#21- April 6, 2008- Finally Something Interesting to Write About

March 29, 2008 -
Sitting in the airport in Delhi with much too much time to kill. It is the now 4:30 in the morning and my flight is not until 6:30, (was actually delayed until 7:30), but I can’t sleep so figured I do something useful.

This will be the last post for this trip, aside from the videos I will post this week from home.

Overweight for first time!! I always have a few KG over the allowed weight but have never been asked to pay for it in the past. This time I wound up paying $70 for my overweight.

And after having a fairly uninteresting trip travel wise, now, my last day, I actually have something interesting to write. I jotted the things down on paper so as not to forget, but will now see how many of them come to mind.

They are basically about the changing face of India. Just as the rest of the world is
changing, so is India. The changes have been very subtle over my last couple of trips, but this trip the move forward seems to be quite drastic…almost as if the country is trying to catch up with the rest of the world over night…to make up for lost time. I know this is inevitable, but I know that each future trip will bring more and more changes, and, aside from the women’s clothing, hopefully at least, India will very soon find itself “caught up”. This of course is superficial at best as the deep seated problems of the country remain….but it is truly overgoing a “face-lift” so that what you see from the outside, is quite amazing. So, below, just a very few of the many things which caught my attention this trip, many of them just now on my way back to Delhi. (I imagine that on my next trip, when I plan to stay in Delhi for awhile, there will be even more things worth commenting on).

The thing I found most outstanding during this entire trip, was the new relative “freedom” I see among Indian couples. It was always an outright taboo for Indians, even married couples, to show any signs of affection in public and in the years I’ve been coming here, except for a couple of Muslim couples, I never saw any Indian couple even touching in public. This trip, I have seen over and over again, couples holding hands, cuddling in rickshaws, husband protectively putting his arm around his wife’s shoulder, and this was not just for very young couples. Also older married couples seemed to have gotten past the long-standing taboo. I even saw unmarried younger people doing this. And this all in the sacred city of Rishikesh. I imagine in the large cities it is already a given and taken for granted.

Since I spent my entire 7 weeks in Rishikesh, and slept through the taxi ride from Delhi to Rishikesh when I first arrived, this evening was the first time I got a glimpse of anything else, and there were many things to see. First of all, lots and lots of more modern cars on the ride. It is now a truly rare sight to see the old faithful Ambassador on the road. Aside from the local Tata cars, Indica, Indigo etc., there are many Suzukis, as well as Chevrolets and others I don’t recall. I even came today in a taxi which was a Chevy 4x4. True luxury for India! But this seems to be the growing trend. For the country’s huge population living in poverty, life remains the same, but for those on the move upward, things are moving forward very quickly.

OK..getting tired of writing…will continue when I get home I guess…

It’s now a week later and I am getting back to this. So, we continue with the changing face of India. I imagine in other places of the world there have been rest stops all along highways for years. Here in Israel it is a new growing trend and it seems at every junction a mini-mall sprouts seemingly overnight. There are so many of them the last few years it is almost comical. Well, I’d never seen anything like this in India, until this last ride back to Delhi, where, starting from about 2 hours outside the city, every few minutes we would pass what is called here a “shopping complex” on the side of the road. Many were already working, and others were being built, but I asked the driver about them and he said now, outside every large city, there are many of them, and they attract shoppers from the city who come to shop in AC comfort and to find all the latest shops all in one place.

And then there is the new approach to the Delhi airport which is just as complex and confusing as the one to the new airport in Tel Aviv. And not only that, you have to pay to get into the airport area..there is a toll booth. 11 rupees!! Even the driver was surprised and he had made this journey recently and it wasn’t yet working!

Once getting INTO Delhi itself, there were also roadworks everywhere. It seems like the whole city is getting a face lift, not just the airport. The airport itself has a new look…real international duty free areas, modern toilets, freezing AC and coffee and sandwich shops offering horrible food at ridiculous prices!

All in all, this trip to India was completely hassle free as I didn’t travel anywhere and stayed put in one lovely place. It was a perfect vacation, and with my newfound freedom from fears, quite pleasant actually. Going home, I asked that all be provided for a perfect and easy flight and also asked that Raphael, who appeared in the first card I chose you may remember several weeks ago, to remove any physical obstacles which may appear along the way. Well, the taxi ride was easy, even though I tried not taking travamin for travel sickness…and I was not sick at any point along the way, even managed to fall asleep in the taxi. I really believe that all the years I suffered with travel sickness in cars, busses, planes etc., was a physical manifestation of my fears of travel…and it seems now I am finally past them.

The flight was lovely…I even had two seats to myself. Even managed to sleep on the plane which I have NEVER done before, despite delays in both Delhi and Amman and even upon landing in Tel Aviv…I was relaxed and happy the entire way. Never felt stressed or uptight. Quite lovely.

And that’s about it. I am now home..been home for a week already, and it’s almost as if I never left. I am going dancing tonight for 3rd time since getting back…have been to visit all my children, traveling to them by car…even went to see a friend on the way home. Putting together new workshops and sharing groups, working on new energy exercises and pranayama as suggested by Dudi, and look forward to a lovely 6 months at home before going back to India in October.

Namaste for the last time this trip. Hope you’ve enjoyed the videos I uploaded, even though they are very small and the quality is not really good. Sorry about that…don’t know any other way of doing it.

See you all in October. I will now get back to posting on the Mindfulness Journal, which I got away from some time ago and have many interesting things to already write about.

Jane

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Down to the Home Stretch - March 24th 2008

I haven’t been writing about what’s going on here the last few days as it’s been very intense and insightful as well. I think it probably will not get to this blog as much of it is personal and intimate, on many levels, as well as difficult to put into words. So I will simply say that I’ve been through a deep insightful growth experience involving the following, and more:

Disturbed sleep for 3 nights for no apparent reason
A deep sense of painful sadness suddenly overcoming me to the point of tears flowing, while sitting with friends…again, for no apparent reason
Doing an energy cleansing of my room to remove negative energies which seemed to have had accumulated without my realizing it.
Using my Dancing as a healing modality
Further treatments with Dudi
Newfound openness and joy and energy

I am now coming down to the “finish line”. It’s been a very short “race” against time for me this trip. My shopping chores are pretty much finished, I have a facial again on Wednesday, together with Yael this time, . I’d like another dip in the Ganga and perhaps sushi at Moksha (they began serving it last week…remember, the owners are Korean – but I haven’t gotten around to tasting it yet),. An attnement fromDudi still awaits me this evening so that I can begin passing on symbols from Kabbalah which can be used in Reiki II for those who feel uncomfortable with the Japanese symbols. I already had a further Master’s attunement from him. And to finish everything off, one last treatment with Dudi

AND THEN HOME!

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#19…”Quiet” day at Home and Changes in the Weather

Again, I have not felt the need to “report” all that has been unfolding the last couple of days, and although the days were fairly quiet, they flow by with alarmingly swift speed and without realizing it, another full week has gone by since we were up on the roof singing and dancing! (I am now sitting in bed with the computer on my lap, transcribing what I wrote a few minutes ago, as I am still not tired, even though the hour is now 3:30 AM. I am quite disturbed that my hip is still “talking” to me…not loudly, but a soft, persistent whisper..but even that I haven’t heard in more than a year!). So, back to transcribing…

It is now 2:30 AM and for the first time here,
I am unable to sleep. It is hard for me to comprehend that this is all ending next week. It has been so intense, and for the first time the thought of extending my stay here begins to plague me. So. Let’s just recoup the rest of yesterday following late lunch with Dudi and then today.

