Lao Zsu says to sit and wait
Be there looking for nothing
Just say, Today's the Day
Day after Day

The turtle holds the sphere
The snake winds around
The wall holds the clock
The seconds wrap around
Growing into each hour, each day
Lao Zsu says to sit and wait
Just say, Today's the Day

Is it enough for you?
The wall holds the mirror
The mirror holds the face
Perched with grace?
Not on the wall, not on the fence
Just say, Today's the Day
Let the seconds wrap around
Each time and place

The wall jumps the fence
The fence cracks the mirror
The snake wraps around
The turtle's elegant neck
Look in the mirror
Lao Zsu says to sit and wait
Just say, Today's the Day
Place wraps around time
The seconds sit and wait
Today's the Day, just say

Day 5

SPRING DETOX w Jem Ah

Well, it's 12:35 at night and I just got home from a huge long day.. this day started at 6am, with working out. Went to a talk on health foods, and had a consultation with a nutrition/fasting expert. Very inspiring.

Work was a long festival/activity day, after which I joined my coworkers at a pub and drank up some herbal teas. It was nice to chat with them and unwind. Wish I had been able to catch a taxi home, but Itaewon on an evening before a holiday, too many partyers out and no taxis to be found. Alas am home.

I made it through the day evenly and am feeling bright. The fasting is over, but the detox is still on - - coming out of the fast is very important. I'm not eating much tomorrow, but have bought some fruit and herbs I will blend into a very watery smoothy for my first meal. Tomorrow just fresh fruit, and then some fruit and soup the next day. That's it! Feel great.

I learned today if one is extremely exhausted on the detox, they are detoxing too fast, or for too long. I felt really good all the way through, so I think it was a good pace and timing for me.

I might post more about afterthoughts and insights I gained on the fast. A bien tot.

Day 4

SPRING DETOX with Jem Ah

It's pushing the midnight hour on day four. I am such a burn-the-candle-at-both-ends kind of person.. It was a busy one. It seems, there is not hunger, and there is not stomach. Instead, I have gotten more spacey as the day went on. My short term memory and ability to manage the temporal world have slid a bit.

Not eating is like not being a part of the normal human community. This is an interesting space to be in, as a faster. I do like it. I think for me this 5 day cruise is a good one. After this experience, I would be ready to aim for a 10 or 12 day fast, if it was chosen at a good time.

As it is, I have a stellar weekend planned, headed to the East coast mountains for some hiking and time by the sea with a good group of people. I want to be able to partake in meals and have enough energy to pike those peaks.

This morning, I went to boot camp (circuit training) and it's tough on a regular day. While fasting, it is similar, if not less sluggish, but by today, the fourth day, I could feel my energy reserves had run low. I did manage to do the exercise at fairly good speed 80 percent of the way through, and then it was, reerrrrrrrrrr. And I had to stop. I was a little light-headed, so I rested, and after 5 minutes felt good again, and glad for the exercise.

Fasting makes you more conscious of the energy you have, and consider your choices you make throughout the day. I had planned to go right into an appointment on the other side of the city before work, but when the time neared, I gauged that it would be better to just be lazy for a couple of hours before work, and it was just the right adjustment to balance the energy scales to propel me through the rest of my day.

Overall in my classes, I felt cheerful and light. For a few days, fasting can enhance performance. I had some creative ideas about a couple of new articles I want to write. This feeling of lightness is a good time to be receptive to catching new habits or plans.

I will definitely want to try this again. I have done it before, but this time it was very even and graceful, for the most part. I felt aware of my limits and surprised at how much of our daily energy is pretty much just prana, give or take.

So that's it. I have lots going on, but after our fast we have a day off, "Children's Day," which will be nice to cook up a little bit of broth to ease back into the eating world, so by the weekend I'm good to go on my trip.

Tomorrow's the last day! See you tomorrow.

Day 3

SPRING DETOX with Jem Ah

Ahhh, getting ready for bed. What happened today?

