After some reflection I decided to move to Goa tomorrow. To me only going to the Ashram for the meditations is not enough. So the question was staying longer and joining another class, or moving on. Overall the Ashram is quite expensive, the classes cost from 11000 to 50000 + rupees. Not cheap. This plus the entrance fees, the meals, the hotel and etc make for an expensive trip in Indian terms.
So I decided that Goa, the relaxing atmosphere + Yoga which I want to do there + probably renting a moped is a better and more enjoying alternative. I'm going tomorrow by train, about 13 hours. The train leaves at 16:30 and gets there at 5:40.
Tamara my Mexican friend which in principle came to Puna for 2 months in the Ashram also decided that it is not for her and will join me on the trip to Goa. For her this is a completely change in plans as she was not planning to be in Goa at all.
She is the head (founder) of an Animals Protection non-profit organization in Mexico City. She is still managing her organization by email from here, but this is not enabling her to wind-down and really enjoy the slow pace of India.
So now I'm spending my days doing little. I bought a few Osho books. Sipping Shai in the cafe, doing Yoga in my room in the mornings, drinking fruit juices on the stalls, etc. Very lazy and nice. I'm not complaining.
The Surya Villa hotel where I'm staying is the most central restaurant in the area. Probably the best too. So by just sitting on the veranda downstairs is a good spot to meet quite interesting people. Most associated in some way with the Ashram. Many are or will stay here for months, others for shorter trips. So Osho talk is everywhere. Everybody is reading Osho books. This adds to the atmosphere. The internet cafe is 2 steps from the restaurant. So very convenient.
Curious and Funny Corner:
Puna is full of students. You see them in the cafes, western dressed, all speaking English and moving by motorcycles. I asked a group of Indian girls why do they speak English between them as Hindi is their mother language. They told me that their studies are in English, they always had an English education and that is pretty natural !!!!!!!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Puna, Nobemver 19th, 2008
Today I finish my family constellation class participation. It was such a powerful experience. All in the class were very emotional and have gone through a life changing experience. All in all my participation was a bit on the side as I was translating to Pedro. But Pedro was such an intensive person that I basically did some of the work with him. The interesting thing is that individual cases become group cases, as people mostly identify with each others problems. Pedro easily cried and in many cases I found myself crying with him. Everybody liked Pedro and his sincerity.
The trainer of the class is a German woman which has lots of friends and work relationship with Israel. She has been working with some Israelis on Holocaust Survivors and their families. Trying to work the issues they inherited. She also works with Nazi ancestors which also have many trauma left. The constellation work is beautiful and very powerful. I was told that trainers come to Israel yearly from Osho for this class. I may take it there again.
Today I did wake up at 5:30 in the morning and went to the dynamic meditation. Dynamic is a 5 stage meditation of one hour. It starts every day at 6:00 AM for one hour. The 1st stage is very hard exhaling for 10 minutes. The idea is to try and clean your respiratory system and create some hyper-ventilation which get your brain energized. The 2nd stage is catharsis where everybody in the room (100s of people) shout and scream like crazy for 10 minutes. The 3rd stage you jump on your feet with your hands elevated and say hu hu when you land on your feet.
This stage is very had physically and the idea is to get you completely exhausted. After so much physical energy in the 4th stage you stay still in silence for 15 minutes. The last stage you lay down and enjoy the energy. This is very powerful and gets you very energized. The funny thing is that I got asleep on the last stage (as I was so tired) and found myself laying on the marble of this huge auditorium till 7:30, 30 minutes after everybody left. I was just awaken by the cleaners making some noise. Not very usual for me.
I think that tomorrow I'll take a brake from the Ashram and rest a bit. I need to make my mind either to stay longer or go to Goa. Today I also skipped the Osho talks which I don't enjoy much.
I re-met my Mexican friend Tamara. She works with Animal protection and I'm getting educated on the Mexican city issues of killing dogs, cats, how much fezes they generate a day and why we should operate dogs. She is very intensive and ideological on the issue.
