one month later, guess where i am?? still in mcleod! but i will be leaving in a couple days.

i got back from my 10 day retreat at Tushita Meditation Center a few days ago and i have been hanging out with people from the retreat. even though we were silent for ten days i feel very close with everyone.

I did a Goenka Vipassana course before coming to India and compared to that Tushita was a walk in the park. I learned a lot about Buddhism and different Tibetan buddhist meditations and rituals, but psychologically it was much less transformative than Vipassana. One thing that is different is Vipassana is in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism while Tushita is in the Mahayana tradition. One main difference is that in Theravada the goal is to achieve liberation, nirvana, while in the Mahayana tradition the goal is to achieve pure complete enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. At the end of each meditation and ritual we dedicated all of the positive energy accumulted to all sentient beings, wishing them an ocean of happiness and liberation from samsara (cyclic existance, which implies suffering). I really liked this tradition, it always gave me a feeling of great openess in my heart, like there was literally more space inside my chest, a beautiful feeling.

my original wish to learn about organic farming has manifested! a german guy staying at the same monestary as me knows a couple organic farms in the area and a recycling center where locals can sell recyclables and also learn how to make paper. seems like a cool initiative. going to visit these places the next 2 dys and then i am leaving for Tso Pema. Padmasambhava aka Guru Rinpoche, a great Tantric yogi lived in a cave here for many years. His hand and foor prints are found in many rocks and caves in this area. Legend has it that long ago Padmasambhava tried to secretly teach the King's daughter the Dharma but he was caught and burned at the stake. In the place where he was killed a large lake (which is now the center of Tso Pema) formed and some time later he reappered emerging from a lotus as a 16 year old boy. There are many amazing stories about him, and my rendition is doing him no justice.

I only have 2 more week in this beautful mystical land! I thought three months would feel like a really long time, but its nothing. But it will be really nice to be back home for xmas and treat everyone to massage and healings of all sorts. But i know i will be back here; I think I have a strong karmic connection with this place.

Thats all for now peeps!

MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY!

a beautiful dream

Still in Dharamsala, and as of the last full moon it is officially winter, and getting quite cold.

Today was a mystical day!

This morning a yogi staying at the monastery stopped to tell me about my aura and my old soul. he told me many things that i already know on a deep level; i felt like he was reading my soul like an open book, from this and past lives, it was very strange. he even said many of the exact same things as tarot reader i saw in derhadun, without knowing my name or birthday. an interesting psychic experience. my day unfolded from there it seemed like all of my wishes from the last few weeks manifested. something i had been searching all over for appeared in a vendors stall that had appeared like a mushroom over night. i made friends with two people i had been noticing around town for some time, and i needed to find this girl who borrowed one of my books, and like magic we ran into eachother on my way home. everything fell into place.

in dream yoga we learned how to wake up from the night's dream and realize how everything is our own mind's creation and thus we have the power to control our dreams, and ultimately stop the delusions of our mind. dream yoga is easiest to do in the sleeping dream, but ultimately it will help us to realize the same things are true of our waking dream, i.e. life. it helps to whenever possible, stop and remember that everything we experience is our own creation, and that we are just dreaming. all these emotions and impressions are just delusions of our mind, and we have the power to change them, and ultimately stop the delusions. but to think "this is only a dream" should not be a nihilistic thought, but rather a way to bring awareness to the nature of our mind.

my germain travel companion has left for thailand, so now i am on my own. i am so grateful i found such a lovely person to travel with, but i am also happy to have some true solo travelling.
in a few days i leave for a 10 day meditation retreat at Tushita, a tibetan buddhist center in the mountians. and then i will have only 2.5 weeks left. amazing how time flies! i thought three months would feel like a really long time, but not at all. i also thought i would travel down to the south but for that i would need a much longer travel period, because i dont fancy running from place to place, i like to find one nice place, stay for a while, and then go on. but there are so many places ive heard about in the south that i need to go to! so i think next time i come to india i will come without a return ticket.

there's this one place i heard about in tamil nadu where there is this holy mountain arunachala. sri ramana maharishi, one of the greatest sages of this century, has an ashram there. this mountian is said to be on the exact opposite side of the earth as machu pichu. like yin and yang machu pichu is the feminine and arunachala is the masculine energy. you also could say machu pichu is the shakti, the kundalini, or divine feminine energy and arunachala is the shiva. indians sure have a beautiful way of looking at the world!

another place on my list is auroville (check out this photo of the layout), the new age community near pondicherry, started by "the mother", the principle disciple of sri aurobindo (another great sage). in this place they "dynamize" water, following the findings of Masaru Emoto, filling it with good vibrations by having it "listen" to mozart. There is also supossed to be some really nice organic farms, and wwoofing places in the surrounding area.....

