Garden and the Moon: Recent Episodes
Emilie Cresp
Garden and the moon is a knowledge center bringing together teachings and insights, experiences and stories, people and beings.
It is an evolutionary initiative that aims at the sharing of knowledge from its purest form, from all parts of the world, various backgrounds and spiritual paths, from nature really.
It is a celebration of the living, approaching the profound and necessary renewals of education, medicine, ecology and anatomy the way we understand them today.
The KARE podcast series unveil the wisdom of Ayurveda, the Science of Life.
KARE is an Ayurvedic and Yoga Center located in the outskirts of Pune, India and focusing on Ayurveda, Iyengar Medical Yoga, nutrition and meditation.
Poonam Kalmadi is the daughter of Prakash and Ragini Kalmadi who founded KARE 25 years ago. Having recently moved back to India from America, she is now leading the center with her mother Ragini Kalmadi.
In these series, she discusses with Dr Roli Rangappa, Chief Medical Officer at KARE, some of the most common health conditions they are encountering at their center and how Ayurveda treats and approaches them.
From Food & Nutrition to Ayurveda, Doshas, Pain Management, Cancer Recovery, Diabetes, Hypertension, Fibromyalgia, Fertility, they are bringing insights and perspectives rooted in modernity and tradition, prevention and restoration. Mainly they are providing knowledge meant to empower anyone on their own healing journey.
You can also listen to the podcast on Pain Management on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Aromatic oils and their healing properties go back to very ancient times: Mary Magdalene’s anointing of the feet of the Christ, the Greek physician Dioscorides’s De Materia Medica, written in the first century, the Persian scholar Ibn Sing’s distillation of the rose essence, Hildegard of Bingen’s usage of lavender oil for medicinal treatments, and so on.
Farida Irani is a Holistic Health Practitioner, qualified in Ayurveda, clinical Aromatherapy & Aromatic Medicine, Bowen Therapy, Remedial Therapy and Reflexology. She is also the founder of the Subtle Energies’s clinic, skincare and wellness solutions in Australia.
Mainly, she is another living example of the power of plants and aromatic materials to improve and transform lives.
Her own personal journey, rooted in Iran, India and then Australia carries the wisdom and spiritual unfolding of her work as a practitioner and plant alchemist.
It is during her many trips to India, in the early 90s that she came across essential oils not heard of in Western Aromatherapy nor used anymore by Ayurveda Doctors. With these unique oils and an introduction to many artisan distillers across India, came her research into what is now termed Ayurveda Aromatherapy.
Meeting Farida feels like traveling through places and stories from One Thousand and One Nights, surrounded by the intelligence of the plants and the light connecting us all.
In this conversation, we discussed anything “aromatherapy”. She shared about the “aromatic dressing” as well as the healing treasures she received from her Dad as a little girl.
At the beginning was space, emptiness, vastness, nothingness. Then came air, sound, the Word, Dreamtime, voices of the first day. From there, fire erupted, water started to flow, earth began to grow.
Somehow, the “journey of inner witnessing” I experienced in India a few weeks ago, along with a group of thirty Brazilian homeopaths, was the journey of re-membering this very origin, the source of it all, the depth of our soul, who we truly are.
Gathered at The Hidden Oasis, a biodynamic center on the outskirts of Pune, along with Dr Sankaran, one of the most renowned homeopaths in the world and true pioneer in the realms of medicine, environment, education, arts, we all dived right into the Song, silence, the art of paying attention, healing, freedom.
The pattern.
The same way nature is made of the five elements, the same way each of us is composed of those five components.
Depending on your own characteristics, you may encompass more of one or few of those elements. That’s the basis of Ayurveda, the Science of Life, that originated in India thousands of years ago, as well as other ancient systems of medicine.
At its core, Ayurveda heals individuals based on the thorough understanding of each body constitution and their unique combination of fire, earth, water, ether and air.
The re-balancing of those elements in the body through specific diet, lifestyle, herbs and medicine is essentially what Ayurveda is all about.
Homeopathy is a system of medicine based on the principle that ‘like cures like’.
In practice, this means that a medicine capable of producing certain effects when taken by a healthy human being is capable of curing any illness that displays similar effects.
Both Ayurveda and homeopathy stem from the very detailed encompassing of each individual’s nature and particularities.
They both treat the patient as a whole and as an individual. There is no medicine for any particular disease, but there is a medicine for the patient suffering from the disease. “The individual, not the disease, is the entity” (Sir William Osler).
What WISE (or the Witnessing of the Inner Song Experience), enacts however is another level of precision into the definition of each particular being, and therefore healing potential .
Yes, you are the elements, you are a form, you are a shape, you are a range of colors and associated sets of personality traits.
Yet, deeper than that, you are an energy pattern, a song playing within you, the driving force of it all: your health, your passions, your purpose, your life.
