Events December 2012:

Major new professional event: I have started to practice Reiki on Horses and it is  deeply amazing.

14 December 2012: My visa is re-new for 1 more year :)

21 December 2011: We put down our first foot on India land.
22 December 2011: I am 32 years old.
24 December 2011: I move in the community of Ami in Auroville.
21 December 2012: Amazing to know that we are all breathing the same Love
22 December 2012: I am 33 years old.
24 December 2012: I move out the community of Ami in Auroville and get ready to move in to an new community of Auroville.

Namaste my great friends,

so long I have not take time to write about what is happening in Lhasa's and my life.

First of all, I feel amazing. There are this waves of happiness passing by, more than happiness I feel so much gratitude for what life allow me to live. I used to miss my friends who were not near me but now somehow something opened which allow me not to feel so much attach to physical presence. It is like love has open some doors that I did not know before.
Every morning my day starts at 5.30 with meditation and yoga, in my meditation I always take sometimes to hug my friends from all over the world and look at their smile. There is never any judgement or any kind of problem when love is visualized. Wow how bless we are to be able to live fully feeling such friendship, it is amazing really.

One year, one circle is closing in some ways. Actually in so many ways. We have left the house where we were house-sitting because the person came back and we had to move out. As always the present of life is that the perfect house was waiting for me in the corner and show up just as I was looking for a new solution.

Moving house :)

Soon I will be able to show you new pictures from the new house. At the moment i am in a community of Auroville called "Auromodele". I will be in this house for 2 weeks. It is quite futuriste and fun.

My holidays house in Auromodele (Merci Christine)

To finish and it is not the least, I have the visit of Linda, my cousin- sister. We are having so much fun and deep connection. I am bless by her presence. In fact, moving out could have been more stressful but we did it all in such an funny way. I called a Tuk Tuk and we put the bags, the cats, the christmas tree and myself in the back, I jumped in and here we went away. :) Very great fun... We went to many events, we visited Shiva temple in Chidambaram and went to do the back water a little further from there.

Laughing is the best present in life :)

So, here we are. I have so much things to say, I am grateful for my life, I am grateful to be able to give this education to Lhasa who is growing in a world where material is not a prime goal. She is happy, and feeling free of being herself surrounded by Love.

I encourage anyone to follow their dream, I had nothing to have such an amazing life.. I had the same fear as anyone else, but instead of fearing life, you can replace it by excitement. Yes i might fall and it might hurt but every single second of what i am living is worth it.

"Let love have its way with you. All your rigid ideas about the way it's supposed to be and the way it's supposed to go, all your resistance, all your doubts, all your history, all your baggage. Let love devour "you" like a wild animal. Let love tear you apart....until "you" no longer exist.... and only the sheer force of love remains.. present, awake and alive....in this moment....looking through your eyes and lighting up new universes... ♥" Brian Piergrossi

(Brian is about to give us a visit in Auroville but this is ...an further story)

I am making love to life and this is the biggest and longest orgasm ever :)

May this new year bring you Joy, laughter and happiness. The only way to do the best and to follow your heart is to be yourself. If you haven't find yourself yet, keep looking. May this new year be a new opportunity an amazing start :) With deep Love xx

Follow you dreams xx

Betty and Lhasa

'Create the most beautiful story and place yourself inside it.' Brian Piergrossi

Namaste divine beauties,

We are still in our Indian adventure and the way is getting wider and wider in magic.
Since the 8th of July I am teaching French in the “Transition school”. This school is  inspired by the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and aims to create a learning environment that nurtures the inner development of the children, to help each child to develop and refine his/her physical, vital and mental faculties, and to promote human unity.

I have 3 classes (5th, 6th,7th grade) . In the 5th grade I have 12 kids, in the 6th grade I have 6 kids and in the 7th grade I have 11 kids. Their nationality varies from Hebrew, German, Indian, Swedish, and Spanish and so on.

I smile in the morning when I wake up because often I dream of the school but even it is work, it seems like a sweet dream.

So all good fun!!!! :)

I have also started to give Reiki in a very great place in a health center.  It is such a beautiful place. I do it every Wednesday afternoon.

Lhasa also has started school and she loves it. She does crafts, sports, awareness through the body, maths, french, Tamil, English. And also they are making a vegetable garden. they go for meditation in the Matrimandir. She loves it. Her feet are pretty much living without shoes when I see all this kids running without shoes I wonder how they don’t hurt themselves more often.. :)

Also Lhasa has started Yoga every week and she is making good progress, I will soon try to make some pictures of her class :)

Spok and itchy the cats are doing fantastic.

