Hemis & Dalai Lama teachings

Hemis Monastery

Dalai Lama teachings in Nubra Valley

Some photos of Shey & Thikshe

Shey

Thikse
Thikse inside

Not raining here!!

Just a quick note to let you all know: Please, dont worry, Ladakh is the dryest region of India, not raining here, maybe some snow in the high altitude passes but no illnesses or floodings!

Take a look of the attached maps!

I will be without internet until august 10th, going to Nubra Valley for the Dalai Lama teachings!

Love you all!

Debbie

Leh, Ladakh, Indian Himalaya, J&K

from the airplaine, very close to landing in leh airport

leh, ladakh

After a short day and a half in Delhi, I am in Leh now, the capital of Ladakh @ the Himalayan Range, 3.505mt, west to Jammu and Kashmir Region, northeast from Nepal and very close to Tibet. Monasteries, gompas and stupas are everywhere.

This is so beautiful; huge mountains surround this small fertile valley north of the Indus River. Friendly villagers living very basic lives, mostly Tibetans refugees live here or people from Nepal, some Muslims too, everybody trying to sell their products (bargaining is a must here!). This is very tourist oriented area, lots of small hotels and restaurants, and summer time is the best period of the year for being here because the moonson rains does not reach Ladakh and the temperature is warm around mid 20C (70F).

The Dalai Lama is going to teach 3 days in Nubra Valley (aug 7-9), few hours from here in an antique monastery named Diskiyd. For going there is necessary to go over one of the highest motorized passes in the world: Khardong La (5.602 mt.) afterwards he will teach 4 days in Leh, where I am now (aug 16-19). In beetween I will go for trekking in tent from Lamayuru or Phanjila to Chiling, crossing passes and visiting remote villages and enjoying the breathtaking nature and energy that you breath here everywhere. I had mild AMS (acute mountain sickness or “mal de paramo”) de first 2 days but now I feel completely acclimatized and ready for having fun!

Love to all of you! Light and peace to all the world!

Debbie

different cultures from ladakh: tibetan refugee, muslim old man and indian man, all selling their products

Himmal, Centre for adult spastics, Pune

Himmal, Centre for spastic adults and children

Hello everybody!

Pune (Poona) means “the place where good things happen” and it was like that until the last day there!

After working in Himmal, the centre who takes care of the spastic children, I, with the help of Francisca, Liz and Joe, organized a fare well benefit party inviting everybody from the Iyengar Institute.

It was really nice, I made a presentation of the photos that I toke while volunteering at Himmal during their daily activities and sold the products they made with the sweet help of the art therapist who works with them and all the lovely staff who take care of them. We even make a ruffle with pictures of BKS Iyengar as the first prices. At the end we collected and donated enough money to pay for the tuition of one child for 1,5 months and we spread the word of how people who go to practice yoga can help the community while being here.

The experience was so beautiful and rewarding; only to see them each day, play and laugh with them was fantastic! They where so happy to see their pictures, to take them home! I even teach some of them to take pictures!

I will like to thank Liz for the candles and decoration for the party, to Francisca, for her high energy Bollywood Dancing, to Smita, who let us use her flat as ours all the time with the most warm smile, to Vashinta who cook the Parathas and Jeera Rice, to the manager of the centre for trusting me, letting me get involved, to all the staff of Himmal for opening their hearts, to the spastics people for being more than my friends, my small brothers and sisters and to all the Iyengar yoga teachers and students who came and help us to create a world full of love and unity.

If any of you want to make donation to the centre, please contact me, any amount will be appreciated! Thanks for your support!

With all my Love, Debbie

Shredding paper for selling it

Adult spastic with helper

Card that we use at the party as a gift for supporters

Art, children and yoga...

Friday, July 20, 2007 4:43pm

Namaste Everybody!

I just noticed that it had been 11 days without writing! Time is going so fast! I just feel great here, doing so many things that I like, It is beautiful to feel so good!

I have been going to yoga everyday, 6 times a week in the morning at the Iyengar Institute + receiving private medical classes from my special friend Joe, who is taking very good care of my lower back, he had been an iyengar yoga teacher for a very long time and is here practicing yoga (advance classes) and learning medical yoga and physiotherapy.

