Today was fun!

 Today was fun-
I was helping make a garden here at the international pavilion, and I was digging a trench in the hard soil, and really WORKIN! It was so fun. I even got blisters on my hands! Jessica and this volunteer Sam had an intense political discussion. Sam went to UCSC for 2 years, and has spent the past two years roaming Israel. He has no faith in our government. Jessica wants to be a lawyer, and work to make the government better. I am somewhere in the middle- I think that we can choose where to put our energy and money, and I choose to put mine into local, sustainable communities!
Anyway- with all of us helping, we finished a whole bed! And also filled these tubes with new concrete that we made from sand right here, syrofoam and mixer and water!
Then I went to the beach with Henry and richie, and we stopped at the music store. We played drums for a little bit; they both are really into getting drums. Then we went to the beach, and were walking along, and I asked Henry if he was going to swim and he was like, "Hell yes!"and then we saw a dude pooping on the beach! Then as we walked, we saw more and more piles of poop along the shore.
Apparently, it is the thing for locals to do.
No one ended up swimming!
Then 3 of our girls- Sarah, Caitlin, and Anshika ran to us, and they had some beautiful shells. Henry and Richie and I drank coconut water out of fresh young coconuts. Then I had chai with Sarah at the beach cafe, and she asked me if I could see myself living in a place like this... and at that moment, in the warm air, right on the beach, with yummy chai, I thought "definitely yes!". Then we colored cards with Anshika's sharpies, and then headed home.
On the way home, I bought some really cute clothes from a shop from Kashmir, which is in the north of India, in the mountains. They come here during their cold season. I chatted with the shop owners; they were super nice, and gave me a good price. :)
Then Richie and I -and Henry with Anshika on the back of his bike- stopped at a produce stand to get food to make for the group tomorrow night. (Yay, cooking! We all miss it!!)
Then we rode home; but the thing is, Auroville gets REALLY dark at night. Like, scary dark. And we had two measly headlamps between all of us; so, we talked in British accents and sang "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from the Lion King. Well, Anshika and I did. Then Henry sped up, because I think he was getting annoyed with our loud singing and British accents!
Whatever, Henry. ;)
It is so warm out tonight; last night we had a huge bonfire here at the International Pavilion. It was really mellow, really great.
At the music store today there was this mini guitar; I am considering buying it, because at the end of our trip we will have a ten-day trip to the mountains, during which we will do a "solo", and spend time alone fasting in the woods for a day. I think a guitar might be really nice to have.... it was 2000 rupees, which is around $40. Do you think I should get it???
Anyway, peace, over and out.

Pebble Garden

Imagine, creating soil out of nothing.
This is essentially what "Pebble garden" does.
200 million years ago, the land around Auroville was rich tropical forest. Eventually, the British and French came, and settled a small town called "Pondicherry". They had issues with the tigers and elephants, so they cleared an area of 10 kilometers to prevent the animals from coming into their settlement.
However, tropical land and growth is very fragile, and can easily erode. With the monsoons, the topsoil can easily get washed away, and then no plants can grow. This is what happened to the land all around Auroville. From the deforestation, vast desertification was caused.
So now, the land we are left with here is thousands of years of layers washed away, and the result is pebbles. We are in an ancient riverbed.
The only trees that can grow in this terrain are Australian acacias, which somehow got introduced to the area along the way.
The only problem is, we can't eat these trees. So, the folks at Pebble Garden have tried to figure out how to reforest their land, using ONLY materials from that land itself. Otherwise, the 50 million acres of desertified land across India would have to be supplied with soil from elsewhere, and this doesn't solve the problem.
So these people decided to study the land. They noticed that termites are the best example to follow. Termites climb inside trees, and eat the bark. They then produce earth, or soil. So the PB folks used this method essentially, working with what they have:
They took the Australian acacia trees, grew them in flower beds, and as soon as they were grown, cut them down. Then they chopped them into little bits, and soaked them for a day. They then spread a layer of the chopped trees down on their garden bed. (Similar to fallen leaves). They then spread a layer of silt on top, which they collected from ponds they had built. (This layer of silt develops over time from rain and things getting washed into the ponds over time- don't ask me how they figured this out!!) They then repeated this many times, until they had a bed of 9" of shredded trees and silt. Then they let it process for 3 months. (Things in the tropics grow 100 times faster than other places!)
SO, from this process (it is really simple!) Pebble Garden now has an incredibly diverse garden, and they are invested in maintaining traditional crops. They have many different types of eggplant, tomato, and many other crops, which unfortunately are going out of use. This is because the large corporations that want to sell food for profit use mainly GMO, which are resilient to the pesticides that they use. This not only narrows down the type of crop produced, it also harms US. WE put these pesticides into our bodies through the food, and there is no way to time-test the effects of these pesticides. Who knows what could be the outcome of GMO food in 50 years...
Unfortunately, Obama made a deal with India to pass along the US's GMO technology. (NOOO!) So essentially, Pebble Garden is working to fight this monopolization and narrowing of crops, by growing diverse types of crops traditionally grown in India, and distributing 5000 seeds per year to many different farmers. They grow most of their crops for seed.
And imagine.... they began this in 1994 with no soil, and now look at what they are doing! This is truly inspiring.
And the best thing they said was, "Anyone can garden!"

