Washington DC or Obamaville  



It is August 2nd already how the year and especially this last month has flown by.

I left India at the beginning of July and after the adjustment to being in the USA with the pure shock of all the luxury's, setting up home again and getting a job, I think I am back to my normal self again. One thing is for sure I truly appreciate this comfort and love my simple wee studio in the sky  for the next few months. I did manage to sneak in a 6 day meditation retreat on Buddhist Philosophy  with the FPMT Guhyasamaja center in Northern Virginia. http://www.guhyasamaja.org/  That was great and so nice to spend time  with like minded Dharma folks struggling with the concept of emptiness.

So DC   is pretty much the same;  filled  with very busy  and some important people all thinking that politics will fix the world. Oh if only it could. It always strikes me when I come back here just how sad, drained, stressed out or puffed up people look. Everyone walks and talks  so fast but do they really get anywhere?  do they really accomplish what they think they can by going  fast? Do they even enjoy what they are doing?

Then of course there is always the judgments that people make of each other in DC. This is really quite funny and I have had this happen to me more than a few times. Maybe you know it too, the once up and down glance a stranger will give you on first meeting which is then quickly followed by either a fake smile grin with a "pleased to meet you"   and a limp handshake or a look of dismissal, as they turn their back. All because to there mind I am not dresses the correct  way, or made up enough or not with the important people etc etc etc. Whatever it may be it is just sad that people do that.  DC is a place  where people only want to get to know you if they can get something from you and that is usually a better job or connection to someone who can get you a better job or free labour. I never knew until I moved here that every congress man will have a least one  but may up to three unpaid interns doing all the research.  Hellish that the government has so much unpaid labour, I though slavery was illegal in the USA  but I guess white collar, striving to be upper class slavery for the 20 somethings is okay. What has also been funny in DC is that because I am under 5 ft tall this seems to gives people permission to treat me like a child, which is funny as I will be 50 this year.. hahhah  Yip  being tall means being important in DC, if only I could get platform shoes in size 4 I could get some respect... hahhaha
Anyway  it  is a complete contrast from the village life in India. I use it as a great anthropological study or an expedition through the concrete jungle and always use it as a reflection on the first Noble Trust of Buddha; that life is suffering and no matter how much comfort, possessions, position  or power people may gain, it is their inner happiness that counts. I am not sure just how much inner happiness DC folks have?

So the good thing about being in DC  is the access to info and all the government office. Since I am getting NobleHeart Charitable Trust on her feet all I need is right here in DC. I got the facebook page up  so Like It;  if you like it     https://www.facebook.com/NobleheartCharitableTrust

So I attend classes at the Foundation Center  foundationcenter.org  which is an amazing resources for non-profits and they also give classes all for free. So mornings I am there and then do my part time job in the afternoons. The web site is coming along, slow but sure  and thanks to Ashley  for help with that as I was getting in a pickle with that one. Roland is conjuring up a logo and it has been fun working with him again on designs, Ernie  has been a great help in referring me to business plan ideas  and I just have to say thanks to Susan, Kat, Melissa, Jonna, Christos and everyone else who has been supportive of my vision  for NobleHeart and helpful in giving feedback, asking questions  and making me think things through. Love yi all!

So this next month will be an adventure in tacking bureaucracy and I am sure I will encounter more than a few more dismissal looks  or surprises expression that question what is this small, unimportant person wanting? Will keep yi posted I am sure to have a few stories.

Beginnings of Nobleheart Charitable Trust.

So I have been a wee bit busy lately with a wee project that I hope will grow to be not so wee.
This will take a few years to get on its feet and of course I want to do a good job which takes some time in preparation of how to best benefit the local community in Bodhgaya. So no rush, have lots of research to do but I wanted to share this news and get your feedback and or ideas.

The Noble Heart Charitable Trust is based in Bodhgaya, India. The plan is to have a small meditation/yoga retreat center from which funds will be put into the community in the form of family and health education. income generation and environmental awareness.  The trust plans to work with the local community to improve their living situation. Anyway it is a small but sincere start and hopeful it will be well received and benefit those involved. If you have any ideas please do let me know.
I have to also say a huge huge Thank You to all involved in the creation of the trust for their time, effort, expertease and resources!