What I have realized is that being happy with or without the material or circumstantial manifestation of our desire is the key. All manifestation takes place within us in each present moment! We are always manifesting by what we are allowing, accepting and thinking about :)! WE can choose our emotional states.

It is so important to be in Joy even before we have what we think we want. It is so important to be grateful and to concentrate on what we have instead of what we don’t have. It is so important to love others and to wish them good without jealousy or wrong feeling, just loving and wish the best for all. It is so important to try to make a bright side to every event in your life.  It changes one’s life.

It feels that it takes a lot of work sometimes to see the bright side of the difficulties in our life but when we start to see that all past events, even they have made us feel so bad at the time, are for our own good always. This is living fully in a life of no regrets but instead in a life where we can say thank you so much for every single things which have happen to us. This is living in the moment of Now, appreciating every second of it and becoming a watcher of our own life.

Deep Love xx

Betty and Lhasa

Bodhi zendo, Kodaikanal.

Bodhi Zendo is a Zen meditation center; I was really looking forward to it. It took us 9 hours (including 2 hours in tiny mountain road) in a bus which were semi sleeper as well as “semi comfortable” ;) Anyway we finally arrived after the 2 hours of crazy Indian drive in the mountain and took a jeep which drove us to Bodhi Zendo.

What I saw then was amazing, the surrounding was just enough to make me Zen. It was fresh and green, two word that in 6 months I used only rarely (for the lettuce maybe!?).
One very nice woman showed me by bedroom, the view from the window was just what I wanted to see during these few retreat days: Mountains, banana trees, eucalyptus, clouds; it was so mystic, silent and calm. On my table, there were some words: “Your silence and solitude will help open you to these different dimensions. In the quiet and peace, learn to bring your life in order in terms of peace, justice, trustfulness, goodness and beauty.”

View from my bedroom

Then we went for lunch and during the afternoon, me and Christine (a good friend) went for a walk... a long walk...We passed through the village where all people were friendly and smiley. The road was surrounded by amazing roses and the smell was enough for anyone to find bliss in an instant. The water fall and the river just topped up the magical world.

When I went back to the center I sat on a bench in a garden, I fall asleep deeply by listening the birds and insects singing, the silence was allowing to take notice of the beautiful nature. I woke up under the rain, I just opened my eyes and it felt so nice that I just stayed there enjoying the drops for one moment... Anyway I did run after that loosing the sense of nature and Zen because it was raining pretty hard ;)
We all met in the afternoon in the meditation room, for Zazen, 1.30 hours to think of ...Nothing... Brilliant, but it was very difficult the first day because my mind was blew up by the beauty of the place.

The next day we started the plan:
5.30am: Morning call with the bell
6-7am: Zazen (with Dokusan), which is sitting meditation with private interview with the master if wanted
7am: Breakfast
8-9.30am: Samu/Seva(selfless work): I was cleaning and cutting vegs for the salad(all organic from the outside garden.
9.30am: Tea
10.30-12.00am: Silent time and walk in the mountain
12-12.30pm: Zazen
12.30pm: Lunch
1.30-4pm: Silent time and walk in the mountain
4pm: Tea
5.30-7pm: Zazen
7Pm: Dinner
8.15-8.45pm: Zazen
The next Morning I went to see the master for Dukosan, he was in a beautiful room with bright colours and cushion, in a lotus position. He seems old and young in the same time, had long hair and long beard, I asked: “How to move away from the mental state while practising Zazen?” He answered to me: “Allow the thoughts to come but let them be and concentrate on the unconditional love, you are unconditionally loved.”
After I went out in the garden and sat on the bench and breathe the serenity of that place.

A nice wooden bench to fall asleep :)

I loved that place, but then I love most places for their all piece of character. As well as humans being the nature is different everywhere.
We pass our last day visiting Kodaïkanal, located amidst the folds of the verdant Pali hills. Her wooded slopes, mighty rocks, enhancing waterfalls and a beautiful lake made this hill station very charming. It is a place where they make chocolate, it is quite sugary but nice to eat a little chocolate in India.
 After Christine and me walk many kilometers around the city we decided to rent a small boat for 40 mns, unfortunately the man asked me if i wanted to row, i accepted of course but did a bad movement and lost the metal piece of the  paddle ..ouppsss.. Well we giggled without stop for 40 mns, the man was not laughing : /

It is an art which i haven't got the gift of !! ;)

We went back few days after, we met lovely beings in that center and it was time for me to go back home, to my greatest teacher, Lhasa. :)
I am grateful for this new and wonderful adventure :)
Live you dreams beautiful beings :)
With Love xx

Namaste my beautiful friends , beautiful beings,

the adventure carry on in beautiful Bharat. I made myself a cup of Chai, put on some music and start to think of few lines to write for you.