Sat Chit Ananda, Street Theatre and Ecological Spirituality

Well it is certainly hard to follow up that last blog. That was definitely an intense experience, which has continued to affect me.
I want to say thank you also, to everyone who is staying with me and continuing to read my blog! It makes me feel so warm and loved to read your comments! :) You really are going through this with me.
I have been extremely busy recently, doing some amazing things- making raw food with Anandi is one experience I have been drawn into powerfully. She is a magic-mama in the kitchen, and is full of wisdom, laughter, lightness and warmth. I am learning so much from her every day I go. She has decided to name her raw restaurant "Satchitananda". Sat means truth, Chit is consciousness, and Ananda means Bliss. the restaurant is planned to open in 6 weeks. I am excited to be a part of its grand opening.
The other day at Anandi's, we went for a nature walk to learn about some of the local plants and their medicinal and nutritional qualities. Before we even stepped foot off the property, Anandi said, "And now we must begin here. You have to learn, to start in your very own backyard, to find the abundance which awaits you." We found so many plants, and she had a story and information for all of them. Afterwards, we put all our greens into a yummy green juice with pineapple. Before eating and drinking each day, we all hold hands, feel our gratitude rising within us, and OM together. I swear, treating food as such a spiritual, communal ritual makes me so deeply happy. I wish that we treated the food we put into our bodies as more sacred all the time. If we don't, how can it really fulfill us? Food is not simply physical fuel, it is our greatest connection to the material world, and to nature. What we put into our bodies from the earth IS sacred, and to give it energy, blessing it and respecting it brings such a beauty and power to the interaction. It makes me feel fulfilled on an emotional, energetic, and even I could say spiritual level.
This morning I spent my time in the village. I am planning to make a video documentary illustrating the beauties of village life. This project is working with Balu through Mohanam. However, I feel overwhelmed, because I don't have much filming experience, and this feels like a really big project! However, I am taking it bit by bit, and trying to portray what I see as artistically, honestly, and accessibly as possible. I have been working with this wonderful woman Sudha, who is a teacher at Mohanam. She has been my tour guide and translator essentially, bringing me everywhere I want to go in the village, and making connections so that I can talk to the villagers. She is eager to help! So today, I was fortunate enough to interview a street theatre artist. He has been doing it for 30 years, and talked spiritedly about his work, the problems with modern culture (film is becoming more important, and street theatre is declining), and his work teaching the children of Mohanam the craft. Then I was lucky to film some teenage boys perform some street theatre. I didn't understand what they were saying, but it was really fun! They have raised money to go to Thaliand next week for an international music festival. They will perform some traditional Tamil drumming and dancing there. I am excited for them!
I have also started classes with my group. Our main class is called"Nature, Spirit, and Political Theory". It has been really interesting so far. OUr group is the most diverse yet according to Karen, our teacher. We come from all kinds of different backgrounds spiritually; we have a couple of Christians, a Muslim, a couple of Buddhist-aligned people, a couple of Pagan-aligned people, some atheists, and many mixed or confused people. We all agree though that we are here to find ourselves spiritually. However, when discussing such things as how religion can relate to ecology in the face of this huge environmental crisis, some really deep values are put up for questioning, and it is hard to keep an open mind without being so attached to your own view. It has been really great so far though; the group is really tight-knit, and we all enjoy spending time together. I look forward to continue bringing up questions about ecology, and how we can relate to the earth and the material world from a more spiritual standpoint. As it is, things like politics and the environment are dealt with from a very rational point of view; but perhaps belief could be essential in re-framing our relationship to the earth. Because one thing is obvious: our consumerism has to change. As Karen puts it, we are living in a system that is linear: from mining resources, to production, to consumption, to waste. However, nature works in cyclical patterns. Thus, we are living in a system that has violated the patterns of nature. We have to learn how to round the corner of our linear system, and simplify our own lives so as to work in tandem with our Earth. What is needed is a change of consciousness. Then we will realize that MORE does not actually make us happy. Then we can practice contentment, and focus our energy instead on striving to live in alignment with Nature.
But what drives us most is our beliefs. These are deeply held. So to examine them, and see what we hold as most important in our lives, is essential.
I am really tired right now, so I hope this all makes sense. :) There are many more details I could go into, but I hope this gives you a little overview of some of the things I have been doing.
As always, I am thinking of you and holding you all in my heart. :) Be well!