I had gone to sleep the nite before, if you remember, a very hot day where I had gone out with Dudi after my lovely massage with him. I figured I’d have an early night when I got back to the room. But my “muse” was waiting for me when I returned and in just 15 minutes I had Ben’s proposal written up. The other day he had given me all his input about how he views his farm and reforestation project and left it to me to put it into a workable proposal, in the event that the words came to me. I had just left everything to rest in the computer when all of a sudden I knew exactly what I needed to write.

I then had a snack with Tasha and Yael. Tasha was again after a difficult phone conversation with her boyfriend, so I offered her Reiki to calm her down. She had never had Reiki before (she is now sold on it and will learn when she gets home), and then asked Yael to go down and tell Ben his proposal was ready if he felt like coming up in 45 minutes to see it. End of early night. It was already 8:30 when Tasha and I began her Reiki session. When I finished the Reiki session, Ben was patiently waiting outside, as he also wanted to apologize to me as he was cancelling our hitchhiking date in favor of a better offer…someone was taking his motorbike to the local game reserve for the day and offered to take him along. I was actually relieved as I knew I would need a day to just rest with my hip making noises. (The hip will be shortly explained…)

Anyway, he was thrilled and quite impressed with the proposal and with my writing “expertise” and with the fact that I had said everything he had thought of saying but never could have put into written form himself. (You can see the proposal at the end of the post).We decided to add a picture of him which he will come and pose for and perhaps even short video if we manage it in the short time left.

Later in the evening my hip began to bother me (was feeling it even while out with Dudi earlier but trying to ignore it for as long as possible) for the first time in a very long time. It actually disturbed my sleep at the beginning of the night. I began , of course, to blame myself for not eating properly and being hard on myself while still putting part of the “blame” on the hot dry weather of the past couple of days. When I really couldn’t sleep, I remembered I had Tara Brach’s book with me with her lovely meditations for all situations based on her background as clinical psychologist as well as Buddhist practitioner and teacher. One of them was to help us use the concept of Radical Acceptance to gracefully accept pain without blaming ourselves. After doing this difficult but lovely meditation, I easily fell asleep and slept very soundly until morning, when I had this early morning dream of Ben sitting outside my room, in winter clothing, waiting for me. And when I opened my eyes, quite late for me-almost 9 AM – there he was, outside my room, patiently waiting for me to wake up, dressed in WINTER CLOTHES. The weather had turned colder, very cloudy, and very windy, and looked like a storm was on its way. And that, together with the accumulation of wrong foods I’ve been eating for the past 2 weeks, and the swift change from very hot and dry to cold and wet weather, certainly would explain my hip.

Planning an easy day for myself and my hip, I didn’t understand why he was here, as he was supposed to have left at 6 for his outing. Apparently both him and this other fellow had eaten something bad and neither was up to a day trip. So I gave him my ginger oil and sent him home. I needed time alone in peace and quiet…at least that was what I had in mind.

So…my day:

Got up slowly…did a facial for myself, a pedicure, beautiful hot shower and then down for breakfast. When I came back up, Tasha was up after Yoga and so I did her nails for fun also. And then, with the nasty weather as well as my needed to rest my hip, decided it was a perfect day for the movies. Tasha, Ben and Yael were all invited, but we couldn’t decide on what to see…in the end, Ben came up first while Tasha went shopping and Yael went to practice Reiki on Dudi. We had decided to see the Notebook, and beautiful poignant love story beautifully acted by Gena Rowlands and James Garner, but when he saw the long list of movies on my computer, asked if he could choose…and he did. The Simpsons!!! So stupid that it was actually funny!.

By the time that was over, I was starving…had Biryani for lunch and by then Tasha was back from shopping and asked when the movie begins! So, we went back into my room and we watched The Notebook together, sitting comfortably on my bed with our pillows…only popcorn was missing. We both enjoyed it, cried together and at the same moment that a storm begins in the movie, the rain began outside here as well. Things have cooled down considerably and hopefully the next few days will stay a little cooler. (It was up to 37 degrees for a couple of days).

We had a lite dinner together, just hung around…had an interesting conversation on reincarnation with Yael, Ben came up to play Bubbles and FINALLY won a game, which made it easier to kick him out, and then quickly drifted off to sleep, until now, when my thoughts began churning in my head.

So many things I still want to do here…so many people I don’t want to leave. I will wait a few more days and see if I get any definite answers in the form of signs or messages.

Tomorrow perhaps hitchhiking, but I would prefer doing my last minute shopping for some things I still haven’t gotten around to. It is Thursday and the market is closed but I should be able to get the stuff around here. I also need to stock up on some food as the next day is Holi and the place is shut down tight until the evening (you remember Holi from last year with all the colors thrown around…same day and same background story as Purim)

Friday another massage with Dudi. Perhaps tomorrow I will give him a Reiki treatment in advanced payment. I am also doing Reiki on Yael tomorrow as birthday present to her. She is turning all of 27 years old!!

Well, just writing has calmed me down somewhat. I will probably sleep better now and see what tomorrow brings. The air is really chilly as it blows in from the mountains, through the open window to my left and across my bed. Will bundle up in my extra quilt like blanket and hopefully drift back off to tranquil sleep until a new day dawns and patiently wait to see what it brings my way.


After many years of traveling around the world and being witness to the destruction caused by our greed and lack of respect for nature, I have repeatedly asked myself what I can do to make a difference. The word which consistently surfaces in my consciousness is TREES, TREES, TREES.

The idea of reclaiming a piece of land destroyed by ignorance and greed and having it shine again in all its natural glory, has become a repetitive mantra for me. People today are very aware of their carbon footprint and would favor companies who were perceived as doing something to reverse the situation. The idea of taking over a piece of land which has been destroyed by big business, in effect receiving the land from them, would allow me to achieve the goal of reforestation and at the same time generate good publicity for the company.

With my great love of nature and my ability to persevere even in difficult situations, I feel that I can wholeheartedly apply myself to this goal.

A project of this sort would include, in addition to the reforestation, any or all of the following: regeneration, carbon offset, oxygenation, sustainable farming, wildlife habitats, local employment, re-education, healing, education in reforestation and encouraging others to take on similar projects. A small farm on the same piece of land would also provide permaculture, annual produce from trees and plants, provide employment to local families, even allow for the possibility of one or two local families to live and work on the farm and benefit from a small income as well as a comfortable standard of living for the local area.

An example would be Mexico, where massive areas of land have been destabilized due to deforestation and the resulting land erosion. A large company that is aware of its carbon footprint might find this the perfect solution to contribute to change in a positive way and begin reversing the situation, slowly but steadily. At the same time, the publicity they receive would be invaluable to their public image and continued business success and growth. Sustainable forestry would be one option for such a company.

The resources I would need to initiate such a project would be both financial and human. At some point, volunteers could join the project, thus learning the methods for continuing this work in other places. I am offering you an opportunity to show the public that you are truly committed to reversing the carbon footprint. I guarantee you that whatever goal is mutually set, will be realized and even surpassed.

This is the true path of my heart and I put my feet firmly upon it.

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WRITING – From the Heart or From the Head

I’ve come to an interesting understanding… My blog posts this trip have been fairly dull and uninteresting and whenever I sat down at the computer to write about my day, there was no true desire to write at all. So I simply put down the basic facts of the day’s experience and left it at that. The “heart” of my experience literally never got put down “on paper”. And that was the problem.