I was up at 6 and did boot camp at 6:30. It wasn't so bad. Felt very invigorating; not any worse than waking up at 6 usually is.. :-)

After that I came home, showered, salt water flushed. Out the door by 9:30, taught a private (language lesson) at 10:30 for an hour, and was at work from 12-7pm. Teaching on a Monday was pretty much the same as always. I wasn't really tired, just bored of having only lemon juice to eat on breaks. I think part of what happens when we fast is that we realize how much food is entertainment for us a lot of the time. Easy to get out of touch with our true hunger rhythyms.

After work I went to the sauna. Did some sweating out of toxins, then got a scrub down (most of body skin loofahed off by ajumma.) That was a delight as usual (it's always worth it in the end).. came home, had a bit of fresh juice. Did a yoga session, now drinking my tea and thinking how fast the day went. Monday is slain! Yeah hooray.

Time for some shut eye. ~. ^

Day 2 - SPRING DETOX with Jem Ah

Another great day. It was a Sunday, so of course relaxing. Woke up at 6am and took the salt water flush, then lied down for half an hour. It did it's deed! I was up and puttering around til about 9:30, then crashed and had a snooze for half an hour. Up and out the door for yoga class at 10:30. Massage at Healing Hands at 1:30pm, precluded by a little post-yoga walk in the sun and browsing at shoes with Jema.

Post massage came home to stock up on lemon water, change laundry, then ventured to Anguk-station surrounds, to pick up Olive Leaf extract, which I'm supplementing my cleanse with now, and will in the future. Also found there: organic cacao and organic crunch peanut butter. Will put that to good use later!

This evening I made a veggie broth using:
1 potato, halved
one whole onion, decorated with cloves
red pepper, half
fresh spinach, half a pack
celery stalks, half
garlic cloves, 7
fresh ginger root, one

I also made a pot of Indian chai, without the tea and the honey. So my menu choices while working tomorrow include the Master Mix, chai, and broth. I may leave the broth at home til the evening.

During a cleanse it's nice to indulge in fragrances: I dug into some coconut oil after a dry brush. It's much more tropical in here!

Going to bed eeeeeearly though not so tired. Pranayama and short meditation, then lights out by 10pm.

Morning plan is to attend boot camp at 6:30 at Studio X as usual. Not sure if this will continue throughout the fast or not.

Bring on Day 3, and Monday! Aoooo how will it go?

Lemoniscious

DAY 1

SPRING DETOX w Jema and friends

I am on day one of my detox regimine guided by my good friend/fellow yogi Jem Ah. There are a few of us doing it together, and it will be for five days.

We are doing the MASTER CLEANSE, with some variations: daily probiotics and antiparasite supplements, Yogi teas, and veggie broth. Jema has thrown in some delights that she made herself: an all natural hair tonic and facial serum, which I'm looking forward to trying out.

The master cleanse usually involves strictly a mixture of lemon-water as such: fresh squeezed lemons, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. The ingredients have to be of the highest quality, and this mixture may be drank throughout the day as one likes.

This morning, I started my day with an amazing iridology session with Jennifer Thompson:
www.healthybliss.net
She adviced me that my iridology type is: lymphatic constitution, with anxiety tetanic subtype. You really have to hear this woman talk to get the full effect; she is very practical and knowledgeable in her advice. She consults clients about nutrition, esp raw foods. As I was starting a cleanse today, she was a great motivator and helpful to start off the day. Incidentally, she recommended some foods that I haven't tried, such as maca powder, olive leaf extract, and coconut oil. I also relearned that corn is actually good (for my type) as it possesses good quantities of magnesium, as do most yellow vegetables, such as squash.

After the consultation, I went right into a healing yoga class with Jema, which was great as usual. It was in the Mind Body Seoul studio, which has been remodeled and is very beautiful and cozy. I really enjoyed it but had to jet to make my massage appointment at Healing Hands. Two hours of bliss, it was.