I am also volunteering to a center for children and adult spastics (people suffering from cerebral palsy which is the dysfunction of the Central Nervous System or in other worlds, when the mind and body do not function in accordance with one another).
They are wonderful, pure souls, like children. I am helping them with everything that I can, but mostly with trainings that the center teaches like papel shredding, coloring, pottery, batik, mostly art related creations. This help them to improve their manual abilities and to recollect funds for the center. We are organizing a fund raising party for them on next week with all the yoga people! I will send you more info later in case any of you would like to donate money or sponsor a child.

The first day I was a little nervous about how to relate with them, assuming that they needed to be help, but very soon I realized that they are happy, joyful and just need help with their physical needs. About their minds there is a lot to learn from them, like innocence, love and friendship! Contentment and living the present! Just as children! I really feel grateful of this opportunity!

I keep doing my lessons in drawing and painting as part of my training to fulfill the requirements for the MA in art therapy. And all this experience is helping me to know if I really like it, and honestly, so far so good! I am very excited! :)

And last but not least, of course I am taking pictures around the city, going out with friends, to restaurants, dancing parties and having so much fun!

Ahh, just to let you know, I don’t know what happen to the moonson, but its not raining anymore, first week was really heavy raining all day long but now we are really enjoying of a marvelous sunny weather!

I have a dinner at home with my roommates, Francisca, a wonderful German woman who lives in Bali, Lis, a fantastic Australian lady who lives in New Zealand, Joe, our awesome friend from NY that its cooking, and our two new neighbors from Sri Lanka! :)


I feel healthy and strong so no worries!



Love and joy to all of you!



Debbie

Art with Heart

Monday, July 9, 2007 4:00pm

Namaste loving friends!

I know that has been less than a week since the last time I wrote but to many things happen so I am here again!
I went to Osho to do the "Art with Heart" course, but as soon as I arrived I discovered that I had to pay around $300 extra! (for 3 days its really expensive for Indian standards). So I decided not to do it because I do not have a lot of money in my checking account. Then a venezuelan woman told me that was possible to take out money from my credit card. I was very happy and went to the bank with my Venezuelan credit card, when arriving there they told me that I needed my passport in order to do that transaction but I did not have it, so I believed I was not going to do the course, but I decided to keep trying so I went to the Osho’s registration office to see if the had a copy of my passport which I provided the first day, they did not but they gave me a printed paper with my passport number written on it, so I returned to the bank to see if they accepted it, they say YES! So I say to myself: Perfect! I am doing the course!
They took the card and tried to take 15.000 rupees from it but it was declined (they tried smaller amounts and it did not work, by the way I don’t have a clue of what is happening with my card…) So I said to myself: Ok, it seems that I should not do the course.
I walk to the plaza to tell the facilitator that I was not going to do it, and the Venezuelan woman again told me: "You know, it’s a shame that you speak Spanish not Italian because they are looking for a Italian translator" Then I was feeling really weird! So I approach the facilitator and told him that I speak Italian but he answer me that they already had somebody, at that time I really could not care less, in fact I was enjoying what looked to me as a game :) As you can imagine, I stayed in the Plaza chatting with the Venezuelan woman and after 5 minutes the facilitator called me and tell me that told the other translator what was going on and she was happy to let me in because she had other things to do! So I was in and free :)

I think that sometimes, when you want something and do everything to achieve it, its good and healthy to understand that at the end is the universe who will decide if you are in or not, and the way it happen is sometimes more important that the final objective. Because it is where the real learning is coming from. I could leave the resort after knowing the price or after going to the bank or after knowing about the already existing translator, or being really frustrated or angry, but I keep trying with I smile, open to all possibilities and trusting the universe (light or god, whatever you like to call it) to provide me the best!

The course was amazing, it was not about painting techniques, it was about opening our hearts, and connecting to the creativeness within us, without letting the mind to take control of ourselves. We faced fear, learn to support other people and to feel supported, practiced being independent and entering to a world of infinite possibilities, let go, let flow, and connect with the energy within and outside us, without judging, just observing.