I am now sitting in a coffee shop along the Ganga,
feeling the energies, absorbing the atmosphere, and, with pen in hand, FEELING the words for the first time this trip. I cannot go back and “fix” what has already been posted, but I would like to believe that the rest of the trip will, as in the past, first find its way through my heart and hand via pen, to paper, and then later simply be transcribed to the computer. The full range of feelings and insights can only be felt in this way it seems.

I truly have had an amazing journey here. So many things have happened in so short a time, that I honestly do not feel the need to be here longer than the originally planned 7 weeks ( which end in 2 weeks!). Everything I could have dreamt of and imagined to make this short time perfect, whole and complete, has happened. Healing on deep levels, great joy and laughter, unexpected surprises on all levels – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual – all coming together in perfect harmony to bring full and profound meaning to this trip.

I have been blessed with all those people (angels) necessary to initiate and facilitate different processes whose end results are complete tranquility, harmony and balance. A feeling of wellbeing on all levels which I haven’t experienced in a long time, and was in desperate need of.

There have been those who have been guided to me to find answers to their own issues through the Divine guidance I am always offered. And there have been those sent to ME to help ME move forward in healing issues which have plagued me for too long. Issues which I have been asking for help with for a long time.

I now sit overlooking the Ganga, with a feeling of deep contentment, knowing that once again I have journeyed inward through Divine Grace and discovered further unexplored territories and landscapes in the depth of my heart and soul.

I look forward to returning to the “real” world and continuing my journey, knowing that I have all the faith necessary to fearlessly continue to travel the new paths opened before me. I am surrounded always with loving protection and guidance from God and His Universe, my Guides, and the angels.

I amy be writing further posts…but I doubt there is any way to truly put into words the full depth and range of feelings and insights I have experienced over the past short month.

INSIGHT: It is interesting that this first “writing” comes in the wake, and seemingly as another result of, the healing in the form of past-life regression and Tikun (fixing) I experienced 2 days ago. It fits into the pattern…my meditations are deeper and more tranquil of mind, my yoga asanas are easier with a newfound flexibility of joint and muscle, my quiet, still poses, are effortless and can be held indefinitely without loosing my balance, my pranayama (breathing exercises) are much deeper and exhilarating, so ti makes sense that as a result of this deep cleansing, unblocking and release of accumulated “toxins” from the past, my words would also begin to flow as well!

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#16 – March 10-11, 2008 – Back to the Real World and A Really “Rough” Day

Interesting, during the previous 3 days I had this intense need to be alone, and work on the issue of irrational fears. (A posting will eventually find its way to the Mindfulness Journal, but it is still being contemplated to try and get the full impact of those 3 days across). And to my surprise, I WAS entirely alone. No one came looking for me at my room. Id didn’t meet anyone in town anywhere, nor bump into any new, or old friends at meal times. And today (yesterday actually), which I declared a “vacation” day for myself, and just hung around doing relaxing things –
nothing require any great effort either physically, mentally or spiritually, the people who saw me during the day told me I looked: renewed, vibrant, full of life, at peace, tranquil etc. But still was alone most of the day. [ Except for my meeting with Dudi, which will have to wait for another post].

And when today, (really today), I more or less got back to my “real” world, everyone staring turning up again…pretty much coming out of the woodwork so to speak. Yael, a young Israeli girl, came for advice and we sat for a long time early this morning. Then I went down to mail my package and met a nice Indian guy on the way and we talked for awhile. He is from Kerala and vacationing in Rishikesh and wanted my advice about sending a package “home”! Then, back to my room where I had prepared a small snack of cheese and grapes before headingoff to the Ganga, when Ben turned up. He’s started his teachings with the Swami Dyananda (also Akhilesh’s Swami), and I figured I would not be seeing him for awhile. Well, HE came to tell me about his first evening and morning and so we snacked together and he talked. . Then finally got down to the Ganga, and following my “swim”, walked into Moksha, the nice new restaurant down there and again met Yael, not planned, eating with a young German guy so again had company. There was hardly a minute during the day when I was not with someone else. And just as I thought I’d be heading back to relax, my phone rang (I had it with me for this exact reason, just in case) and it was Nikolai, asking to meet me in about an hour for Chai! So, back to the room, quick shower and down to spend a lovely 3 hours with him, after not seeing him for a year. And WOW! What a story HE had to tell.

From a deeply devoted practicing Buddhist of 7 years, living most of that time in India with short and infrequent trips back home to visit family, living at a monastery and preparing for his first 5 year retreat, he is now going back to Moscow to get married to a very rich girl he knows since age 14 (he is 32), who was married previously, divorced, has a 7 year old son (which he says may even be his anyway), and is very rich. He will go into her father’s business which he says is dirty, cut throat and completely demanding, and wind up getting rich himself!! When I asked how this will effect his practice and all his Buddhists beliefs, and why he was doing it, he replied that if he didn’t do itnow, he would always wonder if he made a mistake and with regrets, could never move forward in his practice anyway. If it works out, he will assume he was never as truly committed as he imagined himself to be, and if not, in 4-5 years he will simply leave it all and come back and continue from where he left off!

It is now the next day…March 11th, and I had planned, after the very intense “people filled” day yesterday, to go early to the market to do some shopping I still have on my list. But Ben joined us (my 2 British neighbors…I know, I haven’t written about them either), for breakfast and then came up to speak to me further about the teachings and why they are not working for him, and how disappointed he is in himself etc. It was an intense, and long talk, but quite insightful for him, and in the end, I didn’t leave for the market until after 12.

I easily found the computer shop recommended to me on Railway Road, and if I hadn’t just seen myself walk into it off the Rishikesh street, I could have sworn I was back in raanana! I bought a Logitech cordless mouse and it was so pleasant shopping there . They didn’t just hand it to me, take my money and say goodbye as would have happened back home. They opened up the substantial packaging, took out the mouse (I hadn’t said a word, was just expecting to pay and go), showed me how to put in the battery, how to store the USB piece, how to get the best results from the mouse, plugged it into their computer and asked me to try it and see if it was comfortable…all this before taking any money for me…)

I then decided to look for a mortar and pestle from marble for myself and one of my daughters, and some fabric to have a couple of favorite tops remade for me by a local tailor. But then remembered that the cosmetician I went to last year was right up the same street so figured I’d walk up just to make an appointment. I wound up spending the next 2 hours being completely pampered including back massage, and all kinds of beauty treatments, which were as wonderful as I remember them being, my face is as smooth as a baby’s behind, and all for 250 rupees!!

I DID find a mortal and pestle, as well as having my late lunch of brown rice and steamed veggies, went up to my room to rest from this really “rough” day…it was 4:30 by then and I have been up since 5:30 this morning. I am liking Rishikesh more and more each day and will definitely be back here.

I have BTW, begun doing my yoga, pranayama and meditation outside each morning facing the rising Eastern Sun and it is quite powerful. Trying to figure out some way to do that at home but so far cannot think of any practical option.

Namaste for today
Jane

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#15 March 8, 2008 – FREEDOM FROM FEAR

Where to begin. There actually is nothing much new happening　as far as “travel” goes, and you may all be finding my posts getting boring, but I am in a very personal place right now and what is happening in my life right now is exciting to ME.

So, first of all,

the video promised will have to wait until I get home as it is taking too long to upload it from here…it is a lovely one but I will get it up on the blog as soon as I get home.

