Little Cove, 2

Second time in this paradise. Same magical place, seen it through different eyes.

There is no way I can truly describe the beauty of (my experience at) this place in a blog post. This is a hidden gem I discovered 10 months ago when, still living as a marketing executive, I came here to spend some of my annual leave. I could not imagine it will change my life. Let’s go back then…when I arrived in Little Cove in March 2014 I was awfully stressed by a London office life style and very much blind. The first 2 days I kind of slept only – the powerful oceans voice and the kind wind gusting and blowing through palm tree leaves cradled me night and day. “Sleeping is healing” as Suruchi would say. The stress was slowly getting off my body and mind. My soul was peeping out. The meditation classes by the rocks at sunset were magical and regenerating – through meditation my mind was finally resting and so it worked better, I could see things clearer. However I had an annoying head ache every time I was practicing the morning yoga class (and I never suffer of migraine) so I asked Guru Pardeshi what it can be. He looked at me for a minute. Then with his sweet and deep indian accent rumored “You have headache because you didn’t go to the toilet this morning………and also because you are releasing stress toxins”. Then, without smiling, he added “You must stay here at least one month and you will look like a different person. You will remember these words.” He was damn right. I couldn’t stay there a month at that time of course but I looked like a different person even a week after. I was feeling lighter, more in peace, more relaxed, with a healthier body and a clearer mind so when I came back to my “real life” 2 weeks after I realized it was nothing but fake. Suddenly I knew what I wanted and I knew I had to leave my job to go and see what else is out there (and what else is inside me). At least for a while. For now.

So, along this trip, I wanted to come back to the roots of my changes, to see Pardeshi and his magical place and it happened to be in the first week of February (again unplanned), just when Hindu celebrates Magha Purnima – which is a sacred holy day with a huge full moon. And so I had this perfect huge full moon for at least 3 days in front of my hut’s entrance door.

Full Moon shoot taken at 5am on Magha Purnima day.

It was magical! A part from Magha Purnima, Little Cove looked like the same lovely, beautiful and unspoiled yoga retreat I had left 10 months ago but I could see it through different eyes – I appreciate it since my very first beginning. I enjoyed every moment. I could feel I was aware, aware of here and now. I didn’t experience any headache. I wasn’t worried about the present or the past. Again I met amazing people and I’ve seen them changing through their stay at Litte Cove…..just as I did10 months back. Pardeshi was impressed by my mutation – he said “I can feel from your Om chanting you have understood what yoga is”. Ok let’s not analyze this too much. 🙂 But what I believe is that Yoga is already within ourselves, we just need to became aware of it. I’m sure I still have to learn a lot though. And so my next destination is Chandra School in Rishikesh where in few days I will finally attend the 200h Yoga Teacher Training course. Namaste!

JAIPUR & PUSHKAR – RAJASTHAN’s beauty

“Everything you are going through is preparing you for what you asked for.” Ask wisely. 

It’s amazing how plans can change when you travel through India. I’ve changed mine many times already and today my trip is only 1 month old. If you are ever planning to travel around Asia I suggest you not to book all in advance, experience the beauty of the unplanned. It’s the beautiful sense of freedom I’m experiencing that makes me speak this way. You might change your plans as you discover new places worth visiting longer then planned, or because instead that place doesn’t deserve your time anymore. You might change it as you meet new travelers on the way and you want to stick with them. You might also change it because you don’t find the train ticket in time or because the train got canceled! You will change it because more then act as a tourist you’d rather be a traveller, a carpe diem explorer. You’d rather talk to the locals then the tourist officers. You’d rather be in the present moment then in the future or the past. Being flexible to the change and open to the unknown is probably what I’ve learned so far to be the key to enjoy this trip.

So I went to Jaipur with a lovely bunch of yogis from different nationalities – whose have just finished their yoga teacher training – plus their yoga teacher: Dominique, a 64 years old french woman who can still brilliantly do a hand stand with one hand and absolutely no effort, actually she claims that her strength and abilities have increased with the age! She’s been traveling anywhere since 40 years to study and teach vinyasa yoga, a wonder woman!

