I can’t quite decide if the most surreal moment of the week was swimming like a fish standing up fully clothed in a room or flinging my self around in abandonment during a dance meditation class with 20 other strangers.
What a week it has been!
To connect with Intention, the Universal Life Force, it’s important to raise your energetic vibrations. By this I mean operating at high energy level thoughts and actions such as love, kindness, beauty, compassion, gratitude and acceptance. Low level activity are thoughts such as anger, depression, sadness, jealousy, hatred, guilt and so on.
You can also raise your vibrations through spiritual practices such as prayer, mediation, yoga, reiki, dance and spending time in high energy places like temples, churches, places with crystals and surrounding yourself with nature.
So in line with my intention of INTENTION this week I have done something every day to raise my vibrations!
First up was a rebirthing session, where better to start than being reborn?! I met the man, Franz Simon, on the roof top of his guest house. Before going into the session he asked me if there was anything particular I would like to discuss, I hadn’t expected this so was not prepared with a topic, so threw relationships into the equation. He proceeded me ask me more about the situation and then took me through a set of questions which I found really interesting, I will share the exercise here incase it resonates with anyone else reading this:
If I were to trust myself 5% more I would…… (ask yourself this 6-10 times)
If I were to listen to my inner voice 5% more I would……. (again 6-10 times)
If I were to allow people to hear my inner melody 5% more I would…… (again 6-10 times)
If I was to not live up to other peoples expectations I would…….
Then we went down to the room he works from to do the rebirthing session. Before we got started he advised me that sometimes peoples hands curl up with cramps and their legs get paralysed, but there was nothing to worry about this was all part of releasing emotional blocks that are stored in our bodies…….was slightly nervous!
I began the first breathing technique standing up, I was to raise my arms with the in breaths and down with the exhale. As I got into it he just told me to move my arms how ever felt right and to really get into feeling the movement, before I knew it I was doing some kind of breaststroke feeling like I was swimming under the ocean! It was brilliant! I then progressed to my knees and then finally lying down. After a while he took me through some other techniques and my arms did start to feel a tingling sensation. By the end of the session I had this incredible energy shooting out of my hands and it felt great!
To conclude the session he told me that he felt I should focus on my getting into my body rather than my mind, he said It’s like I just accept that I have asthma but there are ways of curing it these days. One being with a guru in India called Ravi Shankar who runs breathing courses. So I am going to take his advice and start to focus more on my body, health and feelings rather than so much mind work which I have already done a lot of.
The next day I went on a whirlwind trip to Amristar in Punjab, the
home of the famous Sikh Golden temple. It is not only a central religious place of the Sikhs, but also a symbol of human brotherhood and equality. Everybody, irrespective of cast, creed or race can seek spiritual solace and religious fulfilment without any hindrance there. It’s stunning, it really is gold and the actual temple marble walls are inlaid with precious stones.
We queued up with all the other 1000s of Indians wanting to go inside the temple, squished in the 40 degree heat. Luckily they had fans whirring! It was quite an experience, and definitely worth it once inside. They have people constantly chanting from the Holy book and playing instruments which creates a really lovely atmosphere of worship. It really was a fun day out, despite the crowds and heat we were all super energized and even had some time for shoe shopping!
On Thursday I walked the Korra which is the circular walk around the Dalai Lama temple. Tibetan Buddhists do this walk morning and evening, the intention is to create positive energy to send out to the universe. There are prayer wheels all along it which you turn and it sends out the Tibetan chant “Om Mani Padme Um”. People buy prayer flags, write names of people on the back they wish to send prayers for and then hang them in the trees. The breeze blows on the flags and sends out the prayers, it’s lovely.
Friday night I had a very surreal but fun experience, I went to a 5 Rhythms dance/ meditation class. It was in a stunning setting in the side of the mountain with the front all open, once the stars came out it was beautiful to be dancing under them.
Bascially the idea is that you keep moving/ dancing for the full 2 hours, even if it’s on the floor! They play music you wouldn’t necessarily know and a variety of genres and rhythms. It builds up in to a peak after the first hour and then calms down. Sometimes you are asked to dance with a partner, other times in a circle and other times simply freestyle.
I love dancing so it was fun but I did look round every now and then to have a chuckle. The dance was all about expressing yourself and really feeling your body so it wasn’t your standard dancing on the spot in a night club! One minute it was french piano, then tribal, then rave, then Tina Turner and even classical. I am sure I will go to another class when I am back in UK, it was something different to do!
Yesterday I went up to the Buddhist Meditation retreat called 
Tushita for a guided meditation session. We were told to breathe in through nose, down through heart into stomach and then exhale, stomach, heart and nose. The subject for the mediation was letting go of attachments. They ran through a series of examples of how everything we perceive is all made up in the mind, for example the name of a mountain and the concept of a mountain are not in the mountain, it is from our mind. Our name and concept of who we are are not actually within us somewhere but are our thoughts and others thoughts about us. The idea is just to get to the state of everything just being as it is, quieting the mind. It’s the concept of Non Dualism, rather than hot cold, good bad, happy sad just being.
Felt lovely after that session and even better when I discovered a cute little organic cafe on the mountain path where I had pancakes with banana and honey. mmmmmm. Was real comfort food!
I have continued to practice Reiki every day and what with all these other activities I think my energy is sky high right now! It really does make a difference to consciously do something to raise your energy each day.
Wow well I think that is enough to report for this week! I am leaving McLeod Ganj this evening to go to Manali. My next post may be a little late as next Friday I am going to spend 5 nights in a Tibetan Monastery where I plan to have some quiet time.
Lots of love xxx
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