Himalayan Institute

The plan for Friday was to go to Queens for a rehearsal and then to be dropped off in Albany NY in order to catch a ride to The Abode of the Message. Things didn't quite work out that way.
When we got to Queens we met with Bisc1 and had some coffee. The rehearsal was great fun. As Bisc and Broke shouted to an invisible crowd of Canadians I smiled gleefully and played along with their hooks. "When I say ___, you say ___." They ran through the set twice which allowed me to see both how much planing goes into a hip hop show and how much spontaneity. Then we hopped in the car headed towards Toronto. After about an hour I decided to plan ahead. I looked at the map to see exactly where they were going to drop me off and when we would get there so a friend could pick me up. The only thing was that we were not going through Albany as planned. The route took us through Scranton PA instead. I could deal with that. They dropped me off at a closed bagel shop in Dixon City. I called up Jon and Maureen and asked if I could stay at their place. I didn't get an answer but I figured that I might as well head that direction. I got my barrings and started walking towards Honesdale. I got about 8 miles when someone yelled at me from out their big truck. "You want a cookie?" They were going to fast for me to actually understand them. Shortly there after I came across The Jamaican Junction. "Sweet, Rastas. I can hang with them for a minute." I thought. When I walked in I didn't see any Jamaicans, only 3 dudes and a dudeette. The guys where all giants and where very openly attracted to the smaller fit younger woman who was working the shop. They were surprised to see me. "You want a cookie!" they started laughing. We sat around and smoked from the hookah and bullshit for a while. When they were ready to go they offered a ride. "But you have to lay down in the back, and when we switch trucks their is a topper." I was slightly disappointed they were not leaving me with the girl, but I wasn't going to turn down a ride. We turned down a dirt road and started up the mountain. They were trying to scare me. They were a playful bunch. When we switched trucks I squeezed into a half full 3/4 bed with a flat topper. First thing I did was to figure out how to escape in case the exhaust started to asphyxiate me. I relaxed into the situation and we hummed down the road. When we arrived they told me to "Jump out of the truck". All of their friends were on the porch and got a big kick out of it. "Don't you know your not supposed to pick up hitch hikers! What if he is a serial killer!" Said James' wife. There was allot of discussion among the girls their about me and how it was bad that I was their. Meanwhile James was fixing me a burger with BBQ sauce and mayo. Two burgers and 2 cookies later Jon came to pick me up. I had made it to only about 15 min away from the Himalayan Institute. James gave me all kinds of fatherly advice when I left like "at least get some tennis shoes so you can run if you need to." His neighbor came out of his house when we were saying our good byes and looked at us real mean. James said it was because he was Puerto Rican. What do you expect in small town PA?

I woke up early the next morning to meditate. Right now the Himalayan Institute is doing a year long meditation vigil. For 16 hours each day there are always 2 people sitting and concentrating on the mahamritunjaya mantra. Jon and I went in at 8 to take the place of Dr. Carrie who was out of town. It was nice. I had not sat for an hour in months and the time went by faster then I expected. My concentration was weak to put it mildly. I have never been very good at concentration exercises and spend most of my meditations doing vipasasna which comes very naturally.
I spent most of my time at the Institute playing with Jon and Maureen's baby girl Tulsi. For pictures of her you can go to their blog. David H and I were the first guests to come to see Tulsi when she was born and I spent allot of time with her in her first months. She is now two years old didn't remember me. She has maybe the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. There really isn't much else to say. I also spent allot of time with Carrie and Mark's two boys Mathew and Jason. They are 11 and 9 now. Crystal who most of you know is my ex girlfriend and the only girl I can honestly say I was in love with is going to get married soon. Zach. the man she will be marrying seems to be a great guy. I didn't get to know him but he had a nice feel and look about him. Crystal and I didn't make time to really catch up but she seemed like she was doing really well. Almost everyone seemed to be doing really well. After living so closely with all of these people for a year I got to know many of them very closely and I had a renewed faith in the tradition and hope for the future when I saw all of my friends steadying their minds and working hard to make themselves and the world a better place.
On fathers day I walked out to "the sound of music hill" and called my dad. We talked for a while and on my way in I tried to describe the scene. I am not going to take the time to do so again right now but one day I want to be able to write a description of a scene that conveys the beauty and the majesty that I see and feel.
The next day after lunch Madhavi Sharma the famous Indian Actress and I began talking about Thai Yoga Therapy. She had never done it and was interested. I offered to show her some stuff and we set an appointment. This, for me, was the first step into my new career working with the rich and famous. In the year that I was working in the kitchen at the Himalayan Institute I had thought many times that it was silly how we treated Madhavi so lavishly. Always making special meals and deserts and things. When preparing for the session I had to think about how I was going to think about what I was doing. To work with someone who commands so many resources both socially and materially is a great opportunity for me. There is a trap here. If I want to live well traveling the world studying things that interest me and raise a family at the same time I need to have money. Going into the session with that in mind would distract me from my work and prevent me from helping to my full potential. The profession is all about being selfless in a way for a short period of time. If I am to work with the rich and famous it will be because I am talented and useful. I acknowledged all of this and cleared my mind of attachment and striving. I approached her as if she was anybody else, as if I had nothing I could gain from the arrangement. We talked together for many hours through the session and had dinner together afterwards. She was surprisingly cool and interesting. I guess you don't become famous unless you have some personality. I had never thought about whether she was a yogi or not. I guess I unconsciously assumed that she was not. When she asked for a moment to concentrate and brought her mind to peace to deal with the pain of deep work I was surprised. The quality of her muscles changed instantly and she had no pain response. The next time she did it I decided to test her. I was working on her leg when we paused about 3 seconds for her to concentrate and again the muscle changed quality. What I did next I can not say I am proud of but I can admit that it is typical of myself. I pressed on her leg much harder then I needed to. To the point that she should have been screaming. There was no response, neither in her face nor in the leg. We traded contact info and stories. I wish I could go into the stories but I think it would be an invasion of privacy.
I spent that night at Carrie and Mark's with the kids. I woke up just before Carrie gave Jason permission to jump on me. We had a nice morning and drive to I-84 where they left me to continue on to an amusement park.
I sat at the gas station for a while and read before walking down to the entrance ramp. I fell asleep by the side of the road because there was so little traffic or noise. The air was cool and the clouds covered the sun. It was the perfect day for hitch hiking. After I ate lunch I decided that I was more likely to catch a ride walking down the interstate. I walked for about 2 hours when a big white cargo van pulled over. I ran up to it, getting close enough to notice two bumper stickers. "Free Tibet" and "Practice Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty". When I through my stuff in the side door and climbed up front, smiling. John asked where I was going. "Connecticut" "Oh, well I am going to Massachusetts" he said. "Actually" I said "I am going to Massachusetts too!" I could not have hoped to get a ride straight to Mass but John was going to a town about 15 miles North of Northampton! He was going to do a 10 day vipasana retreat. We talked the whole time until he dropped me off 5 minutes from my new apartment. Carlos picked me up at the exit and took me home. We talked for a bit and then went to a Capoeira class. The instructor, Joe, is a really cool guy and offered a trade. I will be training with him in exchange for TYT! I like the feel of Northampton so far. I haven't explored much yet. I have been settling into my room and organizing my mind. Now that I am caught up to date I am going to have lunch and go walk the town!