We got to Jaipur by train, a 14h train leaving New Delhi at 3:30pm. To be my first indian experience on the train I have to say it was pretty cool, relaxing, wild and a bit dirty. We even managed to sleep on the bench they provide as a bed at night. It was actually lovely and cosy to feel the train moving, watching the landscape changing through the window while you are about to fell asleep…it reminded me the old times when I was probably 5 and my dad was driving the caravan at night to reach our summer holiday destination. I felt safe and content. Until I visited the train toilet and the stink reminded me I was in India 🙂

So, we arrived safe at Jaipur around 4:00am and crashed at the Hotel Kalyan – it’s 500Rupees per night including 24h (almost) hot water and even wifi!! This is rare and amazing! When traveling through Asia you became so thankful to God whenever the water in the shower is hot or the wifi is, at least, slow. You appreciate more every little thing and realize that the “problems” we have in the west are so ridiculous. In jaipur we visited the Amber Fort, the Water Palace, The Pink City with its countless Bazaars selling anything from seasonal tasty fruits (Papaya’s at its best here), Ayurveda products, natural oils (the rose oil is just AMAZING as a perfume and it’s so cheap and healthy for your skin), saris, flowers to jewelry and etc etc. Jaipur is specially famous for its stones, gold, silver and any precious jewelry.

Here the people try to sell you anything. Some of them are sneaky bast* trying to cheat you – but the majority are so funny and welcoming. Our first day we met Raji, an interesting jeweler indian men who tried to sell us any sorts of goods through its brilliant sales skills. After showing off his fluent polyglot skills he invited us in his shop, and in fluent italian said “Ti posso offrire un caffé come si deve?”. They are so welcoming and friendly, perhaps a bit un-compessionatley of course 🙂 but it’s still pleasant to be taken care of in a foreign country. Raji is a jeweler but he could sort and satisfy any kind of requests, from where to have a massage in Jaipur to where to fix your shoes; he even insisted to borrow us his motor bike to have a ride around the city ahah such a personaggio! Raji is one of those people who became rich through hard work and not by born – you can tell from his eyes. We went to visit him and take his lovely coffee for the following 3 days. He def reminded me of my home town sales people 🙂

The second day we went to Pushkar – oh God, I can’t explain the beauty and the energies this city has to offer. I will go back tostay at least a week after the teacher training. Or maybe a life time, who knows. It’s so small but so fascinating, like a precious stone – as a friend of mine (Zoli 🙂 ) said “I could easily live in this city”. Pushkar’s considered a “Holy city” (like Rishikesh) as it lies on the shore of Pushkar Lake which is categorized as a “Sacred Lake” under the “Classification of Lakes in India”. It’s a pilgrimage centre where Hindus come to take a holy dip and cure themselves of skin problems – a bit like the Ganga river in Rishikesh. The city spreads all around its lake – for this reason it reminds me a bit of Siena with its central Palio Square and the whole town raised around it. When we walked close and around the beach lake a young local men shout at us reminding that if we walkabout the holy lake we must take our shoes off, make a pray, throw some flowers in the lake as a form of giving and only then we are allowed to enjoy the holy place. And so we did. In Pushkar, like in Rishikesh, there are plenty of yoga places, gorgeous terrace vegetarian cafes with astonishing lake view; there are colorful markets, bazaars, beautiful ancient temples and happy people, locals and not, living in it. 5 hours was such a short time though – I will be back.

I’m now sitting at a laptop station of the New Delhi airport – my flight to Goa is about to take off. I’m going back to the roots. I’m going back where it all started 10 months ago. I’m going to visit Guruji Pardeshi.

