The Waking Dreamtime

The night before I left Cydney sagely said, “You are soon to be entering the waking dreamtime. Where the unconscious comes to light.”

There is a reason that it takes 2 days, 3 planes, 30 hours of flight to get here. To go from Marin County, California to Kovalam, India in an instant would be quite a shock to the psyche. Having all that flight time helps with the acclimation process, I think.

I feel so different this time, being here in India. I expected to feel the vast loneliness that I felt for much of my time in India last year but instead I am surprised and delighted to find a deep, deep rootedness in the very core of me.

I feel solid, sure of myself, strong.

Connected.

At peace.

Happy.

So very happy to have given myself the incredibly large gift of 4-5 months to just BE.

Even as I write this I feel my Spirit grinning from ear to ear.

Thank you, thank you, It says.

And even so there is a bit of restlessness in between Ayurvedic appointments and lunches/dinners with other travelers that I’ve met in the few days that I’ve been here.

Restlessness comes when I have pockets of unstructured time. I experience this restlessness most when I wake up in the middle of the night and all I can hear from my room is the pounding of the Arabian Sea. I’m learning to relax within the spaciousness of time and the not-doing.

What is most surprising to me so far is how deeply I’m falling in love with India. I felt chills when I got off the airplane and touched my feet on Indian soil and continue to feel the chills on a daily basis.

The people and the culture are making such a big impression on my heart. I didn’t feel this last time I was in India. At all. I wanted to leave India as soon as I’d arrived.

Not so this time. I’m soaking up India like a thirsty sponge. In some ways, I feel as though I’m re-experiencing my trip of last year, but with new eyes and a deeper sense of myself and of India.

It’s wonderful.

The hotel staff (all men) have taken me under their wings like a bunch of mother hens.

There is such affection, laughter and sweetness between us.

Because I have to walk by the hotel desk each time I leave my room I have now learned to plan at least an extra 10 minutes so I won’t be late to my Ayurvedic appointments.  Because it is not possible to just say goodbye.

No.

It’s the goodbye that goes on and on and on. 

“Where are you going? What you going to do now? With who you going?”

Each of the hotel staff are precious in their own way but my favorite is Allen (nice Indian name, eh?), the main front desk guy who only gets 3.5 hours of sleep a night. And still he manages to be kind and energetic. Every morning he writes down an affirmation, something he wants to work on for that day.

“I write it 10, 20, maybe 100 times so it goes deep into my brain,” he says.

Two days ago it was: ‘I won’t get angry, I won’t get angry’.

Yesterday it was: ‘I love everyone. I love everyone’.

Today?

“I haven’t written one down yet. I need to do that.”

I started the Ayvurvedic treatment the day I arrived. Yesterday was Day Four of my treatment and today I’m taking a break due to a big Indian festival happening in a nearby village that nearly all Indians (including my Ayurvedic practitioner) are attending.

The Ayurvedic treatment has been relaxing and grueling on my body all at the same time. Vigorous massage, drops of oil in my ears, nose and other places that shall remain nameless.

Last night at dinner at a glorious restaurant above the raging Arabian Sea (really, it was incredible) I talked with Chuck from Chicago who has had Ayurvedic treatment for years now. He says that after a week of treatment I’ll feel like I’m floating on a cloud. I have to admit, he looks radiant–all shiny skin and bright eyes–he’s on Day Twenty Seven of his Ayurvedic cleanse.

My dear friend Heiner will get to witness me floating on a cloud. Heiner arrives in four days–it will be good to see him again. His house is right behind my hotel.

Last time we saw each other we were in San Francisco, huddled in parkas. And the time before that in balmy Bali. Now we’ll meet again but this time in India. For some reason this brings such a smile to my face, this changing of places but not the person. It’s so fun.

Back to the Waking Dreamtime: it’s wild to go from America to this world: goats wandering on the beach, rickshaws, everyone saying hello to everyone, incredible food for 50 cents, saffron-colored dots on the forehead, the head nods that make it impossible to tell whether the nodder is saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

I get the sense that anything is possible here in Kovalam, India.

Being away from the Internet for a few days has been a dream too. I’m realizing now how addicted I was to my computer. I had Allen hold on to it and thankfully there is no Internet access at my hotel. I probably wouldn’t even be on today except that I did tell my managers I’d check in once a week and my week is almost here. Thankfully there were no emails from my managers.

…Which means all is going well in my absence. Yay!

Tagged as: ayurvedic Kovalam, India, Kovalam, Kovalam India, Waking Dreamtime