Every day, we wake up at dawn and meditate together. We are fed with the most delicious food from the premises, entirely vegan, organic and sugar free. The sense of bonding rises.
One after the other, we all get to share the notes of our song. The stories arise, the patterns unfold, the melody starts.
In any situation of life, whether it is fear or joy, there is always a reaction to it or a response to it.
The “reaction” comes from our pattern. The experiences that emerge from it are actually not ours. Like the thoughts, they come and they go. Like an illusion, they are disconnected from reality.
The “response” on the other hand comes from a clear way of thinking, seeing, feeling, willing, acting and the full acceptance of a situation and other people. Actions in that case are appropriate to the reality.
The more you are aware of your pattern, the more you can dilute it and liberate yourself from it. You start to handle situations from a response perspective rather than a reactive one.
It is from that song and the awareness of it that the journey towards true healing begins.
That is the real revolution the WISE process brings, beyond homeopathy where it originates from, to any aspects of the living and what it means to be human.
The process.
The practice of homeopathy convinces the physician to regard the body as more than a sum of its parts.Unlike a machine, it develops, carries on its function and repairs itself independently. In this sense, everyone carries within him his own doctor.
Beyond just symptoms and illness, the WISE process goes a step further by opening to the “pattern curing pattern” promise, and ultimately the source of healing.
We begin to “arrive” and truly meet each other.
Despite the silence (most of the retreat was silent), the sharing of our experiences is so deep that we quickly get to know some of the most powerful parts of each other.
The processes being used to identify your energy pattern take many different forms.
Whether through sound and music, touch and feel, meditation, movement, they each follow the same foundational steps : Imagining, Experiencing, Moving, Witnessing and ultimately Liberating yourself from experiences that are not yours.
I can see how challenged most of us are in expressing ourselves other than with words or our intellect. How to bring about the fear of losing your child in movement and sound? How to connect with the experience of rejection through the body and the voice?
We are all humbled. We all dive in.
I realize how much the mother connection means in people’s life and healing.
I observe the power of pure listening.
I notice how easy it is to get caught into your own perceptions and judgements, as homeopaths looking for a logic to this all, or anyone really, trying to finite a truth beyond space and time.
And how liberating it is to free yourself from those perceptions and judgements.
In just a few days, the world opens up.
Day after day, I meet my inner song.
I start to see it, to get to know it, to feel it, in my body, in my mind, in how I see others. Some days, I fight with it, some days, I make peace with it. Some moments, I ignore it, other times I make up with it.
The very last day, without any notice, I fully, wholeheartedly surrender to it.
Coming from my mouth, the biggest sound arises, coming from my body the most powerful volcano erupts!
I take a step back, I watch it all happen: the sound, the volcano, the tears flowing, the silence, the peace. I become the witness.
Only at that moment, I see the beauty, I feel the love, I accept it all, the songs of the birds, the humming of bees and my inner song. I feel much lighter.
The revolution.
Unlike any other forms of medicines or therapies, WISE works from the very depth of each individual, the very seed of life.
There lives the source of healing, the remedy to all diseases and ailments.
The body and the soul really are one when they participate in the third dimension of being, when matter reverts to pure energy, when the body is “lived” (instead of being enslaved to itself and to existence). The body becomes our tool, our laboratory, and our work to enter our true stature, which is divine.
Man enters the cosmos, and the cosmos enters Man.
The first time I met Annick de Souzenelle’s work, I remember feeling a profound sense of Truth or whatever Light could be called. Her words traveled beyond my brain and intellect, they connected deep inside my body. I felt it so strongly that I ended up meeting her in person and connecting with her on a very personal level. We are now along with two other writers in the process of translating her latest work from French to English.
In her master book The Body and Its Symbolism she wrote:
“The best medicine would be to set the patient on an upright path. This would mean recognizing the reality of the spiritual level in man, his essential being, his divine calling. Our doctors would then become the priests they formerly were, in the sense of teachers and masters.”
Listening to Dr Sankaran’s perspectives on life, “giving” and what it means to be human, connecting with this inspired group of homeopaths, I see the doctors, I see the teachers, I see the masters, I see the priests.
With very little words involved, we get to experience the most transformative moments together, we share smiles, eye contacts, books and poems like we would share remedies for each other.
Mainly I see a new system of medicine unfolding, one that’s boundless and infinite, one that relies on “free energy”* and the power of the body and soul becoming one.
One that embraces Art and alchemies as a “guide for the soul”** and a way to connect with the spiritual world. One that reaches your energy blueprint through the power of forms & colors, music & sound, scent & aromatherapy, dance, poetry, singing.
I notice we all gathered on Holy Week, I notice the passing of Pope Francis on Easter Day, I hear the words “Dying and Becoming”, I hear the word “Freedom”.
Doctor Sankaran’s “Journey towards the Inner Song” is the medicine of our very origin and of our present. It is the medicine of our future. It is an act of liberation, truly, a gift to humanity.