Rishikesh – The Yoga’s Lovers Paradise

Here when you ask for a mint tea you’ll get hot boiled water with some mint leaves in it, do not expect a packed tea bag; you get only pure real row stuff here. The smell of burned incense is everywhere as well as the sound of mystics chants coming from one of the thousands temples along the roads. Yoga studios are in every corner, or even out on the street! Roads are busy, messy, dirty and colorful, full of stands selling anything yoga related, motorbikes with 4 or 5 passengers on top, cows, monkey and dogs. Here the people look at you, smile at you and will always compassionately greet you. People are so genuinely happy and are definitely not worried about the future – they enjoy the present. There is spiritualism in every corner. Mystic chants and ceremony going on any time. The roads leading to the holy Ganga river are populate by BABAs and Hary Krishna followers.  To meditate by the Ganga river is such a powerful experience. You can feel the energy and the calmness at the same time. Making friends (yogis of course) is so easy as they are all very easy going and chilled here. All like minded – all with colorful pants on and a yoga mat packed in their bag packer. Many of them have left their previous office job for instance to come here (well, me included!). They all want to do yoga, meet new like minded people and have fun, real fun, not mixed with alcohol (no alcohol or meat/fish is served in the whole city) – you actually go out here without having to drink any booze! This is unthinkable in places like London for instance. It’s in the yoga spirit to be open and chilled so here you go; You go to the Little Buddha Cafe or the Ganga Beach cafe’ down Laxa Man Jula bridge to drink a super tasty Tulsi Mulethi tea and end up talking with some yogis about the mystic power of Pranayama or the latest asana you’ve mastered or where are you traveling next or which character you were in your previous lives! Yes I got that question too.

And to confirm the fact that “your trip to India will almost always go against your plans” I’m about to pack and leave Rishikesh for a while. I will come back here for my 200h Teacher Training on 12 Feb. I go south now. I go to Jaipur – Rajahastan by the 3:30pm train tomorrow. I’ve met these bunch of yogis who have just finished their yoga teacher training in Rishi and want to explore the Rajahastan for a while. One of them is called Tanim, a lovely guy from Bangladesh – I met him in London 3 or 4 years ago and then on my first day in Rishikesh I pumped into him! So great. And so I go with the flow.

xxx

VIPASSANA – my experience

“You are not allowed to lay down on the grass – in so doing you might kill insects or other species!”

I left Suruchi and her B&B in New Delhi on the 7^th January to reach Haryana, a village 2 hours far from New Delhi where the Vipassana Dhamma Sota centre was. I was so excited to finally start my Vipassana course! I first heard about Vipassana some time ago from some yoga teachers. Then after watching the beautiful documentary “Doing Time, Doing Vipassana” I got further fascinated by this mysterious meditation course. I did lots of research, read many people’s reviews about it and heard many “friends of friends” Vipassana weird stories which all had some strange beautiful mystery in it. Vipassana is a very intensive Buddhist meditation technique. Basically it’s just sitting. It lasts for 10 days during which time you sit for 10 hours a day in stretches of silence that last 2 to 3 hours at a time. It’s the extreme meditation technique. Despite the intensity and strict time schedule of the course all those stories seemed to have an happy end in a way (probably just because the course was over??!).

I was all over it, I wanted to experience it as soon as possible and in the most authentic way. I decided to do it in India – where it all started, and where also my journey is starting. As soon as I arrived and filled up the registration form, they assigned me a cell. Yes, this is the way they call it in here, a cell, not a room. There was just a bed with a mattress, a WC, a sink, and some buckets (to have a shower and wash your clothes I presume). It wasn’t that bad at the end. My excitement went pretty down when I discovered there was no hot water! Never mind. The location was fantastic, so peaceful, surrounded by many fruit trees, lost of paths to walk on and many peacocks too!! Yes there were peacocks like squirrels in London – divine! The afternoon went pretty quick, we had an introduction discourse where mainly stressed the code of discipline. Then the following day the course will officially start.