For many years I was attracted by India, for many years I thought that was the place I wanted to be. What I thought I will be able to do in India was to go deeper into knowing my conditioning, the way I was brought up, the way the society need you to be. I realize that you can even forget about who you really are.

The major sensation here is freedom, I love to see people brushing their teeth on the motorbike while they take their kids to school, I love walking without shoes, I love the way they just walk in the lake to poop, I love how they live their life individually but all together, I love seeing all the people running to the biker who has just fallen, I love how the woman carry everything on their head, I love to see them in the temple, I love how they respect the oldest, but what I love the most is the sensation they give around themselves. Every moment is new, so peaceful. I see Bliss in smiles around me.. There are some people that you meet here that have nothing to offer, they are living in huts and making fire to cook.. But when they offer me their smiles and their laugh, it touches my heart so deeply that my eyes get wait... We look into each other eyes in so much deepness, so much more profound that the way we are dressed up. Many people here have nothing and still they invite you in their home like you are a king. You cannot say no or refuse because they are really amazingly happy that you can be with them and feel so happy to show their place. I feel so deeply in Love with the sensations that I find here. They give and expect nothing, just the presence.

You can learn so much here, in fact I think life is never again to be seen the same way. I got many answer in the laugh and in the eyes of people here, such deep look.

I find thanks to this moment that deeply in my heart we cannot find happiness into anything exterior to us, the reality is inside our own heart. My head knew this before but now every senses of my body feels it.

Time for Chai again and I share it with you my friends.

Love Love and Light xx :)

Om Namo Narayan beautiful beings

So some impression after 3 months in India :) 

What is so different?

Shop:

-We take off our shoes to enter the shop and really love this sensation of walking barefoot; it is quite funny to try to remember where you have left your “Chappal” (shoes) after doing shopping. Even we lost Lhasa’s sandals for days and found them when we came back to one shop.

-There is incense in every shop and there are quite clean for most of them and well organized, i did not know that so much could fit in such small shop and I still wonder how they can remember where they put all articles but actually they do and pull out what you need in a second. It was ever so funny to go to Pondy to find a swimming costume for Lhasa, we laugh so much to see the style of the costume, anyway we found a great one for 300 rupees (4.5 €).

-What is not so nice is to ask for the prices when you know you will have to discuss 30 minutes to get the real prices. As they say here they know the price of each article the moment you enter in the shop. Anyway now the local know us and i start to know the prices.

-I love love love when I ask for a vegetables or fruit and they answer that “it is not the season for this”, it is so nice to eat fresh, not imported fruits and veggies.

-I find it great that on a packaging there is the manufacture date and not the date that the expiry date.

-It is funny when there is power cut and they all have their candle ready to light and they carry on talking like nothing is happening.

-I enjoy going to ask for new shoes to the local maker. He opens is notebook you put your foot on it and it draw the lines out, then you shoes the material you want and the color, and he ask you to come the day after to pick them up. All this for 350 rupees (5 € approx)

Restaurant:

-Breakfast is my favorite: Idly or Dosaï with coconut sauce and dhal...Miaaaaam

-Masala tea is a must; mix with black tea leaves, milk, cardamom, cloves, ginger and sugar.

-The Thali is amazing, mix between different sauce, chapatti and rice.

-You eat with your hands (don’t forget to clean it before) and you don’t use with your left hand. You try this experience: Eat your yogurt after mixing with your right hand and you will see why we are totally ridiculous trying to do it... This is one of the things that Lhasa can giggle about for hours after food :)

My friend Marjolaine eat a Thali

-The great thing and difference with France or Spain: The restaurants are mainly vegetarian. About 90% of the food is vegetarian anyway. It is making it easy for me. Lhasa is loving it and dream of chicken sometimes which she eat in some occasion (but sometimes a little spicy :S)

-Alcohol is rare in restaurant. 

The rhythm:

-Up at 6am and in bed by 9pm. I feel in great form and love this rhythm. Anyway it is too hot to stay in bed and the birdies are too loud in the morning. At night it is dark at 6.30 pm so it make it easy to be in bed early. Especially that the there is every day power cut at the same time.

Transport:

-No need for a car here there is THE Moped and you can transport anything on it. When you see indian family on one you know that everything is possible,

-Buses are really amazing you can go anywhere at pretty much anytime.