Right after the gathering, the group of Brazilian homeopaths would then travel to the Sankaran clinic in Mumbai for two more weeks of reviewing and studying the thousands of patients cases successfully treated through the WISE process. Mainly, they would watch a revolution unfold.
Notes:
*Nikola Tesla’s "Apparatus for the utilization of Radiant Energy"
Rudolf Steiner, The Theory of Colors
What is homeopathy? How can the most diluted form of plants, minerals and other natural substances treat the core of acute and chronic health conditions?
Can the body cure itself? And what is medicine anyways? How is it evolving? What is the future of it?
Doctor Sankaran, who I met in person in India a few months ago, is considered as the most renowned homeopath in the world. In fact, he is referred as the leader in the area by all the homeopaths I have met across the US and Europe over the years.
His story and experience are fascinating and a gift of healing for anyone encountering them. I am so grateful for this conversation and his sharing with the world.
Below are some additional information about Dr Sankaran and his work:
WISE links
• www.rajansankaran.com
• https://rajansankaran.com/raga-therapy/
• https://rajansankaran.com/wise/
• https://rajansankaran.com/meditation/
Non-homeopathic books:
• Dog, Yogi, Banyan tree https://a.co/d/azpANw0
• Manjhi the Boatman https://a.co/d/bs8gs6k
• Monks, Monkeys and Memories https://a.co/d/3hfovBD
Homeopathic books for non-homeopaths:
• Homeopathy for todays world https://a.co/d/5ptd6NI
• Natural Kingdoms https://a.co/d/hS5OVGL
Rose Baudin is one of the most vibrant, radiant, inspired 77 years old woman I know.
Like the flower, Rose embodies love, the essence of it; passion, imbued throughout her being; purity, directing her speech and all of her actions.
Like a goddess, Rose draws hopes and prayers, power and possibilities, mainly, Rose empowers to be, from your core.
I first met Rose in India, a few years ago. Somehow without even planning for it, we met again, year after year, usually around the time of my birthday, in February. The stars aligned again this year and here we were, celebrating together in India.
We recorded this conversation there, with our dear friends of KARE, in Pune. Rose shared about yoga, health, Ayurveda, silence. Mainly she shared about freedom.
Rose’s stories often go back to her guru she met in Sri Lanka, years ago. He informed important steps of her life, from New York to Goa, Sri Lanka and Australia. He helped pave the way of her spiritual life. Undoubtedly he still lives through here.
And without realizing it, simply by her presence, generosity and open heart, Rose is carrying the voice, lineage and wisdom.
The KARE podcast series unveil the wisdom of Ayurveda, the Science of Life.
KARE is an Ayurvedic and Yoga Center located in the outskirts of Pune, India and focusing on Ayurveda, Iyengar Medical Yoga, nutrition and meditation.
In this first episode, Dr Robert Svoboda and Poonam Kalmadi, surrounded by the quiet waters of the Mulshi Lake, review the topic of Panchakarma, at the heart of Ayurveda and of this center.
Panchakarma is a detoxification and rejuvenation process that helps remove toxins from the body. Considered as one of the focal points of Ayurveda, this treatment introduces the art of unlayering and discovery of all aspects of yourself. It is probably one of the most important steps for anyone looking to go deeper into the exploration of one self, yoga, meditation, liberation.
Here, Dr Svoboda and Poonam Kalmadi share their own understanding and experience of Panchakarma.
Poonam Kalmadi, Indian/American, is the daughter of Prakash and Ragini Kalmadi who founded KARE 25 years ago. Having recently moved back to India from America, she is now leading the center with her mother Ragini Kalmadi.
Dr Robert Svoboda, American/Indian, is an Ayurvedic physician and author of twelve books on the sciences of India. Acting as a bridge for civilizations and wisdom, he is the one who brought Ayurveda to America.
Jen Zimberg is a singer, a songwriter, a composer, a leader of choral singing, and a teacher. She was born in Westwood, New Jersey.
Like an angel, Jen sings the songs of the depths. She plays the music of the spheres. Unveiling voices meant to resurface, she anchors what’s left when everything’s gone. Tuning to colors and the sound of art, she brings to life the magnificent, all that is unseen.
In addition to her singing, Jen teaches in the early childhood program at Green Meadow Waldorf School in Spring Valley, New York. She also contributes to Developing the Self Developing the World school and community programs and to offerings by Inner Work Path.
Gathering with others out of learning and working on the Inner Work Path especially brings her joy.
From New York to Australia, Europe and anywhere her performances lead her, Jen’s voice harmonizes and soothes, resonates and unites.
It was such a privilege to hold this space and conversation with her, a few weeks ago, as we were both looking forward to this new year 2025 unveiling.
“ Living in the human-made world, I have found that music and singing can be a spiritual cathedral where we can gather among the deepest truths of the present moment within the tones of song.” Jen Zimberg
Just like his first name says, Stewart K Lundy “looks after” people, animals, plants, flowers, bees, angels. He watches their movement, their rhythm, the flow of it all. He immerses himself into their parallelisms, their coherences, their incoherences, all their meeting points.