The Curious and Humorist corner:
You ladies reading this. If you want to meet a nice Indian man come to Puna and to the Osho Ashram. Indians pay a very discounted price to participate. And you see lots of Indian man on the hunt for Western woman. Even the trainer of may class said that everytime she comes in (she is about 60) she is "attacked" (on the charming side) by Indian man trying to take her to bed.
So if you like Indian men, this is the place to be: Choices of age, hair-style, looks, etc. Don't need to do anything they will come to you.
I wish this would be the case with India woman, but it isn't they only hang out with Indian men.
Not fair :-)
The trainer of the class is a German woman which has lots of friends and work relationship with Israel. She has been working with some Israelis on Holocaust Survivors and their families. Trying to work the issues they inherited. She also works with Nazi ancestors which also have many trauma left. The constellation work is beautiful and very powerful. I was told that trainers come to Israel yearly from Osho for this class. I may take it there again.
Today I did wake up at 5:30 in the morning and went to the dynamic meditation. Dynamic is a 5 stage meditation of one hour. It starts every day at 6:00 AM for one hour. The 1st stage is very hard exhaling for 10 minutes. The idea is to try and clean your respiratory system and create some hyper-ventilation which get your brain energized. The 2nd stage is catharsis where everybody in the room (100s of people) shout and scream like crazy for 10 minutes. The 3rd stage you jump on your feet with your hands elevated and say hu hu when you land on your feet.
This stage is very had physically and the idea is to get you completely exhausted. After so much physical energy in the 4th stage you stay still in silence for 15 minutes. The last stage you lay down and enjoy the energy. This is very powerful and gets you very energized. The funny thing is that I got asleep on the last stage (as I was so tired) and found myself laying on the marble of this huge auditorium till 7:30, 30 minutes after everybody left. I was just awaken by the cleaners making some noise. Not very usual for me.
I think that tomorrow I'll take a brake from the Ashram and rest a bit. I need to make my mind either to stay longer or go to Goa. Today I also skipped the Osho talks which I don't enjoy much.
I re-met my Mexican friend Tamara. She works with Animal protection and I'm getting educated on the Mexican city issues of killing dogs, cats, how much fezes they generate a day and why we should operate dogs. She is very intensive and ideological on the issue.
The Curious and Humorist corner:
You ladies reading this. If you want to meet a nice Indian man come to Puna and to the Osho Ashram. Indians pay a very discounted price to participate. And you see lots of Indian man on the hunt for Western woman. Even the trainer of may class said that everytime she comes in (she is about 60) she is "attacked" (on the charming side) by Indian man trying to take her to bed.
So if you like Indian men, this is the place to be: Choices of age, hair-style, looks, etc. Don't need to do anything they will come to you.
I wish this would be the case with India woman, but it isn't they only hang out with Indian men.
Not fair :-)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Puna, November 18, 2008
Wow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today was a powerful day. My second day translating in the family constellation class.
The class is probably the most powerful experience I've ever had, even being a bit on the side as I'm not a full participant. The way it works is that people choose the family related problems that they want to work. The person at the beginning stands on the side, and members of the group are selected to role play the family members which are involved in the issue. Those group members start playing the way they want the stated issue. At the beginning the person that is working the issue, positions the players in the room. Their position already says something about the different relationships. Then things start happening. The role players somehow get into their role and start behaving in all different ways. The person which is working its issue starts getting identified with the role-players and behaves as if they were the real persons. People really break apart their armors and completely lose control of their emotions.
There are buckets of crying from everybody. All of us see their own problems project in other people's issues. The coach keeps helping in finding things what to say between the players which very deeply touches being worked. For instance, one woman about 60 years old always felt rejected and unloved by her mother. The mother had a disease and was not supposed to have given birth. During the session, someone played the role of her mother and for about 30 minutes she cried and was being hold by her "mother" as a little child. Another example is a young woman which lost both her parents recently. She feels that she does not have a reason to live as she was extremely attached to her parents. During the play two members of the group played her parents by laying down on the ground as if they were her parents in the grave. The young woman suddenly had the opportunity to say goodbye to her parents, something which seems that she was missing. Also their parents (the role-players) told her that they expected her to live fully even in the absence from them.
