Viaje a India, !Qué gran regalo¡

Escribo estas líneas casi a modo de válvula de escape, en la certeza de que mi mente quedará algo aliviada una vez ponga orden en el cúmulo de sensaciones, pensamientos, ideas e información a la que ha estado sometida en estas últimas dos semanas.


Viajé a India con personas a las que no conocía, y que resultaron ser unos magníficos compañeros de aventuras. Sólo por las conversaciones mantenidas en las muchas horas compartidas ya hubiera merecido la pena el viaje. En el grupo habían personas de Colombia, Bolivia, Argentina y España, siendo yo la única representante nacida en este último país, aunque varios llegaron a Madrid para quedarse hace ya muchos años. No mencionaré nombres aquí, pero si diré que la calidez y calidad humana de mis acompañantes hizo de mi viaje una extraordinaria experiencia.

La persona que nos llevó a India es una estupenda mujer que lleva doce años acercándose al país y difrutándolo con una pasión absolutamente contagiosa. Aunque el viaje es fundamentalmente cultural (con numerosas visitas a monumentos civiles y religiosos) hay incluidas algunas actividades que hacen al viajero conectar con las realidades de la India desde la experiencia y los sentidos: desde asistir a una clase de cocina y aprender a hacer "Masala chai", "curry" y "naan", hasta estampar una "pashmina" con bloques de madera, recibir un masaje en uno de los muchos establecimientos de Ayurveda (medicina tradicional India), asistir a una sesión de cine estilo Bollywood en Hindi y sin subtítulos o ir al teatro a ver bailes tradicionales y marionetas. En mi opinión son justamente estas actividades adicionales las que amplían y enriquecen extraordinariamente la visión del viajero, y te hacen sumergirte - al menos un poquito - en un mundo tan diferente al tuyo.

India es conocido en Occidente por ser cuna de famosas enseñanzas y métodos espirituales. Este viaje cuyo itinerario para mi fue Jhodpur, Udaipur, Jaipur, Agra y Delhi no incluyó - por razones de tiempo y espacio - prácticas de yoga o meditación. Aun así, el aspecto espiritual estuvo para mí muy presente: pude compartir con algunos compañeros mi querida "Meditación Dinámica Okuni" (que me acompaña allá a donde voy), también hice una masaje de Polarización Energética a una compañera que decidió compartir su energía con la mía de esta forma tan especial. Asimismo, en mis visitas a diferentes templos (Induistas, Sikhs, Musulmanes) puse toda mi intención en agradecer el recibimiento que se me brindaba y en aceptar y comprender la diferentes manifestaciones de la espiritualidad. Confío en que algún dia la humanidad dejará de usar las religiones como un elemento de separación, centrándose en aquello que es común a todas ellas: el reconocimiento de una energía superior que nos hace crecer y evolucionar y nos conecta con lo más profundo de nosotros mismos. Cualquiera que fuesen mis objetivos espirituales inconscientes para este viaje tengo la certeza de que se han cumplido.

India, con sus más de de 1.300 millones de habitantes es un pais superpoblado. Su ritmo de crecimiento esperado, de alrededor de un 7% anual, le convierte sin duda en un motor económico formidable. Nuestros guías locales hicieron un visible esfuerzo por darnos una imagen positiva respecto a la situación económica del país y el futuro que espera tener dentro del mundo. Sin duda en los últimos años India ha reducido muy significativamente su población bajo el umbral de la pobreza, sin embargo mis ojos contemplaron imágenes que sugieren que hay todavía mucho trabajo que hacer.
Dicho esto, quedan en mi memoria los colores brillantes de las telas de saris, velos, faldas y pantalones colgados a la vista en sus muchos mercados, los sabores fuertemente especiados de sus curries y arroces, el tráfico caótico (pero sorprendentemente "organizado") de vehículos compartiendo espacio con un surtido de animales entre los que destacan, por supuesto, las vacas sagradas. Y, como no, fantásticos lugares como la Fortaleza de Mehrangarh; los cenotafios reales de Jhaswant Thada;  templo Jainista de Ranakpur; el Palacio de Udaipur; Fuerte Amber; Observatorio Astronómico de Jaipur; Palacio de Jaipur; el Baori de Abhaneri; la ciudad de Fatehpur Sikri; el Taj Mahal; el Minarete Qutab; el completo de templos budistas Akshardham; el templo Sikh de Gurdwara Bangla Sahib y más.


Espero que este artículo te haya acercado un poco a India y haya, al menos, despertado tu curiosidad. Solo me queda decir una palabra: "Namasté"

What would you change in your life to get rid of suffering?