Stewart “supplies food”:
- food for life through his biodynamic farm, Pennialroots.farm located in Virginia, USA.
- food for thoughts at the Josephine Porter Institute and The False Mirror, his take on life, spirituality and more.
- food for the soul, with the actual interaction of the two!
That is indeed where Stewart’s gift lives in: his ability to write as beautifully as he farms, his power to see the same spiritual ideal in a plant as he would reading any of the sacred scriptures.
Steward is a farmer and a writer, he loves the dirt as much as he loves to read books. He is a rare intellectual attempting to understand the most important intelligence of all times, the intelligence of nature.
When we had this conversation, Stewart was at home in Virginia and I was at home in Paris, facing the grand Basilica of the Sacred Heart. I mentioned how special this was for me to experience this three ways connection with the Sacred Heart. He then showed me the medal he was wearing picturing… the Sacred Heart! At that very moment, I understood the “photosynthesis grace” he was describing earlier.
You can listen to this podcast on Spotify and on Apple
For more informations on Stewart:
Pennialroots.farm
Josephine Porter Institute
The False Mirror
It appears that we are living in extremely important times and that what we do has an impact on the future in ways that will go well beyond our own lives.
On the one hand a new wave of love is being perceived by many and a growing recognition that with it great and beneficial change can happen. It is so very important that this new wave of love does not go un-noticed.
On the other hand this is being coupled by a growing diverting force. In the past, we had a sense we could always rebalance and recover from the diverting forces and return back to the center.
Now we are being confronted with a third force of darkness that seeks to prevent any re-centering.
Esoterically when we work with the future we work with the divine spiritual world that has prepared and is preparing a future willed by the Good.
In this podcast, Lisa Romero walks us through the different forces at play.
The work we do over the next 6 months will be very significant to the in-streaming helping forces that are working with us.
Here, Lisa introduces the Holy Nights and how they can deepen all the various inner places of relationship with the incoming loving wave of support and the illuminating forces of the Christmas light.
Below is the link to join Lisa’s preparation to Christmas, a four weeks series of online sharing starting November 30th 2024 and accessible to all:
https://www.educaredo.org/enroll/2024-christmas
About Lisa Romero
Lisa Romero is an author of inner development books, a complementary health practitioner and an adult educator who has been offering healthcare and education enriched with anthroposophy since 1993.
From 2006 the primary focus of her work has been on teaching inner development and anthroposophical meditation.
Through Inner Work Path Lisa offers lectures, courses and retreats for personal and professional development. Lisa's most recent initiative is the Astral-Arc, a YouTube channel offering a place to hear from young people asking questions on the path, practicing the work of love through awakening the mystery centre of the heart, and hearing various artistic expressions of both.
As we are evolving into new colors of the world and of ourselves, spiritual teacher and clairvoyant channel Melissa Halsey brings forth the physical shifts and transformations our human body is currently experiencing.
Transmutation or “the action of changing into another form” happens first and foremost at the physical level. It is influenced by cosmic forces and elements that live well beyond our sensorial understanding of the world. Yet, it has a direct impact on the way we live and feel today.
Approaching this act of rebirth and the many forms it takes with openness and compassion is what Melissa shares with us in this conversation.
Ultimately, it brings us back to wholistic perspectives of ourselves and the world, health and medicine, freedom.
Melissa’s Youtube channel is located here.
This podcast is also available on Spotify.
Georgia in Turkey, treasure of the world,
Trees marching along, chanting together,
Mountains unfolding to the sound of God,
What is Macahel? The earth just brighter?
The day arising, the sun shining through,
The dance of the bees, the birth of flowers,
Harvest of stories cutting the untrue,
How is life in here? An act for warriors?
Boundaries are lost, ruins are emerging,
The old becomes new for eyes which can see.
Anger is flowing and gets washed away.
Swords of light burst out like a divine ring,
Nothing’s permanent for the one who’s free.
Here in Macahel, beauty is at play.
Annick de Souzenelle was a French author who spent her life unveiling the essence of spiritual texts and spirituality. She died on August 11th, 2024, at the age of 101.
While visiting her in Angers, France, a few years ago, I met this couple, friends of Annick: Edda Caron James, an Italian artist and mandala painter and her husband Tony James, a British author. Tony translated Annick de Souzenelle’s masterpiece The Body and Its Symbolism from French to English.
As I was embarking on the translation of another of Annick’s essential books: Le Grand Retournement, from French to English, it appeared that this encounter was more than a coincidence, it was serendipity!
Since then, working with Tony has been enlightening on many levels. Tony releases his depth and spiritual Knowing like a flower would: discretely, timelessly.
In this podcast I initially wanted to share Tony’s connection with words, cultures and languages, I ended up exploring the themes of dreams and singing, religion and meditation.
