The Most Important Lesson From India

[Raquel]

I'm sure almost 100% of people here feel the call to go to India... reason?...Could be a lot, but the ultimate goal is to feel more connected with the source or if you prefer Enlightened!

I went to a little holy city in the north of  India called Rishikesh. This place is like the Mecca for yoga and meditation practitioners, it's no doubt a very special place.

  I spent a month there where I did a yoga teacher training, participated in ceremonies, learnt a lot about Vedic science and Ayurveda, shared experiences with a lot of different people that became friends, met gurus, visited ashrams, went to the Himalayas, tried a hole bunch of meditation techniques, pranayama, satkarma,  etc etc.

We woke up everyday around 5 am and around 10 pm the lights turned off. The schedule was very busy and I almost never got time to be alone,  but we still got time to visit a lot of places but most of my free time was for self study.

When you come to a place like India for the first time, your senses are so acute. So many colors, poverty and beggars, skinny cows and dogs, monkeys trying to steal food, honks from cars and  motorbikes every half second, so over populated, so many rubbish and dirt, so many incense and turmeric smells, so hot and wet climate...and when you look around with your head up , you see all this is wrapped up by the powerful Himalayas mountains and when you look down, there it is, the gangues river illuminating your gaze, so silent and peaceful. What a contrast this is...and everything is happening in your face, nonstop. This is seriously challenging for your inner stillness.

To give you some perspective, I'm an active, disciplined seeker for the last 5 years, I meditate everyday, contemplate, read a lot, travel and experienced a fair bit, etc,.. So honestly I wasn't expecting to get surprised with much I would experience there!... I couldn't be more wrong! 

It's difficult to try to describe what happen during my time there because was a shift inside me that no words can describe. I can tell you though that they have so much to teach that I thought to my self  "How I don't know this things already? How they have so much knowledge and nothing reaches the west? This is so powerful!"

As I met people in town (locals and travelers) I started to notice how everyone was sort of vibrating in the same frequency... even the animals... the dogs behaved like cows.. the beggars where always smiling, even when I gave them nothing they would still be waving and blessing. Everyone there was in this fascination towards the present moment. 

As the weeks passed, emotions started to take over more than I was use to for a long time in my life, I would feel this strong swing moods.. sad/happy, too challenged/too relaxed, disconnected/connected, vulnerable/secure...I even started to stare at objects as though I was seeing something for the first time...I thought "Am I getting crazy? 

I shared a room with massive spiders and cokroaches, my bed was moldy and wet, the food was always yellow, the water impossible to drink and  I was always in verge of getting sick.. and eventually I got really sick... and going to an hospital taking an injection was definitely not in my plans. But so it happened..! I was not in my comfort zone at all.

I later started to realize that the contrast that I was experiencing in India between cruelty and humanity, dark and light, ugly and beautiful, chaos and harmony, silk and rag, tears and smiles, odor and perfume... this are so intense opposites, that they were also happening in a micro level, inside me. I was in a process of acceptance, until I had completely surrendered...   

That's when something in me started to change and I couldn't understand exactly what...It was something around my hearth. You know when you hear this things about "to open the hearth"?...Well I always thought "yes, yes my hearth is open, I can feel it"... No, no... I had no idea what that meant before! Your hearth can truly open in such a powerful way that will make you cry, laugh, shine, love....Love unconditionally...Wow I can't even tell you how liberating this is!! I dare to say that this is the most powerful skill you can ever hold. More than open your third eye, more than all the knowledge in the world, more than understanding life, feeling of purpose... more than everything because this is all that ...love is all that... It's what will bring you happiness.

Now you ask "How do I know that my hearth is open to that extreme?" I don't know, only you can tell...Try closing your eyes and place your hands on your hearth and see what you feel. When I do this, I feel ecstasy running in all my body, like all my cells are excited to be here together, vibrating so fast... and they feel comfortable with everything around them, with no preferences. As weird as it might seem I feel I want to hug the hole world, everytime, especially when they look frighten or defensive at me.