The Ganga is rising from day to day. It is quite amazing. In the pictures I sent from just 2 days ago, there is a large square kind of rock sticking out of the water which I held on to so as not to slip. Yesterday it was no longer on the shore and half submerged, and today it was well out into the river and almost completely covered over. There is also a current now and eddies and small rapids forming where there were just calm waters 2 days ago. The snows are melting fast I guess and the water seems to be getting even colder, but I do my dip each day and love it.

I continued working on fears, and picked other lovely cards for the next two days as instructed (!) and I won’t go into details here but I was given further insights, reinforcement and encouragement to continue.

Yesterday I picked the angel Shanti “I am the angel of peace. I bring you new tranquility and a smoother road ahead”.

And the Goddess Hathor reminding me to “allow yourself to receive. This will increase your intuition, energy and ability to give to others”.

And today, the angel Adriana telling me “I am leading you toward the answer to your prayers, Please listen to and follow the steps I am communicating through your intuition, thoughts and dreams”

and The Goddess Ixchel…reminding me that “You are a channel for Divine healing power” and to continue my healing practice and to honour my healing knowledge and abilities and to continue to teach others….

I’ve been out 3 days in a row now for hours in the full sun, with no ill-effects, dipping in ice cold waters with no hip or knee problems, and going out at night, in the dark, alone, and completely enjoying my new found freedom…freedom to do what I want and always thought I couldn’t, and freedom from fear.

I find myself spending more and more time alone, being out of my room from 10 in the morning until 5 or 6 in the evening and then going out afterwards to eat if I feel like it, so even if people look for me, I am not around. I also have less and less need for the computer, and am only writing now to get this down “on paper”, more for me than anything else. It is a very powerful period in my life’s journey right now, bringing many things together in a process which began months ago and all things seem to be now falling into place. I feel very blessed and at peace with the process and confident that many more of my issues with fears will dissolve over the next period of time.

And the best surprise of the day was, I literally bumped into my friend Nikolai on the street!



I know him from McLeod and only see him there, and he mentioned he was coming to Rishikesh for the first time for a short vacation in one of his e-mails. I was getting ready to write to him today to ask when he was coming, when I literally turned around in a shop and bumped into him! He has been here for a week already and is leaving in just 3 days. He is also staying at Swiss cottage but we have never seen each other. Very funny. Hopefully he will come up this evening as he wants to see pictures of the latest family members and see how the others have grown since last year when I saw him. You might remember he is my Russian born Buddhist friend, around 30 now I think, who lives about 8 months a year in India, sometimes even longer and mostly at Tashi Jong where is lama (teacher) is and where Tenzin Palmo’s nunnery is located.

I’m including his pic from a few years ago…he now sports a really smart mustache and goatee…

Ah…yesterday I finished most of the little shopping I had to do (which you all know I hate) and hope to get a package out sometime this week and know I am finished with that.

And I will end here for today

Namaste

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#10-March 2, 2008- I’ve been Cured

Sending some more pictures today…and just writing to say that if I ever continued to entertain the idea of bringing groups to India, the last two days have cured me of that for sure. I spent two days with 2 women from Russia, one of them who contacted me a couple of years ago via my blog and we have been trying to meet up in India since then, and her friend. Rich women who were here for a retreat and then came to spend 2 days in Rishikesh. Spending the two days with them, seeing what it means to show people around who want nothing more to do than shop, needing the patience to allow them to enjoy themselves while still moving them along to the various places to see and get a feel of Rishikesh…it was exhausting. And that was only 1 ½ days actually.


But I was out with them, took some nice pictures which I am posting here, and actually enjoyed much of the quiet time we spent together at meals etc. But the whole idea of doing this is really not for me. If any of you out there however ever decides to come to Rishikesh, and needs places to shop for good jewelry etc., I at least now have the information. These women spent over $3000 dollars on jewelry but I was introduced to places I would never have found on my own. For information purposes, it was a profitable day for me as well.

Hope you enjoy the pictures…I have had very little time on my own the past week since I met Ben….and then these women, as well as a lady I haven’t written about yet (she will be in the second “people” post as I am leaving her for the end…it will be difficult to really write about her)…but I did some computer fixing for her as well this week…and tomorrow the 2 ladies are leaving and Ben and I will be sharing healing sessions again and perhaps go to the puja in the evening. We’ve been spending lots of time together…he just keeps coming up looking for me until he finds me…and once he does, the time just goes by and it is dinner time and the day is once again over. He will begin his teachings shortly, so I guess I will have more time to myself by then, but for now I am enjoying his company, as he obviously is enjoying mine…lots of interesting discussions, lots of laughing…quite pleasant.

I still get my own walking in each day but it is beginning to get warmer and will probably have to change my schedule and go out for breakfast, instead of lunch and then spend the warm hours relaxing and then going out again in the evening…

OK…enough babbling….enjoy the pics. I'm trying to get more pics of people this trip and other interesting everyday scenes of life in Rishikesh. These were taken over a 3 hour period and the ones on the Ganga are evening time just before the puja...that is why the bridge is also so crowded...you can see evening baths in the Ganga, snacks to eat along the way and from earlier in the day, babas, kids coming home from school, etc.































Namaste
Jane

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#8 Feb 24, 2008 -Message from an Angel

OK…so, what’s happening? Why am I not writing? Because I simply don’t feel like it. I see things during the day which draw my attention, but it is not in the form of needing to report or “tell about”, but more in the way of mindfulness…being….being with and in the moment completely. I don’t even have the need to take my camera out as I thought I would, and take some videos. It is a very liberating feeling, I have to tell you. But I have been walking every day, each day in a different direction, and have so far discovered a restaurant in whatever area I happen to be when lunch time comes around, which will serve me good healthy food, and so I allow myself to eat whatever I feel like for my evening meal. Tonight I am going to Mamaji for Thali for the first time since I’ve arrived. My appetite is back and I am really hungry during the day. I have a snack in the afternoon as well, but so far, at least according to what my jeans are telling me, I have not gained any weight so far…I am feeling really good. Today I was out too long in the sun and fearing no toilet, did not drink enough, so have a slight headache, but nothing terrible. I also found, so far, 2 very clean public toilets during my walks which is good to know about.
I DID “redo” my room today and it is still small but feels a lot more homelike and I am happier now coming back into its energies…this also gives me a good feeling.
I am beginning to write some posts for my Mindfulness Journal which I hope will be ready over the next few days, but again, nothing because I “have to”…only because I
“feel like”. It is quite pleasant for me. We generally have so many things we “must” do that we don’t get around to the important things…to just “being”.
So, why am I writing at all today? To tell you about the first message I received…and it was so subtle, that I did not realize it was a message until a day later, and have not had the time to write about it since then.
While I was still not feeling entirely myself, and still a little despondent, and also feeling guilty about not “doing” anything with the short time I have here, I asked for clarity, direction, guidance before going to sleep one night, as I often do when I need insights and understanding.
Next day, I found a lovely e-mail from a wonderful friend I met last year in India, as response to my post #4. And after reading it once, and then once again, I realized that this lovely man was the angel sent to deliver the message this time. So I will copy most of the e-mail he sent, and just tell you that what he wrote was exactly what I needed to hear and was obviously a direct reply to my request the evening before at bedtime:

Thanks for the latest update. Pleased to have your news.
I totally empathize with your sense of a need to scale back a bit on
your "output" generally. I've been through the same introspective
analysis too. I regularly feel the need to interface with the greater
world and also my closer friends in a more interactive and
comprehensive way. Personally, though, I also know that I need more
time to ponder where I'm at and where to focus my energy next. I've
neglected some of my self-development - I need to spend a lot more
time just in contemplation and meditation - the problem for me is
getting focussed. . . . but it is difficult for people like ourselves to disengage or trim back our wider involvement in things. It is not a "cop out" or "reduced energy with age thing" but a maturity "thing" (for want of a better word ). I feel I need to evolve a bit to my own next level and that my "busy-ness" is just an excuse to put off my own inner development. I'm working on it anyway.
. . . You get lots of R&R and let the rest of the world stumble along a
bit. YOU are valuable too and deserve some downtime.
Hugs,

I am leaving it anonymous, but will just say that this person was just as surprised to find out he was an angel as I was. I LOVE the way things work!!!

