Tag Archives: Pokhara

Nepal, TravelTuga, Vipassana

Doing Time

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This Post could start with, once up on a time there was an Nepali, Malaysian and Portuguese sharing a room in a Vipassana Center in the middle of the Forest of Pokhara (Bengal Lake).
Learning the value of Tolerance, sharing moments of real pain and happines, ups and downs. All while being in Noble Silence for 10 days. Getting to know the Routine of everyone after a while, no matter which color or religion or ethnic group. In the end we are all human with the same desire to be happy.

Thats the reason for doing time, to find a better way of life, to recognize ourselfs, to know your thoughts and feelings and where you are heading.

This was my second 10 day course and I thought it would be easier than the first, but it was not. The first days are so hard to get your body and mind to calm down and to focus. After that you start actually the Vipassana technique, which simply consists of scanning the body sensations. You might think it is easy, but it is not…the mind wants to keep wandering all the time and is the biggest enemy. It will do everyhting it can to take you out of the process.

Now the sentence makes sence when they say, Your worst enemy is yourself. Until you have tamed your mind, it is like a wild horse, doing what ever it wants.
Vipassana is one tool to help you on the process.

After the 7th day actually started to be more calm and to get some results, i could at least sit still for one hour and mostly be vigilant, attentive and alert.

You think what this means? It means you will watch, every sound, every smell, every thought, every image that goes trough your mind and don´t react to it. I mean every of this things…it requres a lot of focus, all this while in sitting posture and scanning for body sensations and again don´t react to them.

The sense doors (sound, thought, smell, etc..) will lead to body sensations, which we will avaluate with good or bad and that´s where the problem starts. We will crave for the good ones and have aversion for the bad ones…

I am gratefull to the lineage of Masters that kept the technique all this years, since buddha untill now, to all the teachers that thought me the Technique and mostly to Goenka Ji who spread it around the World. Thank you !!!

Portugal, TravelTuga, Vipassana

Vipassana Journey

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8th of January 2022, i am again in the consultory of a guy in Beja (Portugal) who makes you stop smoking with quantum energy. He puts two metal crocodils on your ears and then with something that seems a pistol he shoots you some electricity into the location of your third eye. Pada, after some minutes you leave the consultory as if you never smoked, true story...its only the habit and social pressure that makes you return.

After being freed from addiction, i left for the north of Portugal. Porto, Viana de Castelo, Moncão, etc…
Being in Monção i received the call from someone, the connection was bad and i was really not understanding the purpose of the call. Finally i remembered that i had inlisted in a Vipassana meditation and was on the waiting list. Are you still interested in coming, you must be here tomorrow before 18:00. Thanks for the call, i will check if i can make it and call you after or send a message.

Checked the train connection and yes it was possible if i would stand up at 5:00 am in the morning. Here we go, by train to Madrid and then Candeleda in total around 1000km.

I had not really searched up on the course and it´s program, so i was going a little bit in inocense without knowing what to expect. I don´t know, i thought it would be nice to meet new people, sing some songs around a fire and that stuff and meditate some hours.

In reallity it is a military grade camp, you stand up at around 4:00 and go to bed at around 22:00. In between you are thougt the meditation technique Vipassana and meditate (sit) around 10 hours.

There is a really good book who explains all the details of a 10 day Vipassana Course https://store.pariyatti.org/the-equanimous-mind in a personal view, higly recomend if you are interested.

So in short, in 10 days they thought you a millenial technique that was discovered by Siddhartha the Buddha, it is not tied to Buddhism as the name Buddha suggests.
It´s a simple technique and thats it, no dogmas or other religious stuff. Of course if you continue the practise it will inevitably lead you to his other teachings and also buddhism in general which has some parallels.

I have been practising Vipassana since then, every single day 2 hours per day at least. For me it has opened a door to a universal truth, which would be quite dificult to ignore or close again, so i continue to walk on the path. I am gratefull to all that lead me to take the course and in 3 days i will repeat a 10 day course in Pokhara to further deepen the technique.

Nepal, TravelTuga

Sun Salutation

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Was looking for a place to practise Yoga finally after 1 month of inactivity. Went to a well know place in Pokhara, outside the announcement “Dailly Yoga Practise” from 8:30 – 10:00. Also fellow travelelers recommended the place.

Finally one day found the strenght to get up early and go there, went to the place where i thought would be the practise.
Inside is one person cleaning the room, i ask politly if he is the teacher. He says yes, but in an offended tone. He also starts saying that there are other places where I could practise. I asked him if i offended him in any way, and he questioned why I asked him if he is the yoga teacher and gets really angry.

I appologized if i unknowngly offended him, anyway there was nothing I could do, he was in the angry mode.

This day was hard for me thinking a lot about this incident. Anyway it is his angriness, there is nothing i can do about it other than sending Kind good thoughts of Metta to him. We have all our bad days 😕

After getting over this i searched for a new place and found “Mudra Yoga Studio” where i have been practising almost everyday. The teacher is funny and the classes are very demanding.