Jema gave me my first bottle of The Cleanse, and all my other stuff, except for the sea salt I will need for tonight. (Salt water flush, oooooooooo.) After the massage I meandered around a bit, and picked up some more lemons and coconut oil at the foreign food market, than perused the book store. I ended up taking off with a book I've been meaning to buy for a while:

HEROTODUS: THE HISTORIES An ancient greek traveler, sometimes called the "father of history" as he is a master storyteller. He traveled with only one guide, though most elite of those days wouldn't be seen without 20 to 100 or so attendees. He was intensely curious about other nations, and the makeup of the world around him. I'm looking forward to digging into this book. It is a good one to do while I want to elevate my mind from my present surroundings, oui.

If I go back to see Jennifer the iridologist again, I would certainly not forget my mp3 voice recorder. I should get in the habit of taking that thing with me.

In making the lemon concoction, I have discovered that, in the collection of water bottles that has settled in my apartment, shared with other expats and often a sofa to surf for overnight travelers, is that there is one perfect water bottle in which the lemon concoction just ---- tastes so much better than it does in any of the other water bottles. I know this because I have spent some time making this stuff and filling up most water bottles available to be filled. I'm not sure how to explain it, why this one is better. Is it the color? The thickness of the jug?

My mind, as I roll the lemon before cutting, to help facilitate the yielding of its juice, goes back to the last time I flirted with the master cleanse. I often looked at websites about the healing powers of the ingredients; lemon, maple, and cayenne, and would visualize them working on the cells of my body as I prepared the mixture, or drank it.

It is also good to be very conscious of what we are putting into our minds as we wander about the world in the open state that comes with fasting, as we are more sensitive. Hahaha though we must be toughies, our little group. Our evening plan is to hit a play called

Suicides in Vegas.

Awesome. It is now 6:30pm exactly, and I have achieved my mini-mission of writing something about this thing. Time to go read and luxuriate for a while before the play begins.

Adieu ~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1St7sRFEEE

Insomniac....

Sleep, where are you?? I am flying through the clouds, the thoughts in my head, my pink plastic airplane piercing each illusory one with every km/hr torque. I'm romanticizing, and theorizing, and there are a few tailspins here and there. Who's to care? That much I don't dare. If I were to wear it, I'd choose

186

But I can't know if that is my size, in the cosmic closet. I thought it was. I was trying on all the others and none can compare.

When do I get an answer??? I've been waiting so long. The waiting isn't a choice, it's the drum in my heart, and it speeds up at that sight. Blood gushing and swirling, live force abound. O2 has become some kind of dream. My dream was to eat the lights.

Do you ever sit down and eat, and think how strange the human body is? What if we could be fed by light, by the thought of love? A smile, an intention. Can't we? Aren't we?

I have travelled through cities, bogs and even it seems, spent some time in dungeons of my own dark thoughts, only to realize the walls that once seemed so heavy and mildew-cast were in fact, as poofy as cotton candy gone gray. Some tears, a breathe can melt them down and pull up the veil that banned the freedom.

I can see it, and do it, and with the expansion of the breathe sweep away the remains. Quantum physics, anyone? I would be a total believer, except for the absence of tears in the eyes of the scientists.

I haven't cried in so long. I have wanted to, some passionate release. I am so permeable now that I am contained, by the whim for transcience. Like the cheshire cat.

Working on my evaporating powers.. I can say I have met some with them.

Princity prance

It's a Friday in Seoul. Going to an exhibition tonight, an arty range of hats on display in cheongdam. Should be a little like a madhatters tea party, with any luck.

Morning yoga is such a treat, at body and seoul, where i be every other weekday morn. Then do the freelance dance, where will it take me??

A creative urge is nagging me, in my left ear, a whispering. Unfortunately it gets caught in the wind tunnel in exit 54 on the left labyrinthe of my brain, and sometime the esoteric sandstorms of my etherical body pick it up and sweep it right away. But I do listen, for a minute..

Time to play! Well work and then play. It's better if you're confused and not sure which is which, from time to time. It can happen, so easily.