Actually it is not rare that I forget to put petrol and i have to walk a road side :)

Animals:

-Dogs and cats are well treated and respected by the people but have serious illness and live in the street. Anyway here they will never harm them on purpose and they will not be on leash or attach to a tree.

-My friend the cow: Well i have a special love story with the cow.They are everywhere of course and they are the queen of India. They do pretty much do what they like and if anyone will try to harm it they will go straight to jail. The cow who attacked me did not go to jail so. I was going to work but my moped decided to make it difficult and stopped, of course i did not put petrol since few days which did not work. I decided to start walking to the village which was about 1 km away. I went took petrol and start to walk back when miss Cow came just in front of me. I looked at her, she looked at me, she looked at me ...Put her head down and start running, she was at about 5 meters away from me so i screamed and staring running to the side, it is then that my foot got trapped into a stone and i fall over like i probably did not do after 6 years old.  Petrol flew away and the cow went away probably laughing ( she was part of the laughing cow society for sure) i got up trying to act “cool” as all the shop owner saw the battle between the cow and me and started to walk back. I did not hurt myself just few brues.. Anyway since this day you will understand that cows are a little scary to me..lol...

-The birds are my friends so. When I get up to do yoga I am surrounding by a family of green parrots and many different species of birds. There are beautiful and colorful. Sometimes i wish there were not making any noise but anyway i am not using an alarm clock since i live here and this is such a wonderful way to wake up. Thank you little birdies.

...Well so much changing but anyway the world is such a wonderful place. Lhasa is changing and growing and we are learning so much here. 

Namaste amazing beings

I have just lived one of the most wonderful experiences during 3 days. Marjolaine my friend from Spain has arrived since one week approx. and we really are having a good time. We have decided to take few days together as well as Isabelle (another friend) to go and visit the city of Tirunavanamalai.

Friday afternoon after food, we took a taxi to the bus stand in Pondicherry and in 5 mns we found a bus to Tiru, it was about 3 hours in bus and I really enjoyed being part of real Indian life style.

So we arrived at Tiru around 4 pm and found a rickshaw to the ashram where we stayed. It was amazing because nobody knew where the Ashram were, I just had the number for this place so I told the rickshaw to stop to make a phone call and where he stops and talk on the phone, we realize that he parked just where the place was, this was the beginning of the magic.

A woman told us to enter the temple and said nothing to us just sat us all 3 on the sofa, we really wanted to laugh as the situation was comical.

She finally showed us the room and I took a single room for 250 rupees, Marjolaine and Isabelle a double room there were really simple and great room. The swami looking after the ashram was funny and loud.

After putting our bag in the room we went to visit Sri Ramana Maharashi Ashram. Many people there were meditating and chanting it was so beautiful and vibrating. The population there was mix between people and monkeys.

I took some time to meditate there, it was so vibrant. We went into a restaurant called the “five element” after this which was a little to continental to our test but anyhow it was very pretty. :)

In the next morning we went to visit the temple of Arunachalwsar When we gave our shoes to the entry of the temple we ask a man there if he knew of any guide. This man was called Kumar and he became our great guide for the rest of the day.

Kumar was probably born near this temple and not only he knew the temple but also everyone inside the temple. We had special “Puja” inside the temple. When we should have waited 2 to 2 .30 hours we just walk through straight to the main place with Kumar. Later on, Marjolaine had the benediction of the elephant at the entry of the temple. After the temple which I could only describe if you could read my impressions, thought and inside visions, we went to Sri Ramana Maharishi Ashram to walk the mountain path which leads to the cave where Ramana Maharishi meditate for 40 years. On the way there was a Swami who told us to sit because it was a long walk. After a little time Marjolaine, Isabelle and Kumar decided to carry on and I stayed a little. I spoke with the Swami and I asked him: “Please how could I learn more? Is there any advice you could give more something or anything”, and he answered: “Stop learning to put into practice what you know” and he gave me a picture of the Maharashi as a gift. This moment was really emotional. The forest and the mountain were really vibrant and I just could not believe I was there living this.

Kumar our guide of the day is on the right side :)

I then met again with the friends, they stopped at a place where you could see the all city of Tiru and I just sat to meditate on the rock, it was such a big present of life to experience all this.

When we went down Kumar took us to a very great restaurant where we had breakfast (testy breakfast!!!) and we went back to the room to have a little rest. At 4 o clock I went back to the ashram to be there and buy some books. Marjolaine and Isabelle went walking to the temple. We wanting to have a good look again as the morning went really fast. I met them at a little bar and off we went again to the magic temple. Kumar took us everywhere. He showed us the cows in the back of the temple and how they make the flowers.

