going for gaia

Earlier this year I went to a special place tucked up in the jungles of Thailand. A place immersed deeply in nature called Gaia Ashram that welcomes students from around the world to learn and grow together in alignment with nature.

Gaia Ashram hosted 25 of us and with inspiringly talented teachers and facilitators we dug deeper in to the learning’s of the land. We were empowered with practical knowledge that enabled us all to live a more sustainable lifestyle free from the dependency we have on unnatural resources and the short cuts of the modern age which rely heavily on toxic substances, that consequentlypollute our lands.

On my journey, I am again and again awestruck by Nature and am grateful for the practices that have connected me deeply with her / it. I know there are some who see and advocate for a better alignment of our collective energies with the planet and the one organism we are all a part of.

What I experienced at Gaia Ashram was more than an internship. While we trained in practical ways to build and grow organically and learned how to sustain and support life; it was also an opportunity to go more deeply in to the unwavering truth within that recognises itself in nature. Realising this oneness nurtures a very genuine care for life on this planet. I still smile to myself when I remember my friend Pasang, a Tibetan monk who would pick the beetles from the path as we trekked through the Himalayas. So divine to see such a care for life.

For the first two weeks we studied Natural Building learning how to create structures from the materials of the land. It was so awesome to realise that one can build bricks and mortar simply from combining the plasticity of clay found in the earth mixed with sand to give it structure. In a beautiful way it was like building a giant sandcastle as we collaborated in a mud pit, made bricks and built walls (and a pizza oven!) out of all the materials available on site. There were no masks and lots of muddy hands!

The days were long, starting at 5.45am for meditation and yoga before breakfast followed by the day’s offerings of Personal Empowerment Workshops and Natural Building. Our international group; zany, honest and beautiful, over time gently opened up and the masks slowly faded away as we got more and more vulnerable and real together. It was so refreshing.

We learned how to work together in a community, the responsibility of honouring time and energy of others and the challenging recognition that community living is no walk in the park. That there can be an abundance of triggers; that some people get upset if there’s sugar in their breakfast and that others just don’t want to play in the group and that it is all ok. It is not a common experience in Western society to have so many people living so closely together and I feel I have more empathy for the families that live on top of one another in the East or in the shanty towns I saw in South America.

What amazed me was how such a large group of people were able to reconcile - if not appreciate - their differences while practicing non-violent communication (aka 'Compassionate Communication') void of the notoriously disempowering finger point when expressing feelings in a group setting. We encouraged one another to take full responsibility for our choices and yet there was an embracing honesty and accountability. It fascinated me to watch our humanity unfold in this shared intimate space and while I was there to learn more practical teachings so I can build my own sustainable empire one-day; these lessons were undoubtedly invaluable.

The second two weeks had us in the garden planting organic vegetables, creating compost, natural pesticides and veggie patches. Surprisingly I found the garden to be a very welcome retreat from all the activity going on and I loved offering my time and energy to pulling out weeds (very liberating!) while creating a stunning mandala pebble path to beautify the space. I tapped in to the inner gardener in me and am excited to devote more time to crafting edible gardens in the future rather than putting energy in to the supermarket giants and some pretty horrific farming practices.

Deep Ecology lectures and workshops asked us to look at the world and humankinds place within it. How we are behaving on a collective scale and what practical steps one may wish to take to realign with nature and the sustainability of our planet. It was not always easy and through Joanna Macy’s processes we went deep in to honouring the pain of Nature, something Western society feels very uncomfortable with even expressing let alone honouring. These practices were however empowering as we also committed to offering more to the care of our planet.

But what of this for you dear reader? Well, I don’t know if you are with me or not, but I need to be honest about my feelings on how we really treat the planet and ultimately ourselves. I wouldn't say I was anymore perfect than the next person, but I continue persistently to try and learn how to tread lightly and live life with sobriety, implementing energy thoughtfully considering all I have learned.
It’s been a pretty humbling process and not something I expected to find myself doing when I chose to leave corporate life for world explorations.