Fingers on the keys, pen in the hand, marking, checking - voices, concordance. Meaning and sound, figures abound through the wriggling lives in the inner city. Plug in and move. It's now ~

A Room of Her Own

My room, right now, is in Pokhara, Nepal. I took a room before trekking through the Poon Hills, and when I came back to the Noble Inn hostel, vacancy was up so I was demoted to a darker, ground level room. The old lungs didn't like it so much, so when I had the chance, I asked to be moved back to my sunny 3rd level room with windows and a view, so that's where I rest. It has a solar-powered shower that is HOT water (why don't we always use such brilliant technology?)

I had grand intentions of blogging all the way through my trip, but I found that wasn't what my heart really wanted most of the time, to be sitting at a computer reflecting on my journey rather than out doing it. Now though, all these images and experiences are banked up in my brain, and my typing fingers are hungry for a good run across the keys. I can't catch up on yesterday, as can none of us, so I'm starting in the ever-present NOW.

There is a huge lake on the corner of Pokhara. It is the second biggest city in Nepal, where most of the trekking ventures start off from. It's a tourist town, and the locals push their wares on you with a friendly "Hello" or "Namaste," but compared to the soul-drilling intensity of India, it's pretty laid back.

Yesterday, I took a walk around the edge of town, determined to find the trails that lead up to the mountains overlooking the lake, so I could visit the beautiful white Peace Pagoda, built by the Japanese, that rests there. It's a lovely Buddhist monument, with a helicopter landing pad right beside it. Touche. A touch of class, those Japanese always like to imbue. It was a sweaty trek through the jungle to find this place, but I found a nice wide open path, and met a few people passing by on the way, who of course graced me with a "Hello" or "Namaste" on the way, as well as several tough little old women with bunches of firewood on their backs, picking their way through the roughage to seek their woodly jewels.
On the way back, I had planned to circumnavigate the lake in the other direction, but couldn't find a nice wide path. Instead I beat my way through with a stick, trying to knock down the lacy spider webs that I was getting covered with before I got covered with them. 45 minutes and a couple of spider bites later, I decided to retrace my steps and get to the nice, clearly-marked path that said "Boats - This Way." Another 45 minutes and I was down at the lakeside, and for 250 Nepali rupees a friendly local rowed me across back to town.
The air is so clear and fresh, I just sat in silence most of the way, sitting in the middle of the boat as I was asked. I did wonder about the fish in the lake, and was told that of course, yes, there were many fish. How big are they? Oh, 25-30kg. Seriously? Not putting my toes in there anytime soon.
I remembered the lake in Neyyar Dam, near the yoga ashram where I spent a month. Us melting students would go jump in the lake any chance we could on our few minutes of break time. Have any of you experienced "Dr. Fish?" It's a phenomena sweeping Europe first I believe but took foothold as a craze in Seoul, Korea. You can sip tea and dip your feet into the pools, where the fish nibble at the dead skin on your feet. Not a venture for the faint-hearted, I say. It wasn't til my second visit, and a couple of stiff cocktails actually that I got the gumption to actually do it. It was enjoyable, if not a novelty to knock off the list of life's must-tries. However, at this lake at the ashram, the fish were HUNGRY, and the more they tasted human flesh, the more they wanted it. I kicked them away when they got too feisty, because I saw the marks left on other students. Gouges! It's true. So the moral of the story is, don't try finding "Dr. Fish" at the lake in Pokhara, Nepal. They must be verging on the size of Loch Ness monsters, I'm sure.

That's my fish story, for now.

So much time, so many books..

BOOKS on this trip:

Sivananda Yoga Teacher's Training Manual

The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga - Swami Vishnu Devananda

The Bhagavad Gita - S.S.

Radha's Prem - S.S.

Moksha - S.S.

Practice of Devanta - S.S.

Thought Power - S.S.

Hindu Gods and Goddesses - S.S.