In general tons of emotions and crying and people feel extremely relieved after the session which in many cases I'm told can change their lives.
My situation is a bit touchy, as I'm translating, I'm not 100% participating, which is good and bad. It makes my life easy and I don't need to work my tought issues. But I feel I'd really would like to do it. The situation is very difficult as you really lose your armor altogether. The group is very supportive.
This session participation is really adding a lot of value to my stay. I'm quite happy to be there.
The curiousity of the day (on a more humorist light): Today I had an interesting realization.
In some countries the pedestrians have ALWAYS the right-away (Western countries). In some other countries the pedestrians do not have the right away, but cars will ultimately stop if no choice. In India things are pretty different. Pedestrians have no rights at all. They will go over you if you are on their way, and it is your duty to run away as fast as possible. But they will very make sure to horn like crazy before they kill you :-)
Today was a powerful day. My second day translating in the family constellation class.
The class is probably the most powerful experience I've ever had, even being a bit on the side as I'm not a full participant. The way it works is that people choose the family related problems that they want to work. The person at the beginning stands on the side, and members of the group are selected to role play the family members which are involved in the issue. Those group members start playing the way they want the stated issue. At the beginning the person that is working the issue, positions the players in the room. Their position already says something about the different relationships. Then things start happening. The role players somehow get into their role and start behaving in all different ways. The person which is working its issue starts getting identified with the role-players and behaves as if they were the real persons. People really break apart their armors and completely lose control of their emotions.
There are buckets of crying from everybody. All of us see their own problems project in other people's issues. The coach keeps helping in finding things what to say between the players which very deeply touches being worked. For instance, one woman about 60 years old always felt rejected and unloved by her mother. The mother had a disease and was not supposed to have given birth. During the session, someone played the role of her mother and for about 30 minutes she cried and was being hold by her "mother" as a little child. Another example is a young woman which lost both her parents recently. She feels that she does not have a reason to live as she was extremely attached to her parents. During the play two members of the group played her parents by laying down on the ground as if they were her parents in the grave. The young woman suddenly had the opportunity to say goodbye to her parents, something which seems that she was missing. Also their parents (the role-players) told her that they expected her to live fully even in the absence from them.
In general tons of emotions and crying and people feel extremely relieved after the session which in many cases I'm told can change their lives.
My situation is a bit touchy, as I'm translating, I'm not 100% participating, which is good and bad. It makes my life easy and I don't need to work my tought issues. But I feel I'd really would like to do it. The situation is very difficult as you really lose your armor altogether. The group is very supportive.
This session participation is really adding a lot of value to my stay. I'm quite happy to be there.
The curiousity of the day (on a more humorist light): Today I had an interesting realization.
In some countries the pedestrians have ALWAYS the right-away (Western countries). In some other countries the pedestrians do not have the right away, but cars will ultimately stop if no choice. In India things are pretty different. Pedestrians have no rights at all. They will go over you if you are on their way, and it is your duty to run away as fast as possible. But they will very make sure to horn like crazy before they kill you :-)
Monday, November 17, 2008
Puna, November 17, 2008
What a difference a day makes.
This morning I was planning to wake-up early and participate in the dynamics meditation which starts at 6:00 AM. Unfortunately I had a bad sleeping night and things did not work out. I woke up at 7:00 instead and felt a little cold. The weather here has been pretty mild, and in the Main Auditorium where most of the meditations happen, it is quite cool due to the AC.
Today actually there was some rain in Puna.
So I missed my 1st meditation and the interesting stuff started at 10:30. I was not in the mood for Tai-Chi at 7:30. At about 9:30 i was in the main plaza and decided to inquiry about a sign I had seen asking for translators. Guess what, after inquiring and saying that I could translate Portuguese, Spanish and Hebrew, I was immediately recruited and now I'm participating in a class called Family Constellation translating to Spanish for a Basce Spaniard called Pedro Jesus. The class goes from 9:00 to 4:00 for 3 days an deals with issues in your life which are a consequences of the family. Not only parents but the extended family.
I'm not sure I'd have picked such a class, but considering the destiny, the opportunity and getting into a organic group, seems interesting.