thats all for now folks,
be happy, be healthy
love,
chloe

hello brothers and sisters,

I have comfortably settled down in the guesthouse of a tibetan buddhist monastary in Dharamsala. Right now I am sitting next to a 12 year old monk who is playing grand theft auto, quite ironic. Lets see, since i last updated I had a week long fast in the most beautiful remote mountian village and then moved on to Dharamsala where I have been taking all sorts of classes. I did a 5 day Tibetan massage course and with the same teacher i took several one day classes: Tibetan singling bowl healing, deep relaxation, balancing air and water elements in the body, and i just started a 3 day "fixing" class where we learn how to quickly alleviate pain and tension in the problem areas like the knee, lower back, neck, etc. Yesterday we learned about the pressure points on the butt and around the hip and i yelped when the teacher did the exercise on me. it was so painful! but i guess that means that i really need help in those areas.

For the fast, I went up to the little mountain village with two other wwoofers, valdemar and an american girl emily. It was a very interesting expericenc. We a 5 hour bus ride snaking along impossibly bumpy roads with steep cliffs always right outside the open door. It was good practice for exercising no fear. Somehow, no matter the conditions, indians always remain completely calm and composed. when we arrived, many villagers came to the town center to observe us innocently and the little children gathered round us, giggling and smiling. i think we must have been the first westerners many villagers had ever seen. communication was difficult because only 2 villagers spoke english, and the rest spoke some language that was not hindi. But still, i hung out with the villagers and somehow communicated little things. The village, Nagtal (not sure how to spell), as we later found out, is in a restricted area (no foreigners aloud) because of its proximity to China, which we could see from our balcony, 150 km away (we had to most incredible view). Apparently the area is known for its "black magic" healers who can remove snake poison with incantations and energy from their hands. Sounds like pranic healing to me.

I have many pictures to share but the internet connection is too slow to upload them, though i havent been taking as many pictures as i thought because it is hard to capture the infinite beauty all around.

Fasting was hard. We ate only small amounts of fruits and steamed veggies, and the whole time i was craving bread so much! next time i do a fast i will definitely not do it this way. i think with a juice fast craving food is not as much of an issue. and when the time is right i would like to try a lemon-water fast. One thing that we made that really really delicious and healthy was a mixed fruit porridge. Here is the recipe:
4 bananas
2 apples
big handful of raisins and other dired fruit (preferably that have soaked over night)
cook these ingrediants together and you will have a super sweet and tasty porridge of sorts, but to make it even more delicious with a good texture (and good for your bowls too) add a couple tablespoons of psyllium husk.

In dharamsala there are so many courses happening all the time, i feel like i could stay here for ever. As i mentioned Ive been taking all sorts of Tibetan healing classes, I also took a cooking class and learned how to make tibetan bread, without using an oven! They simly put the pan on the stove with a cover and flip the bread a few times. This technique solves my banana bread dilemma, as i have yet to find an oven. Currently i dont have access to a kitchen, but when i do i will bake up a storm. Having no kitchen ive been going out to eat all the time. The food is so cheap and so good! And by trying so many kinds of food ive gotten a lot of ideas for my own cooking. I will be very happy when i have a kitchen to use.

I am also doing a taoist sound healing meditation class. Its powerful, but kinda funny. We learn different sounds that resonate with certain organs and allow negative energy to be released. After class today two girls offered to give me reiki. it was very pleasent, but they said my stomach was going crazy. and then a guy gave me a thai stomach massage and confirmed that something is not right. I will go to the tibetan (or maybe ayurvedic) doctor tomorrow.

Tomorrow I start a new course which is taught by the Rinponche at the monestary where I am staying; its called "dream yoga". The Rinponche is known as "the Rainmaker" becuase when there is a drought, people call upon him to bring rain. In dream yoga you learn how to lucid dream and how to interpret your dreams. Also how to "lucid daydream" because they say that even our waking reality is only a dream, and when we become aware in the moment we can alter our "dream" however we want. Should be interesting.

Right now Im reading "One Taste" by Ken Wilber, a writer on integral spirituality, and it is amazing! He also talks about dreaming, and how after meditating for 20 years he can remain aware as a witness of his dreams, and not engrossed in the "movie" in the mind. I highly recommend any of his books.

Feeling tired and too lazy to explain more, but all in all things are wonderful.

peace out homies!

Hari OMM!

Once again i've experienced more than i can express in words, but i can say that things are unfolding beautifully. Let's see, since i last wrote i finished my pranic healing course, started going to a daily yoga class, visited the Tibetan medical and astrological center and the monastery Derhadun, had my cards read by a Tarot reader, went to Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world, for a few days and now im back in dehradun for a day or two.