Namaste
Jane

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#6..Feb 21, 2008 - assuming the #5 with the video uploaded earlier….

Well, things are starting to fall into a pattern, and I see now why I can never stay less than 3 weeks in any place if I’m really to get a feel for it. For the last 3 days I’ve been out walking, and yesterday I took the scenic road down all the way to Welcome Center where they have really good, homemade, made as you order it, Ayurveda cooking. As good as what I cook and enjoy at home. And I was not disappointed. So, decided to go there every day for lunch, which means I get two wholesome meals in a day as breakfast is my regular soaked overnight dried fruits and almonds mixed with porridge. That leaves me the fun of doing what I want in the evening and the rest of the day without feeling too guilty, and still being able to feel like I’m on vacation.


Today I decided, the weather being lovely, to take the full walk around. All in all it is about 4 km. I imagine but not quite sure as it is just so pleasant you don’t feel the distance. I walked down to Laxman Jula, crossed over the bridge and then headed up to Ram Jula, which I know is 2.5 km along the Ganga. The walk was beautiful and I felt alive and invigorated with a sense of wellbeing I haven’t felt in a long time. I felt so blessed I found tears welling up in my eyes. (By the way, I am now sitting outdoors, at 6 PM, listening to classical music, enjoying the air on the roof here, and of course enjoying my laptop).

Just before Ram Jula, I came to vivek’s center, the place I did my panchakarma last year, and he was there, so we sat and chatted for about an hour, I noted some definite improvements in the center. I mentioned that the Ganga seemed very low this year and he explained that is because there has been a late winter, and the snows haven't begun melting yet. Once they do, the river will fill up as I remember it. And then continued on my way, back across the Ganga via Ram Jula and again over to Welcome Center, where I had another lovely lunch.

Came back, played around with the video I took last night of the party, which I hope I’ll be able to upload to my blog without too much trouble. You are invited to listen to it just to hear the music…there is not much to see…

And then Amir, the guy in charge here, came to say hello and we had an interesting, and pleasant talk for another while…he was quite excited seeing the videos I took and asked if he could use my camera to take pictures of his work here to send back to his family in Nepal…of course I agreed…I will burn them to a CD for him afterwards. He also looked at pictures of my family and his face was alive with pleasure…he is young, about 25 I think, but you can see he misses his family. He was completely taken in by the kids, with comments about all of them, and even did a fairly good job of figuring out who the brothers and sisters were…and then he saw the pic of my girls, and Mom, and he couldn’t stop commenting. But the biggest reactions were for the men in the family…all struck his fancy…and he said Yaniv looks much much younger, and of course handsomer, without his rastot. But the final comment was for Shai…he took one look at him, asked who he was, and said “He is dangerous” He should be in the movies…the girls better watch out”. I told him he has a girlfriend and he said that SHE better keep him under lock and key…he is too gorgeous.

The evening calls of the birds has just begun…it sounds like they are arguing over who gets to sleep where tonight…what a racket!!

Anyway, I am now just writing this up to let you know that my days have found their even keel, with my morning time well spent and worthwhile, and the rest of my day spent just being. I often think that it seems strange to have to come all the way to India to do this, but I just can’t seem to manage it at home. And it is something I feel I need to get back into myself and move forward. Exactly where this trip will take me, I still don’t know, but I am finally beginning to enjoy each step of the journey once again.

Just a quick observation. Considering how sick I was just last week, and howquickly and easily I recovered, I know that the relative healthy state of my body following my recent panchakarma, the combination of antibiotics for a quick jump-start for 3 days and the ayurvedic meds I wastaking, and most important, the 2 hours of daily Reiki I did tomyslef...alll worked together in beautiful harmony. Which is as it should be. Reiki is wonderful on its own but is a perfect compliment to all other forms of medical treatment as well.

Love to all
Jane

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#3-Feb 17, 2008-PERSPECTIVE IS ALL

Just like the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) seems to be an enormous body of water, stretching out forever, with no end in sight when seen from up close, so our own trials and tribulations in life can seem overwhelmingly difficult, unending etc.when seen from our own small perspective. If we could just see the greater picture for a brief moment, we would realize how trivial and insignificant these events truly are in the greater scheme of life, just as my friend in the following story was completely surprised by her new perspective of the Kinneret when seen in its entirety from the heights.

This lesson begins a couple of months ago when I was visiting a friend in the Golan Heights and those few days in the Golan gave me a lesson in perspective not to be easily forgotten and which follows me here to Rishikesh where I now sit and write.



My friend and I had gone up a mountain ridge to get a panoramic view of the Sea of Galilee, and do some walking. It was a brilliant sunny day and from the heights we could look out and see the Kinneret stretched out in front of us in all it’s glory. Asking my friend what was directly across from our ridge view, suggesting it was the city of Tiberias, her immediate reply was “No way, Tiberias is much further to the South…this is just the “top” part of the Kinneret…it goes much further off to the South and that’s where tiberias would be”.

Well, I wasn’t quite sure as it DID seem likely to me that we were seeing Tiberias, but left the discussion until later when we could ask someone.

As we walked further up the ridge, and began to look down from a higher perch, all of a sudden, the full panoramic view of the Kinneret was revealed to us, from South end to North end (only the small Norther tip is shown in the above photo) and of course, the city directly across WAS Tiberias. But what astounded my friend, deeply upset her bearings, was the fact that HER Kinneret was so SMALL! Unimpressive even. Certainly not the “big deal” she had always envisioned it being.

She was quite disturbed by the feeling and could not release her discomfort at her discovery of this new perspective she had seen and continued to express her amazement at how seeing something from a new perspective can change the entire way you always imagined something to be.

Later on, it became clear to me that this was an important lesson for all of us to remember.

We see our lives from close up, seeing one very small section of the full picture, and we put great stock in how we understand what we see. Each small segment of our existence takes on intense importance and meaning disproportionate to its true actual significance in the overall scheme of our lives. We tend to create dramas based on these small incidences and to project them into the future imagining ramifications which could be catastrophic, terrifying and frightening . We can never see the full picture of our lives , can never view the Kinneret in its full glory from the heights as it were, but if we could, we would see how very trivial most of the little, up close scenes we see actually are. When we realize that from the perspective of the heights, everything seems small and simple…not overwhelming and enormous. The Kinneret is beautiful when see in all its glory, and although it may loose some of the impact it has on us when see from up close, its TRUE magnificence is revealed only with the proper perspective.

If we can use this idea of perspective to get us through the small difficult periods of our lives, knowing that the full picture is glorious and simple and pleasurable and surprisingly breathtaking, than the difficult days would be so much easier for us to get through. They are after all just a very small portion of the whole, but they are all that we can see from up close. And then the part we don’t see seems overwhelming at times. When these days come, imagine yourself up on the ridge seeing the whole picture in all its simplicity and beauty.