The teacher is German and we have 3 Swedish women, Pedro my "customer", Ena from Russia/Israel currently living in Europe. A nice woman from Hungry currently living in Gibraltar and a Ahmed from the Emirates. We also have a Russian girl which is also having a translator with her. Nice, interesting and small group.
Everything the teacher says, I have to simultaneously translate to Pedro. Pedro is about 45 coming from a difficult divorce, after being on drugs rehab for 3 years. He is a truck driver.
Very interesting, warm and emotional guy. He lost his father at the age of 13, and has 10 brothers, all from a mother which came from Mexico and was not well accepted by his father's bascian family. He quit drugs and smoking, also drinking of wine which he says he loves.
He came with his 21 year old son to the Ashram. His hobby is gardening in special growing Marijuana which he consumes once in a while by sniffing through vapor.
Quite interesting guy. The exercises do bring you back to your parents and family issues and Pedro gets quickly very emotional and easily cries.
I'm enjoying my role, as during the translation I coach him a little bit. I cannot fully participate and work my own issues, because of the translation. But this is giving me a perspective of what Osho classes are all about. So for now I'm committed for the next 3 days here. There is a class about Tantra which I'd like to participate, but it starts on the 23 for 3 days. Not clear I'll stay here until then. But everyday is a new day.
Tonight I decided to try a different restaurant near-by. I got to a place which some dishes which I had no idea what they are. I ordered Paneer Palak. I remembered that Paneer is Cheese. I did not know what Palak is. Ultimately I got a kind of spinach soup filled with cubes of white cheese. This is eaten with Naan (pita like). It was terrific. Need to continue trying new stuff.
I met Sandra from Bento Goncalves (Brazil) which is participating in work internship program of 90 days. She is Brazilian and speaks little English. She is a nurse recently widowed and decided to leave everything in Brazil and come to India. A huge change for someone that never came over and does not even know English to communicate. Amazingly she is the happiest woman on earth. The internship program is quite interesting. You pay about $1400 for 90 days and have to work about 8 hours a day. You get lodging and participation in all meditations for free.
In the Ashram they have tons of books which Osho has written and CDs, etc. Most can be also bought from Osho.com. Today I bought one about more in depth of the meditations.
So the day was a better one. I'm still not into the night sessions where Osho talks on video. I'm still not very excited, despite the fact that he says interesting stuff.
Curious story of the day: I get to read the local English newspapers daily. Either in the cafes or the one I get in my room. It is amazing how the Indian press looks like propaganda for the government. For instance they are all excited about a small probe they managed to land on the moon. They claim very proudly about the India tri-colors in the moon. They put themselves as being close to the US, Russia and Europe being the only countries to have their flag on the moon.
They also talk about a manned spacecraft to the moon as the next step (maybe in another 20-30 years). This country is so poor, that is seems a waste of money dealing with moon explorations.
In another article they claim that due to GMs financial problems and potential bankrupcy, that GM India is worth more than GM USA. Clearly if GM USA is close to bankrupcy they won't be of much value. But you see all over Indian nationalism in the paper articles. Not much about poverty !!!!!!!!!!!!!
This morning I was planning to wake-up early and participate in the dynamics meditation which starts at 6:00 AM. Unfortunately I had a bad sleeping night and things did not work out. I woke up at 7:00 instead and felt a little cold. The weather here has been pretty mild, and in the Main Auditorium where most of the meditations happen, it is quite cool due to the AC.
Today actually there was some rain in Puna.
So I missed my 1st meditation and the interesting stuff started at 10:30. I was not in the mood for Tai-Chi at 7:30. At about 9:30 i was in the main plaza and decided to inquiry about a sign I had seen asking for translators. Guess what, after inquiring and saying that I could translate Portuguese, Spanish and Hebrew, I was immediately recruited and now I'm participating in a class called Family Constellation translating to Spanish for a Basce Spaniard called Pedro Jesus. The class goes from 9:00 to 4:00 for 3 days an deals with issues in your life which are a consequences of the family. Not only parents but the extended family.
