my new adventure
On Wed, 1 July, 2015 - 20:56
Two months so far, into my new adventure at Akashavana, and I am still waking to blue skies with that holiday feeling! Even though there is a lot of satisfyingly hard work and weekly routines, doing it in these conditions help to make it feel seamlessly part of just how things are here, just what is needed to live here and run the retreat centre. At any time you can just raise your eyes to the stunning vista of mountains and trees to feel a sense of expansion and lightness, whatever the task! Of course there are not always blue skies, the weather here is very changeable but that is all part of the picture. It just changes all the time (as things do!) Keeps us welcoming back the sun when we’ve missed it for a day or two, and welcoming back the rain as it fills the water tanks and keeps everything green.
We have been using this time with the four of us together, Manigarbha, Acalavajri, Vikasini and I to really look at what we mean by community, and what is a practice community, and how do each of us see that or want to create that. It has been a very rich time, challenging in some ways, inspiring in others and deeply satisfying overall. It has meant some huge changes for the two who have been holding things here for so long, some very welcome, others more tricky or unexpected. Doubling the number of people in the house puts more strain on resources and space, but gets more things done!
It’s very good that we have had this unbroken time together now, to establish things, because we will rarely all coincide again until November!
We have finally finished the amazing compost loo, started by Manigarbha and Acalavajri, then Mokshagandhi back in April, and all of us have since spent time working on it. It is a thing of great beauty and it’s enormous, a palace of a loo! It will be a pleasure to use and to avoid the inadequate plumbing in the house. It will also mean the used washing water can now water the garden instead of being used for flushing. I am planning to start small, and of course find ways to keep the ibex off the plants, but I am keen to get some salad growing at least. They have had a wonderful crop up at the retreat centre this year, thanks to the dedication of Tejasvini.
So now looking forward to some great retreats, Viveka’s in a few weeks time, and our community retreat in October. Hope to see lots of you women on one or the other.