After a long silence (August, 2017) a rather extraordinary experience this February is bringing me back to this place. Extraordinary experiences do not happen every day and therefore deserve some thinking not only while they last but also after. Now that the memory is still fresh is just the right time to put it in writing, before it slowly fades away.

From Feb 13th to 24th I attended a 10 day Vipassana meditation training on the Dhamma Sacca facility in Avila (Spain). It all began a few months ago, surfing the Internet. I found a 10 day yoga retreat, in complete silence, and my adventurous heart began to pound!. Suddenly I was excited with the idea, but then my husband nicely pointed out that the country the training was taking place was not too safe. Not wanting to press hard I went back to search for more options and then the Vipassana meditation (VM from now on)10 day training found me.

The only two things I got right about the VM training was that I would spend 10 days in silence and that I would meditate during those days. Surely, the Dhamma Organization makes it very clear for students what this training is about, and ensures you accept their Code of Discipline as a prerequisite for enrolment... but I just missed the full meaning of what I was reading because I had made up my mind to go and I did not need further details that might actually stop me.

Although the VM is not my cup of tea I am extremely happy I spent my time having a glimpse into it. There's a few things I experienced that I would highly recommend to anybody.

The prolonged silence: in a world so full of noise silence can be a blessing. This is of course very personal but to me being in silence was a soothing experience. No discussions, no unwanted noise (produced by somebody's mouth), no misunderstandings, no energy spent in clarifications of any sort, no complaints. The drawback was of course that face-reading is not such an accurate means to interpret how well others were doing or feeling. I noticed some long faces as the days were passing by.

Sharing: the facilities are shared, nothing you can call your own except your personal belongings. Respect for others becomes more relevant than usual. And that respect must be expressed by your acts only: neatly keeping the line for showering, peeing, eating; following schedule to the minute, keeping your room tidy, if not for your own sake, for the sake of your room mates.

Introspection: when you are deprived of all distraction (TV, Cellular, Tablet, Book...even paper and pencil) your mind will sooner or later focus on yourself. Your might not resolve any of your troubles but you will certainly end up thinking on unresolved issues that matter to you, even if you do not want to.

Realization of your mind habits: Funny my latest post in this blog talked about the importance of being present. VM asks you to focus your attention in your body, to feel the sensations in every part of your body, with equanimity and knowing that all of them are only temporary. I found myself having real trouble focusing my attention - that was constantly wandering off - in my body, and real trouble in feeling my body (except those parts that were painful). Constant practice made me better each day though

Patience and compassion: in a context in which you are being fed with information (each day you hear a speech by S.N. Goenka) with no possibility to ask questions you necessarily develop patience. Patience also to bear the long silences in the Meditation Hall, the repetition of the exact same instructions over and over again, patience to hear the non-verbal noises produced by the human beings sitting close to you (you not being allowed to change places or just quit). In these situations you do learn one or two things about yourself!

Attitude toward rules: throughout my life I'd say I have been good at following rules, probably too good. My guess is that many people would consider the rules at Dhamma Sacca (see Code of Discipline)  to be too strict, maybe unacceptable to them. I'm fine with them because I understand their purpose but I must admit that there were two occasions in which I found it very hard to follow them: One night I heard a colleague from other room crying. After a few days your nerves can become very tight and this lady seemed to have reached her breaking point. I was on the brink on breaking my silence vow, because hearing another human in distress and not providing assistance did not feel right to me, vow or not vow. Thankfully another kind heart quickly took action and I could keep my mouth shut as I was supposed to. The second time I decided to be flexible with rules was during meditation hours outside of the Meditation Hall. Every day I was getting more and more tired, and my head was feeling heavier and heavier. So I decided I had to give myself some respite, no matter what the schedule said. The good news for me is that I did so without a trace of regret.

Vipassana is not just a meditation technique. Rather it is a way of life that encompasses moral rules, a focused mind and a method to cleanse our mind from impurities that are the root cause of human suffering. The Dhamma Organization presents Vipassana to us as a "universal remedy for universal ills", a cure against unhappiness, against suffering.

I first tried Meditation in the spring on 2017 and I've managed to incorporate it to my life ever since. This meditation practice is called Okuni Dynamic Meditation. My life has been deeply touched by this meditation, by the Energy Polarization technique and by the teachings of Okuni's team. 

At the end of the Vipassana training I was strongly advised not to mix Vipassana with any other meditation techniques, nor with practising energy therapies. I think my attending this training was just an opportunity to explore, to compare, to learn how other meditation techniques work and to learn a few things about me. 

