Hello Friends,
I'm in Cyprus, whoops! Left India in a hurry, thought that I would be able to change my flight at the last moment (like I did in Thailand... twice) but couldn't and so had to rush off to Europe without having made good plans. Wandered around the Frankfurt airport for half a day until I found a reasonable flight to somewhere near Israel and took it. Cyprus is expensive, in India I was paying 175 rupees ($4) a night for a room, here it's 15 Cyprus pounds ($35) a night. A good filling tali of rice, dhal, chipati, 2 vegi dishes plus a cha (Yum) was about 40 rupees ($1), veggieburger and fries here is 5 CYP ($11). The ferry from Cyprus to Israel isn't running yet this season so had to buy an other ticket for $270 to get the last few hundred miles to Israel. Ouch, get me out of here quick!
Mmmm, India. Spent my time there (far to quick) at two travelers destinations Dharamsala, home of the Tibetan exile community, and Rishikesh, the "yoga capital of the world". In Dharamsala I found the surreal world of the subbody dance school, where you find something unusual within you somewhere in the subconscious world and follow it and let it grow. Quite an interesting process full of new ways for me to explore (ever try to be a sea cucumber?). There are some pictures and videos of me in this other world on his site http://subbody.net/ or here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1X5c1VViz4. Strapping young lad don't you think?
In Rishikesh I immersed myself in the world of the "Great Freedom" teachings http://www.greatfreedom.org/, which I found to my liking. The philosophy of these teachings can be summed up easily. All things that we experience, that we, think, feel, perceive, the people, places, things be they good, bad, or neutral, they come to us through our awareness. We normally attach importance to these things, these stories, these labels, these words, these points of view (POV) and follow them, focus on them, when they come up. But at their base they are awareness. If we, rather than following these POV around, rest in the awareness that is their base, if we experience the awareness rather than the POV, we find the lasting compassionate and happy state of mind that we all share with enlightened ones such as the Buddha.
Their practice is 'Rest in awareness for short moments many times until it becomes automatic'. No meditation mat or special time needed, just do it in normal life. Finally, the practice that my inner sloth has been looking for, rest. The good energy of the community there and the normal people I met there who had 'got it' was exciting, I'm hopeful. Ask me in a year how it's been filtering into my life.
It's on to Israel for a "Dances of Universal Peace" tour, then on to a "Peace in the Middle East" Rainbow gathering in Turkey, see a pattern? If not, just rest, it's OK. If so, just rest, it's OK. Otherwise, just rest, it's OK.
Mmmm, rest
yes, yes
:D
