Thought of the Day

I don't believe in morality, but I believe in ethical conduct as set out by His Holiness the Dalai Lama: "Ethical conduct = a way of behaving that respects others’ right to be happy".

Thursday, 15 July 2010

Glamping

Some snapshots from our weekend in the New Forest with friends and family. As our friend said -- glamping does not necessarily mean staying in a fashionable tipi or yurt, but means having someone doing everything for you -- cooking, putting up the tent, etc. Well, this is what it was for me. I managed to sleep 12 hours in our tiny pop-up tent. ;   )


Wednesday, 14 July 2010

Jade Roller, my latest discovery

I love jade as a stone. I think that the combination of jade and yellow gold is very *art deco*. Not only Jade is a beautiful semi-precious stone, it is also gifted with healing properties. Jade roller (regularly used by my acupuncturist) feels like oil on the face without being greasy or pore blocking as many oils are. It is also refreshing, smoothing and improves facial circulation. I really recommend it for a natural, non-surgical facial lift. 

Thursday, 8 July 2010

I Heart Butterflies

Here some works from Saira, the talented tattooist who will be doing my lotus flower and butterflies on my back next year. Yes, she is that busy!


Handmade / Do-it-Yourself Yoga Mat Bags

Looking for a hippier alternative to the trendy yoga bags in circulation? I like the hippie look of these joyful carriers.


Sources: Here, here and here

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

Lemon Zest

The obsession with jumpsuits, playsuits, all-in-ones, leotards, unitards and dungarees continues. These two juicy jumpsuits are in line with the new colour theme of this blog.

Day














Night














From ASOS.

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

"Look within,
There is no difference
between yourself, Self and Guru.
You are always Free.
There is no teacher,
there is no student,
there is no teaching.
You are the unchangeable Awareness in which all activity takes place.
Always rest in peace.
You are eternal Being, unbounded and undivided.
Just keep Quiet. All is well.
Keep Quiet Here and Now.
You are Happiness, you are Peace, you are Freedom.
Do not entertain any notions that you are in trouble.
Be kind to yourself.
Open to your Heart and simply Be.
Self is what you are.
You are That Fathomlessness
in which experience and concepts appear.
Self is the Moment that has no coming or going.
It is the Heart, Atman, Emptiness.
It shines to Itself, by Itself, in Itself.
Self is what gives breath to Life.
You need not search for It, It is Here.
You are That through which you would search.
You are what you are looking for!
And That is All it is.
Only Self is."

Sri H.W.L. Poonja

Pack Light

I have written several posts on luggage as it is an important part of my semi-nomadic life. Not only I love travelling and I am planning more frequent trips to the east. I also need to go back *home* a few times a year to remind myself what sun, good food and family affections are like. I had the perfect cabin trolley, until it broke a month ago in Sicily. It was smart, robust and very manageable - just too old. It endured nine years of commuting and travels. I got a bit upset because it was my friends' graduation present, but I have decided not to mourn any longer material things, even if they have a sentimental value. If it broke after so many years, it meant that I needed to make space for something new. After all, it was too smart for the adventurous trip I have got in mind for the future and a tiny bit too heavy. With all the increasingly stricter luggage restrictions imposed by airlines, even one kilo makes a huge difference. So, I have been looking for a replacement: something cheaper, sturdy, light and practical without sacrificing (of course) style. Eastpack Transfer Luggage seems to tick all the boxes. It is a good comprimise between a smart trolley and rucksack and it is discounted to £59.99 here.


Have a look at these packing tips my brother-in-law passed me on: Ten Days in a Carry-on

Monday, 5 July 2010

Hop Hop Hop

What a great weekend. It started with the Acro Yoga workshop which was exactly as I hoped: nurturing, challenging and fun. We chanted, practiced asanas, thai massaged and finally flying. Being lifted is a liberating feeling. Back bends a bit scary until you realise you really have to LET IT GO. Lifting others was more challenging. It takes loads of practice to find the centre and balance for an extended period of time. Vaclav and I have decided to keep practicing it together during our course's lunch breaks. 

Saturday morning we headed to the Hop Farm Festival. Despite the heat during the day and dampness during the night, the queues, the toilets and  , we had a great time. Bob Dylan was legendary. He is so cool at playing his songs differently every time ~ He is such an eclectic artist. I was expecting Devendra wild and naked like in this video. He showed up with short(ish) hair and in British mod look... until he stripped to show his cool tattoos and give full voice to his expressionistic performance. So, so cool! 