India Lonely Planet, 2009

A Room of Her Own - Virginia Woolf

The Cobra's Heart - Ryszard Kapuscinski

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

Commited - Elizabeth Gilbert

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

The Seven Bhoomikas

As promised, here are the seven bhoomikas (stages) of knowledge, according to Jnana yoga:

1. SUBHECCHA - longing for truth. The desire for enlightenment.
2. VICHARANA - right enquiry. (Who am I?)
3. TANMASA - tenuous mind. Attenuation/thinning of thoughts.
4. SATTVAPATHI - self realisation. The attainment of purity. Sanchita and agami karma are no more; only parabdha karma remains.
5. ASAMSAKTI - non-attachment. The yogi plays their role in the world.
6. PADARTHABHAVANA - non-perception of objects. The yogi takes action only when prompted.
7. TURVAGA - transcendence. No karma remains. The body drops off within 3 days.

Most awake people are living in the first three stages. A sage makes it to the fourth. A person in the final four is titled, respectively: Brahmavid, Brahmavidhara, Brahamavidyavara, Brahmavidvarishta.

The purpose of my journey in India is to discover, Who am I? I am a worldly person, with spiritual inclinations. I want to cultivate some habits and awarenesses on this trip that will point me in the right direction. I want to use all of my energy for whatever my soul mission is. Is that too much to ask?

Kanyakumari

I am as far south as it gets. In India. I today saw a statue that withstood the tsunami due to the mystical Vedic powers of engineering, and a footprint of Pavarti, a famous goddess. She was waiting for Siva, her love standing on one foot.

Next up is the Hannuman temple. Apparently monkeys, in devotion to Rama, made stones float with their devotion to their god. There's a lot to be inspired about!~

And, me and ashram friends will be soon attending a festival with many elephants. Before which, Periyar Wildlife reserve, where i will get to tend to and ride elephants, and hope to see some tigers. It's getting wild in here..

Today is a holiday in the district of Kerala, India where I am. It's also the last day of classes at the ashram for this teacher training course. So this morning, we had a special surprise... (tho we were given a little advance notice)

Usually the first wake up bell goes off around 5:20am. This morning a lady came in and woke up me and 6 girls sleeping in beds nearby, instructing us not to open our eyes, but get out of bed. We were led in a human chain, holding hands down the steps of the dorm, across the ashram to the temple. When it was my turn, I heard one of my yoga teachers tell me to kneel down and put my head on the pillow in front of me, so I did. When he told me to sit up, I was looking at the most amazing display of fruit and flowers, and Krishna playing his flute, arranged around a gorgeous, ornate mirror. I took a good look at the new me in this Kerala Indian new year. The holiday's name is Vishu, and it's Vishnu's birthday.

I was given a "yogi name," as were many students. It's Radha. For the purposes of this course, I have enjoyed it. Radha is the lover/beloved of Krishna, the avatar God. She is self realized, and represents the bliss aspect of Satchitananda (Absolute Truth, Absolute Knowledge, Absolute Bliss). Krishna projected her into the human world so he could enjoy bliss as humans do. She is denoted for her unshakable devotion to her man (Krisha).

Lunch today was very special, served on a banana leaf instead of a tray. I can't believe it's almost the end. I have so many more stories to tell about this experience. Tomorrow is a day off to study, then we come back to write our exam on Saturday. There is a LOT of material to think over, and a lot of sanskrit words to memorize! It's hard to put words to this experience yet, and I have been in awe of it. But i'm really eager to finish and go look around at India! This has really been an other-worldly kind of experience.

At Long Last, I write!~

Hello, world out there.

So, I've been on the go for about a month and a half now, and this is my first entry since then. There is no possible way I'm going to catch up all that time that has sailed by me, but I will give you this:

One week in Bejing, One week in Sri Lanka - arrival, Trivandrum, Southern India. Sivananda Neyyar Dam Yoga Ashram.

It is a cell, practically shut out from the world, where soul transformation is attempted. Very intensive, one-month yoga teacher training course. I can't comment on whether one can become a yoga teacher in a month; people are drawn here for many reasons, but certainly it's liable to do SOMETHING to us..

