"Emotionally Yours"

Starting to feel better.... better and better. What do I mean by that you ask? Well, stronger, cleaner, more clear headed, more breath, more lifeforce in my body, more YOUTH.... happier. The list goes on. You don't realize how good you DON'T feel until you start to feel really good, and THEN you realize, you were just a little bit sick before.
Still don't know what I mean?
Well,
maybe SOME of you wake up in the morning, bound out of bed with a big smile, full of energy, deeply rested, excited, gleeful even, to be alive, with nary an ache nor a pain in sight, no stiffness, full and deep and relaxed with our breath, no congestion, no phlegm, no negative thoughts, no worries, no stresses.... MAYBE.... SOME of you. But chances are.... NOT! Most of us are waking up with some or many of these afflictions to our health and wellbeing.

(small aside here, speaking of wellbeing.... I just got bit by a really fat mosquito, hope it is not a malarial one, haha)

So, what the heck am i getting at here you are wondering?
Well, what I am getting at is THIS:
actually, our normal, natural, balanced state of being as a human being on this earth is... to wake up bounding out of bed with a big smile, full of energy, deeply rested, excited, gleeful even, to be alive, with nary an ache nor a pain in sight, no stiffness, full and deep and relaxed with our breath, no congestion, no phlegm, no negative thoughts, no worries, no stresses....and to WAKE UP spiritually, meaning: waking up to the fact that we are more spiritual in nature than material flesh and bones and, in that realization, we will find our happiness. This is our birthright, this is our full potential as human beings. If this is not the case, then we owe it to ourselves to figure out why, why do we not? (you know, barring a death in the family or some other such event, then it is natural to grieve or feel sadness for a period of time, until the feeling passes).

That is not to say that there are not stresses in life, worries, negative thoughts, yadda yadda... there are. That is life. They are there, of course, part of life, but just like a cloud passing through a big blue sky, our perspective CAN be that it is only a cloud passing through, and we are the perfect blue sky, we are not the cloud.

Wow. You must all be thinking i'm just a weirdo by now. I promise you, this is all just coming from me feeling better and better, day by day, cleaner. The healthy eating, no meat, the no alcohol, the cleansing processes of the panchkarma and then the yoga classes with my teacher, and the kindness and love of the Indian people I talk with every day ... it is all combining to make a very powerful tonic for what ails me in mind, body and spirit.
And I mean... I was in relatively good health before I left for India this time. You know, I have no major healthy problems, yet. The yoga practice keeps disease pretty much at bay, but I will not lie, I did have my indulgences. Allowed my palate to dictate my food choices way too often. Gave in to the temptation of a glass of wine from time to time. I do find it challenging to maintain a lifestyle that is so counter to the mainstream of whatever culture I am currently living in. Ever the chameleon, when I am in Rome, I almost always do what the Romans do. Don't go jumping off any bridges, cause I might follow. (metaphorically speaking, of course).

I guess that is one of the reasons I definately come to India, it is because the lifestyle of the culture here inherently supports health and wellbeing so much more than in the West in these modern times, I find. This is my opinion only.

And I know, I know.... no one is forcing the meat down my throat or pouring the wine down my gullet, it is my choice, but somehow I struggle to make that choice when I am in Canada, surrounded by it.

Hmmm, food for thought. (Huuuuuge apology for that pun).
Perhaps slowly slowly, bit by bit, my resolve will grow stronger with time. Not just my resolve or willpower, but more rather... I think it will go something like this: as I begin more and more to touch and feel ongoingly and sustainably the powerful benefits of the full yogic and ayurvedic lifestyle, the lure of intoxicants and harmful foods will simply drop away. I'll just lose interest. Does anyone relate to what I am talking about?
As I heal on all levels, the desires and cravings will just naturally fall away. Essentially, I will "grow up". haha. And I think that this is the only way. Because anything else is just repression. Anything else and it is just you, constantly fighting with yourself, constant tension as you fight to do what you know is right, yet still give way to what you know is "bad", when really, as many of you know, there is no "good" and "bad" and this fighting with yourself... is exhausting. Takes so much energy! At the end of the day... you cannot push the river.

And in my tradition or training in yoga, in the broader sense of the word yoga, you cannot teach yoga or ayurveda, without yourself accepting and adopting the lifestyle as completely as you can. You absolutely must practice what you preach. So this is the dilemma. That being said, I can still see how a teacher can be of tremendous benefit to many people even if she is not perfectly pure, perfectly never touching a drop of wine ever, never enjoying a skewer of souvlaki from time to time, it only means that the power of her ability to hold energy for other people is lessened. Her/his ability to be of service to others is diminished in direct correlation to the degree of impurities he or she puts in their body. Again, all my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

Waaaaay too philosophical for you? I apologize for that. But these are my musings for today.

One more funny though... I saw a T-shirt yesterday that said: I "heart" Job Offers.
Only in India.
oh, and another funny: whilst researching trains, planes and automobiles to get us to Goa during the busiest season of the year (don't ask), I came across this motto for an airline: Sahara Airlines - "Emotionally Yours". Again, only in India. What a slogan. An attest to the heartfeltness of the Indian culture.
On the front of the menu of the Madras Cafe, one of my favourite haunts in Rishikesh, it reads: "We serve relationships". Hinglish. Indian English. I love India.