We concluded the weekend with our friends from Italy with two aperitifs and a yummy vegetarian meal in Primrose Hill.


Full set of photos HERE.

Friday, 2 July 2010

Cultivating Joy

Happy July! I have got positive feelings about this month and thought it would be time to give this blog a seasonal facelift (hope you like it) and restart blogging more regularly. 

So, what is it so good about this summer? Well, it's been consistently hot for weeks (so unusual in this country), my love for yoga is growing day by day, and Loftino's love + generosity have been unsurpassed recently. Not only he put great effort in arranging  our first anniversary's celebrations (kabuki dance, dinner at the OXO Tower and silk kimono by Fleur of England), he has also surprised me with tickets for the Hop Farm Festival headlined by Bob Dylan (and Devendra Banhart). I am so, so excited about it. I have been listening to their rock folk music for months! We are driving to Kent tomorrow and will be camping with our brand new pop-up tent and self-inflatable mattresses. Wow!


Tonight I am doing an Acro Yoga workshop. I was a bit hesitant as inversions are still my Achilles' tendon, but it will help face my fears -- or so I thought when I signed up. Besides, Acro Yoga is also about connecting with the other fellow yogini, exchanging some juicy Thai massage, and, most of all, it's fun! Isn't yoga about cultivating joy, after all?

And what is more joyful than sharing yoga with children? I believe it could entertain and empower many needy children around the world. In view of a few volunteering with children ideas for 2011, Loftino got me this Teach Children Yoga Kit. I was a tiny bit disappointed to find out it is downloadable (rather than paper-based) material in PDF and MP3 formats, but this means I can print as many copies as I want and reuse the kit on different projects. The beauty of this kit is that it's designed for vivacious children. The guide says:: do not adjust children as they want to play with the shapes, but show them the right alignment IN CASE they DECIDE to mimic you. : D 

I look forward to putting it into practice with some of my friends' active kids! {Not that many, actually!}


OmShanti&PREM xxx

Thursday, 1 July 2010

Acupuncture works Magic

Today I had my first acupuncture session and it was incredibly relaxing, soothing and rejuvenating. No kidding, I stepped into the room and visibly looked shattered. I left rested and my skin felt smooth, soft and tighter! Huw (the acupuncturist) bases acupuncture on the Chinese five elements: earth, fire, metal, wood and earth. The interaction and interdependency  of these five elements is the source of creation and destruction. As with all things in the universe, the human body is influenced by the energies of these five elements. 

I am a water/fire type, apparently: joyful and anxious at the same time with some earth elements in me... Next time Huw is going to give me a handmade face cream based on my elements. Sweet. : D

OmShanti&PREM xxx

TANTRA LOVE Explained

*** Apologies for the last two posts in Italian ***

"One should cultivate desire (Kama) by means of desire. One should cast desire into desire. Desiring by means of desire, abiding in desire, one should stir the world."

Vamaka-Ishvara-Tantra, 4.46

Colla tradizione tantrica il corpo viene rivalutato come mezzo per facilitare la trascendenza. Si scopre che il corpo non e' solo fatto di carne e ossa, ma anche di "energie sottili" responsabili nel raggiungimento dell'illuminazione. Secondo i tantristi c'e' un serpente (il kundalini shakti che e’ energia femminile) dormiente alla base della spina dorsale, che, attraverso movimenti particolari, tecniche di respirazione (prana), shock improvvisi e allineamenti posturali, puo' svegliarsi e cominciare a salire lungo la spina attivando i vari centri energetici (o chakra).

Il Tantra Yoga utilizza tutte le energie e i fluidi prodotti dal corpo umano compresi quelli prodotti durante l'atto sessuale. Le pratiche sessuali tantriche si basano sull'inversione dei processi naturali. Il fine del sesso non e' il piacere: non si tratta di applicare lo yoga al sesso per godere di più, ma di indirizzare coscientemente l'energia sessuale nei chakra per attivarli. L'obiettivo non e' nemmeno l'inseminazione. Durante un "normale" amplesso, una volta avvenuta la penetrazione, le carezze, i baci e i movimenti pelvici hanno lo scopo di aumentare la temperatura interna della vagina. Una volta raggiunta una temperatura di 39° avviene l'eiaculazione e il liquido prostatico trasporta gli spermatozoi all'interno dell'utero dove l'unione di una cellula maschile con una cellula femminile darà vita a un terzo individuo.

