India Travels: My Journey,Meditation and Dedication

As I embarked on this healing journey, I had intentions to deal with my own DUKKHA-the gnawing sense of dissatisfaction and heartbreak in my life-and to free myself from the shackles of fear, anger, sadness, attachment and aversion for my own benefit and the benefit for all sentient beings-and that is the highest aspiration, BODHICHITTA.

And as I travel, I breathe and focus on the journey-and that is the singled pointed concentration, SAMATHA.

And as I journey to see my blogging friends, we open the windows of our five senses and that of our mind.

We hear the babble of water, the roar of engines, the chirping of birds and our inner silence-and that is SOUND

We see the towns and the beaches, the brightness of sun and the darkness of starry nights-and that is SIGHT

We breathe in the aroma of spices in the markets, the fragrance of incense in temples and the stench of exhaust-and that is SMELL

As I journey to see each and every one of you, we hug one another with total happiness and excitement for being able to meet in person for the very first time-and that is TOUCH

As we eat, we taste the texture of Paneer and spiciness of Golgappa, deliciousness of Chapatis and sweet comfort of Chai-and that is TASTE

As I fly from city to city over rivers and mountains, I watch my mental state, emotions and thoughts come and go-and that is MIND

I become aware of sound, sight, smell, touch and taste and bear witness to my wandering mind-and that is insight-VIPASSANA

As I travel, I see that my outer landscapes are ever changing and so are my inner landscapes; my thoughts, as well as my mental and emotional states; they rise and fall and go through cycles-and that is impermanence, ANICCA

The traveller is one with the path, the friends are one with the traveller, we are all part of the journey and the journey becomes a part of us.  We travel as one, we share joy and pain and as we do, the sense of our separate impermeable selves erodes and diffuses, and whether we are men or women or Canadian or Indian, we breathe as one and feel as one-and that is no separate self-ANATTA

As I go deeper in my compassionate silence at night, I realize that all the things surrounding me, lack their own independent existence-and that is great emptiness-SUNYATA

As we share our emotions without reservations, we do so with compassion and without judgment toward ourselves and each other-and that is loving-kindness, METTA

And through it all I experience the deep, mystical intuitive wisdom of the heart, not the wisdom of knowledge or trying to figure things out-and that is perfection of wisdom PRAJNA PARAMITA

And so my outer journey through time and space becomes one with my inner journey into the arms of forgiveness and healing heart and the discovery of who I really am-and that is MEDITATION

And underlying this entire journey to India and to myself, is an overwhelming sense of gratitude:  to the country of India, to the spiritual healing I came searching for and found and most of all I am grateful for my lifelong friendships with all of you and look forward to many more times being spent together in person-and that is MY JOURNEY, MEDITATION AND DEDICATION TO YOU

I hope to see you again and all my new friends in India soon

 

Dhanyavaad ❤

 

Jenny
xo

 

 

 

This Is India – Part 3

January 10^th– 13^th, 2016, The Sattva Spa and Wellness Retreat, Rishikesh, India

Here we go again back to the airport!  I flew from Bhubaneswar to Delhi and then Dehra Dun so I could reach The Sattva which was going to be my safe haven and place to let go of stress.  But first, let’s go back to the airport…

After checking in I loaded my luggage onto the belt and watched the numbers climb like my scale at home.  Before they could tell me it’s over, I said it first.  They directed me to the location to pay for my excess baggage which I did and suddenly I was having flashbacks of math class which gave me heart palpitations 😛  I couldn’t even imagine what the end bill would be after all the airports I’ll be going through.  I was not allowed to check my bags all the way to Dehra Dun, they made me get my luggage in Delhi and do the entire process and payments again there too.

That’s where things got weird.