Finally he took me in a special meditation room and teaches me some breathing technique. It was great. I then went out and met the girls and after a look around we went to eat again in this great Indian restaurant.

We went back to the hotel room with the heads full of amazing thoughts and wake up the next morning direction Gingee to discover the beautiful forts of the queen and the king.

In the morning we took the bus from Tiru and arrive at Gingee at around 8.30. We then started to look for breakfast. We walked about 500 meters and find ourselves in front of a big house on the side of the road with loud music. There were lots of people so we asked if they knew where we could find breakfast. They invited us in. It was so funny; we didn’t know where we were going. We arrive in this place where there were tables set with breakfast on banana leaves. We ask how much the breakfast was and they told us that it was free. They said it was a wedding and they were so honored with our visit that the only thing we could do for them was to visit the couple who got married and take some pictures with them. It was really stunning. We went away and they gave us a coconut.

We had afterwards a masala chai on the side of the road, we went off to see the monkey and walk the queen fort and the king fort (about 5 hours walk in the sunshine all steps). It was mind blowing nature and manmade fort. The monkeys were everywhere.

We finally headed to Gingee city to have a meal and took the bus back to Pondy.

This few days has been some of the most mind opening days than I have had.

Words of the day: There are so many people out there who will tell you that you can’t. What you’ve got to do is to turn round and say “Watch me “:)

Love ... :)

Namaste amazing beings,

Our adventure is carrying on wonderfully in India :)

About 1 month after the cyclone Thane hit the Tamil Nadu and everything is like normal again. Our way of living is different thought as it was a wonderful lesson to learn how not to be so dependent on electrical stuff.

Anyway i have made my favorite tea in hot water and before to get to work i thought i will write a few words about our lives here in this present time.

First of all, the place where we are living until the beginning of March is wonderful, it is like a community where live Sandro who is German visiting India since 6 months, He came to be a Yoga teacher, Elana who is a Californian woman living in Turquia, Sarah who arrived in December from California, Michelle from Israel, Gilles who is from France and lived in California also for 40 years. We all get on so well and love being here.

Regarding my occupation, i work for an NGO (Non Governmental Organization) in a Health Center, i am making a presentation about “Food as Medicine” to help the Tamil woman to prevent infection, illness and to use prevention thanks to the food available here. We are also trying to put in place new habits such as eating brown rice instead of white and so on. It is amazingly interesting. Also every single essentials oils, back remedies and flower remedies are available so i am classifying them and learning about all, for the ones who know me you will know what that mean to me :)... Anyway this is in the morning; i am there from around 9 to 12h30. The people i am working with are amazing.

In the afternoon around 2 i meet Christine who also work with me at the health center because i have been ask to help organizing the “International festival of the Woman Theater” which will take place one week in March. There will be 2 representations in Auroville and one in Pondy. This experience is fantastic and the Christine and me cannot stop laughing in each other presence which is so therapeutic.

Lhasa has adapted like a fish in the deep sea at her new school. She LOVES it. Every morning i take her on my moppet and of course she loves it. Her school is English but there is all nationalities. It is about human unity and universal consciousness. I never saw Lhasa learning so fast and happy to do her home. This active and free progress oriented approach classrooms are replaced by areas of work and play, where children can move freely, following their own rhythm and inner guidance. These different areas are: Languages, Mathematics, World and Science, Arts, Role-play, Workshop (clay/carpentry), cooking, Garden and sports ground. In each of these areas children can find a variety of consciously chosen material, and a guiding person to assist them. The teachers also make sure that the prepared environment is always organized, safe and updated with new material. Besides this, several projects of different duration are always offered in which children can choose to participate.

Two to three times a month, there is an excursion.

They eat at school, everything is self product and from the garden which is organic. Then every afternoon they have sport which consists at doing games. Lhasa comes back with a HUGE smile on her face every afternoon and she feels so excited to tell me about her day at school.

Life here is so easy and so special in the same time. We are in front of so much contrast. But the heart of the people here is so open that it gives me emotion sometimes to see how some people with nothing will give you the little they have just to make you smile. They are not expecting anything in exchange.

I have so much more to say but i have to go to work. I miss my friends, but every morning i wake up feeling the blessing of feeling so much love for people who are now so far away from me.

Next blog will be on my meeting with Wilma, my 2 hours massage with Shamboo, the week of Yoga, the cow attacking me, the smell of incense everywhere. :)

Peace Equality Love

Namaste my friends :)