namaste india

India2012 from Zachary Reinert on Vimeo.

Ahhh blessed India. India she is such a wonderful mother. A country that taught me so much about life, love, surrender and truth. A country that filled my cup to the brim.  I feel a large part of me grew up in India and while, like many countries around the world she still has her downfalls; extremities of poverty and the influences that the Western consumerism movement impresses; she still has a devotional quality that permeates the soul beyond reason.

What is truly humbling about traveling in India is the incredibly conscious travel community that exudes a mutual respect between strangers no matter where they are from, how old they are, their background, their status nor their clothes and chosen path or way of being. The love between brothers and sisters who can hold hands in prayer and say 'namaste' to one another is so beautiful: "I honor the place in you where Spirit lives, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Truth, of Light, of Peace, when you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, then we are One."

This is so precious and can be lost in the world of the fast paced urbanised environments that western capitalist society seemingly encourages. I truly felt at home in the northern regions of India, the Himalayas, where the people are so beautifully shanti and kind. Words can't explain the experience of joy, peace and serenity that living amongst such magnificent giants can create. The Godliness of natural phenomena and the sound of waters charging down giant boulders in a place of constant change. One might feel the Earth between the toes while something magical is allowed when 'letting things be' even while the external world might challenge.

Floods of emotions hit me in India like tidal waves of karmic knots coming to be undone. A big wall I had built around my heart crumbled and even now I know, while in essence I am still the same old 'Brookesy' I always was (complete with flaws and funky dance moves); my sensititivities to the world around me, how I connect to people, to what I do for a living and what I see; is truly a new reality. I'm thankful for it despite struggling to fit back in the box at times.

This beautiful video created by Zachary Reinert captures some of the most magical moments to be had in that wonderfully divine place. I met Zachery's sister at a relaxing yoga retreat and farm in Buenos Aires and reconnected with her recently whilst in New York. I was buzzing in love as she shared this video with me. It features Mountain Cleaners NGO (now Waste Warriors) who I'd managed to persuade to come to Parvati Valley when the team launched recycling clean ups. It also features people I have connected with deeply on the road incidentally. Sometimes things just can't be explained but I hope the video illuminates a little of a world beyond form and brings some Indian magic to those yet to go.

Here are some photos taken from the recycling campaign we ran there. I've had some amazing jobs in my little lifetime although I must admit; I was never so genuinely in love with my work as I was picking up plastic bottles, making decorations and teaching children about recycling in the Northern regions of India. I don't know if I did it to cleanse my soul, to be the change I wanted to see in the world or to let go of someone I had been deeply in love with, but I do know that it was the most amazingly cathartic 'puja' (sanskrit for prayer) that I've ever performed in my life and I'm pretty happy to share that and hope anyone reading might take inspiration from it too.

Is time really, REALLY money?!

I'm currently in the consumerist capital of the world. The United States of America. Wooooow. Not only that, but I've been staying in one of the most powerful cities in the world; New York City. This is where its at. O...M...G.

As I meandered the wide streets, laden with yellow cabs and lit up signage, one sign really caught my eye; a painful American paradigm that read TIME IS MONEY.

I have seriously wondered on this idea and I am sure I've got stuck on it given my travels will extend as long as the money in my bank account has funds. I hope like many of the travelers out there I provide a strong insight that one might live abundantly without needing to spend frivolously or be imprisoned by ones own fears. Or at least that even in those moments of nothingness, somethingness will always appear... many of these somethingness moments having lit up my travels in memories that will forever be treasured.

So how, I wonder, is time equated to money? What on Earth is time, or money for that matter, beyond a bench stick for an idea we attach energy to? The advertisement didn't answer that question not even in the small prints for one to grasp. So I got to some points in my limited mind of understanding which has had tendencies to delve to proverbial deep and dark parts of the ocean where the vampire squids live (awesome David Attenborough footage here):

Time scientifically is the movement of objects through space. So time only exists in relation to something else. So does it even exist? Meh.

In Hindu philosophy, "Time is Death" Gasp! So every moment we die a little. I still don't find the connection to money. Money cannot reverse that. Perhaps the 'signs' of it by virtue of cosmetic skin cream... but inevitable decay is the nature of life. Yes morbid and dark but true unless you are Walt Disney.

Then in profound Ms Reynard (aka Lyra Ray) wisdom "The soul doesn't know time". A perfect excuse for someone living perpetually in the present and subsequently struggling at times with her 'time keeping'. I love you Ms Reynard. So perhaps; the soul doesn't know death. Tick. Immortality. An elixir. Alchemy. Absolutely nothing to lose if one wishes to speculate.

