A very good friend of mine once said to me: “Sandra, it’s always this very one street” – he was living at Puttaparthi at that time, in the village close to Sai Baba’s ashram, and I could understand my friend so well, I am also living so often in the universe of this one very street. I’ve had this feeling of this one street in Puttaparthi, too, it was mainly the way from my appartment to the ashram, and to my vegan restaurant, back and forth.
Then I went to Bali, there it was also this very one street. Opposite of my accomadation the ashram of my yoga teacher, and it brought me through the monkey forrest right into Ubud, and there it was still this street continuing, with my favorite cafés alongside it, depending on where I wanted to hang out, or be with friends. This is “my street” in Nyuh Kuning, how much I love it!
This one street becomes like a universe. It is so safe to have a certain routine, like going at the same time in the mornings to a yoga class, or in India, to go to Darshan in the temple. Then a juice somewhere, knowing when your friends hang out where, and if not, still ok, WiFi is available everywhere, and also my book accompanies me anyway…
Then, I have had a completely different perception of this road. Early morning at 7 we did a walking meditation, my yoga teacher, and the whole group of other students. Barefooted down the road, into monkey forest, a way, which usually takes 10 minutes by foot, or 5 minutes by my red push bike (say “push” bike in Bali, otherwise they think, you are driving a little motorbike – anyway, I was famous on my little road with my red push bike) took then 90 minutes, including a visit at the cemetery in the forest to remind us, that we are not our body, but just a happy soul.
If you walking barefooted a road, which is under construction, and your only task is to smile at passing people, you get very aware of your feet and I watched my thoughts closely. At first my thoughts were jumping, I will get a cold, my feet get dirty (they did, very!!), when will this be over, how nice to smile to this person, etc. Being in worries, analysing what is going on with your mind, then you just ARE your mind, so as I knew, I am not my thoughts, I turned my attention to my body.
All worries ceased, and I felt my feet instead, you are suddenly in a whole world of sensations. You feel the ground, the wood, and the sharp stones, the senses are all ON. I used the breath and watched the breath entering and leaving my body while walking, and my thoughts calmed down. The body is always present.
Then I gently turned my attention to my eyes, away from the feets. I didn’t want to be caught in my senses. I suddenly saw my street, as if it was the first time, a whole universe. If you are absorbed just in your feet, you miss the street. You miss, that there is another reality, not only the feeling of touch. Likewise, I knew, there is more, than this street in Ubud, what else is there to explore! Not to mention other realities than thus this material street and village…
So, we can be present on our street, watch it from different angels, decide to switch street (from India to Bali to Switzerland again, to …?) or be totally surprised one day, that the street completely changed, like I found someday: They finished construction work!
What all this means, I don’t know, it’s just amazing, that these pictures in this blog show exactly the same road, at the beginning of my stay it changed every hour or so (how often where there friendly guys, who helped me to carry my push bike over deep holes).
Maybe there is a chance, that we also change the way our mind operates. From an unpredictable construction site, with jumps, and holes, u-turns, excitements along the way, and a lot of emotions, and you need a guiding light to find through it in the night, to a nicely serving street, feeling joyfully the wind while racing down the road on my bike (with so much speed now!), which leads you to happiness, a joy for no reason.
Anyway, I loved both states of the street, maybe the messy state even more, it was like an adventure everytime… and then, you can also love the adventure, your inner light, which knows exactly where to go to, if I would just listen to it, and the little surprises for us as human beings about how we got to the other side of the ditch, again!
Safe journey to everyone!