Books and references:
Tony James, Dream, Madness, and Creativity in Nineteenth-Century France, OUP, 1995.
Tony James, Vies Secondes, Gallimard, 1997.
Tony James, Le Songe et la Raison: Essai sur Descartes, Hermann, 2010.
Annick de Souzenelle, The Body and its Symbolism -a Kabbalistic Approach, Quest Books, 2015.
Victor Hugo, Promontorium somnii (written in 1863, but published posthumously in the complete works; available to read on Wikisource).
Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land. A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation, OUP, 2006.
The Cloud of Unknowing and other Works, ed. A. Spearing, Penguin Classics, 2001.
Ann Faraday, The Dream Game, London, Temple Smith, 1975.
Iégor Reznikoff, Ecole de Louange.
A prayer is an invocation, a communication with the divine.
When I helped spiritual teacher Melissa Halsey put together her book of prayers a few months ago, I started to grasp more and more their power and uniqueness. There is a vast world of angels and archangels out there, tools and technology from the 5D reality that can transform our 3D reality.
Here, Melissa whose work is to channel those voices and beings for the benefits of all and each individual, expands on prayers and her practice with them. What are they, how to formulate them and why?
Such a beautiful exchange edited by my dear friend and colleague Marcus Underwood.
The work Lisa Romero brings to the world is the most important of all, it is the work of love.
The very first day of the year 2023, I somewhat unexpectedly landed in one of the most enchanted places on earth.
Byron Bay is sitting a bed of crystals, surrounded by volcanoes and enlightened beaches. It is the land of rainbows and glowing beings.
There, early enough to meet the first sunrise of the year, I met Madita, the daughter of the earth, the mother of the birds, the sister of the stars and the healer of our world.
Born in Germany and living in the world, her path into shamanism started in Peru.
Starting the year together with Madita has been a profound blessing.
Traveling the journey of the earth (and Byron Bay!) as well as my first shamanic ceremony with her felt like purely meant to be. In fact, it just brought everything together.
I am so honored to share our conversation, her story and prayer here.
I am so humbled by her wisdom, her profound beauty and every single words coming out of her heart.
About one hour away from the city of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, South India, nestled in a beautiful forest, you have arrived. The place is called Vaidygrama, literally the “village” (grama) of “traditional practitioners of Ayurveda” (vaidya).
Here, everything breathes the wisdom of Ayurveda, i.e the Way of Life which kindles the body, mind, spirit and consciousness.
Tonight is the auspicious night of Bhagavati Seva Puja done to restore balance and peace in the environment.
More than 50 people, men and women, mothers and daughters, healers and wanderers, have come from all over the world to gather around some important voices of Ayurveda and well-being, namely Dr. Robert Svoboda, Dr. Claudia Welch, Rose Baudin, and Dr. Ramkumar.
They have come to understand, practice and embrace Vanaprastha, the third stage of life, “the way of the forest”.
Starting at about 48 years old until 72 years old, Vanaprastha follows Brahmacharya (the age of “pure conduct”) happening until 25 years old and Grihastha (the life at home) from 25 to 48 years old. It precedes Sannyasa (“purification of everything”) starting at 72 years old (until 120 years old, according to what should be the lifespan of human beings!)
Vanaprastha refers to the retirement stage, where a person hands over household responsibilities to the next generation, takes an advisory role, and gradually withdraws from the world to embrace spiritual liberation.
Interacting with Vanaprastha’s “embodiments” in Dr. Robert Svoboda (xx years old), Dr. Claudia Welch (xx), Rose Baudin (xx), and Dr. Ramkumar (xx) for 5 days, the delicate and powerful transition to a new approach of living, letting go of the main goals of the household life (wealth, security, pleasure, desires) appears to be the most enriching and rewarding time one could experience.
In fact, this time helps to reintegrate the very basic truth of the living as a constant cycle of pure existence, birth, growth, maintenance, decay, and death, whether in the course of a day, an hour, a week, a month, a year.
In a way, we’ve all experienced Vanaprastha already, those quieter moments when the sun starts to go down or when winter approaches.
Understanding your life from the cosmical perspective helps connect with the wisdom of time, the rhythm of life and the beauty of the moment from an entirely different realm.
Ayurveda is the application of universal principles into human life. There is no concept of duality, in fact it is all about understanding the microcosm of your body as the mirror or the macrocosm of the universe.
The body structure is made up of the five elements and the functional aspect is governed by three biological humors or doshas. Ether and air together constitute Vata; fire and water make up Pitta and water and earth create Kapha.
Similar to the laws of the cosmos constantly balancing for peace and harmony, human bodies should constantly attune to the right combination of doshas for optimal body, mind, spirit and consciousness alignment.
Embracing the third stage of life in the best way possible is first and foremost reconnecting with those universal life principles, across ages and generations and the divine flow that derives from them.
