Gratitude for India~ Thank you for this Life!

During my trip to India I visited many temples and watched with ever widening eyes their sacred pujas (ceremonies).  Bells, chanting, incense, candles, milk offerings,  and 100‘s of bodies pressed together like sardines just to catch a fleeting glimpse of the puja. To watch the Indian people at these pujas was incredible. The depth of their presence, their offerings they gave and the physical prostrations astounded me. They did not just bow their head, they lay belly down, in full surrender on the cold stone floors in front of altars, shrines and murtis to prostrate at the feet of the Gods. The humility and gratefulness was so alive in their being that they would spend their own food money to buy a coconut and banana basket  and give it as an offering to Spirit.  Their devotion and love is something I will always remember when I come to my altar with gratitude in my heart.  

The Gratitude Project~

Six years ago I was suffering from a deep loss. A friend and life coach of mine suggested that I start a gratitude journal. I did so reluctantly.  I began writing down my blessings sometimes in the midst of a gut wrenching sob I could feel a fiery and willful place inside me would help me to push the pen across the page.  I sat for 5 minutes a day for the next 6 months and recorded all the things i was grateful for.  I recall one of my earliest entries,  “I am grateful for this breath...” because that is all the light I could find. Turns out that breathing is one of the most profound gifts I have ever received.  

After two months I had many pages filled with events, people and situations that appeared in my life for which I was grateful for.  Even challenges in my life began to show up in my entries as counted blessings. I remember at about 3 months I read through my journal and was astonished that I had actually forgotten that half of it had ever happened. How often have I not only forgot to  acknowledge the blessings but even forgot that they even happened?! Well, the proof was right there!  And, to see it all in writing, the pages of support in the numerous ways I was gifted completely shocked me. Not only that, but i noticed a pattern. The things that I was grateful for over time began to increase and magnify in my life. The act of channeling my thoughts, speech and actions toward the blessings not only eased my suffering but opened the flood gates of creative energy so much that a new venture emerged that would support me and my family. 

The gratitude project had a profound impact in my life and it has stayed with me. In difficult times I acknowledge the simple blessings present here and now, and  align my heart with my deepest truth.  That the light inside of us is bright, unwavering and indestructible and always shows me the way out of the dark cave of my mind and into the light of my heart. 

Namaste on this Thanksgiving Day,

Sienna

India- An Amazing Day

After many days of travel and visiting temples, witnessing and participating in sacred pujas and, being with the people of India I am completely melted like butter on a warm skillet.. lightly sizzling with Shakti. Today I left the group for an outing by myself. I am feeling a bit more brave and decided to take a rickshaw from the hotel back to Ramana Maharshi ashram at 5:30am.  While people slept soundly I crept out for my secret expedition- to witness the sacred milk offering puja to Shri Bhagavan Maharshi. Maharshi obtained enlightenment here in Triuvannamalai on Mt Arunchala. The ashram sits at the base of this amazing mountain.  After he became enlightened he went to meditate in the cave on this mountain for another 16 years.

The rickshaw ride was fantastically exhilarating as my driver swiftly dodged wandering sandus, cows, dogs, chickens, beggars, zooming motorbikes with 2-4 people balanced precariously on the back and early morning buses Indian people with dotis and sarees and the brave walking tourists who were out at that time.  We headed straight into a crimson red sun that I watched rise out of the ash colored sky.  A mystical haze made the scene dream like but I was completely taking every sight, sound, and smell in that my awareness could hold.  My driver dropped me off and I took off my shoes and entered the ashram.  Boys were chanting the vedas, people siting and meditating in the temples and visitors outside sitting quietly as peacocks strolled by. 

Chanting signalled the puja was starting so I quickly visited the temple to walk around the Ganesh murtis as he is the God of the threshold. I did pradakshan, a clockwise lap around several different murtis then went to the main site called Samadhi Temple. Inside there was first a Nandi bull who protects and watches over then the Shiva linga and finally a murti of Shri Bhagavan (R. Maharshi). This was the very site his body was buried in the 1950's. The marble floors, walls and statues (murtis) hold incredible power that I could feel pulsing through me the more I tuned in. A brahmin came in to bless the site with flowers and poured blessed mild and ghee mixture that we later drank.  Then we waved our hands over the sacred temple fire and placed ash on our foreheads.  Completely a beautiful experience.