Have a wee look at the FB page and like it

http://www.facebook.com/NobleheartCharitableTrust?fref=ts

Teaching with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in McLeod Ganj

June 1st -4th His Holiness taught on Shantidevas text the A Guide to the Bodhisattvas Way of Life.

stupas

The teaching was sponsored by the ever growing Indian Buddhist community.
The following link gives the recorded webcast of the teaching;
http://www.dalailama.com/webcasts/post/286-a-guide-to-the-bodhisattvas-way-of-life---dharamsala-june-2013

The text itself, which is a buide on how to develop compassion and wisdom can be found at;
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Bodhisattvas-Way-Life-Santideva/dp/8185102597/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370522408&sr=1-3&keywords=guide+to+the+bodhisattvas+way+of+life

Thousand of people attended and the temple was packed full. His Holiness was in great health and gave a wonderful teaching. As he walked from his residence to the temple he stopped to talk with people, shake hands, play with kids and was just so open and loving with the crowd. It was such a pleasure to see everyone so happy in his presence.

He is only here in India for a few days before he heads off to Australia. Hard to believe he is 77 years old and able to keep up such a hectic teaching schedule, such is the kindness of the lama. We are truly blessed to have such a great person on this planet, or as Lobsang says;
 "His Holiness is the 8th wonder of the world."


Today I was also looking at this web site which has been inspired by His Holiness so thought I would share it with you. http://charterforcompassion.org/

McLeod Ganj.   Meet  Lobsang Wangyal

After Buddha Janti it was time to head for the cooler climates of the hills, back to McLeod Ganj. The home in exile of  His Holiness the Dalai Lama and thousands of refugee and Indian born Tibetans. This once tiny village is now a small city which  teeters on top of a hill, at the foothills of the Himalayas. As the world embraced His Holiness, more and more people have flocked to McLeod Ganj and it has been fondly  re-named  Little Lhasa of India.

I first met Losang back in 1996 on my visit to McLeod. Lobsang is not only well know in town for his good looks and charm but mostly  for his tireless work to let the world know about political situation and occupation of Tibet as well as the plight of the Tibetan people inside and outside of Tibet. Unlike most of the young Tibetan boys and men in town who chase or court female tourist in the hope of a getting visa to the west, Lobsang has no desire to leave the Tibetan community in exile. He feels he can work more effectively to raise awareness of Tibet issues with the people who visit McLeod  and have connections to the Tibetans. He also works with the Tibetan people to raise their awareness of global issues and international events as he feels Tibetans need to open their perspective of the world and even support or collaborate with other peoples facing occupation and persecution. While not full on political, Lobsang has come up with uniuque and interesting ways to get information on Tibet into the mainstream news and society. For example,to protest the 2008 Olympics in China, Lobsang decided to hold the Tibet Olympics at the Tibetan Children's Village. The event was not only successful but the advertising alone made people speak out more against Chinese occupation of Tibet. To keep people informed Lobsang updates his a news paper web site everyday with global events and has well over 2000 readers a day. Check it out at;  http://www.tibetsun.com

Lobsang also enjoys promoting Tibetan culture and often attempts to modernize Tibetan culture with various events such as film festival and music concerts;

http://www.freespiritfilmfestival.com.  

http://www.musictibet.com

His most successful event is the Miss Tibet pageant which has grown in popularity over the years.
More info on Miss Tibet here is the link;  http://www.misstibet.com

Lobsang present undertaking is to help promote McLeod Ganj itself, complete with events, volunteering  opportunities, courses on every thing from meditation to cooking classes as well as all the info you could want on hotels and restaurants. This is a huge project but Lobsang is loving his new self imposed task and believes it will help not only local businesses to grow and become more professional but inform so many weary travellers and Dharma investigators who come to this city on the hill.

Check out Lobasang new web site on McLeod Ganj at;

http://www.mcleodganj.com

Thanks Lobsang for all you work over the years and I wish you all the best and every success in the future.

