Kathakali
Originally uploaded by ambryndana
Cochin Seaside fishing nets.
Originally uploaded by ambryndana
Arrival, Delhi Reality.
Bethany and I have certainly become beach/coastal babes. After floating amidst the charm and coziness of Kerala’s seaside Dutch/Portuguese inspired fishing city of Cochin and lounging on the fine Goa sand, with umbrellas covering us and cold fruity drinks flowing through us…..Delhi has been a Reality Check.
As Bethany said yesterday, after a highly taxed snack/beverage and rough rickshaw debachle, ”Delhi’s gonna chew us up and spit us out.”
*Review.*
Cochin certainly wrapped us up in warm little blankets and indulged our ashram over-balanced senses. Coziness and character abounded; traditional Chinese fishing nets spotted the shores, quaint, old hotels, home-stays, family shops, and sights like the Dutch Palace, Jain Temple, and Jewish neighborhood oozed with rich history, traditional Kathakali dance/theatre performances fed my performance seeking heart. As fiercely independent foot travelers, who love the ability to discover a city by hitting the pedestrian oriented pavement (or cute stone walkway, in this case), Bethany and I found ourselves thrilled at the accessibility of Cochin and the joy of discoveries around unsuspecting little corners. I felt most like Me and Cochin and I quickly developed what felt like a perfect, timely little relationship; choke full of creativity, a well worn and nurtured history, charm, resting spots, reflection, and an open path.
A quick but HOT (with lots of little wanting hands reaching into our berth) train ride north to the quiet Benalum beach in Goa, and we had Arrived. Arrived to the sweet sand. Arrived to the open, majestic sky. Arrived to the seaside drinks/lounge chairs and toasts. Arrived to the luscious moonlight. And unfortunately, we had also arrived to some low season, left-with-little-to-do sketchy staff. Except for an unsuspected need to move accommodations due to sad, staff interactions at our first beach shack, I was immensely grateful for the wide reaching water, sand, moonlight and sense of c a l m. I could hardly believe that in a country of 1 billion people, Bethany and I could find ourselves nearly solo, at times, tossed by the salty waves or strolling the serene beach.
And back to, now. Though, already in just under 2 days, Delhi has been a firm reminder of the urban, city, expensive, all-for-themselves side of India, I am happy to finally be here. In the north. In the cosmopolitan capital. Dodging crowds, heavy rain, hawkers at every resting point, and high taxes. In the ever-evolving life that is urban, up and coming India. Working hard not to avoid being spit out by Delhi, though slightly chewed is ok.
In a handful of days, it’s on to a 16 hour bus up to the Himalayas, to Dharmasala, the home of the Dalai Lama. To the cool temps of the hills. More Reality? Less Reality? We shall see.
Much love and a shout out to the Lovely and Amazing Andrew Hamp and Michael Kocher who have graduated this month in Gorgeous Glory! xoxo
Post Ashram indulgences.
Originally uploaded by ambryndana
In the midst of our recent emergence from our week at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in Neyyar Dam, I find myself with much to ponder and digest.
Below are a handful of things I have realized/affirmed/remembered quite profoundly.
1) 5:20 AM is early. Really early. My body is shocked to hear loud wake-up bells and move at 5:20 AM. But also, the day is loooong when you start it at 5:20 AM. By 11am, it feels like it’s time to turn in. 5:20 AM is also a beautiful, lusciously silent and serene experience.
2) I love onions, garlic, intense spices, widely available fresh fruit and the occasional glass of cold water. These items, by ashram and yogic rules just aren’t happening. And while it’s all choked up in energy and body tempature balance, I surely find great joy in all of the above.
3) Guru culture and Swami status is Fascinating. Age Old. And with much Wisdom. However, it’s also bursting with power differentials, patriarchy and the dangerous potential of subjagation. I don’t believe any one person has “the way,” “the truth,” or “enlightenment.”
I do believe in the widespread wisdom of individual experience, community and dialogue. I do believe in the gathering of spirits. I do believe in the sacred foundation of India and it’s swirling and vibrant history of spiritual and human complexities.
4) I love body work. I love body work that challenges, teaches, and disrupts that which I assume I know about myself. I love how this work has everything to do with the mind, the psyche, communities and the world. In this way, I love yoga. And I love the thickness and richness of Yoga, the classical and holistic spirituality and Way Of Life.
a) I also love passion, strong scents, drama, crazy personalities, fighting fair and committed fights in order to grow, the cinema, Dancing in dark places and inappropriate loudness.
Enjoying all of this (for me)=living a full, complete life.
5) It is important to be Challenged. Silence is challenging, sitting in 2 hour chanting/meditation session is challenging, having every minute of my day decided for me is challenging, not being in control is challenging and the fear of losing one’s ego, personality and Individuality is certainly real.
6) I really love good, fluffy chocolate cake, drizzeled with chocolate syrup, served to me by a nice server on a clean plate, accompanied by a shiny fork.
In our first full day away from the Ashram, Bethany and I dived into the best chocolate cake we’d had in a looong time. Today, this chocolate cake in all it’s worldly sugary and sensory indulgence, messiness and pure enjoyment was my guru.
Ganesha.
Originally uploaded by ambryndana
Shiva Hall.