To completely embody our true nature we must develop a greater awareness, honesty and responsibility for our inside worlds and a gentleness with that. To see the self-limiting beliefs and behaviours that can be deeply embedded in the psyche and drop the masks worn to protect bottled fears inside. I cannot begin to tell you how liberating and expansive that process is but perhaps witnessing my travels around the world might reflect that to you; Anything really is possible. Which is why I remain hopeful.

I hope that the world we create together will reflect a deep compassion, care and practice that is in alignment with the rhythms of nature and to have care - if not reverence - for Nature’s great unifying spirit. 

Interesting article: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists

Great TED Talk 'Life is Easy. Why do we make it so hard': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21j_OCNLuYg

my story is your story

This video is just so stunning. A beautiful message that I had to share.

I spent four years living in Australia and the wisdom of the indigenous, the connection to the land and the beautiful tender environment taught me so much.

"People ask me for my story
but my story is your story
When you cry
Don't you cry the ocean?
When you sweat
Don't you sweat the ocean?
When you drink
Don't you drink the rivers and the rain
And when you wash
Don't you wash into that ocean
so the cycle can start again?"

not sweet enough!?

Bro in the jungles of Palomino, Colombia

I am on a flight between Cartagena (Colombia) and New York (USA). Two incredibly contrasting cultures. I have come fresh out of the jungles of Colombia where I slept in a hammock, washed in a river and cooked on a fire while foraging mangoes and coconuts and staying with a humble shaman's family.

I get served high altitude coffee and despite requesting that the stewardess not give me sugar I get a pile of sugar sachets labelled "Dunkin' Donuts" and "Pure Sugar" on the reverse. One of the most addictive, unhealthy and unpure sources of sugar out there. My inner yogini breathes, surrenders, accepts and goes within to feel this fire sparked. And then in honesty another part of me really doesn't like this. No matter how cool, how chilled and how compassionate one can be, I feel like a boundary has been crossed against my will and because it is socially acceptable, I am expected to subject myself to this unhealthy brands presence in front of me telling me a blatant lie that it is 'real sugar' and whispering 'take me, take me, let me sweeten you up'.

Tip: Sugar makes really good face exfoliator. Rather than throw away the sugar one may wish to mix it with natural soap and make a yummy face scrub.

But this is just the start of my gears getting lightly grinded as my weary mind and body traverse across dimensions. I know it is probably due to my time drinking "La Medicina" (an indiginous cleansing potion) with my brother and the shaman a few days before that I am sensitive. I am feeling incredibly in touch with these emotions and when I find myself talking to the American guy next to me, I again find myself fired up.

Before I know it I am passionately explaining how the mass consumptive culture nurtured in the Western world needs to end. That things are being made to last little time before being thrown away and replaced with 'the latest model', that people are being taught to care about the wrong things, that peak oil is coming, that too much power is in the hands of the few... before I finish, said American looks at me suspiciously.

"Are you a communist?" he interrupts me.
"No" I reply politely. "But I do have common sense".

Gosh, I'm no angel. I've worked with the big banks, big FMCGS etc. I know (second-hand) that Coca-Cola wonders how to get a child to drink 7 cans of the stuff to create a newly addicted consumer.

Tip: Coke makes really good silver jewellery polish, teeth and stomach rotter.

That and a few other secrets of this world that won't be able to sustain the growing populations and demands of the middle-classes of the 'emerging markets' where people also want the latest and bestest of stuff built to last a year before the latest model comes out.

I want to cry. I want to shout. I want people to see how out of harmony we are with the world we are here to protect. The innocent children manipulated. The women made to feel inadequate. The religions made to feel self-righteous. The men commoditised. People taught to fight for a freedom that is a lie. To be at war for a 'democracy' ruled by an elite. Oh I'm so fired up and so I explain simply:

Finite resources plus mass consumption equates to the destruction of our planet. The one living organism that we are all collectively a part of and that, I believe, will also be doing a ceremonious cleanse of itself if human beings persist on being the cancerous body that destroys it.

