Yoga with Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa was exceptional. I got into such a bliss, I started crying. It was simply amazing. The opening celebration was ok… a bit long and kinda of political.. although nice to see Mooji and PremBaba there. Great yoga with Kia Miller, my beautiful teacher as well. I’m so grateful for the opportunity she has given me! Forever grateful!

As I was walking back home through the wet streets of Rishikesh with the most amazing Indian dinner in a bag I was assaulted by 2 monkeys!  in a fraction of a second, out of nowhere (really) 2 big monkeys pushed me hard and snapped the bag from me.. bye bye dinner!! I guess I’m fasting tonight. It took me a few seconds to realized what just happened. I cursed at them and then blessed them.. Oh well.

—

The color of the Ganga.. such beautiful color!

Feeling jet lagged but super happy also..  I got to say hi to Mother Ganga with a gorgeous offering of flowers and incense.. that’s probably the highlight of the day actually.. gorgeous ritual I made up for her, the mother, Ganga.

—–

March 2nd, 2015

Thunderstorms, lighting, pouring raining.. tons of water washing out the streets.. no way I can get out of this room.. I let go of the money I paid for the festival pass.. what am I to do? It’s so cold and damp.. and thw water running on the streets is mixed with human poop, pee, cow poop and who knows what else…. not so good for dipping my toes in it.

I had tea over great deep meaningful conversations with my roommates. Super nice people. We ended up getting a taxi and going to Mooji Satsang all together.

It was chaos and it was great. I had to practice compassion, equanimity and remind myself to stay in the heart. It was wet everywhere, the Satsang started 40 min later than planned. People were pushy and in my face and cutting the line and being rude.. Challenging.. yet the Satsang was really good and I got a Diksha from Mooji personally.. It felt as time stopped and I was loved. Super sweet.

March 3rd, 2015

I’m finally sleeping through and waking up at 6am.. and not 3am!

Gurmukh’s yoga class this morning..amazing! .. I cried.. again..

I got to sit next to a bunch of Japanese or Chinese women.. and let me tell you! it was challenging.. They were there “pretending” they were doing yoga.. talking, taking pictures of each other to show their friends in Facebook.. posing doing yoga .. doing selfies .. not following the instructions of the teacher.. bumping into me and invading my space in my mat.. !

I would just close my eyes and concentrate .. and I dealt with my own anger.. like dealing with a demon… Kali was there inside me, ready to cut their heads off!

It was perfect though, as Gurmukh gave us an exercise to clear the throat chakra and express any anger that was repressed.. and I went for it.. and she kept reminding us of the sutra (law) of yoga of seeing the other as yourself.. and there it was my opportunity, right on my face.. and I dealt with it, like a ferocious tiger!

So grateful for this whole scenario that presented itself today.. beyond words, grateful.

Talking to Gurmukh about proper way of locking the tongue on the roof on the mouth when doing some of the practices..

Charlotte put me in contact with someone that used to work in Kalani and has been here for some time. His name is Ben. We got together and he showed me around… places to eat, place to stay, where to exchange money, where to shop.. etc.. but the most important thing I learned was how to interact with people.

All this time I’ve been shy and a bit hesitant to look at people. I observed how he blandly looked at everybody with kindness, vowing and saying Namaste.. and I saw people’s eyes shine.. and I saw so much kindness on those eyes.. and my fearful mask started to vanish.. and I gained a bit more confidence.

Books are very specific about not looking people in the eyes here in India, specially being a woman.. but I found it to be not true now.. There is all kinds of people, yes.. but I could feel who I can smile to, who I can vow to.. Although I might need to practice more as a man yelled at me “princess”!! in a very angry way.. after saying Namaste.. wow! really?

Namaste: I see the divine light within you  OR I bow to you  OR we are one … and then: yelling at me “Princess”!? in an angry way..  Wow.. My mind tweaked.. and my heart said: he is seeing his own reflection on you.. and my hurt and confusion transformed into compassion… Sighs..

I finally had a good meal! Ben took me to a place with a wonderful view of the Ganga and I invited lunch as a token of gratitude. Good food, good folks. Felt renewed.

Prem Baba came to the guest house tonight and ate here.. so I gave him Zoltima’s letter. Mission accomplished.

Adorable pregnant kitty – at the guest house

—

About Permath Niketan, the Ashram where the International Yoga Festival is at.