In Love with Life: April 2015

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Everything Is Constantly Changing

Hello,

Recently I've been interested in yoga, I have tried some chanting and meditation before but there was always this secret magical word in my head- Vipassana.

I've heard about this meditation from few people who did it but all I knew is that you are not allowed to talk for 10 days. That was all. Then I started keep meeting people and over the years I got a little bit more information. However, I was never ready for it.

When we started our South East Asia trip I knew I want to do it and I met quite few people who did this meditation course so I thought it is a sign for me to do it.

Few days ago me and Dom finished our Vipassana meditation course and came back from it with a beautiful life philosophy.

The fact that you can't speak or keep an eye contact with people is really easy. The fact that you get up at 4 am every day, can't read or write or your last meal is at 11 am is pretty easy as well. The fact that you need to meditate 10 hours a day, that's what is hard. In the beginning it is your body. Everything aches, your legs, your back, your neck, your ass. You feel like a real granpa. And then you are taught to ignore the pain and work on your concentration. Concentrate on your breathing and then concentrate on your body sensations. Seems really easy, yeah? Well, the concentration is gone after one minute, you keep thinking about everything. Your mind is controling you, you don't control anything. After you work out with concentration is the sensation part. Our bodies are constantly changing, if you have sharp mind you must feel every single part of your body because there are always different chemical reactions, vibrations happening in your body. Then they teach you not to react to those sensations. So when you feel pain you are not allowed to dislike the feeling, the idea is to observe. When you feel some good sensations that you really like you are not allowed to crave for them. The pain will come and go, the good sensations come and go, life is impermanent, it is true nature of reality.

However, our mind is always reacting which creates negative energy inside and then it stays there forever. We become more miserable, more unhappy or unsatisfied. Human beings always suffer. And this tecnique teach you how to purify your mind and how to escape from suffering.

After 10 days of course I didn't become enlightened but I felt that I learnt something really useful. I learnt more about myself and most importantly I learn the tecnique which can let me to live altruistic life, with no ego or selfishness, to live morally happy in a real harmony.

I recommend to try this meditation to everybody, it is a beautiful life philosophy and it is so logical and true. Let's purify ourselves, let's all find real happiness, real love and real harmony.

Anicca, anicca, anicca

Monday, April 6, 2015

Indonesia and the Underwater World

Good morning everybody,

It’s been nearly a month that I’ve been in Indonesia. It’s a huge country and they say that it has around 17 000 islands. We got only one month's visa here, so how could we possibly see everything. No chance! We chose two islands- less explored volcanic Sumatra and famous Bali.

Sumatra was a surprise for Dom, he found out only in the plane where we are going. Worked really well, I must say. Highly recommend this game for everybody, so much fun!

Sumatra surprised us with it’s size, clear water and mountainous areas. Beautiful volcanoes and cheap life, even Thailand seemed expensive to us, haha!

Then Dom surprised me with Bali and his secret activity- freediving course. Well, about Bali, I must say it is a beautiful island, however, it was the most touristic place on our trip. It is a spiritual place, everybody says, but I felt more consumerism rather than spirit. Of course, we travelled in some sort of touristic places, the real Bali is reachable only for few. It’s sad that Balinese culture, which is so colourful and intense is now seen by locals chasing you around and trying to sell one of the touristic activities.

Tomorrow we are leaving Indonesia. This country will always associate with underwater world. We spent numerous days in the water, not only snorkelling, swimming or scuba diving, but this time we tried freediving as well. And I must say it was something special, very special.

The course took only 2 days and in those 2 days we did some practical stuff but the most importantly we learnt to completely relax and let our minds go. My first day was a little bit frustrated for me, I had problems with equalizing my ears. However, the next day was the time when I probably fell in love with freediving feeling. I got 10 m deep (bare in mind that average person with very calm and good state of mind can go with one breath 30 m deep) and I got this euphorical, meditative feeling where I felt that I am part of the underwater, where I am just a small creature watching world passing by. It was so special. Everything in life is so related to our mind. And freediving is all about that. The only way to reach deepness with one breath is to completely relax. We all have so much oxygen inside that we can’t even imagine how deep we can go. But it is all about our mind.

We were all naturally relaxed and knew how not to worry when we were children. So the instinct to relax is natural for us. However, nowadays society is keep pushing us to be the most beautiful, the fastest, the strongest, the best. Rush to school, rush to work, rush to live your life. Kindergarten already puts us in the competition, then school, then work and then life itself. But who is teaching us to let go- meditation (which can be different to everybody) and freediving. I am so lucky I had that feeling.

In few days to continue our spiritual learning me and Dom are going to do a Vipassana meditation course which is a 10 day silence meditation where you are not allowed to talk, read, write, do exercise or keep an eye contact with other students for 10 days. It is an intense meditation course and we can’t wait to explore our souls.

Our trip is reaching another level and I am so happy about it.

Have a wonderful April!

Ligita