Based in Bali

I know I know...I still need to write a practical guide to Bali as well as update my photos including captions on Flickr...I've been floating in a vortex of magical synchronicities lately and have fallen behind on my writing and connecting.

Since climbing Batur things really ramped up. Actually, what's been happening is life has become seamless. One thing gracefully flowing into another without effort.  I had to move homestays because I wasn't able to stay in the one I was in for as long as I needed to.  I moved into one that is in town and much much cheaper and just as nice.  Some friends of mine where already staying there so it already felt like home.

Since moving here, I met a traditional Balinese healer by the name of Dewa.  This man IS a miracle and empty vessel that transmits perfect Life Force vibrations.  Since seeing him I now have feeling and strength in both my legs and I feel full of energy and love.  The energy he has is very palpable and feels like cool water rushing through my body cleansing and revitalizing me.  I can actually FEEL again!!!!!  Between Dewa, yoga, raw food, great friends and well Bali's special energy and warmth I'm feeling quite whole again.  There is still work to be done but I'm making progress every day.

Meeting Dewa has been a blessing.  Not only is he healing me, he's teaching me how to heal myself and control the energy.  Also, because our relationship has been really easy and smooth (we actually new one another from a past life) we are talking about opening a healing centre together.  He has land just outside of Ubud, near a very sacred river.  Healing is best practiced when in connection with nature  so it's perfect.

Many people come to Bali, specifically Ubud for healing.  However because the healers here are powerful and the energy of the land intense itself, most westerners do not know how to integrate the healing into their daily lives.  The often get energetically opened up and then sent on their way often feeling confused and lost.  This can be very dangerous for those who either don't work with energy or who are new to it.

Because I've done quite a bit of work in this field I've been helping others understand what is happening to them and how to integrate it.  Because there are many people in this situation, I've decided to start a support group to help people navigate their spiritual paths.  I've already started a meditation group within the homestay and I'm now looking for space to run a support group.  In the near future, I will be organizing ceremonies and trips to holy springs with Dewa and other people to help them heal.  In a way it's bridging a gap between Eastern healing and Western practices.

So, I'm off to Singapore tomorrow for a couple of days so I can renew my Indonesian Visa for 6 months.  I'm also going to start learning to speak Indonesian so I can work with both locals and Westerners.  I'm not sure where this is all going and I don't really need to.  Everything is effortlessly unfolding as it should and without much planning. I'm just following along where I'm being led to.  I've finally decided to fully show up in my life and I feel fantastic!

More to come...

Silent Nights

As the year winds down to a close, I find that I too go deeper into my inner world and retreat from the chaos of the world.  For the last 3 years, the holiday season has been a time for me to retreat into silence and reflect on the year as well as to set intentions and recharge for the year to come as well as to "just sit".  I didn't think I would do one this year because so much has changed.  However, I'm finding that this year I need it more.  So from the 24th to the 1st  I'll be on retreat.

This year seems to more significance though than previous years as much has gone on not only for me as an individual but for the collective as well.  This year has been a time of great challenge and change for many people all around the world.  I've also seen many people come into to clarity around their life path as well. Who knows what will transpire in 2012.

This retreat will be considerably different from the ones I've done in the past.  For one, this will be the first time I won't be sitting with my community, at least in the physical sense, up in Bancroft ON.  In fact I won't be sitting with anyone at all.  This retreat I will do solo.  As much as I love sitting in community, I'm looking forward to being alone this time.  It feels right and timely.  And it is an absolutely LOVELY, powerful spot that I have rented.  In fact, it is a place I'm considering possibly co-owning if I can find the right investors. I'm hoping that sitting in this space things will become clear. I will say more about this in the new year.

As for my trip....I will be making a slow pilgrimage to India.  Making stops in Hawaii, Fiji, Bali, Thailand, up and over the Bay of Bengal into India.  From India...??? I'll let that be revealed when the time comes.  I know I want to go to the middle east, Turkey, Israel, Egypt....who knows.  There are so many possibilities and timing IS the essence...

I will be booking tickets in the new year.  This means I will probably be staying on Cortes for another month or so until all the details and visa's are worked out.  It's funny, I felt like I needed to rush off the island, rush off to different places, rush off to...where?  I have nothing but time so it is time I will take to do what needs to be done.  I'm learning the art of really, really slowing down.  Breathe...Stop....Listen...Look...Feel...Smell..Touch....Taste....Be.

I'm grateful for the time to retreat before I throw myself into a worldly adventure.  I feel like I'm waking up to a completely new life, a new way of being, with new visions, and a real sense that anything is possible.

I wish you all a safe and Happy Holiday and Happy New Year!  My you all be Blessed with peace, love and joy!!!

Hollyhock

I'm currently at Hollyhock Retreat Centre on Cortes Island, BC.  It is now called a learning centre and offers all sorts of workshops geared towards personal development.  Somewhere along the way calling something spiritual is now almost politically incorrect.  However, this place is very spiritual.