While I say this, knowing that I am returning to the vibrant, interesting, alive yet fiercely loud, interruptive and competitive city of New York, a part of me longs to be back by the rivers of the jungle again. Despite the mosquito bites apparently caused by too much sugar, the lack of internet and homely comforts of hot showers, a fridge and stand up kitchen. At least there I felt a serene sense of connection where nature gave me what I needed without forcing products, ideas, labels and stuff on to me. Messages telling me to fill divine emptiness with clutter and insecurity. Messages feeding my human ego and telling me to be selfish and want more.

I can't direct any anger at anyone person. We are all part of this silly machine we've built and while one may, to an extent, need to adapt in order to survive (make money), another part of me wishes that we had the power to create a more responsible, sustainable and harmonious culture transcending these lesser human desires. That perhaps more people had that space and time in nature to truly see how beautiful simplicity is. And how much collectively, we need to protect our home for the sake of our own survival as a species and, dare I say, we could all do with slowing doooooooooown.

I am afraid Dunkin' Donuts sugar sachets are a long way of that.

Tip: But they do have free internet.

parvati, its not all about drugs.

Parvati valley, home of the Gods and the highest of India’s Holy Gangas is being poisoned.

“What would Shiva say?” was a question posed to students at Challal primary school as we sought to educate this next generation on the challenges their land faces in the name of progress. And a question you might wish to ask yourself also.

Without infrastructure to manage waste, an influx of tourists, guesthouses and plastic, the natural beauty of the Parvati Valley suffers. Poisonous waste has been thrown in to the precious rivers contaminating the purity of drinking water, the stomachs of grazing animals and the beauty of the valley. The future of these dramatic mountains is in the hands of India and yet in a time of economic growth, one might ask what does this say about the future of this nation?

If there is one thing I have learned about India; its where the heart lives and that is in and of its people to create change. A country that can’t have faith in its government. But can love and support its fellow man in the desperatist of times. And yet I see a familiar change on the horizon...

Coming from Britain, I have experienced the virtues of growing up in middle-class surroundings, living in a welfare state, getting a good education with high standards of living. Yet India spoke to my heart, she made me realise that we are not alone, the value of family, compassion and patience. And that we don’t need as much as society leads us to believe in order to be happy.

In England, we tend to have a mentality of ‘each man for himself’, we are separate from one another, don’t hold eye contact and our economy is maintained by the dark shadows that wonder through grey cold streets in London donning black suits climbing the ladders of perceived wealth. I love the sobering irony of having a nose in someone's armpit on the rush hour tube while avoiding any form of communication with one another at all cost.

"Money is the world's second God" A Himalayan Babaji explained to me. I've seen that in the West. How we buy. We buy. We buy. Blindly subscribing to the latest fashion, buying the latest gadget, believing the ideas that create an addicted nation through fear. But, don’t trust me, I also worked in advertising and in corporate finance :)

Kali Yuga, an old baba told me, is a time of draculas. Apparently that time is now. And what could be more symbolic than the life we suck out of mother nature around the world? Thankfully, in Britain, we can still turn a tap in the kitchen a drink clean water. We can shower with our eyes open and set the temperature to our skin’s comfort. We can walk the streets and not witness lines of degrading waste and smell the rotting garbage. And we can climb our comparatively feeble mountains and not find garbage that will live longer than we and our children stand to survive while polluting the rivers that flow through it.

But India, you are different. Where else in the world can a man wander the streets bare feet in a yellow robe and be offered alms? And you have such devotion to your Gods. How you demonstrate worship by making such sacrifices! The cues to make puja (prayer) in the temples would not last the patience of an Englishman. Your respect, devotion and faith inspired me. It inspired me, but, alas also let me down. Again I see the hypocrisy of man. You’ll pray to Sakti and in the same life carelessly throw poisons in to her land. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you" I was taught in school. How fear can make us lose our way.

The constant duality of devotion and destruction was hard for me to accept in Parvati Valley.

Parvati Valley was my home. I found myself roaming in the Himalayas, studying yoga and learning about survival amongst the beautiful people and wildlife that live there. And while I accept impermanence as a constant, in my heart I have faith that people might wake up and realise that if they really love God, then they might try, a little, to be inspired by the wonderful selfless idol they pray to daily and do something to protect Mother India’s land in his/her name.