And why is this here on the India Journal? I realize now that it was a lesson directed at me to help me find my way through these difficult days at the beginning of my journey in India. Being sick and miserable, it was very easy for me to fall back into old patterns , forgetting that the panoramic view of my time here in India is something I cannot see, but if I change my perspective, and relax into each day as it comes, the glory of the full picture will reveal itself to me by the end of the trip. And it will be no less surprisingly beautiful than seeing the whole Kinneret from the heights for the first time.

I am working on it, but I must admit it is not easy. Each time I feel the weakness return, and the need for sleep overcome me, I tend to become despondent…Remembering the Kinneret Perspective has been a powerful lesson and reminder for me to allow all things to flow, be open to accept them as they come and know all is for my Higher Good, even though I can never see the full picture.

So, although not an easy beginning, I joyfully look forward to each new day and whatever surprises it may bring.

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#2- Feb. 14, 2008 Being Sick….Being Doctored…another interesting experience!

Wednesday, February 13th

Well, I guess sooner or later it had to happen seeing as how I’ve already been to India many times and always been healthy, except for the occasional slight cough and cold due to changes in climate etc.
But this time I’ve really gone all the way. From all the symptoms, it would appear that I have pneumonia (I haven’t had pneumonia in over 15 years, and that was also the last time I’ve taken antibiotics). I already thought about this possibility yesterday when I found myself with a fever of almost 40 ! I never get fever at all, and a fever this high really worried me. Together with the loss of appetite, complete exhaustion, wanting to sleep all day and wet cough in my chest, it adds up. But I wanted to give it another day (probably should have already gone to the doc today) and see what happened. This evening my fever is still raging, although I was fine until about 2 in the afternoon.

Everyone here has been really concerned and wanted to take me to the doctor yesterday…but now I went down to Amir, the guy in charge who always takes good care of me, and asked about going to the doctor tomorrow. He was very relieved as he has been watching me for 3 days and seeing me get worse each day. So arrangements have been made. Tomorrow the Manager will take me to the local Western Hospital in town. He will first call and make an appointment for me so I won’t have to wait on line at the clinic, and he will personally escort me and stay with me to make sure I am properly cared for. I have escorted other people to hospitals in India before over the years, including a good friend who was really sick in dharamsala, but I have never been to one myself . Well, that’s not completely true. I was in a hospital in Chennai when I burnt my leg on the exhaust pipe of a bike…but that was different.

I imagine the doctor will know what to give me and that over the next couple of days I should start feeling better. But antibiotics are not friendly to me and they in themselves really exhaust me. I hope it won’t be long before I can get out and about and begin feeling like I am in Rishikesh. Even to go down and get a phone card so people can call me, and the few things I need in my room, has so far been impossible.

But knowing I am well cared for here gives me a good feeling, in spite of the frustration of using up so many days of a too short stay in India.

Anyone out there who can send me Reiki (which I’ve been doing tons of to myself and I imagine that is the reason I am not in any true discomfort….just exhausted….), it would be greatly appreciated.

Perhaps this is a lesson for me in TRULY accepting all things that come along and believing they are all for my Higher Good. It is not always easy, and I guess being tested every once in awhile is in order.

PS: having the laptop here is fantastic. I would not be able to do this writing, including the private letters I answered today, if I had to sit in the internet café. This way I just go
down for 10-15 minutes and zap them off later or the next day. I can also play games, watch movies and it makes being sick easier I must say.

Thursday, Feb. 14th…Valentine’s Day

Well, I’ll continue this post before sending it off as I’ve been to the doctor and back, and, as is everything else in India, this too was an experience.

First of all, it was decided that the Manager would take me down by bike and we headed off to the hospital clinic where he had previously made an appointment for me. The main road to Rishikesh was blocked today for roadworks, so we drove all around the back roads until we got into town. Interesting to see all the lovely houses and when I mentioned this, he said “yes, nice houses but no nice roads”…which was true enough. Negotiating the potholes and bumps was not easy, and me trying to hold on to the back of the seat with one hand while keeping a scarf covering my face with the other hand, and trying not to fall off, was not easy. But I figured 10-15 minutes of this was not so bad. We got to the clinic, and too our great surprise, the doctor was not there. He was called back to the hospital for emergency surgery. So, off to find another doctor. The next clinic was open but the doctor had not yet arrived, and the third one, had a doctor there but it would be a 3 hour wait! By this point, I was on the verge of fainting and finally, the Manager asked if it was OK for him to take me to HIS family doctor. When I asked him why he didn’t do that in the beginning, he said he felt I would be more comfortable in a regular hospital clinic instead of with a local family doctor. Well, we finally got to his doctor, who runs a lovely, clean clinic. He went in, and 2 minutes later calls me into the examining room, the doctor talks to me for a minute and then excuses himself, together with me, leaving 10 other patients to wait. He took me into a back examining room which was private, not like all the others being checked with everyone else looking on. It was an x-ray room actually. He asked what was wrong, did a thorough checkup, including the Ayurveda checks of tongue and pulse, but said in my condition I would need antibiotics as well as ayurveda herbs. Sounded good and thorough to me. No pneumonia, but very bad congestion in both lungs. I was given antibiotics, cough syrup, something for the fever and another to loosen up the congestion.
I was also given very specific instructions about what to eat and what not to eat…which was fine since I have no appetite anyway. All in all, a pleasant visit, and the whole thing cost me 25 shekel including the medications!!

So now, I imagine, in a day or so I will begin feeling better, but being out and about already lifted my spirits, driving all through my favorite places in Rishikesh, see everything again, and knowing that soon enough I will be out walking, has made me feel a little less down in general. And at least the weather is sunny. I am sitting outside on my roof writing this now and the warm sun on my back and the fresh air, are just wonderful. On the way back I even asked him to stop at an Airtel place, so I now also have a local number which makes me feel better already.

So I will end this here and hopefully get it posted today.

Be well!!!!
Love
Jane

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India Journal 2006-#70-June 5, 2007 - ANGEL IN DISGUISE

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

William is more than just a great guy sent to make my final days in McLeod more pleasurable before my return home. He is basically a catalyst for further deep and final cleansing of baggage and his presence seems to give me intense focus which enables me to review past lessons already learnt over the last years. And in reviewing, and actually reliving them in very vivid dreams, the insights learnt from those lessons are even more deeply imprinted...never to be forgotten as I continue forward.

It is as if he has been sent to intensify every other form of detoxification I've been through this journey and make possible a final, indelible imprint, never to be forgotten and therefore never having to be re-learnt- of those lessons which have made such enormous changes in my life. Every important lesson in my "education" over the past 8 years has been given a thorough review, by forcing me to return to each incident, each relationship, relive it, actually FEEL it once again, and permanently ingrain the lesson deep within my soul making it absolutely definite that I will never again have to "do these courses".

I am now completely free, liberated, and can truly move forward with a "blank slate" as it were, into the new future which awaits me!

This past week has left me feeling renewed, younger in spirit and unburdened, lighter than I have felt in a very long time.

William is just another one of God's messengers, angels in disguise, lovingly sent my way in answer to prayers for further guidance, direction and clarity. But this time, the disguise is not a tree, or a channeled message or poem, or a dream or a bird or a tarot card. This time the angel is disguised as a wonderful, fun loving, cute, intelligent and perfectly lovely and loving guy who has brought nothing but lightness and joy into the past few days.

Usually my lessons are not learnt pleasantly. Very often they are quite unpleasant, but I could not have imagined a more pleasing way for this last lesson of this trip to be experienced.

Although I happily and gratefully accept any guides and angels in any form they may take, I would LOVE to have more angels like William in the future!