"How do you open your hearth?" Whatever works for you really... I found this worked for me:

- Experiencing the opposite of what you think is your preferences and what you think you cant let go.

- Being engaged in a likewise group where I let others helping me heal and also help others to heal through active listening. 

- Very important: meditated at least twice a day using pranayma tecniques and engaging bandhas before the meditation. I find this to be the most powerfull meditations!!

- Danced or just had a fluid movement of my body.  Do a yoga flow that you like and do it everyday with some music that you love

- Be grateful for your body and mind, they are your temple. Instead of trying to avoid and camouflage the parts about you that you don't like, give them special care, like you would take care of a plant.

- Also important, realize that whatever you are, you have a female and a masculine energy inside you that needs to be accepted and balanced. (I will do a post in the future about this)

This are the first steps...Other aspects  you need to know will unfold naturally  within you.

I hope you can feel inspired to take care of your hearth <3  

 

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by Raquel

[Toby]

Cool, that you had the opportunity to go there. Did you go to the Sivananda Ashram or Anandamayi Ma Samadhi?

[Prabhaker]

21 minutes ago, Raquel said:

I'm sure almost 100% of people here feel the call to go to India... reason?

It's strange !!!

I live in India and I always wished to live in a more civilized country, where people are less cunning and less greedy. 

[Raquel]

16 minutes ago, Toby said:

Cool, that you had the opportunity to go there. Did you go to the Sivananda Ashram or Anandamayi Ma Samadhi?

Sivananda.

Xx

[Raquel]

6 minutes ago, Prabhaker said:

It's strange !!!

I live in India and I always wished to live in a more civilized country, where people are less cunning and less greedy. 

It wasn't roses at all... and I  guess depends a bit where you live... I couldn't be in Delhi for long.. I was scammed twice 

Still doesn't mean people don't have a lot to learn in India

[Prabhaker]

11 minutes ago, Raquel said:

Sivananda

All the mahatmas like Shivananda in India have big bellies and they are teaching people, "Don't eat with taste." And they themselves… , "Where does this belly come from? Stand up! Show your belly to the whole people. You are eating too much and the country is hungry. And I know that because of this belly you cannot make love to a woman. So now you are teaching everybody not to make love to any woman. It is because of this belly, not because of your religion.

Everything is out of proportion: a big belly, big fat hands, the legs elephant legs, and this person is teaching the whole world, "You are not the body, you are the soul." And who are these monsters? Just bodies, with no soul at all. I can't see any space in them; they are so filled up with junk that I don't think they can have a soul also.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Prabhaker

[Raquel]

@Prabhaker well I always ate with too much flavour actually and about celabacy, the main idea is that you can channel sexual energy in a powerfull creative way, instead of "give it all away". No teacher told me to stop having sex but to use that energy wisely. 

I understand your point. You can find teachings and teachers that you don't agree or have incoherent aproaches everywhere in the globe... I just listen.. make my choices, extract and recreate what makes sense for me.

[Bebop]

@Raquel I was actually just talking to my therapist about planning a visit to Rishikesh! A little nervous about making a trip there but sounds like it might be worth it

[Raquel]

@Bebop yes is so worth it. If you need any advice on something feel free to message me.

[Donald]

What is your best advice if one decides to go to India, not just merely for "tourism", but actually living there and getting the most out of it? 

[WaveInTheOcean]

Inspiring to read! thank you.

I'm a newbie to pranayma techniques. Did you do pranayma techniques before meditation? Or was the pranayma techniquesTHE meditation that you did?  

Are there any pranayma techniques you found more powerful than others? 

And do you (or anybody else) have a good free online resource for learning pranayma techniques properly?

Thanks.

Edited December 22, 2016 by WaveInTheOcean

[Toby]

http://www.dlshq.org/download/pranayama.pdf

[Raquel]

21 minutes ago, Donald said:

What is your best advice if one decides to go to India, not just merely for "tourism", but actually living there and getting the most out of it? 

