Forty By Forty

Number 22: Bhakti Fest

   The word bhakti means "loving devotion to a deity, leading to salvation and Nirvana" and Bhakti Fest is a four day celebration of chanting, meditation, yoga and inspiring talks that takes place on 450 acres in JoshuaTree, where people get blissed out. Or, as I would like to now refer to it: Hippie Fest. 

   Driving to Joshua Tree for Bhakti Fest, I was a little tired and uninspired. By the Forty by Forty project actually. I'm past the half-way point and I'm losing steam fast. After returning from Peru I've felt a bit reclusive and like I really don't want or need to go on any new adventures right now. So, this was something that I was just going to have to get myself through and then, I told myself, I would be allowed a break for a few weeks.

   

   So I arrived huffing and puffing a bit...perhaps even irritable. Definitely not in the mood to be happy and have a good time. As I walked through the "village" that had been built up with tented areas for yoga, music stages, massage tents, booths where incense, buddhas, clothes, jewelry and art was sold, food stands and coffee carts, I looked around and saw a mix of hippie yogis, hip yogis and trippy yogis. I couldn't help but smile. A bit. 

   I walked to the main stage area and saw my friend and excellent yoga teacher Richard Wegman doing his morning sun salutations, while Joey Lugassy was playing beautiful music. Big grin. 

Keri, me and Dana

   Then the flood gates of happiness opened. I ran into friends upon friends upon friends. I realized that I had forgotten how many sweet and fantastic people I know in the yoga/kirtan/meditation community, and how much I'd missed them spending time in school on the east side for the last two years. 

    
              Me, the beautiful Keri and our rockrings (Swedish for hoola-hoop)

   It didn't take long to get into it. After a walk with Dana and a bit of hoola-hooping with Keri, who has the fantastic Y Catalogue with her even more fantastic husband, Hermas, I got ready for my first class, Bollywood with Hemalaaya Behl.

   I'm realizing now that most of this blog will be about my friends, how beautiful they are and how sweet it is to spend time with them, so if that gets boring and repetitive, I apologize in advance. Hemalayaa is not just a friend from my days in Ojai and beyond, but a goddess, whose Bollywood classes are as entertaining as they are a full body workout. And I wasn't surprised to see our mutual Ojai friend Tony Khalife accompanying her on guitar, because he is a wild spirit just like Hema, and the music he plays is both soulful and inspires movement. 

   The class was crazy and fun and of course after dancing around like an Indian princess, I was starving and went over to the food area to be severly disappointed. I'm sorry but vegan, vegetarian and/or raw food isn't delicious for more than 5 minutes. For me, it's like a fun novelty item. "Isn't it fun that they can make 'pizza' with nothing that you make pizza with?" But when you actually have to rely on that to get your nourishment, it's not fun or exciting.  

   And no matter how many vendors I asked (irritated,) there was really no animal protein to be found. Lucky for me, there was kichiri which will always fill the tummy...and the chai tea was as good as in India, although by Saturday afternoon the girl who worked that booth had taken her shirt off which made the line super long.  

   

Saul and alumni; me, Debbie, Lilly & Kathy

   Next up, a reunion in Saul David Raye's class. One can always count on Saul to bring the bhakti and his class on Saturday was no exception. In fact, I'd put it in the Top 3 of all time. Chills up and down my spine, a soulful practice with lots and lots of spontaneous dancing. There were quite a few of us from his teacher training in 2008,  and we all practiced together while some incredibly talented musicians played, including Joey Lugassy, Steve Gold, Frank Fitzpatrick, Matthew Hufschmidt, David Watts and more. 

   Then, time for one of the highlights of the weekend, Krishna Das on the main stage. Seeing Krishna Das is like being at a rock concert. You know all the songs, you love the stories and you don't want the night to ever end. There's singing, chanting, dancing...people are so happy and blissful and freed up. It felt like Woodstock. Not that I have any personal experience of Woodstock...but I do think it probably smelled the same way...

   After a great night's sleep in pitch black and complete silence in the Mustang Cabin at Rattler Ranch, a bit away from the village, I got up excited for yoga with Shiva Rea. Well, after Keri's husband Hermas removed the black widow spider from under my mattress, I was excited.

   I've never taken a class with Shiva before, which is strange considering I've been practicing yoga at Exhale in Venice for so many years. When I showed up, it turned out it was Trance Dance and not a yoga class. What? That's just ridiculous. That's not what I was prepared for and for those of you who know me...well you know I can't really shift gears like that. Not a fan of the quick changes. I started to roll up my mat (i.e. take my marbles and go home) when Lilly grabbed me and said, "let's stay...might be fun." I decided to pretend like I am an easy-going person but quietly decided to give it just ten minutes. In the first five minutes I realized Shiva Rea is nuts. Really nuts. 

  

    Then I slowly realized it's the good kind of nuts. The kind of nuts that frees you up and makes you not have a care in the world. And so perhaps it would be ok if just this once...I went a little nuts along with everyone else? So, with my eyes closed I danced around like a nut, feeling happy and goddess-like. And needless to say, not needing to roll up my mat and hit the road. And after, a calm and peace and quiet came over me. My mind was still. That rarely happens. 

Christi showing off some new moves...

   Off to eat again and FINALLY I ran into the sweet and delightful Christi Christensen, dancer, yoga teacher, friend, but most of all, goddess of Exhale in Venice. When she is in one of her happy infectious moods, as she was, it's like the sun has come out for the first time and you just want to bask in its glory. I did. 

   Then I got a henna tattoo from Debra. I don't know what else to say about it and I won't show a photo here...but it was one of those things where I was inspired in the moment and went for it. Definitely out of left field even if it will come off in a few weeks. 