For me was mostly about walking outside my safe and protected place and trusting myself, facing pain, fear and growing thru it. Letting go and enjoying the process… Really beautiful!
I painted an eye, huge eye with flowers and leafs and the second day suddenly while painting the top of the canvas, I put to much water and all the green painting was falling on one edge of the eye. When I look at it, it was like the big perfect yellow eye was crying, green tears no stop falling!

I asked the facilitator to help me but he told me that I was alone in that part so I just sat in front of the eye while feeling my own warm tears falling, did not know how to stop his pain, my pain… Finally I just put my hand in my heart and begin facing the pain, observing it, felt supported from something inside me, bigger that myself, and knew that everything was going to be fine, that everything was already good, even tears and pain where ok. (It was not about the painting, it was a mirror!)

Just fantastic, beautiful, magical and amazing experience!

So much love, hugs and light to each one of you!

Debbie

my first shared painting expo @ osho meditation resort :) The best part was to see people of every age, religion and nationality dancing in front of them and to dance with the other artists, my beloved friends from the course! LOVE IT!

Pune, after 1 week :)

Pune, July 4th 2007, 7:15am

More than one week has passed since I left Miami, it seems more to me, maybe its because the intensity of living that I am experiencing here, and with it I mean the growing and awareness that I have the purpose of developing during this (continous) journey.

My room feels like a home to me, I redecorate it, put some photos, my journal/books, put the bed under the window and my grandma’s alarm clock near me. I have new friends from Australia and Spain, very nice people!

I began my art lessons with drawing, I love it and found it very relaxing, as a meditation practice, as having just fun playing. It was interesting to realize that I was REALLY fearful of drawing, of not-being-able, of not-being-good-enough… but, not good enough for what? As I am reading the book “Radical Acceptance, by Tara Brach” (thank you so much Susan for this present!), I can clearly see how my mind keeps doing that sometimes, making me feel not good enough.

Tara, in her book, calls it the trance of unworthiness, and is something that everybody must face in their lives. It’s beautiful to find so many ways of going thru it, the more I go in any direction, more I think there are not magic formulas for jumping over it, its all about facing it. Like transpersonal psychology teaches: a deep and beautiful journey inside ourselves, "el camino del heroe", a magical story tale with huge obstacles as dragons, a gorgeous treasure, a maze, wizards, fairies; each thing having a deep meaning in our inner path towards our inner development of true happiness.

As every journey, it has moments of difficulties, when fear arises, sadness take us and delusion confront us, but the prize is worth the journey: unconditional love for ourselves and others, no more conflict between good and bad, fullness of spirit and a peaceful feeling that light is everywhere, in every cell of our body and eternally connected with the light outside, with the universe. Its beautiful when our hearts dive completely in the warm feeling of being part of something really big, in a ocean of light, only possible when we just let go…

:) I completely forget about the blog, but isn’t it about sharing?
I feel so joyful of feeling the openness to share with the world, with you that are my friends and family, with everybody willing to connect…

I have Iyengar classes every morning, where I am learning to find opportunities from learning instead of judging what I see. At the beginning I (my ego) was very disappointed because they did not assign me the most “important” teachers which I expected, but was a matter of minutes before I trusted again that whatever-happens-is-the-best.

I like my no senior teachers, don’t know them all because they change everyday, but until now I am feeling that I am learning and practicing (yoga, humbleness and contentment). The westerners that I know that are going to Geeta and Prashad teachings (Mr Iyengar’s daughter and son), says (and I saw that already) that they scream at people, mistreat them, and are not really hospitable, even if their teachings are great.

I find it good for learning that there are not fixed paths to happiness but only great teachers with tools that we can use however we want. I am sure, Iyengar Yoga is a powerful tool for developing awareness and a non pain life in a physical and intellectual level but like everything else, must be used as a tool instead as a unique reality where the ego can lay down and feel that now he knows everything.

