On the plane, i cried 3 times when i saw the horizon-filled himalayas...felt like old friends welcoming me. When i see these mountains i feel an abundance of faith & strength. Doubt vanishes like smoke rising from the flames of 'I AM'. They deliver me to presence and bring me to wordless tears, over & over. Just to be near them, to feel the awe of the Divine. Mighty. Triumphant. Aspired. Where aspiration takes a breath & says "i am enough, right here, right now. i need no more than this. Through this stillness & love, i am connected to every particle of the entire universe."
We share this world & i am honoured.
i went to stay in boudha. i got myself a really nice room, to help acclimatise back to the backpacker lifestyle. Last night I joined in with a candle light procession around the stupa. Hundreds of red robed monks, nuns & tibetans making koras/circles around the stupa, their faces illuminated by soft candles, many carrying pictures of the kamapa lama. i asked later what the procession was for & apparently the kamapa's in trouble with the indian government for tax fraud/evasion! The reason made the whole holy atmosphere seem strange in hindsight. It was a great welcoming experience.
Today i took a couple of tempo/minibus type things into durbar sq (and had a 20 min walk inbetween - lost but not caring!). i sat beneath a bodhi tree & small vishnu/buddha feet temple & drank masala chai from a glass. It's my favourite spot in kathmandu & world-reknowned 'happy place'. It felt good to be back, but i'm also wary of trying to revisit each of these spots sacred to me...there's a distance there, which is hard to explain. It's like i'm only trying to recreat something which was, rather than being open to what can be & what is. i feel somehow removed from the experience as i'm bringing too much past with me into the moment. It's a good thing for me to be aware of, as i begin to travel to places i visited before.
I keep whispering to myself "i'm in nepal" & i'm not sure if that makes it more real or surreal. We can travel so fast by plane, i feel more teleported! All this familiar life has been existing here simultaneously, whilst I've been in beijing, Scotland & the U.S. This seems hard to wrap my head around.
And so i can't guarantee that i'll continue to write a blog or notes about my journey. I tend to give up after a while putting such experiences into words. But if you read this & enjoyed it then drop me a couple of lines & it will show me that people are interested in reading about my experiences & perhaps it'll inspire me to continue writing!
We share this world & i am honoured.
i went to stay in boudha. i got myself a really nice room, to help acclimatise back to the backpacker lifestyle. Last night I joined in with a candle light procession around the stupa. Hundreds of red robed monks, nuns & tibetans making koras/circles around the stupa, their faces illuminated by soft candles, many carrying pictures of the kamapa lama. i asked later what the procession was for & apparently the kamapa's in trouble with the indian government for tax fraud/evasion! The reason made the whole holy atmosphere seem strange in hindsight. It was a great welcoming experience.
Today i took a couple of tempo/minibus type things into durbar sq (and had a 20 min walk inbetween - lost but not caring!). i sat beneath a bodhi tree & small vishnu/buddha feet temple & drank masala chai from a glass. It's my favourite spot in kathmandu & world-reknowned 'happy place'. It felt good to be back, but i'm also wary of trying to revisit each of these spots sacred to me...there's a distance there, which is hard to explain. It's like i'm only trying to recreat something which was, rather than being open to what can be & what is. i feel somehow removed from the experience as i'm bringing too much past with me into the moment. It's a good thing for me to be aware of, as i begin to travel to places i visited before.
I keep whispering to myself "i'm in nepal" & i'm not sure if that makes it more real or surreal. We can travel so fast by plane, i feel more teleported! All this familiar life has been existing here simultaneously, whilst I've been in beijing, Scotland & the U.S. This seems hard to wrap my head around.
And so i can't guarantee that i'll continue to write a blog or notes about my journey. I tend to give up after a while putting such experiences into words. But if you read this & enjoyed it then drop me a couple of lines & it will show me that people are interested in reading about my experiences & perhaps it'll inspire me to continue writing!
