Kalilandia

After a few days of hiking and just being in the mountain, I head to a place, for which I don't even assume how special it is. This ashram is a hidden magic, and should perhaps remain such. I am going to follow two consecutive yoga and meditation retreats. Both experiences are extremely unique and intimate. Therefore, I will not talk about any individuals in particular, neither will I describe very practical details, as they can be largely misinterpreted, while they can only be understood, if experienced.  I will however, try to explain my reflections and learnings in a non-fluent, non-chronological way. "Woman of Joy" , a kundalini yoga retreat for women to connect with their feminine power Around twenty women, of any age, get together to explore themselves, support themselves and help each other grow while overcoming one main challenge, which perhaps every woman faces - "the fear to let go of control".  Disturbing and discomforting it may ...

Bagan, possibly the most sacred place in Myanmar, and one of the most known in the Buddhist world. It is usually advised to take an e-bike (scooter) to ride across the temples, but I feel so intimidated by the traffic, and the constant honking and illogical movement. So, I take the "brilliant" decision that I will WALK from Nyaung U to Bagan (it's just over 5km, without all deviations, and probably 10km with all temple drifts). Later I will bitterly regret, when I will need to find the most random kinds of transportation any time I need to move - from a horse carriage (!), through an open-air van for workers (!?)...to the back of the scooter of some poor kid (!!?). I am literally the only lame duck walking on the road. At some point I wonder if I am on the right way and where are ALL these temples when suddenly they start erupting from everywhere. There are over 2200 temples in Bagan and one could hardly imagine what that means unless they really see it with ...

My next destination in Myanmar is Nyaung U/Bagan, I take a flight from Yangon, which is already a hilarious experience by itself. Safety instructions are considered overrated a t the local airline Air KBZ . As soon as the flight attendant closes the door of the little suspicious plane, we literally take off while placing our carry-on luggage and ourselves.  The airport in Bagan is something rather like a hangar where some guys literally unload the checked luggage one by one and bring it on their backs directly from the plane, asking whose that bag is. Inside the airport there is literally nothing, the "check-in" counters are actually something like little hotdog kiosks where I see people dropping their bags on the floor (apparently same strategy works for loading the bags as for unloading them). Finally, the airport "bar" is outside the airport and represents some sort of a wooden construction where one could chill and get some fried rice, noodles and fis...

The excitement of hitting the road to an unknown destination is hardly comparable to the fascination itself when I am deep into the journey, especially if the journey brings me across Myanmar. I have tried to prepare with some readings, mainly books, blogs and articles as resources aren't too vast, but nothing could prepare me for what I will have experienced in this land. Anyway, any preparation is practically useless as few things appear in reality as they appear on booking.com or on the map. When preparation is unnecessary, there comes the luxury of randomness  My hostel in Yangon is literally undiscoverable. I very quickly realize that addresses in Myanmar simply do not work, and I just need to rely on people I meet on street. The taxi drops me somewhere "very close" and I start wandering around streets full of people chilling on the street with no name, and no sign of a hostel. An old guy, frying something like donuts on the pavement, sees my lost ...

I have a long history of unconsciously pursuing His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.  When I was in high school (around 2005) someone had unintentionally left at home a book called "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse. The book is a novel dealing with the spiritual journey towards enlightenment of a man during the historical time of the first realization of Buddha. I read it spontaneously and the concepts were quite distant to me at that point but without knowing I had opened the door to a life-long exploration of Buddhist philosophy.  I would do occasional readings on the topic in the years after, until I went to study at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 2011 (no obvious connection with the Dalai Lama so far, I know). There I signed up for a course in Non-violent Politics, which was led by a brilliant American professor... accompanied by a Tibetan Buddhist Monk! We studied the political movements of Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi and... His Holiness the 14th Dala...