My Heart is still Burning and Pulsing Right Now.

Some people take LSD. Some people read Sri Aurobindo.

This is my outlook about 20 minutes after having a significant experience.

My group and I went to talk with Shradavan, a woman who runs Savitri Bhavan. It is a center built from a poem by Sri Aurobindo, “Savitrti.”

I had no idea who the woman was. But when we all gathered into a basement room in a circle and she asked us to tell her our names and what we hope to find in Auroville, I instantly thought, “Oh, great; this is what- the tenth time we have to do this, and I don’t feel like it. Can’t she just tak with us and be happy?” So I automatically held a minor, superficial annoyance with her.

However, when she began talking, I unfortunately- and fortunately- couldn’t help but pay more attention.

She has been in Auroville since 1970. Auroville was founded in 68, and the Mother died in 73. She is the oldest Aurovillian I have met. It wasn’t this that got me, though. It was how she began to explain the philosophies of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

Again, when she began speaking, this weird feeling came over me; before today, I have held a perception that some of the older Aurovillians I have talked to seem already dead. They seem so disattached from many human desires perhaps, that they seem perpetually out-of-body. It freaks me out; I get an eerie, dry-wrinkled-carboard-skin-lifeless feeling from it. I really don’t know how to describe it better…. Like time has already gone, they are no longer here, they are so “higher consciousness”.

However, this time, while I noticed this feeling coming on, I decided to try to keep an open mind, and see if I could figure out where this feeling was coming from, and WHY.

This woman’s energy was SO calm. The things she talked about – that evolution is not finished yet, and that Auroville is a place to look toward to future, are pinpoints of what makes me feel weird. I directly related this to my readings of Echkart Tolle, which I hold very important in my own spirituality. While this woman was saying that our spirits and centers exist inside of us, there is this focus on the future. I thought, if we have spirit inside of us, why do we have to look toward the future? Why can’t we focus on accessing this higher consciousness right here, right now? Why not move from where we are? This focus on the future seems to be a really disconcerting and disconnecting ideal to me, and I think it is part of what creates this feeling inside of me that is SO strange and squiggly-yucky-removed.

Then I dove in- I went straight into an Alex Grey painting. I began realizing, these things she are saying are’t invading me. They are more like slithering snakes on the outside of my being, which is a vibrant, colorful DNA strand constantly spiraling. These snakes are on the borders of Me, but they are not trying to invade. They are just eerie, reminding me that they are there. And what are they made of that makes me feel so weird? Mystery. It is precisely that the philosophies of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother are so non-existent in a sense that I feel so uncomfortable; it is because I don’t know.

They say no religion in Auroville. So it is easy to mistake their philosophies for a new kind of religion. This is not what they want. So I realized, maybe I am used to people tryng to get me to see a certain perspective when they talk about spirituality and religion and philosophy; maybe I am used to putting up this defense, very subconsciously, because this is what people are ater- to relate through a common understanding. Yet, this is different…. Maybe this is the freedom to choose.

There. From then on, I stopped feeling like I was being threatened by these ideas to come away from myself, but rather I was being invited to not listen to the words, and find my own connection. It was this super weird, twisted way of making me come about to realizing that I have my own connections to make. I have to fight to keep my center. These words, you have to read in between them. Maybe some people don’t, but as soon as this thought crossed my mind, I began to break the social code of being still while listening to this woman talk, and I began the simple movement of rolling my head.

Wow. This was a physically noticeable change in a super crazy state of awarenss already; I felt instantly connected with myself, and instantly, this weird, eery, heady feeling of looming disconnection and impending specific, different spirituality morphed into a warm, tingly buzz in my stomach and feet. Instantly, I dropped into my center. Then I felt like I was going to cry.

YES. I had found myself.

I went back into the Alex Grey painting, and this time I really just felt that my being at this moment was the huge, colorful, spiraling DNA sequence. It was my energy. I remember actually thinking, “Wow, I have just made a significant leap in consciousness.” I felt like I was witness to a whole huge deep shift of awareness that happened right before my eyes.

