Saturday, March 14, 2009

Re-Entry & Re-Integration

After a long journey with some snags along the way, I made it back home.

It feels wonderful, and a bit weird. I am happy to be back with my community and my family. As I have visited the studio and seen some familiar faces, I am moved to gratitude once again, for all the love, support, friendship and community that we have co-created at Flow Yoga. I have re-connected with friends and am shifting slowly back into the rhythm of life here.

People have asked me what I learned in India, and I have to admit, it's hard to define in words. I feel deeper and broader. I feel like I have a bit more clarity and firmer roots. I have had some questions answered, and have a whole new garden of questions to explore. I feel physically and mentally stronger than ever before, and one thing I know for sure: I will go back.

This will be the last entry for this Kalari in Kerala blog, but I will start a new weekly blog with thoughts and ideas that continue to roll around as I continue on the path of learning and discovery. Here's the link: http://jenniferellenyoga.blogspot.com/ .

Oh and one more thing, I know many of you would like to see the photos of my trip, so I will be creating a Picasa web album with labeled photos of the journey. I'll publish the photo album on the new blog and at http://www.flowyogaslc.com/ ... just give me a few more days to get my bearings.

Thanks to all of you who were interested in sharing this adventure with me, I have felt your encouragement and support the whole way through. To the adventures that lie ahead!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Dubai

We made it to Dubai, let the culture shock begin!

First, it is MUCH MUCH cooler here, closer to 70's & 80's rather than 95-100 plus humidity & mosquitoes. Second, I don't have to cover up as much, although I still do because 70 feels cold just now. Third, I can use a fork again, take a hot shower or even a bath, sleep in a bed without a mosquito net and even have cold cereal for breakfast. It all feel nice, but a little melancholy because although the creature comforts are nice, I know it really is the end of such an amazing and fulfilling journey.

Dubai itself is an interesting place. Aside from the famous explosion of architecture and infrastructure, 80% of the population is not from the UAE, so, to me, it feels a little like a place without a concrete identity. It is a place in rapid evolution and constantly shifting, people coming and going, making fortunes and some now losing them. It is also beautiful. White sand beaches, dining and shopping on the water, and almost everything you could want from anywhere in the world.

My long time friend, Brian, has been living here for 9 years and is the host and tour guide for Gerhard and I as we are teaching the 1st ever kalari workshop in Dubai. There is a small crew of friends of Brian and some ex-pat locals who were adventurous enough to sign up without much idea of what was to happen. They all did really well, and it was really nice to meet Alex and Adriane in particular. They are Australian and German respectively, and I am sure we will meet again somewhere on the path.

This is really the thing that I am learning through all of this: the world is vast and small. The more places we go, we more we know that we are all connected, and that we meet the people we need to meet when we need to meet them. Some call it karma, fate, destiny, even chance. I call it beautiful.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Initiation

Yesterday, I was given permission to begin to teach Kalari from Sherifka. It is a big responsibility to be a part of an intact living lineage, I feel the gravity keeping me firmly on the ground, which is good.


Because I received permission yesterday, today I had to bring 3 beetle leaves and one arcanut with some rupees to the kalari for a ceremony. It was brief and not a lot of fanfare, just Sherifka and I while others were practicing.

It still feels great to be able to move a little, and to be with the others in the rhythm of practice. I am sad that there is only one more day, but feeling the mental shift beginning to pull me back home.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Back in the Saddle

I get to practice - HOOOORAY!!!

With only 5 days left, Sherifka saw that I was really really wanting to practice, and although it is not ideal after intense treatment, he allowed me to go to the kalari and to 10% of what I was before. I know it doesn't sound like much, but after 16 days of n-o-t-h-i-n-g, I was so happy to just be there, feel the clay, move a bit and reconnect.

I also am feeling some more of the benefit of the treatment. The normal aches and pains (what I thought was normal) have seemed to evaporate, and I feel more movement within the movement. A subtle shift in energy flow. One unexpected side effect is that because I basically had a 'master re-set' in my muscular system, my balance is a bit off during practice, and I have no real power. I can feel it coming, but it's not quite there yet.

It will be interesting to see what develops in the next few weeks, traveling to Dubai and finally home. I am wondering how my practice will change: what will be tighter and what will come together, what will be forgotten until I return again.

I can feel the pull of home beginning to take hold. Manuel is now gone, he is missed for sure - it is much quieter now... even the house knows it's the end. I am beginning to wonder what it feels like to have a new president (yup, I missed that whole thing), what the economic situation holds for me and for so many, to anticipate a different paradigm than the one I left.

We are all squeezing the last drops of the sun from this experience.