I am truly blessed. Thank you!

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India Journal 2006- #67-May 30, 2007- Capuccino Lesson and Flowers to Make your Day!

Strange day...kind of fluidy, without form, just moving along, almost viscous. Warmer than it's been for weeks. Guess I'm not used to that.

finished my shopping at the chemist this morning. Late breakfast...checked out some wireless blut tooth technology available here which allows you to use your laptop, anywhere, with the help of a cellphone which somehow connects you to the internet. Discussed it with Beau but he believes it is not yet available in Israel and suggested I wait until I come next time and get all the gadgets and configurations I need here. The phone accessory would cost 5000 rupees (500 shekel) but then I would have unlimited internet access from my room at the price of 400 rupees (40 shekel-10 $$) a month. Much less than I spend using the internet cafe now and certianly more convenient. Will check it out in Rishikesh when I get back there.


I will also buy computer accessories here for my new laptop as the prices have gone down by alot even since I arrived here, and a wireless mouse, good quality, is only about 450 rupees as compared to 1500 just 2 months ago.
I will pick up a mouse, perhaps a wireless keyboard, and a mike and headphone set, and maybe even a webcam although I hate people seeing me when I am online...will think about that.


This entire discussion, above, I discussed directly with Beau, my computer guy, by speaking with him using Skype which is quite amazing and free, and works just as well, if not better, than a phone. and then I spoke to (and saw) my friend Esther in Tel Aviv on messenger. The world is a pure miracle of technology!

And then felt really tired so took a nap.

Have just photo copied an entire book for the price of 90 rupees (9 shekel) instead of ordering it over the itnernet for well over $30 with postage.

and am now sitting in a coffee house, filled with foreigners, mostly Americans, drinking my first cup of capuccino in over a month. And it WAS a real treat (although my stomach is beginning to tell me "that was not a good idea"!).


NOW THE WHOLE LESSON HERE IS THAT I am really sitting here, as I might in any ocffee house in the world, relaxing, reading, enjoying an amazing view and feeling like I am truly vacationing (and rich at that!). and all for the price of 40 rupees. Now that is a REALLY expensive cup of coffee here in India (but worth the price) but if I would want to do the same simple thing at home it would cost me at least 4 times as much. and this is what is going to be hard for me. Not having this freedom of movement and ability to do whatever moves me at the moment, once I get home. Or, perhaps that IS the lesson. DO what moves me at home as well, since money is no longer an issue in my life, wherever I may be!! (But old habits and training of 60 years die hard and the change in perspective is not easy).

Also, bought myself a present today. I've been looking at a beautiful (I think so) suede purse for about 3 weeks now. Seeing it hanging out every day, and finally decided to DO it today. It was a very liberating moment. Buying something for myself just because I want it. I am moving in a new direction by changing habits of 60 years and it definitely is not easy. I must work at it, and will.

The flowers all over this post are another example. I love flowers, but rarely buy them for myself, seeing them as an unnecessary luxury, and even here, they were not cheap...the price of full meal. But I bought them because I wanted them and they are just soooooooo lovely in my room and giving me so much pleasure.

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India Journal 2006 - #66 - May 28-29...Feelings of Peace and Wellbeing and some pics of my room

Monday

Even more snow fell during the storm yesterday which raged until well into the nite. But this morning dawned crisp and sunny. You can feel the soft, lovely, cool breeze of mountain air and so far the sky is a brilliant blue with just a few wisps of clouds. Let's see what the day brings! The hawks are circling seemingly aimlessly and lazily in the currents, but every once in a while one will dive and swoop down on what apparently is breakfast. (The day brought dark, threatening clouds, again, by 1 in the afternoon, and it is now close to 3 and FREEEZING again...no one, but no one can believe the weather....I am back in my winter clothes including my warm shawel and it is the end of May...normally the hottest time of the year here.

And now, 7 PM, the sky is clear again. The sunset reflecting off the snow peaks, the lower foothills luch and green, all holding the promise of a lovely day tomorrow.

Personally, I am feeling very much at peace for the first time since I left Rishikesh. I have also begun to imagine my homecoming and I see it as also very calm and tranquil with quiet time for my loved ones and friends. Although I truly wish I was staying here longer, and perhaps going back to Rishikesh for while, I know that will also be happening before the end of the year, and the months at home will bring only further harmony and balance into my life. and this is the source of my wellbeing right now.

Just bought flowers for my room. beautiful day lilies . Still closed. Then I realized that I've never taken pictures of this room...so, here are a few with some explanations

note the night table and lamp, which means I don't have to get out of bed to turn off the light at night when I finish reading...this is a first for me in India!!





see "read more" for the rest....






This is my closet, above


Above some flowers I bought...will shoot again when they open


This has become my sofa, my treatment table, and even my table for eating if I cover it with a tablecloth!!


and below my bathroom....not the large hot water heater!!



Below some pics of the room...






Table and chairs...mostly my corner for makeup and hair as there is a mirror on the opposite wall, but when I have company, the chairs can be moved over into the other side of the room and it is quite nice.


Tuesday

New view from Nick's...Hawks are so sloce on the current I could reach out and touch them as they soar past. Below, the amazing view of a building site with the women laborers as usual. Four women dressed in lovely sairs (one red, one daffodil yellow, one bright orange and one turquoise) walking as elegantly as if they were taking an evening stroll. Working as human bulldozers. A house is being build and the foundation of 4 rooms laid out in concret squares, which have to be filled in first with dirt and then overlaid with rocks and gravel. Normally, I would picture a bulldozer with large shuffle scooping up a load of dirt from the hillside and then dumping it in the center of each square and men spreading it evenly to cover the foundation.

Here, the women worked in pairs. One digging dirt out of the side of the hillside with a hoe and filling msall baskets with it, and then helping the second one to lift it on her head and then carry it herself over to the foundation and dump it. Each "dump" barely makes a dent in the area to be filled and I watched for 1/2 hour. I imagine it took them the whole day to fill in this the area in this manner....and they were not walking with the baskets on their heads over a regular path, but up a hillside and over all the rubble of the building site, never missing a step or seeming to falter...graceful is the only way I can describe it.

Now that I am feeling better, and have the CHOICE of doing nothing, I REALLY feel like I am finally on vacation, and 2 weeks is all too short!

Namaste
Jane

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India Journal 2006 - MESSAGES FROM THE OTHER SIDE-India, May 26, 2007

Since this post really is one for the Mindfulness Journal, I have posted it there and you can follow the link

HERE

to read about my "chance" meeting with a medium at breakfast this morning, who had an entity, with a message for me, appear to her while we were eating!! Quite amazing!

Enjoy and believe if you choose to...I am sure it is real.

Namaste
Jane

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India Journal 2006-#62 May 18-21-If You Have to Be Sick...

Sunday

Well, if you have to be sick, this is a good place to do it...when you can see this from the balcony in the morning,








and this in the evening!!











and lots of interesting interactions during the day between the mountains and the sky, the clouds moving, coming in to cover, the wind blowing them away and the sky blue again...better than watching television for sure!!

Let me just go back a couple of days and catch up and then will continue with the above:

Friday Nite

Didn't sleep well at all and in the middle of the night there was this amazing phenomena of a a strange kind of electrical storm.