Then I started to warm up to the lady, and to the ideas of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. “Maybe this is precisely what this is,” I thought. “the opportunity, the invitation, to get out of yourself in order to hold stronger to your values, to your core, and in doing so, in being reminded of the great mystery, shed what isn’t important, and cling with your life to your very being.”

This was very intense. So after this movement though, I began to listen with a more open mind to the words, and some of them made more sense to me.

What a strange, subtle, thing energy is…. And I thought, after so long in this Intense pace of Auroville, I am sure that this woman has mastered some of her own understanding! So yes, it is good that she is having such an effect on me.

So after I got out of the room, I was on a mission. To do what? TO write some of these thoughts down….. and then, I really honestly truly realized I was having a significant psychadelic experience, and I didn’t even take drugs….

So then I realized, “Hey. If the Mother is saying that you have the freedom, and you can take your own power, then what is it you want to do”?” So I put my bag and shoes down, and began to dance. I think that was a significant choice.

So anyway, this whole account is really stream-of-consciousness, because it just happened. So I understand if some of you DON’T understand!!

HOWEVER, I guess that’s it.

Amazing Morning and Tibetan Monk Inspiration

Oh my god, I had so much fun today!!!
My groupmate Richie and I went off on an adventure bike ride, in search of the Mohanam Cultural Center. We had driven there before, but it is located deep into curves of a local village, so we actually ended up going about 30 minutes out of our way.
But it's okay! When we finally arrived, after many cows and MANY different sets of opposing directions from villagers, we were graciously and excitedly welcomed by Baloo. He ushered us in, and there was a traditional Indian dance class happening with a dozen local village girls. I instantly jumped in to join! They all looked back at me shyly yet intrigued; I was a huge, blonde foreign visitor who had no idea how to dance like they did! They laughed at my efforts and helped me to get the correct hand and feet positions. I actually followed along pretty well, but the dancing is HARD! It is very strengthening for the core. I will have to show you when I get home...
After we had danced - and I had sweated - (the little girls were very composed), we sat in a circle together. They asked my name, and then they went in a circle telling me theirs. Oh, it was hilarious- they had to repeat each one about three times, and I still didn't say it right! It was very funny. A lot of giggling ensued. I felt so yummily girly sitting with all these village girls with sparkly Indian clothes and flowers in their hair, giggling together.
I learned that thank you is "nandri", and that dance is "nadanam". Other than that, whatever I asked them, they would reply, "That is too complicated for you to say." They were so cute, and it was so fun communicating with them through the language barrier. They were all so welcoming, sweet and eager to help. They found me funny too. :)
After that, Richie came back from learning martial arts, and Baloo exclaimed to us excitedly, "You should come back here and teach the kids some modern dance and martial arts, and then we could have a performance before you leave at the visitor's center in Auroville!!" Oh what a great idea! This is exactly what I have been wanting to do!
SO we will see how this tentative plan pans out over the next weeks, but I know I will definitely return when I can to learn and teach dance with these girls. It was such a rich and heartfelt experience to communicate with these villagers. They were all so excited for us to be there, and to show us what they were up to. It was so invigorating to be with people who were so unabashedly welcoming. How often do you feel that...?
On the ecstatic bike ride back, Richie and I reflected that these people's "spirits are more intact (than westerners)."  That seemed like a good way to sum up the feelings we had interacting with them.
This set up the rest of my day for good-vibes, and I have been riding that wave of appreciation and happiness ever since. This shows you- judging from my last blog to this one- how many feelings I have been roller-coastering through here! What a testament to the Buddhist philosophy that all things are impermanent, all things pass.
SPeaking of which, last night at the Tibetan Pavilion we saw a Buddhist Monk give a talk on Buddhism and Ecology. He runs about 30 social programs, from ecological awareness to education. He was the sweetest guy with a great sense of humor. He said, "Enlightenment? Oh, that is very far from me. But I love compassion.. compassion is the force that makes me do what I am doing now." He also said of the growing environmental disasters, "It is all coming from greed- our desire to constantly have more. If I am not happy with one pair of shoes, how will I be happy with many? We have to go into ourselves. We have to start from where we are. Practice contentment. Try to minimize. It begins on a small scale."
Everything he said was very inspiring and comforting. I will end this blog with one of my favorite things that he said: "If I don't lose my heart, then yes, I can overcome. Building trust with friends, this is the way to survive."
I love all of you so much! Thank you for reading!