Karela in Hindi, Pavakkai in Tamil or Bitter Gourd in English.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN ONLINE ARKAYA COMMUNITY CLASS VIA ZOOM
Every Saturday from 11 AM – 1 PM PST
For anyone on a yogic path who is seeing the truth of their being, one will start noticing the power in simple things. A simple thought, a simple smile and a simple kind gesture can unite. However simple aberrant thoughts, an unkind word and half baked advice and gestures can divide.
What Is Synchrony?
When a band plays, the musical instruments and the singer need to be in sync to create this beautiful elevation. Similarly in a family, work or group situation we need to be in sync for harmony. Else there will be cacophony. Even within, our body, emotions, mind, energy, intellect, wisdom and universe need to be in synchrony. Else we have nara or misalignment which expresses as dysfunction and depression. So if there are more people who think like you do or sing off tune like you, the downfall or cacophony will also be accelerated just as many thinking in the right direction will be uplifting
Where Do I Start?
Just as with music, we start by listening. To listen we need to be present. The important thing to be a musician is to cultivate an ear for things. We have the expression "let us play it by ear." The difference between a trained musician and an exemplary one is that the latter can create much beauty and synchrony with others through improvisations. In life too we can play it by ear and improvise without being too rigid if we are really tuned in. This is very different from being flaky. I have had the good fortune of experiencing that with many beautiful musicians like James on his beautiful sitar, Garth, Curtis and David here in Vancouver.
To become musicians of life, we listen to the song of the breath. This is the resonance of So ham. In an Arkaya class I always remind people to tune into this song of the breath. Sa Aham or so hum means “I am the origin.” It empowers us to go to the root of things. To get those old weeds out, at our own pace. These weeds, which are physical, emotional or mental can be seen and pulled through discernment. It also empowers us to reclaim our true power and music so we can dance to it. We do not have to go by society's time frame of when we should find our elevated partnership or have babies or make a million dollars. These, of course, are common examples and many other things in life are compared and we get competitive and agitated about if not fulfilled within that time frame. True listening prevents that. True listening allows us to dance to the rhythm of our trauma so we can release it and to the rhythm of our potential so we can actualise it.
Reconnection Creates Synchrony
If we are seeking synchrony then we need to listen and reconnect to parts of ourselves whose song we have ignored. This means we embrace everything we categorise as good, bad and ugly into the light of harmony. Only then can we dance to our whole being. Else the dance is fragmented and not in sync.
The Two K's My Mind Spontaneously Was In Sync With On Sunday
These two things were small synchronicities, yet not small enough to not be celebrated. Krista had connected with me to present at a festival she was organising and I had said a yes just a few days prior. On Sunday morning, since I had a workshop I was teaching till 1:00 PM. I rushed to the farmer's market, which was my Sunday ritual. I paid for my favourite buckwheat crepes and chatted with Sarah whose family runs the food truck. I enjoy their loving and acknowledging presence and the appreciation is mutual. Her parents even decided to have their daughter Sarah in the 300-hour Arkaya teacher training. It gives me joy to see her and her family and taste the extra care they put into making the crepe for me.
Krista and Karela
After my crepe, I moved into the market and bumped into Krista. Since it was a full day, I had thought about connecting with her and asking her what materials she needed from me but had decided to connect after the market. But, there was Krista right in front of me looking beautiful and radiant with her basket full of greens and veggies. I had never crossed paths with her in person ever before.
Post my shopping I spotted a small stall from Hanna Brook Farm that had karela. Karela is called bitter gourd in English. Just the day before, in our Arkaya community classes, the discussion was about comfort foods from our childhood and foods we loathed. Abneet, who was in the 2019 training, said karela or bitter gourd was her favourite and it got me thinking of my grandmother's karela. Once again, I had never spotted a karela in the farmer's market before and was so ecstatic to see it. Paul, who runs Hanna Brook Farm, must have wondered about this excitement so I told him I would mention his farm to the lady in my class who loves bitter gourd. I was excited for the synchrony and finding another Indian vegetable, the chow chow or chayote as it’s called in Mexico. As I often say, I am never surprised at the synchronicity in life, however I’m always amazed and grateful for this beautiful sacred matrix.
When Food Takes Us To Our Destination
When I was in Vancouver in the early years, I would visit for only two months at a time. I was renting a different place each year. Then, as I was thinking of starting to spend at least six months in the warmer months, I was trying to figure the best option. I was also looking for a home baker whom I could buy some healthy cookies from, so they were organic, fresh and additive free. I was walking past a building and smelled the most amazing cookies. The smell was organic and wholesome, so I decided to knock on the door and check if the cookies were on sale. It was the back door and kitchen of the Canadian School of Nutrition - which I found out later from Tricia who opened the door. She was using the space to run her cookie business and had intended someone would smell her cookies and buy them. She also intended for an authentic yoga guide and holistic coach/healer and shared that with me later. So we both enjoyed and benefited from each other's services.
Matching Up Of Intentions
Tricia was in module one of the teacher training that year and also came for one on one sessions with me. She expressed she would be looking for a two bedroom place the next year and asked if I wanted to share it with her. That seemed like a good option as I knew she was on the yoga path and baked great :). And she wanted to make wholesome meals with me. I loved cooking with the right companion and it was a perfect fit. She insisted that even though I travel to India, she would sublet only for the period I was gone so that I could return back to the same place. She insisted on receiving and dropping me off at the airport each year. Even now I smile as I think how she was upset when another lady offered to pick me up on one of the visits. We ended up staying together till I found my own place and she ended up getting married and moving to California a few years later. We were a perfect fit for that time and though we moved we did not move away from each other. I still speak to her regularly, am the god mother of her kids, who were conceived through divine grace, and her mom was in last year's Arkaya 300 hour self awareness program.
I find that our love for the higher ways of being has kept the beat and synchrony alive. The rhythms of love still sing strongly to us and she has attracted a beautiful man who was a world different from the off tune men of the past.
Commitment
Because I am compressing time through the writing, the synchrony Tricia activated in her life may seem instant. Yet I have seen her through the heart breaks, pain and unworthiness she had to work through just like all of us. It is the degrees that differ. However she never gave up. She even came to India to live in the Vedic village where I ran my training to move through deeper layers of the unresolved patterns. After her visit and clearing she met her present husband. She knew it in her heart and she allowed it into her body. This commitment to allow kala, bindu, nadha to work its magick is needed. Kala = time; bindu = point or focus; nadha = wave, sound, resonance
This is to remind us to stay committed to become a good dancer and musician of life. Even though we play off tune sometimes we will be able to deepen this synchrony through listening again and again.
When Transformation Through The Tangible Is Not Thwarted
Our body is a beautiful universal instrument. Yet we sometimes neglect it or forget the practicalities of the physical world. It is like living in a mouldy home and then being told to think positive so you can transcend it. The next blog will be about starting with ground basics to allow for listening and for synchrony. We cannot drink gasoline, feel miserable and then think we need to think ourselves out of it. We need a stomach wash and we will look at more such instances for how to engage in practical ways with the physical to bring our instrument into synchrony.