I sat and meditated in the temple, then his room where it has been left just as he had it when he died then another side temple.  I had the most amazing meditations, meaning doors in my awareness opened up that had never been open before,, or that I had never walked through.  I witnessed my awareness contracting around experiences then expanding. I could see and feel Ramana Maharshi sweet and powerful presence near me.  I was so content and settled in my being that I remained totally still for long periods of time.  I am not sure if I was even breathing. 

Later in the day I visited the caves where he spent 16 years.. and well, that is for next time.  Just as incredible as this morning.

I feel blessed in a multitude of ways being here... no words can express. And, I give enormous thanks to those who made it possible for me to be here.  I assure you-- you are all in my heart while I visit these sacred places and are receiving darshan in a variety of forms through our connection. No time and space.. just presence.

In love,
Sienna

India- The first few days

Holy cow dung its India!  Much more than I expected in every way.. that includes all categories from sights and sounds to smells and tastes.  First off, arriving in India in 4:00am after a 23 hour journey is a strange awakening.  Even at that hour there is a hustle and bustle of craziness that you cannot believe.  Thankfully, I meet up with 3 other yoginis from our group in the lay over in Dubai (that is in the middle east, near Kuwait!) and we clumped together like oil droplets in water because our sense overload felt easier to bear together rather than separate.  Luckily, we were headed for the beach for our first 2 nights to rest and settle our tired bodies and frazzled nerves.

Warm ocean breeze, coconut palms swaying, fishing boats pushing off the shores of Kerela beaches to claim their days catch was the beautiful sight we arrived to as we checked into our rooms at 5:30am.  But just outside the gates of our this tranquil, protected hotel setting was the stark poverty that line the streets the entire 45 minute taxi ride here.  I have done my share of hanging out in Tijauana and have seen many times the shanti towns that line the US border walls but this seemed one step deeper in the muck, where it starts to seep into your boots from the top. The colossal divide between my life and the life of the majority of India's people was intense to witness and all I could do with the little energy I had was to sit on the wicker porch chair and gaze into the horizon of the sea-- somehow that allowed me to feel my body again.  Yes, I was still here, breathing... and, resting as much as I could with what IS.

In India with Love,
Sienna

P.S. please excuse the tired typos... its been 3 nights in 3 different hotels and 3 crazy cities and many wondrous temples-- i think sacred ash is lofting from my forehead like snow into my eyes as i type but i am too tired to wipe it away. and, it IS a sacred blessings from the Brahmin temple priests so i gratefully leave it be.   good night.

Sienna Goes to India

I am leaving in 30 minutes to SFO for my 18 hour flight to India.  I am tingling with anticipation as I know this will be life changing.  Someone said yesterday, " Going to India is like childbirth-- you never  know what it is like unless you have experienced it for yourself!. So, with two childbirths under my belt I am ready... I think!  The land of India is a mystery to me.. I look forward to all the discoveries I will make there and share with you on this Blog.


I am happy to join Hareesh Wallis a tantric yoga scholar and Laura Christensen a beautiful yogini on this trip to visit the home of Yoga.  Here are just a few of the places we will visit. I am headed to the south first to visit Ramana Maharshis ashram in Trivandrum first, then to Kanyakumari to visit the Minakshi Temple for Lord Shiva puja and Swami Vivekananda meditation rock, on to Madurai to ride rickshaws and hall of 1000 Columns, to Tanjore and the Brihadisvara Temple, Vishnu and Shiva temple in Chidambram, on to Mahabalipuram to visit the Golden City of the Chola Dynasty, the Chennai my teacher Shri Krishnamacharya's mandiram, then to the North.  Delhi and Amritsar to see the Golden Temple and Todd Boston w/ Snatum Kaur and Punjabe region to stay with a local family. 


I will be blogging to share all the juicy details.  Stay tuned with hearts open.


Love,
Sienna


ps. please excuse any typos.