Saka Dawa  or Buddha Janti

May  25^th was the day of Buddhas enlightenment I was in Bodhgaya for the celebrations and it was crazy busy. The Indians call this day Buddhas birthday, even though the Buddha was born, died and got enlightened on the same day, the Tibetans celebrate his enlightenment, while the Indians who always love a good party with all the glitz and glam, celebrate this day as his birthday. May is also the wedding season in Bodhgaya so we had about 5 weddings in town every weekend which in India means 3 days of very loud dance music all night long. I am positive the Buddha would never have gotten enlightened if they had loud speakers in his day.

flag and Bodhi tree

small stupas

The story goes that the Buddha sat down under the Bodhi tree at sunset and made a strong resolved to not move until he attained enlightenment. After a night of wrestling with his inner demons of temptation and anger he gained full enlightenment at dawn. So the practice of sitting under the tree on the same night Buddha attained enlightenment is a thing that many Buddhist aspire to do, so I had to have a go.

 I have imagined sitting peacefully under the tree with people from all over the world, hahahhah well this is India and no way was that going to happen. The Sri Lankans had a loud speaker for their recitation of texts and the Thaïs their loud speaker for chanting and the India’s had 50 children they were telling the story of Buddha too. There was not a vacant space under the tree as a group of Vietnamese were camping out with mosquito nets, mattresses and had all their stuff spread everywhere and their monks were chanting in Vietnamese. Oh and there was also the crazy lone Japanese monk chanting his own version of Buddhism complete with his portable alter of all kinds of stuff he found in the street. So with 5 languages all at once, it was a huge competition to see which nation/culture could be more Buddhist. Then there was me the only white person in the bunch and the only one that was more than just a wee bit upset at all the noise.  Asians are not bothered by noise and can meditate or sleep no problem with noise, in strong light, in cramped spaces, no problem. When I watched the pilgrims sitting around the monks with the microphones they were either falling asleep, not listening and spacing out, not reciting, they would get up and wander around or just sit and gossip. Geeze if you’re going to make such a noise chanting yi would think they would at least pay attention!

Anyway; I did attempt to emulate the master. I tried to still my mind in meditation but failed miserably; I did walking meditation but it was kind of hard when the school kids story time ended and their play time began; I contemplate human suffering while gazing at the Bodhi tree under the light of the full moon and three spotlights but again gave up when the stray dogs decided to use me as their play toy; so with earplugs and blind fold I tried to sleep, but again, at least for me, there was no inner peace to be attained that night. By 1am it was clearly time for me to go home, but the watchmen lock us in and armed guards prowl the boundary wall for added protection to the mediators. Lucky though again this is India and the guards with guns were asleep in their barracks. I begged the watchmen to open the gate but no way, they would not budge, a rule was a rule and this must be the only rule in India that does not get broken. So longing for my quiet bedroom and determined to get home I told the watched I was going to jump the area of wall into the market where no armed guard patrolled. I have known the watchmen for a long time so they just smiled under their big moustaches and said “oh Linda Gee” as they literally turned their heads the other way; so off I went.

 I decided to escape from the very place Buddhist flock to, the famed place of peace, the place I love to be!? Weird but for my own sanity I had to get away for these loud Buddhist!?  I thought; what would the Buddha do here and what would he think of my escape? I consoled myself with the thought that he also left society for a quiet place and I am sure he would just have laughed as much as anyone else at my escapes. So no worries. Commando style with my bag on my back and folded mosquito tent over one shoulder I climbed the gate into the meditation park and ran over to the perimeter brick wall. Bags off I ran up and down the wall in search of a spot that I could get up on to and which was not too far to jump down on the other side. Found it; but I had to walk along the top of the wall for a few feet. Ok Bags over the wall and up I went. I peeped around to make sure no-one was around, the coast was clear; up I went, walked along the top and jumped down the other side. YEH!  All the time thinking to myself; I am 49 years old, not a school kid, I can’t remember the last time I jumped a wall. Luckily the market was empty just a few cows sleeping and dog roaming around. Relieved to be out I sprinted home to bed. So much for my steadfast determination to endure all hardships and gain enlightenment that night. 

