I am actually skipping my lunch hour to catch you all up. Its ok though…it was soup.
Tuesday night (7:30-9:00) was one of the most interesting, profound and emotional night for all of us. We were instructed to come to the main chapel hall as close to 7:25 as possible w/nothing but ourselves. The instructions were to eat on the earlier side of the dinner hour & dress for motion but do not bring any books, mats, blocks etc…. The doors would open at exactly 7:28 and no earlier. We were asked to file in silently and select a space. We were kind of freaking a bit!!! What was up with this?
As we nervously waited outside the big, wooden chapel doors, I couldn’t help but think that the last time I stood outside a chapel door…I was about to walk down the aisle to get married….AHHHHHH. Where did that memory come from? I thought that was long gone. Although, they say that frightening experiences have a strong tendency to bring up unconscious memories when you are exposed to a trigger. They were right. Just the sight of those doors connected me to a moment in time that my conscious mind had long forgotten. How does the unconscious choose which moments will be recorded and filed for future flash backs? Are they all recorded? Even this very moment (you reading the blog) could be resurrected by your brain ten years from now, with a simple trigger. Profound eh? These are the topics were are delving into here at YTT …. (its not all just leg shaking, you know).
Anyway, those doors opened up to a beautiful wide open room .It was the antithesis of what I remembered from my wedding day. It was quiet & peaceful. No pews, no recognizable faces, no groom. The room was dimly lit by the spectacular glow of the many candles that were scattered around the room. Meditation pillows were arranged in a big circle (there are 64 of us and 9 teachers). And an array of different sized candles lit & aesthetically placed in the very center of our circle. We walked in quietly and selected where we wanted to sit. Once we all settled down into sukhasana (similar to the Lotus pose), Devarshi (one of the teachers) told the story of Ancient monk traditions.
To make a very long story short……. Ancient yogis (in India) generally practiced in silence & seclusion. They would find an empty cave on the hillsides and enter into these caves to pray & draw themselves closer to samadhi (bliss). These yogis used mala beads to assist them in prayer. These mala beads are very similar to rosary beads but made of rosewood. There are 108 beads (and one extra….? I don’t ask). The intention is to hold each bead, one at a time, and chant a mantra, once for each bead. Using voice (chants) raises up ones natural vibrations by combining the vibration of sound-waves. As if this wasn’t enough to digest, our mantra for the night (the one we will chant 108 times) was…” Om Namo Bagavate Vasudevaya”. Yup! One hundred and eight times. Loud and with rhythm, nonetheless. As a gift, each of us (yoginis) received a set of Mala beads.
The chant was in all honesty …very beautiful. The power of voice vibrations definitely changed the energy and increased the feeling of aliveness. I have to admit the first 28 rounds of “Om Namo Bagavate Vasudevaya” sounded more like like a wild jungle but eventually we all got it down pat (or pretended to be singing).
The next piece of the night was incredible but I have to get to class so I’ll have to save that for the next blog. More about that later…..
Sounds very peaceful and amazing – will love to hear more about this when you have more time to write! Well, you know me and my need to “know” everything! I looked up the meaning of 108 beads on a Mala, and this web site gives many explanations about why 108 is an improtant number:
http://www.swamij.com/108.htm
It makes for some interesting reading!
Also, here’s an explanation for the extra bead:
Meru: This is a larger bead, not part of the 108. It is not tied in the sequence of the other beads. It is the guiding bead, the one that marks the beginning and end of the mala.
Well Lisa some of your followers met at Whitney this morning, and here’s what we did:
Stairs, followed by dynamic stretching, followed by the Alphabet routine you kindly left for us. Nancy and I did the timing (we were more accurate than you are LOL) and we were all quite sweaty by the time we were done! We did you proud! Now this doesn’t mean you can stay out there – we still NEED YOU so don’t be getting any ideas!
I imagine that you are still getting much snow out in the Berkshires as we continue to be inundated with soggy rain. You are surrounded by beauty and we are surrounded by yuckiness! (Is that a word?) They promise more rain for the next several days – better watch out! We may all come there to escape this!!!
Keep up your reports – they’re very entertaining!
XO
Andrea
All I can say is wow!!!! Why don’t you right a book, you are so colorful and expressive in your blogs I just want them to keep going! Can’t wait to hear the rest later, you are coming to the close of week one and it sounds like you are getting real comfortable! I’m happy for you but make sure you come back!!! We miss you