The Indian teacher of yoga and author B.K.S Iyengar once said: “I always tell people, live happily and die majestically.”
These five days together dwelling in the forest of Vaidygrama was the most insightful attempt at manifesting it.
Shakti, the matter, the mother.
At the source of it all is Shakti, the ”energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability”. On every plane of creation, the primordial cosmic energy manifests itself into all forms of matter.
Like the most exhilarating scent, the fragrance of the Earth permeates every single cell of the body.
As Dr Claudia Welch noted, it is worth noticing that matter is closely linked to the latin word “Mater”, “Mother”.
Ultimately, you’re embraced and fed by the cosmic mother, from all aspects of your being and environment. Surrendering to it is what brings wholeness and therefore peace.
You are what you eat.
“Your body is like an inner fountain you constantly have to replenish.”
Like the gardener’s duty is to water the plant daily, the only life practice one should engage in is the one of nourishment, with pure food promoting health, strength, energy and life.
The 5,000 years old science behind Ayurvedic food and especially the one served at Vaidyagrama shows the powerful effect it can have on your body, from the grossest aspect to the most subtle one.
The level of care, thoughtfulness, love and excellence behind the preparation of every single meal at Vaidyagrama is like nowhere else I have seen.
Food should be simple, nourishing, juicy and soothing. That is exactly what we were served with during our time here. A dance of healing spices, organic vegetables from the garden, fragrant rices, delicious curries, vibrant fruits and golden buttermilk courtesy of the cows in-house.
Every intake of food made that way almost becomes like an act of devotion.
As one transitions out to the third stage of life, incorporating the right amount of moisture and liquid such as soups into the body slowing drying up becomes essential.
How you nourish yourself also takes more subtle forms of intakes, especially during that time of life when your constitution further connects to finer forms of energy, such as the breath and the environment.
There are multiple kinds of food: food that is edible, food that is sensory (the music you listen to, the oil you apply on your skin, the scents you’re indulging on), food as your motivations and intentions, food as your relationships, your environment, the state of your consciousness.
All is food equally serving the purpose of health, strength, energy and life.
Food has to be chosen so wisely.
“Good company makes a man great”.
Some of my most cherished moments at Vaidyagrama are the fire rituals, happening at least twice daily before the sunrise and sunset prayers. They purify the environment to restore balance wherever mistakes have been made and to pray for everybody’s well-being.
Most importantly, they ignite a deep sense of belonging. As beautifully related by Dr Robert Svoboda, developing any kind of relationship with the fire is probably one of the most rewarding practices one can have.
Tending the fire like you would do of any relationships, with others, with yourself, the devas or heavenly beings, your ancestors, the five elements, just unveil new realms of understanding and love.
Contemplating the transformative nature of fire energy, like you would do of the sun and its effects on plants and flowers is almost like watching the act of rebirth.
Reactivating the fire inside of you through breathing (one of our daily Pranayama exercise with Rose Baudin was Bhastrika, literally referring to the bellows used in a furnace) or any other specific healing modalities is often the very first step in correcting the root cause of any diseases.
Fire, primarily known through the sense of sight, helps us see the world entirely differently, unveiling new colors and forms, shaping new realities.
You are what you see
Shape shifting whether it happens cosmically (the worship of gods and goddesses have varied greatly across time), physiologically (women start loosing their bone mass at around the age of 35 and more intensively when approaching menopause) or through the senses (sight, earring slowly get impaired with age) may bring up uncomfortable realizations of oneself.
I was especially touched by Dr Claudia Welch’s sharing about that very moment at 46 years old when she felt the lightning of her rib cage and her transition into a new phase of her life more connected to the ethereal than the profoundly grounded nature of her life then.
The perception of what it means to have energy evolves too. Is it true that you have less energy or just energy for something else, like sitting and watching the window?
Is the tiredness merely stress slowly consuming up from the inside? The reflection of a misalignment between your activity and what you are truly meant to bring forth with it at this stage of your life?
I was moved by Rose Baudin’s stories of grace and compassion towards herself and the world, as well as Dr Robert Svoboda’s entirely new living arrangements as part as his entrance into the fourth stage of his life.
All shared about the absolute “fantasticness” of what is meant to actually shape shift, perceiving things from one whole being to another whole being, allowing the opportunity to entirely change and rearrange your life, blessed by loopholes and unexpected beauty coming from everywhere.
Could cliff jumping, provided “you’ve considered in your heart that the outcome will be a good one”, actually be the safest route to take?
“We are all going to die” were Dr Robert Svoboda’s first and opening words of the event. “Fire” also happens to be the first word of the first Veda (most important religious text in Sanskrit).
Fire and death are indeed very connected. Seeing death through the light of the fire is also seeing the power for rebirth. Like the fascinating Indian city of Benares Dr Claudia Welch and Dr Robert Svoboda would often bring us to, death and rebirth, Lord Shiva, life and transformation are all equal tools for liberation.