Rishikish snaps

Here are some odd pics of the stay in Rishikesh

camping trip group

camping on the river Ganga

sunset arti puja

street vendors

holy man giving holding prayer ceremony

Chotiwalla resturant greeter

The guy in the picture above greets the customers to his resturant, Chotiwalla. Every day he sit there in full make up and people take his photos all day long. The resturants is nothing special just good Indian fare  but  he is the main attraction.  http://www.chotiwalarestaurant.com/reach.html

The yoga experience.

sun salutation by mother ganga

It has been an all consuming 6 weeks and I have to apology for being a slacker on the updates. I have to say that while the kitchen and reception staff at Yog Peeth were wonderful; kind, helpful, just sweethearts. The Indian asana teacher was absolutely fantastic and we all just loved him, the director gave great teachings on anatomy and philosphy however even for all those good things  I cannot say that these past weeks have been a wonderful experience. It has been more of a practice in tolerance and dealing with my own and others anger, frustration, disappointment and overall feelings off being ripped off, unappreciated, disregarded and even ignored. “What”! I hear you say, “That’s not very yogic.” Anyway, you could say, just like the teacher at the Yog Peeth does, that this is all my perception and that I have to use my yogi mind to transform the situation and only then will I be a ‘real yogi’ like him, is of course is implied. hmmmmmmm?  

In Buddhist teachings the Tibetans give a great analogy for this idea. They say instead of trying to cover the surface of the earth with leather so that you protect your feet from stones and thrones, it is better just to cover the soles of your feet with leather. This is a wonderful way to portray the mind training practices which can be used in difficult situation where you have little or no control over people’s dramas or dysfunctional relations. By employing mind training in this way you can keep a calm mind and not be dragged down by a situation. Mind training is the basis for all religious and spiritual practice; geeze, even if you just wanna be a good person you have to employ some form of restraining your  own mind and not just reaction to difficult and bad situations/people. Let me also add here that another part of mind training is find courage to speak out for justice and not turn a blind eye Anyway, back to the Yog Peeth.

icy cold  

Silly me but I always thought that when a business advertises their product, takes people’s precious time and money with a smile or in this case a Namaste, that an unspoken contract has been formed and that the customer would he happy with the good he/she receives. If however the business does not deliver the goods then this is not only false advertising but bad business and an insult to the customer. In this case, injury was added to insult by using teachings of mind training to not only not take responsibility for an inability do good business but also put blame on the customer/student for having complaints; now this is simply abusive! And this is my take on putting it all nicely.

Anyway I have endured six weeks of looking at my mind to check and see where and if I am to blame; which is just a mind ****** and a complete drain of energy. The situation stirred up so much confusion and discomfort in me as well as in other students and among students. So;  me being me, after 16 days, on behalf of myself and all the other students, who did not want to make waves, I felt compelled to speak the truth and give constructive, business like suggestions rather than a list of bitchy complaints.

The blatantly obvious problem causing all this friction was one of the main teachers. He was not only unfit to teach, due to the projection of his own insecurities, depression and mental baggage onto students but he also had no experience teaching. He’s in young, America, barely out of Uni and just finished the previous 200 hour teacher training course! He did not even have enough knowledge of the asanas and some students who knew more that he did, had to help him out so that new students would not injure themselves. This poor guy has no professional ethics or respect for yoga practice, the students, the Peeth, the director, or himself. With such low self esteem he had to spend most of his time gathering a clique or posy of impressionable youngsters around him in the canteen so that he could hear himself spout his personal philosophies. It was similar to a high school lunch hall complete with, disapproving looks, searing, giggles and gossip. Hilarious in so many ways as it would have been major hit on the realty TV world and this poor guy would be a super star; however, in real life it was just an overall nasty and pity-full situation, that may I add, I paid to endure! 

This uninspiring atmosphere divided the group, stinted people getting to know each other and working together and over all completely halted the fostering of a positive, yogic vibe. So what to do? I should have packed my bags after the first day because I saw it all coming but I chose to stay in the hope that my perceptions were wrong and that it would get better, but it only got worse.

Anyway back to my speaking my truth to the director. Turns out I was not the only one who had spoken out about this ‘teacher.’ My complaints and suggestions echoed others feeling and were received well and even agreed with by him. Wonderful thought I, “there is hope to salvage this bad situation, maybe I will not run away after all.” I was taken into the director’s confidence, commended for my professional way of addressing the issue and promised that the ‘teacher’ would be “replaced the following week.” Now this is where it hurts and where I lost confidence in the school. Of course, nothing was done; my suggestions along with the complaints of others were ignored.  Promises of change were reneged on and it was implied that, as the analogy suggests, I put leather on the soles of my feet, or in cruder terms; learn to suck it up. Wow ! Ok! Again, what to do?