Now Freudian goes in to the dualistic forces of Death and Love. I'm going to sit pretty on that point and leave anyone reading this to work out which might be the most powerful or what duality even is and perhaps jump in to a rabbit hole of ah-haaas and oh nooos. Good luck with that. My advice would be to take a wind up flashlight or good SCUBA gear with an extra oxygen tank.

I took these points on board as I pondered on said giant black and white brainwashing sign telling me that 'TIME IS MONEY' with a New York accent in my head.

Which is one more afraid of not having? Here's a big question written in giant marker pen on a piece of scrap cardboard. And how about bringing this paradigm home. Home to a place of family. Of unconditional love. Of true connection, responsibility and understanding.

Keeping it simple.

I am a perfect example of a child brought up with way too many hours of television, Mario Brothers and Tetris, I had nannies and didn't see much of my father busy working to 'earn a living' that despite affording me a really wonderful foundation of education, meant that I also didn't get to spend much time growing up with him. We've made up for this in adult life, thankfully, but when I look at this on a grander scale, when I look at some of the biggest issues that plague the 'developed' world; I see countless children who've grown up dreaming of making lots of money to buy lots of toys and destroy lots of land and exploit lots of people in the process. 

There are way too many powerful naughty boys out there not playing fair with the other children... I won't be surprised if mother nature came and spanked their bottoms.

SPEND TIME NOT MONEY ON YOUR KIDS sings true to my heart. That's what I wish the sign really said. That's the message that perhaps the most powerful city on this planet could be sending to its people.

Money will never, ever, replace the experience of being in the presence and sharing time with a loved one. Sure it might buy an awesome toy to distract one from missing them and even stop them from nagging (brilliant article here), but no amount of money can replace that lovely warm feeling of sharing those treasured moments and memories with the ones you love.

Kahlil Gibran writes it beautifully in The Prophet when he says much more poetically;

And is not time even as love is, undivided and placeless? But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons, And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.

Embrace every moment with or without money. 

That rainy day may never come. 

real is the new sexy

In Januray 2011 I spent a divine time fasting, meditating and doing some yogically inspired and shamanic shapes at The Sanctuary, Thailand.

There I crossed paths with some wonderful souls, one of which is the lovely Adam Taffler. Adam ran an incredibly invigorating and unforgettable laughing yoga workshop and its been such a pleasure to connect with him and learn of his latest shapes in London establishing Shhh Dating.

This new style of dating might leave one speechless and putting a link to Ronan Keating on ones blog. Oh yes, forgive me Adam, I went there...

I asked Adam some questions on Shhh Dating to understand a bit better what's made this movement so prolific in the London dating scene.

Firstly, what is 'Shhh Dating' about? 

Its about dropping the mask and giving people a chance to meet fully and honestly. We use games and structures to bring people into a comfortable state to be without words so they can find a meaningful connection with another.

What inspired you to start it?

All the work I do is around cultivating richer human contact. Over the past year I have been working with Dr Brown - a clown who won the biggest comedy awards in the world without talking. He really inspired me to see how open and pleasurable it can be to communicate and commune without speaking. Then last November I had a deep realisation that my most profound experiences of connection had been without words. I put 2 and 2 together with some friends and we decided to see if it would work in a dating context. It worked so well that on our first event every single person had at least one match. 

What have you learned about the dating scene in London?

There is a growing hunger that is not being fed by skin deep connections. Shhh Dating is appealing to people because they want to meet others who are switched on to possibility of deeper contact and the more subtle aspects of human interaction. People want partners who can meet them emotionally and spiritually too. It's a trend that I see growing in London and beyond. Another interesting aspect is the energy people bring with them to an event. The people who are more relaxed and come with a willingness to enjoy themselves always have more matches than those who come with the idea of meeting 'the one'. So it's something I mention at the beginning of each session, I tell them to drop all expectation and have a good time.

What is unique about silent dating?

At the end of one of our nights, even if you don't have a date, you will still hopefully be feeling warm and squishy. We cultivate an atmosphere where people can see one another and be seen for who they really are. That is unique in the dating world.

Why is real the new sexy?

People wear masks all the time. There is something powerful, enigmatic and beautiful about someone who is comfortable with theirs off. It can turn the dials up to maximum, blow away the padding and quickly take us to the heart of the matter. That's a lot sexier than a load of tepid dates!

Shhh Dating have a number of events lined up later this month in London, please check out their website for more details and tickets.

You can like their Facebook page here too.