Depend on your skills... some are volunteers in ashrams, yoga schools, retreats, etc.. as desingers, photographes and video editers, yoga teachers, or just running daily tasks..Some make some money advertising themself's and do in all sorts of things like organizing cacao ceremonies, sound bath, acroyoga, Qi gong, doing massages, selling handmade stuff.. you name it. 

Being involved in a retreat or ashram (as student or volunteer) I think is a good way to start because they will guide you a bit and you will be more involved with other people..and then when you feel you understand better the enviroment you can go your own way.. 

[Prabhaker]

4 hours ago, WaveInTheOcean said:

And do you (or anybody else) have a good free online resource for learning pranayma techniques properly?

Pranayama English | Baba Ramdev Yoga

 

[Key Elements]

On 20/12/2016 at 5:58 PM, Prabhaker said:

It's strange !!!

I live in India and I always wished to live in a more civilized country, where people are less cunning and less greedy. 

I would like to say something too. Have you been outside India? All places are challenging in completely different ways. You will not find a single place in this world without any challenges. First, you have to know the place well enough to say anything about it. This is not something you get from reading books. Real life experience of travelling is needed for this kind of understanding. 

[Pramit]

your story reminds me of the man who found a guru in a salesman at the bar. Projection is very powerful you see. 

[Raquel]

7 hours ago, WaveInTheOcean said:

I'm a newbie to pranayma techniques. Did you do pranayma techniques before meditation? Or was the pranayma techniquesTHE meditation that you did?  
 

Before. Is part of the process. Pranayama means "the control of life force", which is breath, so it can be translated in breathing exercises, but it's so much more than that.

I would recommend you to read a bit about it and fully understand it and why is so amazing. The book "Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha" from Swami Satyananda Saraswati, have a very good section about it and gives all the instructions for the different techniques.

I don't know any videos but I guess is the best way to understand the techniques if you can't learn it from a teacher.

But start from the easier ones, first what is yogic breathing.  Once you understand it, you can learn Kapalbhati and do at least 40/50 breaths. When you finish, breath normally and then inhale and hold the breath in as much as possible with your eyes closed.  Exhale and hold the breath out, as much as possible. Inhale and exhale normally and at this time see how your body feel, the heat that this created inside you. - don't practice this if you have hearth problems or high blood pressure.

-After you can start Nadi shodhana with alternated nostril breathing and inner retention at least 10 rounds and keep your focus between your eyebrows.

When you finish, rest your hands on your lap, keep your eyes closed and meditate.

This is a basic sequence , you can increase the times and engage bandhas and mudras as you master your practice. Do in the morning (not at night) and no food on your stomach or at least just 3 hours after eating.

[Raquel]

1 hour ago, Pramit said:

your story reminds me of the man who found a guru in a salesman at the bar. Projection is very powerful you see. 

Like the one of the man that projects about the projection..and so on.

Powerfull indeed.

[kurt]

@Raquel Quick question about pranayama Raquel.  

And that is, what do you hope to achieve with the method?

From what I understand the practice is learned to be able to eventually control the elements so that when you are ready your subtle body can leave your body and "merge" with consciousness.  You will die of course, but you will have "attained enlightenment".

Which Im sure was one of pantajilis fantasies.  There are quite a few of them in the yoga sutras if you care to read it.

I think just taking 3 yogic breaths as an entrance to a sit is enough "pranayama" for anyone, no? 

[Prabhaker]

1 hour ago, kurt said:

Which Im sure was one of pantajilis fantasies.

Pranayam never means breath control. It simply means the expansion of the vital energy. Prana-ayam: prana means the vital energy hidden in breath, and ayam means infinite expansion. It is not breath control. The very word control is a little ugly, because it gives you a feeling of the controller; the will enters. Pranayam is totally different: expansion of vitality; breathing in such a way that you become one with the whole’s breathing; breathing in such a way that you are not breathing in your own individual way, you are breathing with the whole.

Through pranayama this potential energy within you is systematically awakened. Pranayama, is one of the methods to hammer the sleeping energy.