   The second and final highlight of the weekend came Sunday afternoon when my friend Sean Johnson and his Wild Lotus Band played on the main stage. Sean, Gwendolyn and Alvin are from New Orleans and bring a way cool sound to the average kirtan music, that makes it impossible to keep your heart in check. Gwendolyn is cool and calm but with a power to her drumming that forces your feet to dance and Alvin's guitar riffs sends chills down your spine.

    Then there is Sean, who has the voice of an angel. Not much else to say about that, other then that I had the pleasure and privilege to sing with him a couple of years ago sans the Wild Lotus Band, for a kirtan at Exhale with Saul. It was one of the most blissful experiences of my life to get to share his music in that way. 

      

                         Christi still beaming, and the curly haired wonders, Gigi and Tony.

    Needless to say, we were all there dancing, beaming, singing, clapping and even hollering. Debbie Steingesser, who has become a fantastic yoga teacher since our teacher training, mixing yoga with another of her passions, African dance, dragged me up on stage so that we could truly celebrate with Sean, Gwendolyn & Alvin close up. We danced and danced until we cried from joy. Another bhakti moment with Debbie, and we've had many together, since we met in Ojai at the Yoga Crib a few years ago. For me, it doesn't get any better than that, so after we all settled down, I decided that it was time to head back to LA, leaving on the highest of notes, inspired by life, re-engaged in the Forty by Forty project, but most importantly, with a full heart. 

   Namaste Hema, Saul & Shiva for the beautiful classes, to my goddess friends Debbie, Dana, Christi, Lilly, Kathy & Keri for bringing inspiration back into my heart and to Sean, Gwendolyn & Alvin for playing me out...

Number 21: Peru 2 - Ayahuasca Ceremony

   Just as important in getting the Peru trip off the ground was Jason Frahm, yoga teacher, spiritual guide, healer, beloved friend and Peru expert. I didn't realize how invaluable all his advice, connections, suggestions and information was until I arrived. The hotel in Cusco was perfect, the path to get me to Machu Pichu, even the packing list he had emailed was incredible. I packed everything listed and I was covered for heat, cold, bugs, rain and sun. Genius. There wasn't anything he didn't prepare me for, including and most importantly, the spiritual journey I embarked on while there.

   I had spent some time researching Ayahuasca before leaving LA but decided to stop fairly quickly as it seemed that many people had just taken Ayahuasca randomly, not part of a ceremony, and had strange experiences as a result. Their recollections didn't put me at ease or prepare me, they just made me uncomfortable. Some people got sick, some dealt with their mortality but they all focused mainly on the vomiting. And that wasn't what I was really interested in so I decided to forget about all of that and just let my ceremony unfold without any expectations.  

 

Erik, Nilda & Andres

   A day after my Machu Pichu adventure, I met Erik and Nilda, my guides for the Ayahuasca Ceremony. When they talked about Ayuhasca, they always referred to it as "our work," "the medicine," or "the plant spirit" and that made me realize that Ayuhasca is not something that one does lightly, or for fun. It's work. Hard work. Spritual work. Spending time with them, it also became clear to me that for this experience, I was with the right people.

The view outside my door

   We travelled to the Sacred Valley of the Incas for a three-day retreat with Andres, a friend of theirs from Santiago, Chile. The drive was beautiful, and we arrived at El Huerte Paraiso - a beautiful retreat center - and rested up before the ceremony was to start. The surroundings were peaceful and serene and any anxiety I had felt earlier was immediately gone as I settled in. 

   Unfortunately, I have to disappoint you all now. Because like Fight Club, the first rule about the Ayahuasca Ceremony is "you do not talk about the Ayahuasca Ceremony." At least not for fifteen days after, and then, just if it feels right, and to people who respect and honor the medicine and its process. 

The serene "after" Marika

   I will tell you about a couple of my adventures after I returned from the Sacred Valley, feeling happy, at peace and very grounded. Sometimes, I come upon things in my travels, or in life in general, that make me so happy that I tear up from joy. Having returned to Cusco from the Sacred Valley for a few days of relaxation, I came across Marqueta San Pedro in Cusco which was a place like that.

   

 

One sad and one happy pig

   The craziest mix of clothes, meats, vegetables, fruits, flowers, carved items, spiritual things, knit caps, leather purses, beans, insences, jewelry and nuts that I have ever come across in my life.

 In the fruit and vegetable section of the market...still moving 

    It would never have passed a health inspection in the US, but nonetheless, I spent hours there discovering fruits, veggies and other foods I've never tasted before and that I couldn't name in English or Spanish with the biggest grin on my face.

   Also in the aftermath of the ceremony, a day in Lima, where Christian, one of the local police officers insisted on escorting me around town with his dog and Star Model-30 handgun. For my safety of course.

  

   I saw the beautiful Convento y Museo de San Francisco which had the most magnificent church and below, catacombs where over 75,000 bodies had been found. Hundreds of skulls and bones were still there and I smirked and walked tall as everyone else was told to mind their head because the ceilings were so low.  

    All in all, a fantastic trip that I will cherish for a lifetime. And without any sort of illness or altitude problems whatsoever (thank you Jing Master Jay.) Big deal for someone who had asthma and chronic bronchitis for many years. "Snaps for me," as Gill Mills would say. I'm proud of myself for having completed this task and completed it in a part of the world I've never visited before, on my own. Big journey for little girl from Suecia. 

   Muchas gracias Erik y Nilda para todos. Gracias mi hermano Andres por las conversaciones. Gracias William por la deliciosa comida. And most of all, thank you Jason for sending me on this journey.