Code of Discipline:

• Noble silence (no talking to any students nor gazing at them – keep the gaze downwards)
• Abstention from killing (of course!). Including mosquitos or any other insects/animals though
• Abstention from alcohol, cigarette or any other intoxication

• No to any forms of entertainment like: mobile phones, internet, books, music or physical exercises. Basically NO to all but meditation

The morning after, the bell screamed at 4am. I think I started loosing excitement then. How difficult can it be to sit on your arse all day observing your own breath? It was hard. It was so damn hard. “It’s been harder then giving birth to 4 twins” said one of my fellow student when the noble silence ended. The time schedule was tremendous. Wake up bell at 4 am says it all. Though the worst thing was the cold. God how cold it was in Haryana! It was foggy and never sunny, London would have been probably way better. Plus there was almost no shower and no hot water. Imagine sitting in a cold room (temple) trying to meditate for 10 long hours a day and 9 long days still ahead. You are tempted to leave. Day 1 was never ending, day 2 was even worst. It was so intense it seemed like an hammer straight in your head: you felt pain and confusion at the same time. It was physically painful mainly because of the way you had to sit for many hours (on a cushion on the floor) and it was emotionally intense cause you are bombarded with all kind of thoughts and nightmares the first days before the mid quietens down and if you’d like to share your suffering with somebody, you’ll quickly realize the only person there able to interact with you is yourself with your thoughts, your back pain and your bucket of cold shower. The hardest bit though was to accept the logic of this technique. Basically Vipassana teaches you to observe your physical and emotional sensations without reacting to it (without moving from your sit for 2 hours for instance). Towards pleasant or unpleasant sensations you are told to remain equanimous, aware and equanimous. This goes completely against our western culture of “you are not suppose to suffer, if you suffer, do something about it”. In Vipassana if you are feeling discomfort you are supposed to observe it without react. It took me 8 long Vipassana days to realize that they are actually kind of right. You eventually learn the the universal truth of impermanence: everything (good or bad) does eventually pass.

I was of course determined to finish the whole course, no matter what! But I have to admit when I saw a girl with the trolley ready to leave the centre on day 3 I envied her a bit. She was funny, definitely not the right person for attending Vipassana. She was sitting next to me in the dining area and tried talking to me more than once. “do you like indian food?” she says in a deep indian accent – “you know this is spinach” pointing a green liquid stuff. A bit annoyed, I replied with some italian hand gesture as I didn’t want to break my silence, but I doubt she got me. The day after she left. However, despite my envy, now I can say that she left too early. She left way too early to understand the beauty behind this technique. She left too early to understand that this suffering was part of the game, part of the process to reach the ideal meditative state and to understand the universal truth of impermanence and learn detachment. Basically Vipassana teaches you to see things as they really are, not how you’d like to see them. It’s a process of self-observation. Sooner or later you realize that if you react to a painful sensations by constantly moving the pain will only grow. Instead if you don’t react sooner or later it will pass away. That’s true, I experienced it on my self! Being aware and equanimous is the key.

Finally, whether because it was finished or because I learned the magic, I felt so happy and blessed after completing this course. Also, it was delicious being a monk for 10 days. It was such an experience hearing your own voice after 10 long days and sharing your experience with your fellow monks. I recommend this 10 days to everybody, it’s v taught thou so be prepared NOT TO GIVE UP! Hopefully this will give us the strength we need to face obstacles in life and keep on enjoying this journey. Everything does eventually pass.. Ji Namaste

I have an issue with my male side.

8:30 am. Here at the B&B Tree of Life in New Delhi I’ve discovered that the hot water in the shower works, “it just takes 25 minutes to get hot” said Suruchi, the owner of this place and a Sivanada Yoga teacher. “Would you like to practice yoga while you wait?” I said OK. The yoga class was a good start. It started with some chanting, Pranayama (Anulom Vilom – which is alternate nostril breathing), Surya Namaskar, Sirasana and some other asanas. It was followed by 15 minutes meditation where Suruchi asked me to visualize a lotus flower blooming while inhale and a lotus flower closing while exhale in the area of my Solar Plexus Chakra. The mantra was “Suh” (inhale)…”Ka” (exhale). I probably managed to meditate for at least 8 seconds. The rest of the time my mind was chit chatting about the breakfast that I will have and wether the water in the shower was hot by now or not. Suruchi is a strong indian woman who attended her YTT in Kerala at the Sivananda Ashram some time ago. After the class and the meditation she asked me: “So, what is that you carry?” I wasn’t sure what she really meant. I attempted to say something, but nothing came out of my mouth. Then I said “I’m not sure why I’m here”, she smiled. Then she said “You are following your path, you have something to solve. Maybe from your previous lives. It will be very difficult and very painful. I can see that you have a problem with your right side, which is your male side. Don’t worry, you are maybe on the right way. But it will be very painful. Bad and old things will come out. But eventually you will find yourself”. I gotta ask her what she meant with “a problem with my male side”.