I am already in the third week. Every Friday, we have a day off, and most of us come to the nearby beach, in Kovalom. I have been studying yoga theories and Sanskit words on the balcony of a cafe, with the other yogis, but wanted to write a little something about what it has been like thus far. (Before I take a dive into the waves... :-) ~ ~~~ ~

The wake-up bells start at 5:20am, and our first class at 6a.m. - SATSANG - japa (Mantra chanting), with bells, drums, shakers, and a short meditation preceding. There are about 120 of us in the course, as well as other people living at the ashram for various reasons. After Satsang, tea, then we have ASANA (yoga postures/exercise) for two hours, where we either practice, or learn how to teach Asana. At 10a.m is breakfast. We sit in lines on the floor in a hall, eating sattvic vegetarian Indian food. We eat with our hands, and are *supposed* to eat in silence. Which we don't really do, but sort of. Then we are meant to have karma yoga from 11a.m. to 12p.m. My karma yoga is to serve dinner, so I have this time off. I usually do homework, wash my clothes (i wear the same few outfits every day, and they are sweeeeaty!!) or wash me (>.<), nap,or just sit like a zombie, trying to absorb everything. 12a.m. Chanting/Bhagavad Gita studies, 2p.m. main lecture, on various premises of yoga. 4.p.m. afternoon ASANA class, 6p.m. dinner, 8p.m. evening Satsang, Every day is so packed! So hectic and intense. I want to explain the experience in more detail, but am processing it now. Every day lights are out at 10:30a.m., and I usually sleep like I die each night and am reborn in the morning. It's sooooo hot here!

We have studied a myriad of things, including: the history of our swamis at the Ashram, the various types of yoga: Karma yoga, Raja yoga, Bhakti yoga, and Jnana yoga, of which we study parts of them all in our regular daily schedule. The eight limbs of yoga, anatomy, the seven bhoomikas, yoga lifestyle, and so on and so forth. I'd like to write some of the important notes out on my blog at some point later.

Every day we have several pages of written homework on what we have studied, on which we get marked, and on which at the end of the course there will be a written final exam. In ASANA class, we are learning the sanskrit chants, and the Sivananda formula for a class. We practice and do corrections on each other. We have to teach classes in groups, with the other students as well as supervising teachers evaluating us. I'm done this part now.

After the course, I have plans to travel with some of the other students, to the beach at the southern most tip of India, where you can see the sunrise and sunset in the same day, as well as other places, including an elephant festival in Cochin. After that, I'm either coming back to the ashram or going to anther ashram to do more yoga for another month. Midway through my visa, I want to fly to Nepal, then into Delhi and around Northern India. There is soooooo much to see and do, but on this trip I'm focusing mostly on yoga, and am interested in the Tibetan community in exhile. Though I aim to remain open to possibilities that come along.

I am meeting really great people that I'm sure will be good friends in my life. As well, I feel strongly my love and devotion to my friends/loved ones waiting for me. LOVE you!!

Here is a present:

~~ ~~~~ L O V E Y O U ~ ! ~

~~~ ( ) ) ) )

~ ~~ ( ( ( ( ( - . -) ) ) ) ) ~~ ~

connection on the waves..

do you FEEL it??

(I see you).

OM ..

xxx (yogi star kisses.)

Subtle vibrations, thought forms.

OM Nama Shivaya.

Rhea

Mermaid photography

My new camera: Canon PowerShot D10. It is waterproof, shockproof, and freezeproof. I hope that means it's Rheaproof! This baby can be used in the rain and extreme temperatures, and should survive a drop of 1.22m, according to the box it came in.

I can capture images in stills or video 10m underwater. This will be fun!

Wandering the town

Walking near the palace downtown, and wandered into a Buddhist museum.



A Korean buddha, in mudra, guarding the stairwell.

Encased in glass, a Tibetan sand mandela.

Whispers amongst the voices in Seoul ~

Day 1, Seoul

I am here. View from a rooftop in Kyungridan, my neighbourhood in Seoul.

The journey begins. Not making a move yet, but mindscapes are collaged with upcoming transmigrations, from Korea to China, China to Sri Lanka, and then India.