First, a little about Pranic healing. I know some of you reading this know all about energy healing but for those who dont here is some basic info. In different traditions people speak of humans as a union of physical and spiritual realities: mind, body, and soul, and that there is much more to our "self" than we can generally perceive. We are not simply our physical bodies, rather it is believed that we in fact have many "bodies" from gross to subtle these are the physical body, the emotional body, the mental body, the astral body, and the etheric body. In pranic healing we work the more subtle realities of the self and universe. The artist Alex Grey has some amazing paintings which beautifully illustrate such realities which are visible to the clairvoyant eye.

When our spiritual bodies are clogged by negative energy and karma, ailments or disease manifest in the physical body. Thus by treating the spiritual body the root of the cause is healed. In pranic healing, as well as other energy healing techniques (such as acupuncture, acupressure, reiki, crystal healing, etc), the chakras (energy centers) and aura are cleansed of negative energy and energized with cosmic divine energy, helping us to heal ourselves and evolve into fully realized beings. This cosmic energy we use to heal is in abundance all around us. "Prana" is just one name for it, other names include chi, life force, spirit, etc.

The class itself was beautiful. It was just me, Waldemar, and Guruji (the teacher). Guruji told us many stories from Indian scriptures as well as miraculous experiences he's had as a healer for 20 years. The whole technique is as ancient as the scriptures, but much of the esoteric information that is now being revealed has been guarded and kept secret for ages. In any case, I finished the basic and advanced course, as well as Pranic psychotherapy. I am eager to get more experience healing so if you want to be healed just let me know!

There is so much more i want to write but its really late and tomorrow morning im leaving for a remote village up in the mountains around 100km away for a 10 day fast in the forest. I dont know i will have internet access. So, i will recap some of my experiences and things ive learned:

-i dont want to preach but vegetarianism is the way to go. ive been learing a lot about health and food, and although in the future i would like to present detailed information, here are just a few things to consider: when an animal is in the slaughterhouse and about to be killed they experience fear which produces certain hormones which you then eat. your body will respond to such hormones in a negative way; why do you think people who eat a lot of meat are aggressive? also eating meat is not sustainable (at least how it is practiced and produced in our world today). it takes huge amounts of water and land to raise animals, these precious resources could be put to better use. also, meat is very hard for our bodies to digest. finally, more than enough protein is found in plant matter, which brings me to my second topic:

-Spirulina! A blue green algee which is extremely nutrient rich. it contians more protein than meat, more iron than even beef liver, vitamin b-12 (which is sometimes hard to get as a vegetarian), is easily digestable, contians no fat/cholesterol. look it up online, you will be pleasantly surprised by the information.

-Pyramid Power! pyramids have been on my mind in in my life. waldemar and i fixed up a little cottage in the yard of vipassana house which has a pyramid roof, and was built intentionally as an energetic structure, with the faces of the pyramid facing the cardinal points. i slept in there a few nights and had really strange intense dreams. and in rishikesh we went to the Pyramid Cafe and chilled in the pyramid there for a long time reading, eating and meditating. The energy there was amazing. I also heard a funny story about pyramids: the dog at vipassana house used to be a real dumb brute. he would bite any newcommers without even checking them out . then he was built a pyramid shaped dog house and the dog stayed in there for 4 days straight without eating or drinking, refusing to come out until the owner pulled him out. after his time in the pyramid he was transformed. he never again bit a stranger, and become serene and meditative. when i come home im going to build a pyramid for sure.

-food also contains prana. waldemar and i did some experiemtns and found this to be true, and certian practices increase the prana of your food, while others decrease the prana. MICROWAVING YOUR FOOD DESTOYS THE PRANA and decreases nutritional value, and most likely leaks microwaves into your environment. waldemar told me about an experiment he read about in a German book called Water & Salt where cats were fed only microwaved food and water and within i think 6 weeks they all died.

on the other hand you can increase the energy of your food by sending it positive energy. here is a recipe for Love & Health porridge. when we served it to a gorup of people (without telling them we had energized the food) they all responded enthusiastically saying it was the best porridge they had ever had:

in a pot boil:
ground nuts of all kinds
dried fruit of all kinds (we used figs, dates and raisins)
mushed or sliced banana
and oatmeal or other porridge susitutes like buckwheat porridge or cream of wheat.

while you are making it, smile at the porridge. project thoughts of love and harmony and imagine yourslef in perfect health eating the delicious porridge. use your imagination to project good vibrations of love and health to it, or anything you make, and you will feel the difference.

that is all for now. love peace and joy to all! no fear, no worries, be happy!

HARI OMMM

10 days in

In the few days I havent posted Ive had many incredible experiences. Its hard to believe Ive only been here 10 days, with 80 left to go.