Let’s Get it Started (Si comincia)

Many people told me “Doesn’t matter how well organized you are, your trip to India will almost always go against your plans.” ehm..why? “Because this is India”. And here I am, writing this post from a comfortable desk of a hotel room 5mins walk from… Fiumicino Airport (Rome); a room paid by Air India to compensate a flight cancellation, yes mine! By now I was supposed to have a Air India dinner in the air and about to land in New Delhi. The good news is, I will fly tomorrow morning at 6am, and I have a free dinner and breakfast too!! Ahah

If i’d have to describe it, I’m not sure how I feel. It’s been more than 7 months I’m anxiously waiting for this day to come and now I’m not exactly aware of how I feel. I have to admit it, I’m flooded by all sorts of unexpected sensations, again against my plans! It’s a mixture of black and white, cold and hot, excitement for the adventure and fear for the unknown, impatience for discovering what really brought me here and relaxation for having made the the right choice…or not? I just don’t know. I will just stop asking where the way leads, I just follow it.

What I know for sure is that I’m not feeling lonely. And this is also thanks to the love, encouragement and inspiring words received from some close friends. I would like to write them down here, hopefully they will serve all those that are about to jump…

• Be strong and never get scared
• Be patient and believe in your soul, we are here in spirit!
• Now that you have jumped, the fate will help you move towards the right direction, trust this
• Trust the energies and passion that brought you where you are now, and follow them. Those are the same positive energies that will guide you in your next choices
• Do not ask where the way leads, just walk and follow it (from a Battiato song “Non domandarti dove porta la strada, seguila e cammina soltanto”)
• Never give up! However, if you think this is not your path anymore, come back, you have to prove nothing to anyone but yourself
• have a good trip!
• SMILE 🙂

Ok, now I’m ready !!

Stage 1: EAT

Well, actually more than reading it, I’m Living this book. It turned out I have to stop by my hometown in Italy for few weeks before The Trip – same time my friend in London bought me this book as my leaving present. Couldn’t fit better!

Flying to India the 3rd Jan. Shit this is actually happening!!

P.S. You have not a damn idea how tasty this pizza is. I suggest popping in this pizzeria if you ever pass by Napoli: Pizzeria Sorbillo A good mix of simplicity and authenticity (there is always a massive queue though).

Upside Down

My last show. My last business trip. My last stand to manage before The Trip. Starting to get emotional. It feels better to be Upside Down. Life is Beautiful and Surprise full. 🙂

Las Vegas – Such a peaceful place.

Just back from one of my last business trips before resigning and start my “spiritual trip”. I went to Las Vegas.

Not exactly a peaceful holy place isn’t it? 🙂 Weirdly enough, I had to think twice. Las Vegas is with no doubt a place of addictions and perdition, where the consumerism and the unhealthy life style has reached exponential peaks. However it is still possible to find peace if you are willing to. I personally found this city and the photo shoots below a good metaphor of life.

A good metaphor to express that with the right tools and life style (yoga and meditation for instance) you can be in peace within a city, you ca be in peace within the madness, you can be in peace within yourself. With yoga, meditation and Kriya techniques you can enjoy the real moment and stay in control and in peace regardless the madness of the outside world .

Sri Dharma Mittra

“Most people come to class to improve their figures, but as they practice they gradually and automatically start changing their ideas. They start thinking more about the spirit. Automatically it begins to have another effect, something that’s learned less from thought than through experience.”
Sri Dharma Mittra