Hollyhock is considered to be Esalen north minus the Californian weather and the natural hot springs.  Hollyhock has hot tubs that over look the ocean but their not quite the same and beautiful none the less.

I haven't quite figured out Hollyhock thus far and will wait for a few more days to settle in before I write anything.  I will though share some photos with you for now.

View from Cortes Island BC, looking toward Vancouver Island

Cortes Island, BC

Cortesean heading home.

Local ferry trafic

Manson's Landing, Cortes Island

Yellow Boat

My first jellyfish!!

Smelt Bay, Cortes Island

The flock.

Yellow flower

Tree outside the Beach house

Garden Gate at Hollyhock

Hollyhock's Parking Lot

Lunch time

Hey where's the wasabe?

Graceful Flight

The Sanctuary (cob building)

The Sanctuary's Garden Doors.

Inside the Sanctuary (my favourite building)

Om

The Lodge and Garden

Hearts Everywhere!!

Beach Art

Shells and Sand

Hollyhock's Beach House.

Wander's Unite

In the last 3 weeks of traveling and spending time at retreat centres, almost everyone I’ve talked to has left there lives behind and took to the road in seek of…something.  I’m sure that this phenomena isn’t new and I am aware that people have been wandering around the globe for centuries.  However, what I think is different about this day and age of traveling is there is a need, a real urgent need to find different ways of living.  It seems to be no longer about just traveling and seeing different places.

These aren’t left over hippies looking to get away from “the Man”.  These are people, young and old who are aware of shifts in not only their own consciousness but, something much deeper, other forces driving a good portion of us to find, in a way, spiritual refuge.  There are a number of people waking up to the fact that the way that most societies are completely dysfunctional and not sustainable and we can't go on living the way we do. More and more people are, instead of taking up activism to disperse their frustrations, are turning inward and battling their own daemons, walking the walk instead of talking the talk.  And because there are very few safe places where one can do personal work , many are hitting the road seeking out spiritual safe havens.  When I look at what’s going on, it’s almost like animals fleeing a burning forest, having to rebuild by starting at the beginning.

These retreat centres are popping up all over the place.  There is a great need for these types of places. These retreats are not just offering a place just to “be” and explore the inner realms, but places where learning to work together for right-livelihood is also key.  Getting back to the basics of growing all your own food, saving seeds, learning about foods and herbs natural properties and learning to cook and prepare them properly, helping build shelters, homes and healing spaces, learning about the land and it’s cycles, helping and building relationships with neighbors and strangers…The centres are really about what it means to be human. 

Money is hardly exchanged.  People work for their food and shelter or they offer their services in exchange for services they need.  Everyone works together for the common good.  However, it isn’t as utopian as it sounds.  These places survive by trial and error.  Some work really well and some don’t.  People’s egos and shadows show up and can corrupt the whole situation.  When most people are conditioned to live in a particular way…say, go to school, get a stable secure job, earn money to buy the material things you “think” you need such as a house a car and stuff to fill them with…it’s hard to let go and live a different lifestyle that doesn’t require ownership of much.  Not to say that the mentioned lifestyle is wrong, or nobody should live that way.  It’s perfectly fine.  But if you do want to step out of that, the old ways die hard.

What is unique about most of these particular places is they try to work all that stuff out.  They provide space to unpack all of the conditioned belief systems and old behavioral patterns that prevent most of us from truly living.  And of course this isn’t as easy as it sounds because we are all in different places in our own evolution.  What is interesting is the number of people who are finding an urgency to “get out of the system” while they can and star living more meaningful lives.

There are many of us just wandering around seeking to live differently and also wanting to make a positive impact on society.  Perhaps if more and more people started to walk away from “Big Brother’s” control, the powers that be would have to start making changes themselves.  All I know is that something has to be done.  Something has to change.  The only thing I know how to do is change myself first.  I’m happy that I have many traveling companions who are on the same journey as I am.  I’m hoping that even when we separate, we will still stay in touch, widening the webs of light.  Encouraging and supporting each other, knowing that what we are doing isn’t futile or a waste of time.  Times are changing quite quickly and I think that the key to our survival is to live more authentically, being connected through community by being in real contact, in real relationships, without relying on technology (yes I see the irony here).

I have no idea where any of this is going. I felt a sense of urgency before I started traveling.  Seeing how many people are on the road searching for spiritual refuge, grounds my feelings in reality.  It’s nice to unite with like hearted/minded souls though…wherever it is that we are going both as individuals but as a collective force. What kinda blows me away is, I haven't even left my country yet!! 

Building a Sustainable Community

 Life at Johnson's Landing Retreat Centre

Deep Discussions

Even the deer like it here

Visitors from next door

The Lodge

Community effort

Kitchen Crew

Pickles

The back deck

The view

Sleeping quarters

The Group Room

The Garden

Tulum

The Meditation Room

The Lodge

The Harvester

Lodge View from back deck (Kootenay Lake)

Organic Garlic

Eco Dome

Building Community

Dome Roof

Tool of Choice

Equinox Salad