I'm not sure I'd have picked such a class, but considering the destiny, the opportunity and getting into a organic group, seems interesting.
The teacher is German and we have 3 Swedish women, Pedro my "customer", Ena from Russia/Israel currently living in Europe. A nice woman from Hungry currently living in Gibraltar and a Ahmed from the Emirates. We also have a Russian girl which is also having a translator with her. Nice, interesting and small group.
Everything the teacher says, I have to simultaneously translate to Pedro. Pedro is about 45 coming from a difficult divorce, after being on drugs rehab for 3 years. He is a truck driver.
Very interesting, warm and emotional guy. He lost his father at the age of 13, and has 10 brothers, all from a mother which came from Mexico and was not well accepted by his father's bascian family. He quit drugs and smoking, also drinking of wine which he says he loves.
He came with his 21 year old son to the Ashram. His hobby is gardening in special growing Marijuana which he consumes once in a while by sniffing through vapor.
Quite interesting guy. The exercises do bring you back to your parents and family issues and Pedro gets quickly very emotional and easily cries.
I'm enjoying my role, as during the translation I coach him a little bit. I cannot fully participate and work my own issues, because of the translation. But this is giving me a perspective of what Osho classes are all about. So for now I'm committed for the next 3 days here. There is a class about Tantra which I'd like to participate, but it starts on the 23 for 3 days. Not clear I'll stay here until then. But everyday is a new day.
Tonight I decided to try a different restaurant near-by. I got to a place which some dishes which I had no idea what they are. I ordered Paneer Palak. I remembered that Paneer is Cheese. I did not know what Palak is. Ultimately I got a kind of spinach soup filled with cubes of white cheese. This is eaten with Naan (pita like). It was terrific. Need to continue trying new stuff.
I met Sandra from Bento Goncalves (Brazil) which is participating in work internship program of 90 days. She is Brazilian and speaks little English. She is a nurse recently widowed and decided to leave everything in Brazil and come to India. A huge change for someone that never came over and does not even know English to communicate. Amazingly she is the happiest woman on earth. The internship program is quite interesting. You pay about $1400 for 90 days and have to work about 8 hours a day. You get lodging and participation in all meditations for free.
In the Ashram they have tons of books which Osho has written and CDs, etc. Most can be also bought from Osho.com. Today I bought one about more in depth of the meditations.
So the day was a better one. I'm still not into the night sessions where Osho talks on video. I'm still not very excited, despite the fact that he says interesting stuff.
Curious story of the day: I get to read the local English newspapers daily. Either in the cafes or the one I get in my room. It is amazing how the Indian press looks like propaganda for the government. For instance they are all excited about a small probe they managed to land on the moon. They claim very proudly about the India tri-colors in the moon. They put themselves as being close to the US, Russia and Europe being the only countries to have their flag on the moon.
They also talk about a manned spacecraft to the moon as the next step (maybe in another 20-30 years). This country is so poor, that is seems a waste of money dealing with moon explorations.
In another article they claim that due to GMs financial problems and potential bankrupcy, that GM India is worth more than GM USA. Clearly if GM USA is close to bankrupcy they won't be of much value. But you see all over Indian nationalism in the paper articles. Not much about poverty !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Puna (Osho Ashram), November 16, 2008
Today was my 1st day at the Ashram. At 9:30 we had a welcome morning. Basically the whole morning they introduced us to all the different meditations, the resort facilities, etc, etc.
We had demos and small practices for the different meditations.
Much of it was not new to me as I've done the same ones in Taos (Dynamic, Kondolini, etc).
The available workshops don't interest me much, therefore I have enrolled. Besides they are quite expensive.
The Ashram has a daily participation fee of 550 rupees which entitle you to the various meditations through the day, all the facilities and different parties /activities during the day.
Morning starts with dynamic meditation at 6:00 AM, then Yoga or Tai-Chi. Afternoon has Kundolini and the highlight of the day is at about 6:40 PM which is a meditation with Osho's talking and videos. Thought the day there are other activities which vary. Typically at 9:30 PM there is a party, today for example it was creativity party, like painting, ceramics, sewing, etc.