We practise Ahstanga Yoga and he reminds us to practise also alone, even if the value of a group is unmatched as we can see in this pic.

Nepal, TravelTuga

The Dhamma whell continues to turn

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Today I visited 3 Monasteries in Pokhara, first the Matepani Gumba, which has the free day on Saturday, so not many monks were there and the prayer hall was closed.

Next on the list was Pema T’sal Monastic Institute, the monks were also on the free day, cleaninig windows, repairing stuff and the younger monks were playing footboll with so much joy that I stayed with them for quiet some time. After noticing my presence, their play became more competitive. Kids are just kids after all, even when this ones are already turning the wheel towards liberation at a very young age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next i went to the Tibetan Refugge Camp [Free Tibet] where also the Jangchub Choeling Monastery located is. When I arrived, there was an prayer ongoing in the prayer hall, the monks asked me to join them inside, so I sat in the last row and listened to the continues chants and prayers with Gongs, and the traditional trompets.
Definitly worth the visit and felling the ancient ongoing practise.

Nepal, TravelTuga

Along the Digital Path

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One month has passed since I arrived in Nepal with the mission to test if i could work from a diferent country.  First 2 weeks were holidays which were spend in Kathmandu, Himalayan Mountains and Pokhara. Currently I am still in Pokhara and working remotly for a big Multinational. I use this Travel Router https://docs.gl-inet.com/en/3/setup/mini_router/first_time_setup/ in order to connect to a VPN before making the connection on the available network.

Until now i did not find any inconvinience working from here, on the contrary i am really enjoying it besides some hiccups.
For example, bocked a place for one month, but after 3 days the Lakukaratcha started to appear, the small ones by the way. Really have my dificulties with them, i know it´s tropical place and very very normal. Anyway, cancelled the place and moved to another where i stayed before and enjoyed there a few days. So the new place is calm and chill i am working wonderfully, and again the Lakukaratcha appear, but this time big fat dinousauros, the mothership of them.

Couldn´t sleep that night. Really the big big one, all over the place on the floor, as soon as the light are turned off.
Again the snail with his house on the move, now i am in a place for the 3rd night and until now no Lakukaratcha. If they appear this time, i will accept them.

Other than that, the food around me is just perfect, you have any choice and it´s really cheap. For me as a vegetarian, its the holy land of food choices.

There are many people moving in Pokhara, which will go to all sorts of activities, so its nice to meet new people from all backgrounds and appearent missions.

 

Nepal, TravelTuga

Love at first sight

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When i saw it, i was like hello. There you are, i was waiting for you.
I did something on the floor, i think with my shoes. It laid there in front of me, the perfect match.

Yes it happens from time to time, that you find the perfect walking stick on the floor.

I called it Annapurna, and the stick was a big friend for the coming days in the mountains.

We had to say good bye on the last day, as it didn´t fit into the jeep which took me back to Pokhara. Left it leanining to some building.
Hope it found a new friend 🙂

Thank you Annapurna.

 

Nepal, TravelTuga

Just Observe

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On a 5 day Trip to the Himalayan Mountains it´s kind of programmed that you always meet the same persons/groups on the way, so it was also this time. Started in Nayapool, in direction of Poon Hill alone with no guide or porter to help with my Backpack.

Anyway i was meeting people and groups from all kinds of backgrounds and countries, until i met this one big group of maybe 7 people, they were loud and always laughing very loud. A laugh that comes from the guts, really and all the group was like that, for me it sounded kind of creepy.

My mind went on to categorize and organize this group into to the “i dont like” shelf,  tried to overtake and avoid them the best I could the remaining of the trip.

What happened was that each day i would meet them again, always in a situation, where I would fall exactly behind them, really out of nowhere i would cross with them and fall behind them, each and every day of the 5days.

Lesson learned, try to just to observe things, without categorizing. It´s very hard to learn it as I am very much programmed to always categorize everything in an eyeblink.

 

Nepal, TravelTuga

Here comes the Sunset

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May I present you Pokhara´s Sun, which by the way is the same you are normaly used to see…

While watching the Sun, reading the Book from John Ross Carter, which is a wersterly view of the Buddhist Theravada Tradition.

Today i got a ride with the scotter from Leo which is a German Guy i meet before, we strolled around Pokhara and tried to reach a Waterfall but the Roads are non-existent outside the city. It´s a continual Rollercoaster.

Nepal, TravelTuga

the H[i][a]ppines of Pokhara

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You know, normally when I read and hear everywhere that a place is awesome, 9 out of 10 i don´t like it for any reason.
Pokhara is diferent, so laid back and easygoing is hard to beat.
It´s an obligatory mecca of any hippie to be hear once in a life time and feel it.

Pokhara is starting point for many trekks to the Himalayan Moutain Range.
Decided myself for a 5Days beginner trekk to 3200m height called Poon Hill.