Head for the Hills

I farewell my thirties today. It’s been a pretty good day, a pretty good week all round. Small bits of news, the usual textures that make up the fabric of our life….

1. Edie has her first loose tooth. It’s in the middle at the bottom and I’m pretty sure it’s the first one she cut as a babe.

2. Bim found an echidna outside our house today. The kids had a good look at it, named it Beanie, then let it loose in the bush.

3. We all trucked off to the school’s Kindergarten Expo last night at 7pm (= bed-time) and when we entered the hall, Edie turned around and said “oh, that’s right, I’m not in the choir so I’m not meant to be here!). We left soon after.

4. Mum and I went on a beautiful bush walk on Wednesday.

5. The days are beautiful, getting longer and it’ll be 30 over the weekend.

6. The kids have been eating their meals at the table and eating every bite. They are playing in the garden after school, and making books and entertaining themselves most of the time. It’s sweet.

7. My bum is still sore from the double pump/rpm class Monday backed up with double step/balance class Tuesday.

8. Bim and I are going out and staying at the Carrington in Katoomba tomorrow night, Mum is looking after the kids. Everyone is looking forward to it!

9. I haven’t turned the television on all week and don’t miss it. As much as I love television, I also love having control over it.

10. I think I am choosing to do a gym class first up on my 40th birthday. I don’t know what this says about me but it’s Body Vive – lots of dancing around with balls and straps and it involves a Foreigner track, so I *do* know it’ll be fun.

That’s all for now, I can’t be arsed with pictures but I’ll get there soon!

Edie had her purse stolen from her bag at school. Her Hello Kitty purse, no less. And full of gold coins ready for the Father’s Day stall. Today, after gentle prodding from the teachers, the purse was anonymously returned, minus its contents. Edie is delighted at its return. Not so much because of natural justice but because it means I won’t be grumpy any more.

So, it was a couple of weeks ago now, and although my 25 and a half hours with the Swami are well and truly over I’m surprised to find some thoughts and feelings lingering. The initial experience was a bit of a shock. The place was kind of amazing, but it felt like it had been *really* incredible in 1974 and then a space ship had come down and taken everybody and left it exactly the same for the next 35 years, complete with cobwebs, fading batik prints and saggy mattresses.

On arrival we were greeted by Swami with hugs and kisses. She’s tiny and always clad in some sort of leopard/tiger/zebra print. With thick long black tresses and constant heavily-accented chatter, always prompting, questioning “don’t you think?!”, revealing stunning ‘facts’, “80 years old and she gave birth to triplets!!! Amazing – don’t you think??!!”, Swami is in your face, all-encompassing and a little unbelievable at first. But then, she’s the Swami, she’s the master, and responsible for bringing yoga to Australia in the 1960s and for that, she deserves respect and kudos. I just had trouble reconciling it all.

The retreat has seen its glory days no doubt but eventually I came to realise that it wasn’t the surrounds that were important – althought they were in their own way beautiful and abundant – but the experience to be had in an inner sense.

It has to be said – the beds were saggy, my pillowcase was dirty, the rooms had seen better days and I had my doubts about the electrics. The shower reached its greatest pressure once turned off, and we couldn’t work the steam room. The schedule we’d expected didn’t materialise until the next day, when order seemed to be restored, and the fly screens have holes big enough to let entire families of blowies in. Yes, there are cobwebs, and bumper stickers best left in 70s servos, along the lines of ‘those who indulge bulge!’ and ‘I used to be confused but now I’m not sure!’.

There is no coffee, sugar or alcohol. In the ‘tea room’ there is a kettle and a vase of herbs. Place herbs in cup, pour boiling water over the top. Voila. There is a pyramid to meditate in, ala Shirley Dean (Gilroy) on A Country Practice.

But once we slipped into the rhythm of the place, started to forget about what we were missing, and began to realise that it was about (and I can hardly say this without involuntarily cringing…) the journey within, rather than the external surrounds, the importance of all those trimmings fell away. I was without computer, television and phone for 25.5 hours, and didn’t miss any of them. I did yoga in the huge and impressive Neem room after dinner, before breakfast and again before lunch. I walked the grounds of the 60 acre property, led by Swami’s son Sanjay and an enthusiastic fat old labrador.

There were things about my stay that pushed me well out of my comfort zone. Prayers in Hindi before dinner, group hugs and blessings, the constant questioning (like being in school with a teacher who repeatedly asks the group questions that always have trick answers, and the group falls silent every time), the yoga breathing-out-shouting exercises, being slightly unsure of the schedule. I love a schedule. When the schedule came back on-line, on our second day, I was much happier. I liked being summoned for yoga/bushwalk/lunch by a bell. We started the second morning with a compulsory gravel walk, to demonstrate mind over matter. I had a traditional Ayurvedic Indian massage, it was wonderful. Loved the yoga. I had a Swami-trained instructor for many years and it all came flooding back.

We were joined by other guests on the second day, which added a bit more variety and lessened the huge impact of the Swami, who generally doesn’t eat, but for one meal a day, but sits with the group during meals; and who also doesn’t sleep more than a couple of hours per night and can meditate for eight hour stretches.

When I got home I found a couple of Swami’s yoga books from the 70s. In one of them she claims to be 40 years old. It was published in 1972. Clearly her approach offers magnificent health benefits if her vitality is anything to go by. But it was more than just the physical benefits I got from my visit. I found afterward that I felt calmer and generally more positive. I’m fairly cynical about a lot of new age stuff, I’ve explored it quite a lot and found it wanting but I have to say that some of Swami’s messages about not taking on board other people’s negative energy, and always finding something positive to think about a person or situation have been curiously pervasive.

So if I can come away after 25.5 hours feeling energised, positive and intrigued, imagine how I’d feel if I stayed a week. I’m not sure whether I’d be driven nuts or whether I’d emerge a better person forever. More than a luxury, this place is a kind of personal challenge. A dare that offers great personal dividends if approached in the right spirit. And the food is delicious.

I had another call today from Swami Sarasvati. Auntie Mari and I are going to her yoga and health retreat on Thursday night for a 24 hour stay. To say I’m looking forward to it is an understatement.

For those who don’t know of her, Swami Sarasvati was one of the first yogis to take yoga to the people via mass media. She appeared on television and in books in the 1970s, with her cat by her side. My first mountains based yoga teacher was taught by Swami. I find it very strange when my mobile rings and I answer it and hear an Indian accented voice saying ‘hello Krissie it’s Swami’. I’d expected that someone else in the organisation would do the follow up phone calls for the retreat.

Anyway, it’s coming up, I’m looking forward to it, but for now I’ve got to go because I have a date with the couch for Farmer Wants a Wife.