But there is more. I had the pleasure to share the room with five very respectful ladies, each with different backgrounds and reasons to be there, and all eager to share some good conversation on our last day together! Also, I met a nice lady that talked to me about some travelling activities that very much captured my attention. Hopefully we will soon continue the conversation and take it to the next level.

I wish all my companions in this adventure found what they were looking for, or at least found some open door to take them there!

Let's Be Present

Here I am again telling you the story of my newly found interest in the spiritual side of the human beings!

After I finished reading Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss, still kind of dizzied by the surprising story, another book came to my hands. This time it was The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Ekhart Tolle (funny I mentioned this to a colleague at work only to discover that he had also read the same book, several times!)

People not familiar with spirituality and non religious folks like me can be put off by Tolle's way of expressing himself. But if one looks beyond the form then I think this book indeed has value and actually many people consider it a great book.

I am among the most common human beings that have trouble being present in the Now. My mind too often fantasizes with the future. Also the past pops in, although much less. I've been observing myself since I started reading the book only to confirm how undisciplined my mind is, how much it apparently dislikes being fully in the Now. Tolle insists in his book the past and future are not real and that focusing on them only creates unhappiness. The present moment holds the key to liberation form our unhappiness. 

Tolle asks us to observe our thoughts and observe our emotions and be conscious of them; also he urges us to not identify with our minds. Tolle says "The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as long as your unobserved mind runs your life". 

The recipe Tolle gives us to free ourselves from the mind is to be present on the Now, to end the delusion of time, to escape from the trap of time. Furthermore, he tells us that present-moment awareness creates a gap in the stream of mind and in the past-future continuum and that true creativity can only come to this world through this gap. 

I personally find some of these concepts totally fascinating. For the time being, I keep on reminding myself to come back to the present whenever I realize my mind is drifting to the future or the past..I have no personal experience with the "gap" (yet)

My next read, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra reiterates the benefits of being present in the Now. It will be the subject of my next post.

Reincarnation, really?

As I mentioned in my previous post this summer I've done some unusual readings: Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss was the first of them.

Back in July I attended my first group meditation session. When the session ended I heard somebody in the group talking about past lives. The other people intervened in the conversation as if that would be the most natural thing in the world... My face is always an open book, and it was evident I was clearly skeptical and shocked by what I was hearing. I was then invited to read Many Lives, Many Masters: that night I downloaded it in my Kindle and got started reading.

Dr Brian Weiss is an American psychiatrist, and hypnotherapist. To his surprise, in 1980 one of his patients began discussing past-life experiences while under hypnosis.

I had always seen hypnosis and a sideshow entertainment, nothing to be taken seriously. Now I've come to understand that reputable medical institutions actually view and use hypnosis as a powerful therapeutic tool. Dr Brian Weiss describes in his book his most amazing experience(s) with patients that, through hypnosis, were regressed to past lives and the healing power of those regressions.

Personal takeaways from the book:

1. Apparently reincarnation happens, and often happens within families. It could be more than an unproven religious belief. I am still unsure I believe this as truth but...

2. If I decide to believe it, then the consequence is enormous: I better find out why I am here, what I have come to learn in this life. I was hoping to be done with the goods and the bads of this world by the time I die...but then if I do not learn my lessons my immortal spirit might come into physical form again and again and never make enough progress to make it into the next level; and I do want to make it to the next level!

I'm committed to learning more about this topic. My next read was  The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Ekhart Tolle. I'll comment on it in my next post!

My readings this summer: beginning a journey to deep transformation?

It's been a long time since I last decided to write a post on my readings. It was not for lack of reading but rather for lack of comments worth sharing.

About three months ago I was given a gift: an online basic training on energy polarization ( "polarización energética" in the Spanish original version). The training consisted of a two hour video recording that includes a guided meditation practice at the end.  I was advised to practice the proposed meditation for at least 21 days in a row. I actually did not pay much attention to the teachings in the recording, but I did start practicing the meditation in the hope that it would help me quieten my always restless mind.

I had never practiced meditation before, in any of its different ways. Now, I do not think I am stopping. And I feel deep inside that this is just the beginning. My mind continues to be restless - no miraculous change -, but in a way I cannot explain, I just feel relieved.

To get me started with the "Energy" world I've spent some time reading three books this summer: Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss; The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Ekhart Tolle and The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. I'm still trying to digest these books, I admit it.

I'll talk about them in future posts. I feel my mind is resisting these teachings, but my heart is asking for more. Which one will win? Soon to find out