It's been too long since I've done some quality writing. I can hardly believe it's been over three months since I got back to the motherland. It's like every time I come back to the states I spiral into depression. There are many reasons, but I don't fully understand it. Part of it is Bainbridge Island and Washington in general have never been a happy place for me. Part of it is the strings of time where I have no structure. Part of it is coming back to an environment that is familiar where all my habitual programmed patterns come raging back to me. It gets to a point where all I can do is dissociate and float off into my cave in the clouds, because it's easier to deal with, but I'm finally getting to a point where I'm ready to come fully back to Earth and get to work (on my Self).
I say all this with love, but for all my incredibly positive and inspiring attributes I have many many more weaknesses. Depending on my environment I get lazy and complacent. I choose the easy way out far too often. I get stubborn. I fall into my inherent addictive tendencies. I isolate myself. But my complete honesty and transparency with myself always helps me get back to that place of peace and joy in my heart.
It's interesting to think about how I came to spend one month at the Krishna temple in Spanish Fork. The original plan was to stay with my cousins or at a friends place in Salt Lake City until I got into another pharmaceutical study to make some quick $$$, but all those plans fell through, so I then had less than five days to figure something out. I had the insight to check out workaway to do some help exchange. Why not? That way it would give me some productive work and an entirely new experience in the three or four week waiting period before I actually got admitted into the study. There were only a handful of hosts around the Salt Lake City area so I messaged all of them and I got a reply from a few, one being the Krishna temple. It sounded by far the most interesting and unique, so that was an easy choice. What was to come was one of the most unique experiences of my life.
It's hard to put an experience like this into words. Meeting travelers from all over the world. Connecting with all the llamas, peacocks, parrots, and cats. Exploring an entirely new belief system. Eating new and delicious Indian food everyday. Meeting all the devotees from India. Free yoga and meditation classes. Getting to know Vai and Caru, the couple who brought this temple into existence through the grace of Krishna. And just all the little details and subtleties of everyday.
One unforgettable experience was about a week after I arrived. A company called World Market hired eight of their Llamas to film a commercial that is going to be aired this Christmas season. We drove up to Pineview reservoir and over three days they filmed day and night shots. The first night I was the "llama protector" so I slept in a tent near the llamas in case any mountain lions or any creature was lurking around. Seeing the countless people and logistics behind making a little commercial was unreal. And shots like the night scene where a house was decorated with lights in the background, a huge crane above providing some soft lighting, and then fake snow sprinkling on all the llamas from above. Or the scene where they had the llamas run over and down a huge hill during sunset. All in all an epic experience.
Ecstatic dance night was wildly fun at the Krishna temple in Salt Lake City. They created this beautiful space of acceptance and non-judgmental-ness and we all just danced for two and a half hours straight! The music was so on point. Up on the stage were candles, rocks, crystals, and cushions for people to relax and meditate. No words were spoken, yet much more was understood and expressed. Purely in the moment. It felt like we were all high, because we were in a sense, but not on any external substance. I love dancing, it's been a form of therapy for me for years.
Another joyous memory was connecting with Nelly on our walk down from a local hot springs. Hearing all the insight she's gained from her travels. There's nothing like the connection that comes from going through similar experiences. Nothing. When I gave her a long hug goodbye she whispered in my ear, "please never change."
Lord Krishna's birthday celebration. The belief is that Krishna Himself incarnated into a human form about 5300 years ago in Mathura India and as a kid He climbed up on the counter and broke a pot of yogurt, and then proceeded to grab some and feed it to the monkeys. You can't see me but I was on the bottom ring. Instead of yogurt the clay pot was full of chocolate gold coins.
It's so enriching to meet people from totally different countries and backgrounds. To sit down and play a simple game like apples to apples with Nelly from Germany, Victor from Brazil, Nicole from D.C, and Huiqi from China. We're all the same whether we know it or not. Just souls packaged into different bodies born into different predicaments searching for our inner spiritual home in this world of material illusions.