I left Delhi by train in the early morning hours, and enjoyed a six hour ride through rural India to Dehradun, up in the foothills of the Himalayas. I was half expecting the train ride to be like in the Darjeeling Limited; it was much less colorful, but they still had old Bollywood music playing and served chai every hour.

Oh the CHAI!!! What a beautiful thing! Its served everyday for teatime, and anytime you go to someone's house, or spend time in a shop, you are served a sweet cup of chai in a little glass. So spicy, gingery and sweet! Bliss in a cup!

Here in Derhadun I am WWOOFING, aka working on an organic farm, but this "farm" is no farm, more like a chill guesthouse with a big garden, yoga and meditation rooms, and a beautiful library full of spiritual, metaphysical, and health books. So I spend my time accordingly, reading Pyramid Power, and various books on energy healing, meditating on the rooftop at sunrise, playing the wooden flute I bought in the bazaar, and listening to many incredible stories about mystics and gurus, miraculous results of pranic healing, past lives, karma and reincarnation. So much for farm work.

The other day I went up to Moussourie, a beautiful little town located at 6000ft up in the mountains. We drove there an old taxi up the only winding road that goes to the town, trying to avoid the cows and passing the slow truckis while almost hitting cars coming in the opposite driection while looking down the steep . The views from up there are spectacular, and the air is so clean and fresh, tho a little low on oxygen.
(The picture is a view from the cable car we took the the highest peak in Moussourie)


The people in the photo are some other folks staying at Vipassana house, friends of the owner. The old guy (tho young at heart) , Sam, has been living at the Osho commune in India for the last 30 years. So long that he now has Indian citizenship. He has farmland in Kentucky that he said I am welcome to use. Since his offer Ive been fantasizing about creating my own organic farm/healing center. In my mind it will be like a new Orgone, Maine with pyramids, geodesic domes, and ill be living in the woods, making music, inviting everyone i know and WWOOFERS too. Ahh! The possibilities!

The woman is a young ayurvedic doctor with her own hospital in Hyderabad, in south India. She said I could stay with her, do a detox with massage, diet, etc, and learn about ayurveda and massage. I am very intregued and am seriously considering her offer. Tonight she gave me an incredible head and hand massage. Mmmmmm, so relaxed.

The big guy is a millionaire (maybe billionaire) from Germany who is opening something like 20 naturopathic/homeopathic alternative healing centers in Europe. It would be nice to more centers like that in America, but he said that pharmaceutical companies will do everything in their power to prevent such centers from blossoming in the US.

The last three days Thich Nhat Hanh has been doing a teachers retreat in Derhadun and everyone in the house has been going. Thich Nhat Hanh was one of the first Buddhist scholars whose work I read, when my interest in spirituality began blossoming, and now I am here in india on my spiritual journey doing a retreat with him! Life is really something.

Goodbye Delhi

Ttomorrow I start my solo adventure for real as I leave Clare and venture to Vipassana Farm in Dehra Dun. Im not sure if the farm is associated with the Vipassana retreat I did, but I do know that they have a healing center and teach pranic healing, among other musical and metaphysical subjects. Also, the farm manager emailed me the other day to say that the famous Vietnamese spiritual master Thich Nhat Hanh will be doing a 5 day retreat at the farm. What luck!

Delhi has been good, but I miss seeing the sky, the stars and moon, breathing fresh air. And it's not the place for peace and quiet. I'm ready for a more relaxed atmosphere, more meditation. But I had some good times, like clubbing at a surreal fancy hotel, meeting fellow travelers of the same spiritual vein, partying with the prime minister's grandson, driving tiny rickshaws through the city packed with people at all hours, and enjoying the homemade meals of the apartment's cook.

New Delhi

 I am finally here! On the other side of the globe.

I arrived yesterday after a loong flight surrounded by screaming children. As soon as I got on the flight I felt like I was in India, with the fight attendants in saris, indian music playing on the loud speaker, Bollywood films being screened, and being the only Western woman in sight.

I took a tiny taxi with no seat belts through the city to 

my friend Clare's apartment. She's here on a Brown U. program so I am staying at their apartment in a quaint residential district. The ride was my first real view of India. In the three lane road, four lanes of cars, rickshaws, bicycles, and pede

strians formed. The cars honked incessantly; larger cars even had "please honk" painted on their rear.

From the apartment the cacophony of city life persists, with a nearby highway you can hear cars honking day and night, and it sounds like a religious parade is going on from the drumming, music, cheering voices and fire crackers I can hear from inside.

The time shift is very confusing. I woke up at 4am this morning and with nothing to do I meditated for an hour, went back to sleep and then woke up at 3pm.

That's all for now folks,

Metta to all!!

                                                (view from Clare's apartment)