Ritam
Beyond energy, nourishment and transformation, the rhythm of the breath became like a recurring sound of the retreat.
The English word “Rhythm” and the Sanskrit word “Ritam” sound indeed very similar. Ritam means “whole truth”.
From a functional and biological perspective, Vanaprastha connects further to the mobile nature of the wind energy. When balanced, this opens new doors for creativity and expansiveness, as well as restlessness, anxiety, insomnia, weakness when imbalanced.
Connecting to the rhythm of the breath, Prana, from all aspects of your life becomes a critical anchor.
All you’ve been and all you’re becoming are built on this very rhythmic melodic memorization that the breath is.
Like a wave, each out-breathe and in-breathe set the way for new motions of life and transitions between realities.
Ultimately, that flow is what nourishes. In French, the word Mother is translated as “mère” and the word sea as “mer”. They sound exactly the same.
That flow is the arms of the cosmic mother slowly but surely carrying you forward as long as you let yourself be embraced by her.
It’s never all or nothing, rather a constant back and forth advancing towards what is ultimately your very essence.
The process can be rocky and gentle, the key of it all is to embrace it rather than resisting it and to remain calm at all cost.
The flow is the ease (versus dis-ease) and happiness. This is Sukha which in Sanskrit means both “joy” and “running swiftly or easily”. One can not happen without the other.
Every morning Rose Baudin would guide us through the immense gift that the connection with your breath is. She would teach us through the gentle control of your breath how to move the prana throughout your body and restore the functions of elimination, assimilation, balance, purity, cleanliness and peace and stillness associated. It’s like she was teaching us the musical instrument of life meant to create the melody of our soul.
Chanting is another superb representation of breathing, a well orchestrated movement of the breath and body rocking together as one with the universe.
Singing the Om mantra and giving gratitude to Ganapathy, Vishnu, Hanuman and all the Gods, all together as one, felt like one of the most important acts of healing of the retreat.
I loved observing Dr Robert Svoboda’s articulating of each word of the prayer so perfectly, like a pure act of devotion, reflecting on Dr Claudia Welch’s closed eyes and inner journey offered as a gift to us.
I could feel the care through each of their words, each of their sounds, each of their breaths touching each pore of our beings.
Emptiness as an act of courage
Vanaprastha is a constant balance between emptiness and fullness, effort and grace, wholeness in surrendering.
Vanaprastha is an act of courage.
Courage to do nothing and wait until it becomes clear.
Courage to let go of guilt, fear, grief and thriving.
Courage to detach and allow for new space to come in your life.
Courage to care and live your life in service for others, your parents, the sick, the vulnerable, your family, without feeling depleted.
Courage to think as “We” versus “I”, like the doctors of Vaidygrama physically living with their patients.
Courage to trust emptiness and fullness, welcome birth and death with the same radiance.
Courage to know that there is no better place to be than anywhere you are now.
Loneliness made sublime
Vanaprastha is also, as magnificently put by Rose Baudin, the powerful process of sublimation of loneliness into solitude. Yes, loneliness can be made noble and beautiful. Solitude can in fact become your safety space and silence, your most precious teacher.
At the end of her class, Rose Baudin shared this prayer from Jennifer Wellwood.
“Willing to experience aloneness
I discover connection everywhere
Turning to face my fear
I meet the warrior who lives within
Opening my loss
I am given inimaginable gifts;
Surrendering into emptiness
I find fullness without end
Each condition I flee from pursue me
Each condition I welcome transforms me
And becomes itself transformed
Into its radiant jewel like essence.
I bow to the one who has made it so
Who has crafted this master game
To play it with pure delight
To honor is true devotion.”
Who am I when there is nothing? What happens when you choose to go inward versus outward? When you slowly realize that you don’t need to project externally to be internally content?
As stated by Dr Ramkumar, the visionary behind this deeply essential healing movement that Vaidyagrama is, most diseases start from the constant desire to project to the world.
How about being a great 60 years old, instead of desperately trying to stay 30 years old? Why is it so scary to live according to your most inner essence?
There is no decision to be made except for being comfortable with who you are, for just intensively living the present. That is the only practice.
Living someone else’s life is in fact such a loss, it’s cutting out possibilities from amazing changes and transformations.
As Dr Robert Svoboda, author of Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution, stated, when you go with the minutia effort of aligning with your dharma (universal way of life), then nature will always support you.
Wherever your intention is will determine who you are.
The 8 limbs of yoga.
Yoga is the practice of uniting the body, breath and senses, mind, intelligence and self together as one.
Similar to all parts of a tree, all components of the human being have to function all well together to bear fruits.
From an external perspective, the Yama (ethical discipline) could be referred to as the roots, the foundation from which all the rest will grow, the Niyama (self discipline) as the trunk, the means to rise.
