ya ya ima gonna sit, listen, learn, breathe, contemplate and ya ya...

Good day people of a rich world filled with toilet seats you can sit on and toilet paper to wipe your preciuos ass with... life is good my friends!  I am preparing to go into a month to a month in a half meditation/buddhist study retreat at Kopan monastery in Nepal...yes NEPAL!!! There are a little over two hundred people attending the month long program and the last two weeks are supposedly taught by an incredible Lama named Lama Zopa Rinpoche.  I am staying at a massive monastary in a cozy dorm room, and next to a nunnery.  I have to say that though the place is a bit overwhelming in size, it is quite beautiful, and you can see almost all of Kathmandu from here when the sun rises.  Now i have only just arrived and explored little of Kathmandu, but it (to me) quite a modern city, but a little mixed with a chaotic china town flare.  There is a lot less poverty here than in the places i visited in India, but equal in terms of constant movement and horn honking!  Honestly i was a little overwhelmed exploring the city for a day because of the amount of stimulation for you senses, but the nice thiong is that it assisted me in a decent night's sleep.  So yes, I am going into retreat and this is my last post for a while.  Who ever is here reading this, please feel free to email and tell me how you are doing, with great mailto:detail...soniabegonia26@gmail.com and i will get back to you when Im back in the world.  Much love and remember life is short, so enjoy it, and remember the kindness of others...because without it, you would have nothing...

If I could only get enough sugar!

Holy Canola oil, Deep fried chocolate banana and cinnamon apple samosas with a hint of sweet cake balls, chai chai chai, paneer pizza with a dash of cumin please!  Hello all, I am here on my last night in Rishikesh and finally feel as though i have the energy to write something slightly interesting...key word slightly...So I have made a record of three full body immersions in the holy Ganaga river in order to make sure i rid all my sins from the past...and because the sun was setting and it seemed so romantic.  So yes, Rishikesh is the yoga capital of India, but what that really means is that 30 years or so ago the beatles came to this little town city called rishikesh and stayed at an ashram, and then that attracted more tourists and soon enough the place was booming, yoga ashrams, asana classes, philosophy, etc. began to line up every block and now the culmination is a mix between the western view of yoga as purely a form of exercise and to look healthy, but also the spiritual, genuine roots of yoga are sprinkled atop, depensing where you go.  There are some very traditional places here, dont get me wrong, but many of the classes are tailored to westerners for the purpose of economic survival and material gain.  This guy who's been living in an ashram in Rishikesh since birth told me that the place has really changed, that traditionally the real yogis would get up around 4 or 5am and begin practicing, and it was a spiritual practice to the fullest, the preoccupation wasnt looking good, but self-realization; and now the essence of yoga is still there but people go to class at around 8:30 and the focus is more on the physical rather than the mental.  Now the reason I share this little piece of knowledge is because I feel that this is not only the issue in Rishikesh but with the western view of or should I say method/s of finding happiness, and this is why so many migrate to India, one of the most spiritual places on the earth.  I think as a westerner it is difficult and almost seems completely foreign to practice spirituality in terms of really working with the mind, and that being the priority as opposed to our appearance to the rest of the world.  People go to india or they study something or whatever for the purpose of searching for something larger or with a bigger view then what the currently have, really simply put, happiness...and its not just India, it could be going for the big corporate position or that delicious chocolate cake sitting in the window, and you see that "oh, if I can have this, then I will be really happy", but if you reallydig deep into all the things that you "think" will make you happy, you will see that most of the things that you assume will make you happy are so temporary that you only create more suffering for yourself, further desire to find the next thing that will fulfill your never ending thirst.  So what do you do when you realise that chasing happiness(or what you percieve happiness to be) or leads to dissatisfaction in the end?  You must work with your mind!  How? By being aware that what you truly seek in all your temporary pleasures is ultimate and lasting happiness, and knowing that when you get that corporate position or succulent papaya, that it is pleasurable and delicious for a short time but it is not ultimatley what you are looking for...okay now im going to get a little more intense about it and you can take or leave at it, but make sure you have a big laugh at the end because im just typing a whole bunch of words at you face...remember when you take a bite of that papaya that you are alive!  Remember how thankful you are to be able to enjoy just even one bite of this beautiful fruit because of all of the work others cultivated in order for you to enjoy this moment you have....okay, okay i know intense and i cuold go on and on on what you cuold remember in order to make this moment whatever it may be whther you view it as good or bad based in your perception of what you believe to be true happiness, but all im saying is that you could really get what you want(true happiness) if you cuold simply remind yourself that you are part of a community of beings that without them you could not even enjoy a bite of fruit, because somehow thruogh an uncountable link or causes and conditions, you my friend are alive and able to enjoy, alive, able to remember that you are not alone, but a part of the whole stream of events that led up to this moment, where you have the perfect capability to really see what it is you truly seek: life!  And that, that is yoga, a form of it atleast, so please, if you can stop for even one moment of your day, remind your self of this fact, that you,yourself depend on others for your own happiness and without apprecaition for others and their contributions, you could not experience this thing we call life! Namaste and now I must go eat Italian food in India, love you all and hope that some part of this blabbering was useful...carpe diem!

Gangsta Fied!

Okay i am goin to type this with out looking at the screen and you are warned that will be likely typos because I only know how to touch type and the keys on the keyboard are super faded so here we go...I am extremely tired but in a goos way.  I am currently in Rishikesh, the yoga capital of India and I have to say that it is quite the beautiful place, I am right on the GAnga river(which I bathed in fyi) and when the sun is rising and setting, it is the most beautiful thing in the city...I am tired and slightly foggy at the moment becasue I have not been getting much sleep,; see right now it is Diwali, basically like India christmas with lots of candy and fireworks. They light the types of fireworks that are only legal for firemen to light off in the us, and children are doing this in allys and what not.  Holy Shit!  I felt as if I was in a beautiful warzone of flashin lights in the nights sky and massive cannons and bazookas going off right by my ear.  Every stands around when you light the bomb and then runs for there life to here the incredible explosions.  Many people were burned and some caught fire...the festivities go on until the end of tonight the 7th I hope only because I tyhink my ears are shot, haha!  I ate hazelnut chocolate for breakfast and half a bottle of water and then I ate a dosa later on which is a masssive thin savory crepe with whatever filling you would like inside...i got a vegetable dosa and it was tre magnific.  Also I have been eating  lot of Muesli..okay through the subject and level of interest in the topic you can see that my brain is slightly fried and I feel as though the only way I can say what I feel is through what Ive eaten and the fact that I am typing with my sunglasses on, haha!  I will update you later when I have the hutzspa two. n oy I must go, the firewokrs continue to call my name ...adios...and much love and good hugs!