It was as if someone was flicking a light switch on and off in the Universe...the sky kept flickering from pitch black (the electricity was cut so it was REALLY dark outside and in as well) to brilliant white/blue light every second or two....there was a low rumbling in the distance which never ceased as well...and this continued for over 15 minutes, accompanied by a soft rain and no wind. Later on the storm got closer and the flickering more intense and the rumbling as loud as a train passing under my window....all quite spectacular and worth being up to watch.
Finally slept for a few hours early morning....woke up...did a full yoga practice, pranayama and meditation, showered and felt good. Went down for breakfast but at some point began feeling a strange weakness in my body, as if all the energy was leaking out. Had planned to go up to Bhagsu for Kicheri and a walk and perhaps visit Sara, but I felt like I simply needed to fall back in bed. Headed back to my room, really really feeling weak...Felt like I could fall asleep right on the table at Nick's terrace!

Stopped for a piece of cheese thinking I might not make it out again today (good move!). Had picked up anew book before breakfast and now literally fell into bed after barely having energy to get undressed. Really really weak and also have feeling of hot flashes and then chilling. Funny feeling in my knees and thighs as well.

Back to Sunday...

Nice room and fairly nice balcony and plenty of people to watch below which is good on a day like this where I am not out and about. The sun is out and nice and strong on my body and hopefully will help to dry up a head cold.

Well, was optimistic in the morning, but the day got worse as it moved along. Began feeling feverish and found I could barely walk around the room....aching all over, etc. Checked and found I had 38 fever which is quite unusual for me.

Began to take care of myself with sage gargle, gal-neti( nostril cleaning with salt water), plenty of warm fluids, extra Tulsi, Traumeel and the restaurant was very nice about bringing up food and water when I requested it. As the day wore on and I felt weaker and weaker, I could no longer read, but had my lovely music, played solitaire on the IPOD so I could do it laying down!...And finally felt so miserable I sent an SMS to some of my kids....And I was awarded with the best medicine I could have gotten. A phone call from my son! It was lovely speaking to him and it really cheered me up and made me feel that all would be well for sure.

Didn't sleep real well at night but could feel things clearing up as the night wore on.

Monday
Woke up this morning, not only FELT much better than yesterday, but when I looked in the mirror saw that I LOOKED much better. At least you could see my eyes and there was some color back in my face.

Took a REAL hot shower, dressed, went down for breakfast, and am now here. I am still feeling weak and will rest the day away today as well...but whatever it is, it is not as bad as it could have been and am sure by tomorrow I will be as good as new!

Namaste
Jane

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India Journal - #61 May 15-Dawn of a New Day-Message in a Dream

AND A NEW ADVENTURE BEGINS!

Dream...
arriving at a place I have been coming to on a daily basis for a very long time and all of a sudden, due to certain changes brought about by circumstances I find myself having to do things diffrently than my customary habitual way of doing them upon arrival at this place. And finding myself lost and confused and not able to find my way even though I am in a place that Iknowintimately and well for a long time. (this is not like the dream of getting lost and not getting to a place, or train or whatever on time ...that dream ceased to be a part of my life years ago and is discussed in one of my past posts from several years ago....)

I woke up confused and disturbed and it is now 3 hours later and have been pondering this dream all this time. And I remember it as clearly now as the moment I woke up from it...very powerful.

So I went out on the balcony to welcome the new day and saw a lovely pink dawn for the first time since I've been here...have a picture but it does not do justice...will post it tomorrow just to have a picture to go with the post...and while greeting this new dawn, unfamiliar to me in this place and yet a dawn as every other day dawns, I had an AHA! moment.

I will soon be coming home to a familiar place,but as I am coming home changed, nothing will work the same as before. He will no longer be able to contiue in my previous habits of dealing with things, perceiving things and reacting to them. I will be guided gently in new ways and there is no reason to be concerned about the initial confusion and lack of orientation. I will be given all I need to learn how to navigate the "old world" with my newly acquired energies. Particularly where Yali is concerned. I have already received a large amount of knew insights into what makes him tick and will be guided in ways to ease HIS way.

whenever I try doing something the "old" way, moving along the "old" roads, I will come up against obstacles and they they will simply be there to remind me to navigate along new paths, which I will be guided to if I pay attention.

Should all be quite interesting.

I am doing my Aura Transformation tomorrow but have already begun reading related material. I wonder if any of you have bothered checking out the link I sent a couple of days ago so you have some idea what I am talking about.

My friend Sandra who was supposed to spend a couple of weeks here with me is now quite ill in Rishikesh and will not be coming. She will come however to Israel in September.

and I am slowly working less as my clients are leaving and I don't see new ones arriving. It is as it should be for this last month will be a time of complete inner work and expansion before my return home. Time to integrate new energies and begin to learn to flow in new ways in my own familiar surroundings.

SO A NEW ADVENTURE BEGINS!

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India Journal 2006-May 12th...Lesson from the Weather and...THE reason for my being here...

It is so strange...As compensation for yesterday morning, I am now sitting out in the sun waiting for my breakfast...



and the street looks so different than yesterday, as does the view of the mountains...





I am now sitting at Nick's and it is glorious. Perhaps this is just a reflection of the reality of life, and just proves that the sun always shines again after the rain, and it is SO much more appreciated when it disappears for awhile. I guess this is pretty much what our whole life is about. Being thankful for EVERYTHING...for even what seems bad, is actually good, and what we perceived as good we appreciate so much more when we haven't experienced it for awhile!!

So, thanks for the blessing of the storms and thanks for the quiet after the storm!!

And now...THE reason (or so it seems) for my being here. Every trip seems to bring ONE unexpected turn of events which seems to define the meaning for that trip (in addition to all the obvious reasons for the trips)...and yesterday evening seems to have brought me that clarity of understanding.





Yesterday evening, I went out for dinner despite the rain and didn't really know what I wanted. After Boom Boom I wanted something light. Went past a restaurant I've never been in before and something made me walk in. But it was overfull and I began to walk out when someone got up to leave, so I sat down.

Ordered something and began to read, when a young girl (woman) at the next table asked me, out of the blue, if I'd found a good hotel. Well, we spoke for awhile and then she joined me at my table. There was some kind of immediate "click" and we began talking. Long story short.

She is a healer who works with some new kind of energies and a system developed in Denmark called "Aura Transformation". Pleasce check this link by clicking here , and reading more about it, particularly the parts about Indigo and Crystal children. Since I've felt for years that Yali, my grandson, is a crystal child, I spoke to her about him and everything I've felt is exactly on target. All of his problems and difficulties with this life of his, and all the problems his family has dealing with him...are all manifestations of his crystal nature and energies. Read about it on the above link.
In short, I am trying toconvince her to perform the process on me which will not only benefit me and all those I serve as clients, but will pull me more into the energy vibrations and frequencies of Yali and perhaps I will be able to ease his way.
And of course, if I could learn to DO the process...I could help everyone help him more. And use it in my healing work as well. And I think THIS is perhaps the main reason I am here now . This and the Mantra therapy which hpefully will cleanse my chakras as well, as nothing has been successful in doing all these years.

I'm sitting here with a felling of complete peace and wellbeing which I haven't felt in a long time. It's as if I've found something I've been searching for, but I have not been actively "looking" for anything. But I pray and meditate each day and part of those prayers/meditations is that if there is anything I need to know, which I do not, or anything I need to be doing at this part of my life which I am not, then please make me aware of it and give me the wisdom to "see" it when you send it along.
So, the "chance" meeting last night was an answer to a prayer and the wellbeing I am feeling right now, aside from the glorious weather and snow capped mountain in front of me, is due to this complete and certain udnerstanding that validates my faither and belief that I am always sent precisely what I am in need of at any given period of my life.
Namaste
Jane

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