Each day the atmosphere at the Peeth continued to deteriorate it was still filled with complaints/ frustrations/ gossip/ group division/ lack of enthusiasm and frustration. By the middle of week 4 it all came to a head when the ‘teacher’ tried to tighten his control of the classes, completely demeaned and tried to impose his imagined ‘power’ over some students. In a last bid attempt to solve the problem, (which could have been done in week 1 by removing the ‘teacher’) in a true professional manner, (NOT!) the director decide to openly bring up the subject to 50 students. OMG!! This turned into a completely disrespectful yelling fest, which was then quickly turned into a kumbayah hugging fest. Some of the teacher’s closest disciples and the peacemakers in the group tried to grab control of the situation. However some were also now turning mind training on its head, by guilt tripping people into shutting up. The by spouting the cooling balm of a few cute face book quotes, some heartless hugs, the odd tear and many superficial apologies the situation was ‘solved’. The director smiled as he stood and watched the display of people wanting to be seen to be ‘good yogis.’  For me this was too little too late. I sat in the back of the room, emotionless, numb to it all and thinking that I was watching a real live reality show!!  I have never seen such a display of utter denial, disfunctionality and twisting of a spiritual teaching in a group of so called adults. I also at this point had absolutely no respect left for the school and completely saddened by the whole situation. Could people not see how their strings were being pulled and that they had paid for a training which they never received!

The amazing thing is that all the students are great people and so unique. All of the people I interacted with have had amazing experience, are honestly seeking a yogi/spiritual path, questioning the state of the world and so want to do good things with their lives. Many want to teach and inspire others to not only do asana but follow the yogic perspective. I have been very inspired by many of the students at the Peeth and have formed some wonderful friendship which I hope will only deepen and grow over the years.

week 5; 6 am field trip for some fun

Anyway, week 5 was a lot better, but by no means perfect. The ‘teacher’ was removed and with the director now teaching and another teacher giving workshops and pointing out all the bad habits in postures, the new students realized just how much they had not learned in the past 4 weeks. Morale was low and people also took the odd class or day off just to de-stress and attempt to relax and mend bruised relationships. Some people just stopped interacting with each other while others got closer. It was like watching people clean up a car wreck and different people heal in different ways; some talk, some shop, some smoke or drink, some work out, ignored it all, some hook up, some sing, some laugh and attempt to make others laugh, some cry, some isolate and some take longer than others to heal and make sense of weird situations and move on. a week we also had a dress up in traditional India clothes evening where a lot of the girls wore a sari and that really did help to boost moral. So I  hung in there and tried to learn what I could and got closer to many of my fellow students.

Week 6 was the best week of all and we kicked it off with a talent show. This was to break people’s stage fright for teaching but it also seemed to really bring us all together. Students were paired up and had to present a 2 hour yoga class. It was fun to design a yoga class and teach but working with a partner and being supportive of class mates was even better and just what we all needed. People got creative with sequences and posture but also with themes employing music, stories, colours, philosophy, visualizations, essential oils, etc. Really the best week of the whole program and for this week alone I am so glad that I stayed. (Then again, it always a feels better walking on grass after you kick off a pair of tight high heels). So a huge thanks you to all the students and I truly wish you all the best on your journey in life and as yoga teachers.

Anyway this whole experience has just re-shown me some things. 1^st One bad apple does ruin it for the majority; 2^nd Group dynamics in a negative situation can bring out the worst and the best in people, including myself; 3^rd a business focused on cutting corners, projecting a grand image and growing, rather on delivering the goods does not work in the short term and will probably not make it to the long term; 4^th Careful how you mix business with spirituality. 5^th and maybe the most import; trust your gut. If you think the wool is being pulled over your eyes, well it probably is. So speak you truth and quietly leave.

sand and flower Zhiva Lingam

Some people will have great memories of this yoga school and some only bad; me, bitter-sweet I would say. I am sad to leave such great students, fun staff and wonderful Indian yoga teacher and  am regretful that I did not have the energy to make more of an effort to get to know everyone a bit better. I also leave knowing I have to do a lot more practice and more practice of teaching yoga before I am really  ready to teach. However, I am so relieved to be out of a very trying and confusing situation. I have to wish the Peeth every success, but ask them to measure that success in quality not quantity. I also wondered if I would post this or not but I would not want anyone to go through what I just did. So all yi budding yoga teachers be aware and check out your yoga school and if you have high standards of what a school is, then maybe try another of the many schools in Rishikesh