At Delhi there was a kind young man who tried to help me decrease my excess baggage weight by shifting some things into an extra bag I had.  He quickly unzipped my flashy colorful suitcase, I burst out laughing and turned 50 shades of red because I completely forgot about things in that suitcase…ahem…unmentionables and my bathroom bags were flying around and getting stuffed in a bag by a complete stranger.  I thought men were shy here?  Apparently not everyone.  His intentions were good trying to save me money and at this point I didn’t care what he saw, I was on the same mission he was.  Then I thought, wow, this is India.  I thanked him, paid him some Rupees and I was off like the wind to security.  Yes you guessed it, another line up of ladies and gents and I watched my water bottle sail on through to the other side.  My goodness, this is India!

Being a female foreigner solo traveler, I have many strikes against me as far as being a target or having several people gazing at me and I mean long gazing.  I just carry on and do my thing 😀

After arriving in Dehra Dun it was dark outside and I had a driver waiting for me from the retreat.  It was another 1.5 hour drive to get there and the roads were twisty, unguarded and full of fallen rocks.  Monkeys also lined the roads and they were just hanging out watching the cars go by, honking their horns of course.

The staff at The Sattva were very welcoming and offered me supper right away in my room with some Masala Chai.  Yum!  The temperature was cooler, at night it was +3 C and in the day around +16 C.  After going to bed early and having a great sleep, I woke up in the morning and opened the curtains to see my view.  I thought I was in paradise and I suddenly felt very peaceful.

               

              

             

The package I took was called The Rasa and it included yoga and meditation each day, 3 vegetarian meals per day, 2 spa treatments per day every day (that’s right) and many other perks.  I really enjoyed the yoga and Ayurvedic treatments which consisted of full body massage and scrub, hot oil local treatments, hot oil hair treatments, head massage and foot massage.  After every treatment I would lay in the steam room and then take a shower after.  This is definitely India.

I wrote in my diary that is pictured at the beginning which was a gift from my dad for Christmas.  Each day I have been keeping track of my goings on as well as my thoughts and feelings.  This was a great place to let the stress go away and never return again.  I was completely on my own during this time and I had the chance to reflect on what I want and what I don’t want in my life.  There’s a quote I wrote awhile back and lately I’ve been looking at it daily to help remind me how to be strong.

“Sometimes you have to give up on people.  Not because you don’t care but because they don’t.  A person’s actions will tell you everything you need to know.  Love yourself enough to say goodbye to those who don’t make time for you or know how to love you back.  Let go of what hurts, even if it hurts to let go.”  ~ Jennifer Juneau

Unfortunately, I received some sad news during this time and the mom of my very close blogging friend Bhavya became sick and needed to be in hospital.  This meant Bhavya had to fly home to her mom and be with her which was completely understandable.  Both of us were sad that we couldn’t meet because we had been texting daily about this visit for months.  I urged her to go and we would keep in contact which we did and still do.  Her nickname is chicwithmessybun and her blog site is called Pages From My Diary.  Please check her out she is such an amazing girl.  We will see each other soon honey bun, I miss you.  Xoxo

I was able to juggle things around with my flights and itinerary and I decided to go back to Bhubaneswar to see some temples that I didn’t have time to see before.  I told Darshith I was coming back and he was happy to hear that so we planned to meet again at some point during my second unexpected visit.

I felt completely rejuvenated and relaxed after being at The Sattva.  I met other single women who were guests there from USA, Italy, Peru and Mexico and we would usually see each other over breakfast outside by the pool.  The staff were so helpful and respectful because they would allow you to roam around on your own schedule and just connect with nature again.  I read my book Brida quite a bit and did some journaling to clear my mind.  I was so happy I had this added in the middle of my trip because it was exactly what I needed for my mind, body and soul.  Here is a picture of my yoga instructor who had the nicest voice and was really great in teaching me new yoga moves.  The other picture is the adorable spa girl who did all my treatments and put me in a trans.  She has the best fingers and hands in the entire world and I am forever grateful to her.  I highly recommend this beautiful spot if you get the chance to go.

    

Time to endure another adventurous rocky road drive back to the airport with my excess baggage, water bottle and peace of mind.

Stay tuned for part 4 out of 6….coming soon….

Much Love,

Jenny
xo