People are all day with Maroon Robes and during the Osho meditation is all in white. Actually the robes are quite comfortable. There are hundreds of participants from all nations. I met during the welcome day, two Iranians, a few Brazilians, Spanish, Italians, Indians, etc. That is pretty nice.
There is no money in the Ashram. You have to buy vouchures and those are used to pay for everything. There are two restaurants (different food and prices) a pool, tennis courts and in general the area is very green and beautiful. They call it a meditation RESORT and the name fits it.
So far I'm a bit disappointed as most of what I'm doing is the same as what I've done in Taos and also in the Ashram Ba-Mitbar. And frankly Nissim Amon is much more interesting than Osho.
In Taos the meditations were part of it, but the talks with Nissim made the whole difference. I imagine that participating in a group workshop here will change things. Unfortunately the one I'm interested in only coming in about 5 days or so. The mingle with people is a bit more difficult as the amount of people is large and unless you are in a class, there are not specific groups.
In any case I'm keeping an open mind and lets see what happens tomorrow.
There is a Beit Chabad right by the Ashram. Today I went there to hear about recommendation of the cheaper accommodations. What I see is not very compelling, therefore for now I'm staying in my hotel which is pretty good. In general the Ahsram consumes all your time and there is not much time left to do anything else.
On a curious note. I noticed a large amount of Indian Guys always hunting for western women. They are everywhere in the hotels, restaurants, cafes. That is not fair, you cannot compete with their numbers :-) !!!!!!! The ones you see are more sophisticated looking and more yuppie like.
Most of them also participate on the workshops. Therefore you see quite a lot of couples in the Ashram of Indian men with western women. By the other hand the Indian girls don't seem to hang around western men.
We had demos and small practices for the different meditations.
Much of it was not new to me as I've done the same ones in Taos (Dynamic, Kondolini, etc).
The available workshops don't interest me much, therefore I have enrolled. Besides they are quite expensive.
The Ashram has a daily participation fee of 550 rupees which entitle you to the various meditations through the day, all the facilities and different parties /activities during the day.
Morning starts with dynamic meditation at 6:00 AM, then Yoga or Tai-Chi. Afternoon has Kundolini and the highlight of the day is at about 6:40 PM which is a meditation with Osho's talking and videos. Thought the day there are other activities which vary. Typically at 9:30 PM there is a party, today for example it was creativity party, like painting, ceramics, sewing, etc.
People are all day with Maroon Robes and during the Osho meditation is all in white. Actually the robes are quite comfortable. There are hundreds of participants from all nations. I met during the welcome day, two Iranians, a few Brazilians, Spanish, Italians, Indians, etc. That is pretty nice.
There is no money in the Ashram. You have to buy vouchures and those are used to pay for everything. There are two restaurants (different food and prices) a pool, tennis courts and in general the area is very green and beautiful. They call it a meditation RESORT and the name fits it.
So far I'm a bit disappointed as most of what I'm doing is the same as what I've done in Taos and also in the Ashram Ba-Mitbar. And frankly Nissim Amon is much more interesting than Osho.
In Taos the meditations were part of it, but the talks with Nissim made the whole difference. I imagine that participating in a group workshop here will change things. Unfortunately the one I'm interested in only coming in about 5 days or so. The mingle with people is a bit more difficult as the amount of people is large and unless you are in a class, there are not specific groups.
In any case I'm keeping an open mind and lets see what happens tomorrow.
There is a Beit Chabad right by the Ashram. Today I went there to hear about recommendation of the cheaper accommodations. What I see is not very compelling, therefore for now I'm staying in my hotel which is pretty good. In general the Ahsram consumes all your time and there is not much time left to do anything else.
On a curious note. I noticed a large amount of Indian Guys always hunting for western women. They are everywhere in the hotels, restaurants, cafes. That is not fair, you cannot compete with their numbers :-) !!!!!!! The ones you see are more sophisticated looking and more yuppie like.
Most of them also participate on the workshops. Therefore you see quite a lot of couples in the Ashram of Indian men with western women. By the other hand the Indian girls don't seem to hang around western men.
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