Nel tantra, l'uomo, sia nelle pratiche di visualizzazione che nell'atto sessuale vero e proprio, si predispone ad accogliere nel proprio organismo l'energia femminile "fredda" e "ascendente" e a trasformarla in energia maschile "calda" e "discendente" che a sua volta viene assorbita dall'organismo della donna e trasformata di nuovo in energia femminile.

Secondo le teorie tantriche è possibile distribuire l'energia sessuale nel corpo dell'uomo e della donna in maniera da costituire una specie di circuito energetico: il corpo femminile e il corpo maschile, uniti, ad esempio, nella posizione del doppio loto (l'uomo seduto in "padmasana" e la donna seduta sopra di lui) diventano le due metà di un unico essere con l'energia femminile che circola lungo la colonna vertebrale dell'uomo e l'energia maschile che circola in quella della donna. Praticamente si tratta di visualizzare una corrente (un gas o un liquido) fredda (argentea o bianca) che penetra nell'uomo attraverso gli organi sessuali, risale lungo la spina dorsale e, trasformatasi in una corrente calda (aurea o rossa), entra attraverso la bocca (o a volte il sesto Chakra) nella donna,scende lungo la spina dorsale e, trasformatasi in corrente fredda, penetra di nuovo nell'uomo attraverso gli organi genitali. Una volta "aperto il circuito" i due praticanti si concentrano sull‘"attivazione" contemporanea dei loro chakra.

Ora, questo concetto e' molto difficile da comprendere e attuare per motivi fisici e culturali, MA in termini fisiologici e alchemici potremmo spiegarlo cosi:

Se, un attimo prima dell'orgasmo mediante

- la regolarizzazione della respirazione,
- il rilassamento dei muscoli delle gambe, delle braccia, del collo, del petto,
- la contrazione dei muscoli sottili del glande in coincidenza con la fase inspiratoria,
- la contrazione dei muscoli dell'ano e del perineo,
- la contrazione dei glutei e la contemporanea "spinta in basso" dell' osso sacro,

si arresta l'emissione del liquido seminale, gli spermatozoi fanno marcia indietro e, in qualche maniera (energia di dissoluzione dei legami molecolari), restituiscono all'organismo l'energia in eccesso: il Fuoco.

A questo punto si immagina che, mediante la contrazione in fase inspiratoria nel maschio e la contemporanea spinta in fase espiratoria nella donna, gli umori e gli ormoni femminili (l'Acqua) penetrino nel ventre maschile. Qui, grazie al Fuoco maschile, l'energia femminile si trasforma in Vapore e sale lungo la spina dorsale fino alla testa dove si trasforma di nuovo in Fuoco. In pratica, il corpo viene considerato come un laboratorio alchemico nel quale i processi fisici (il passaggio di stato da acqua a vapore) e i processi chimici (l'attivazione dei vari chakra) avvengono grazie all'energia prodotta dall'eccitazione sessuale.

Solo con tanta pratica, sia sul tappetino che nella vita che a letto, e con la volonta' di non cadere in un gioco competitivo (mi trattengo l'orgasmo per prolungarlo a te), ci si puo' avvicinare a provare quell'esperienza totalizzante che va oltre il climax/anti-climax di un orgasmo "normale".

*Solo il Battito Unito del Sesso e del Cuore può Creare l'Estasi*

"...Componenti intellettuali, fantasiose, romantiche, emotive. Questo è quel che conferisce al sesso la sua struttura sorprendente, le sue trasformazioni sottili, i suoi elementi afrodisiaci.

La fonte del potere sessuale è la curiosità, la passione. Il sesso non prospera nella monotonia. Senza sentimento, invenzioni, stati d'animo, non ci sono sorprese a letto.

Il sesso deve essere innaffiato di lacrime, di risate, di parole, di promesse, di scenate, di gelosia, di tutte le spezie della paura, di viaggi all'estero, di facce nuove, di romanzi, di racconti, di sogni, di fantasia, di musica, di danza, di oppio, di vino... un amante, quando è infiammato d'amore vero, può esprimere i toni più sottili di secoli di arte amatoria. Quante sfumature, quanti cambiamenti d'età, variazioni di maturità e innocenza, perversità e arte...

...Se ha reso i sensi indifferenti alla seta, alla luce, al colore, all'odore, al carattere, al temperamento, a questo punto dev'essere completamente avvizzito.

Ci sono tanti sensi minori, che si buttano come tanti affluenti nel fiume del sesso, arricchendolo. Solo il battito unito del sesso e del cuore può creare l'estasi."

Passaggio da Anais Nin, Henry & June