Originally uploaded by ambryndana
Shape Sharing
Originally uploaded by ambryndana
In the 3 day Creative Movement summer workshop for students and teachers, facilitated by Bethany and I, we shared shapes, body mapped and e m b o d i e d….in the sunny alaa space.
Good times indeed.
And thus, we have arrived!
It only took…a 26 hour, overnight train ride. A night in a mosquitoey lodging hall in Trivandrum. Two Indian buses, sporting religious paraphernalia of all kinds (Jesus, Hindu Gods Ganesha and Shiva, the first incarnation of Sai Baba…etc.), plastic flowers, a fruit plate offering and Hindi music. And…our first successful rickshaw transport. Varkala!
Bethany and I departed Visthar on Wednesday night, with heavy hearts but flittering visions of the coast and have officially hoped on the backpacking, independent Indian traveling trail. Today we awoke in a Government Guest House, on the grounds of a former Maharaja’s vacation palace, with high ceilings, marble floors and a lovely porch/veranda on all sides. We made our way past livestock and tree swings to enjoy a traditional Keralan breakfast, with boiled bananas (good stuff), in a simple, but beautiful dining hall.
This afternoon-the Ocean. Strong Salt. Crashing Waves. Meditative Ocean Churnning. We had arrived indeed. After soaking in all our pale, white skin could handle, we explored the rest of the cliffs, dined in the bamboo inspired Kerlan CoffeHouse and clinked celebratory cocktails.
The air is warm and the breeze is redeeming, after all the travel heat. It was time to turn our eyes toward more of India.
It’s good to be with Bethany. It’s good to start to settle into the Indian road.
It was one of those moments when I thought, “How the heck did I get here?”
Last week Bethany and I co-facilitated a “Creative Movement/Drama” 3 day summer workshop for 12 Indian teachers from a schmaltzy private school and 5 students from 13-17 years. With cultural barriers, language barriers (the deep feeling drama facilitator, Halikuke, speaks Kannanda and well…we don’t) and lots of blank stares to the phrases “creative learning” “warming into the space” and “feel your weight falling into the earth,” I certainly was wondering how this all came to be my reality. I think it’s safe to say the low was when one of the participants, a lovely teacher named Pushpa asked “When will we be learning salsa or ballet?” Ugh. It hurts.
However, I must say, the spirit of all that is transformative and radical about creative means of learning, communicating, role challenging and possibility envisioning scored a big victory. The three day course which I authored, with Bethany’s assistance, asked these participants to move from the Self, to Others, to Community via movement, dance and body awareness activities. We created body maps. We embodied concepts, emotions and elements of nature. We dug into newspapers, The Times of India and Deccan Herrald, and tried to conceptualize the stories of the world in movement fashion. Perhaps there was blood, sweat and tears along the way, but in the end, wah-lah. As David stated, in grand fashion, during our end of the workshop performance, “You have indeed been created to be creative!” I was proud of what we could contribute, how we could offer a challenge and how, despite cultural clashes, language sna-foos and shakey beginning expectations, the creative world won out again.
Pictures to come, uh-huh.
Elder Blessing Ceremony.
Originally uploaded by ambryndana
Ugadi is a holiday in India, bringing together many kinds of people of various religions, gathering to recognize the seasonal new year. Besides a day of rest and family, Ugadi draws attention to the sweet and the sour of life. I dig Ugadi. I dig that it’s a day of inclusion, a day of rest and a day of celebrating the handshake that can and perhaps should happen between those elements of life that are cruddygrittydarkhard and those elements of life that are l o v e l y and bright and surprise you with their beauty. The sour and the sweet. This holiday definitely grooves with me indeed.
As a staff at Visthar, David led us all in a morning tea break reflection on this all, affirming the struggle and celebrations that make up the work at Visthar, life in India, and life, everywhere. However, it is India that I believe so truly embodies this balance.
Bethany and I have also had the chance to partake in other New Years festivities, with the ever-boisterous School of Peace students, with whom we have formed relationships with over the last 2 months. A couple Sundays ago, it was the start of New Years celebrations in Nepal, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia and thus, we were brightly greeted with festive energy bright and early at 8am breakfast and rituals of dotted foreheads and blessings. Later in the day, we found ourselves involved in another ritual involving the elder of the group (Max, the SOP professor and ex-patriot now living in Vietnam AND a past presenter during our first trip in 2001) receiving messages of forgiveness and blessings from all in the group…via water poured down his shirt, over his head and on his feet. Good sport, that Max. Then, one by one, Max took threaded bracelets from the money tree/flowers accompanying the ceremony and offered individual and quite heartfelt blessings for all. It was a touching event and I found myself commenting to Bethany on how it may be time for a bit more reverence and reflection in our own New Years celebrations, balancing out the drinks, clinks and crazy dancing of my past celebrations in Chicago (don’t get me wrong, the drinks and dancing aren’t going anywhere).
After all the seriousness and reverence, came the waterfight! There we were, amidst a screaming, scurrying mass of students brought to Visthar to study, research and promote peace….dousing each other with buckets and buckets of water. Fabulous indeed. Brought me back to the intense and strategic summer water fights that would happen on North Hennepin St. in the summer with all the rugrats on our block. We Melius children took our water fighting strategy seriously.
The celebrations ended with Nasar and Mateo leading Indonesian and Cambodian dance lessons on the yard.
Happy sweet and sour to ya’ll.