Plastic takes over two centuries to degrade and with big companies such as Coca-Cola, Parle and Good Day increasingly residing in these mountains the land is being destroyed and the river, the life source, contaminated. Glass takes an Ice Age to degrade, burning plastic releases dangerous toxins in to the atmosphere which cause cancer and so the question needs to be asked – what can we do to protect prakrti (nature)? These substances are poisonous if they're not disposed of properly. And they say "Time is running out."

Unfortunately, in the holy mountains of India, too little is done.

Parvati Valley. Attempts to be more green.

A group of foreign volunteers organised clean ups along the riverside, on one occassion with the President and village Mayor we watched the transformation of the land as years of plastic and glass was dug out from the ground.

Caste pride had to be swallowed. I wondered whether caste pride was swallowed in the name of politics as I watched these honory members in the community. I respect the caste system of India but personally, I don’t see truth when it instils pride, judgement and discontentment to the extent where one cannot pick up a piece of mindlessly discarded plastic without feeling shame. Creating an illusion of separateness.

One day I shook the hand of a small child and gave her an apple; on-lookers were agasp. She was a ‘rag-picker’, akin to the young boys of Slumdog Millionaire, collecting plastic in exchange for rupees, essentially removing recycleable waste left to decompose and damage the land and yet in the eyes of the villagers watching, she was filth and whatsmore untouchable. In my eyes; she was an angel. At least someone was respecting mother nature even if it was unconsciously; in order to survive.

Drugs, deaths and dramas.

As the rave party season hit Kasol, Parvatti Valley, many of India’s youth from Delhi and Mumbai headed to the mountains to dance under the sky, enjoy the gushing sound of rivers and move to musical trance beats.

This year a darkness swept over the valley as chemical drugs, a rape case and deaths saw dramas unfold in the village of Kasol – Parvati was not amused and neither were the locals.

This infamous music scene of India that has the propensity to bring like minded hearts and souls in to ‘Oneness’ under the stunning backdrop of the Himalayas drew a different kind of attention. Parvati valley came under the spotlight. Media quizzed police narcotic superintendents, police stop and searches all perpetuated an image that Parvati is a valley of darkness, for drug barons and young people to dance with the devil.

It was dark believe me. I was there. Having been there in the low season thawing my finger tips in the belated winter snows - I witnessed this 'darkside' approach the valley. People I knew became paranoid. Locals became uncomfortable. Tourists scarpered.

And so one of the biggest experiences for me on my travels was living in Parvati Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. I saw the law of cause and affect quite clearly. I saw the corruption and materialistic mindedness that slowly works its way through remote India and of course, I saw, smelled and listened to a LOT of absolute garbage while witnessing its destructive impact upon India's holy Himalayas.

Indian people ask me “Where’s your country?”
“Everywhere and nowhere” I respond. I get a smile.

“Who are you working for?” watching as I colour in another "Nature is God" sign.

“Nature” I respond.

“Where’s your husband?” I am asked. I am nearing 28 afterall.

“Shiva is my husband” I say and I get a laugh, a nod and a knowing smile.

When I looked at the world from afar, I realised how short life really is. And there’s a love I have for those big giant hills that speak to the wind and brush the clouds. Nature was my teacher and I was put to work. Although if I am honest, all I really did was listen to my heart; something that I was forced to do when I left life in Australia.

As for Parvati Valley. Well that place is certainly not all about drugs. While apparently the best hash comes from there and the turbulent chemical romance takes place during the festive season, it has much much more to it than meets the eye. India's Hindu God Shiva lived there, with his wife Parvati, and I can understand why. They weren't just good dancers...

While we might live in times of vampires, of ego, war and destruction, we also live in a time of constant change. We have our own way of learning. Mine evidently was cleaning garbage. On the inside I did much more. 

“Be the change you want to see in the world” said Gandhi. 

Realising that we all share responsibility whether we want to live in a Western individualised  money orientated existence and take the weight of the world on our own shoulders or whether we share it with our family, community and pray to a temple. We all are a part of the whole. 

Meanwhile mother nature, the hand that feeds us, is getting bitten... least we can do is show her some respect especially in the land of the Gods.