On the other hand, I went to the Osho Meditation Resort, and found it amazing! Beautiful, clean, spectacular, with breathtaking gardens and minimalistic buildings, with lots of courses and different activities to join, so... I decided to go next Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a 3 day course called Art with Heart, that seems to be as Art Therapy :)

Last but not least, I have been hearing all the Kabbalah lectures that David download to my i-pod before living (Thank u a thousand times!) I absolutly LOVE IT, it gives me a lot of clarity, answers, new tools and probably a new passion.

I love to find out that there is a realm of no contradiction nor opposition, where everything that you learn, no matter who was the channel for that specific teaching, it’s the same :) It’s all about LOVE and LIGHT and personal practice and helping others and peace, so simple, isn’t it?

Ohh!! The sun just came out! What a wonderful day! See you all very soon! Blessings and light to everyone of you, let’s connect and hug ourselves and wish for a better world and light, light, light to come to our lives and the world!

“All you need is already within you, only you must approach yourself with reverence and love. Self-condemnation and self-distrust are grievous errors… all I plead with you is this: make love of your self perfect.” Sri Nisargadatta

I took this one from my bedroom window, it is the post office of Model Colony @ Poona :) Love the trees here! The other 2 photos are on my way walking to the institute, huge grren trees everywhere! This is how things look around here!

Pune - India, June 2007

I departed from Miami on Monday 25th June, 6:50 am and I did sleep during all the flights and just wake up, close to our arrival to Mumbai. From the map showed in the Alitalia airplane’s TV it looks like we are in Indian Territory, near Udaipur (North-East). It has been a very long trip, 3 hour flight Caracas-Miami, 10 ½ hour Caracas-Milano, and 8 ½ Milano-Mumbai. Now I have a difference on time zone 9 ½ ahead on time from Miami and Caracas and when landing the day will be Tuesday June 26th, 2007, 11pm.

I think, this explanation is more for my own practical orientation purposes than for general information. My physical body is wondering where is the good food that she was receiving until few days ago, but in airplanes and airports its almost impossible to maintain a healthy diet if you don’t plan every detail in advance, at least I am not hungry and soon everything will change again.

Wondering on my last days, they were mixed with all kind of feelings, It seem that the effects of every decisions I made arrived on the present all at the same time; giving me clarity and *growndness I have not expected. (*deb's dictionary).

I am sure that to have the honor to learn from the Iyengars in Pune will be very good for me, for my physical, intellectual and spiritual body, for my solidity, my balance, focus and clarity. I decided to give all my focus and attention to the practice of being here, with mindfulness. I am sure that this will only help me to build my path for living my life with a bigger purpose and will be a marvelous experience that will affect my family, friends and my community.

Thanks to all of you for your blessings and your support, for trusting me, for your kind words and sweet blessings, they made me strong and help me to take those small steps that conform the new beggining of my journey.

I would love to add here the song of Enya, named Pilgrim. Does somebody knows how to do it? :)

Ahh, by the way! I finally get to Pune, I am staying with a wonderful family, but have my own bedroom with bathroom, western toilette :) hot water! The owner of the house is a painter, maybe he will teach me something, he is very talented and used to give art lessons, now he is older and doesn't teach anymore... Anyway, the house is a gallery, can you imagine? I feel so happy about that...

Its rainig a lot but is not hot as I supposed, is warm, feels good, everything is green and there are huge trees everywhere with lots of flowers, is a wonderful place :) Now is wednesday june 27th, 4pm :)

Love u all, lots of kisses and hugs and light!

Deb

About me:

Love travelling, meeting different cultures, learning from them and letting them break my patterns and understand universal laws, that I found everywhere. It had help me to understand better the society where I was born, my spectacular and autentical family, the eternal truth that surround us called LOVE.

With photos, writings, yoga and meditation lets communicate a message of a better world!

Lets art, nature and our breath connect ourselves with our inner self and with everything that sorround us, with everybody, everywhere.


Who I'd like to meet:

People who are interested in beeing, in helping others with peace, joy, entusiasm, in creating a better world.

Artists of any kind, people with creativity, open mind, warm hearts, possitive attitude!

Healers, witches, wizards and fairies.

Angels, guardians, guides and teachers.

People that bealive in LOVE, that are able to see the BEAUTY everywhere.

Light, love & Peace,
Debbie