Following a daily routine that promotes self-care, cleansing of the sense organs (the “virtuous conducts of the mind”), balancing of your elemental combinations could in fact be the most life changing and spiritual journey you could embark on. Those are your roots.
Guided by the Ayurvedic doctors into the process of paying attention and care to each sense organs, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the eyes and the skin, what looks like a cleansing act becomes a true act of love.
From an internal perspective and going back to that tree, the Asanas (postures) are the branches, the spiritual practice in physical form, Pranayama (control of the breath), the leaves, Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) the bark.
From a spiritual perspective, Dharana (concentration) is the sap, Dhyana (meditation, contemplation) the flower and Samadhi (bliss) the fruit, all bringing the experience of the sight of the soul.
Rose Baudin’s morning yoga sessions were the most inspiring introduction to the gift that engaging in this comprehensive journey of purification of the mind, body and spirit is.
Ultimately, the journey, the path is your life purpose.
Staying committed to that path, and always coming back to it is your practice.
The key is to observe and engage with every part of the path, the “experience of the nectar”, the “nectar of the experience”.
The “road to the forest” has to start with the growth of vibrant trees.
You are the forest
Vana, “the forest”, accessed through the road of the 5 elements, the 8 limbs of yoga is whatever in yourself feels stable, anywhere in yourself you feel grounded to.
Vana is your anchor, your true friend and cosmic mother, what ultimately matters.
Vana is your foundation, where it all begins, where it will end and begin again.
Vaidygrama and its perfectly crafted houses built using the soil from the same land, the warming colors draping the inside, the temple and gardens, the trees planted by every single patients who had visited here feel a little bit like that mother and forest.
Listening to Dr Claudia Welch’s stories of her life in the forest of Vermont sounded fascinating. Robert’s forest in the middle of the city of Bombay, India sounded as much enlightening. The point is that your forest can be anywhere and everywhere. In a busy demanding household as well as in a dreamy piece of luxurious green heaven. The forest is your mind. The forest is your body. The forest is your practice. The place you learn everything from, the place to dismember and remember. Anywhere you go, anything you do, for the sake of the divine.
Vanaprastha becomes “the road to yourself”, where the true danger and lions to fight against are the self destructive energies inside and the mountains, your own internal obstacles to overcome.
Pondering on Rose Baudin’s burning desire to find her guru early on (that she quickly came to meet in Sri Lanka at the beginning of her spiritual journey) as well as Dr Claudia Welch’s beautiful gems from her own guru she would mindfully sprinkle here and there, I wondered about my own guru. Who is he? Who is she? Where is he? Have I met him already? Will I meet him soon?
Then, it came so clear to me: the forest in the guru. That practice you engage in every day is your guru.
Anything you’re running away from is something you can not run away from . This is your guru.
Simplicity is your guru.
Dances of the feet
To open and close the retreat, three powerfully alive women danced the soul and stories of heroic journeys, gods and goddesses, the divine made alive.
The depth of expression through their eyes and smile, their focus and drive dancing the stages of life felt the most authentic representation of what life is all about. A path. A road. A forest. Harmony. Beauty. Transcendence. Transmutation.
The Path to the forest is a healing path and the dance between the “I”, human, and the “We”, divine, the ultimate reward.
Each of the women’s steps and feet moving with grace and passion drew the way to go. Captivated by their feet dancing I could not help but think about the strange coincidence of the feet injuries Dr Robert Svoboda, Dr Ramkumar, Rose Baudin and a few others were somehow all experiencing at the same time during the retreat!
It reminded me about Dr Claudia Welch’s beautiful description of her way to feel the forest at night, one step at a time. It reminded me about surrendering over the feet of the guru, whether a person, a healing journey, or just plain beautiful vulnerability. It reminded me of a seed, shaped like a foot.
When Dr Robert Svoboda shared about his favorite homeopathic remedy for his foot injury called “R55”, I immediately thought about the meaning of the number 5 in Hebrew, the symbol of the seed and the promise of the totality, the unity, the sole power.
Going through every stage of life and even more so the stage of Vanaprastha is the opportunity for unity and liberation.
In fact, after every single group gathering we would have inside the main community room, some magical hands would come tidy up all the shoes outside, preparing our path forward.
To all of them and the incredible people that joined hands and feet together during those 5 days, to Vaidyagrama, one of the most advanced places of healing in the world, to all the teachers and the Satsangam community spreading the gift of healing across borders, one can only be forever grateful.
Connecting to the “New Healed Whole Mother Earth” as the new environment the world is now transitioning to, Melissa Halsey shares her perspectives on the earth and beauty, prayers and compassion, gifts and flowers.
Unfolding the lost and most precious trails of Turkey and the world, Emine is the guardian of plants and wonders of the natural world. She elevates the every day life through art creations, walks and classes, herbal remedies and moments of contemplation. Her voice transmits the alchemy of love and perfect harmony with nature.
CalendulaI am the wild calendula flower.Enchanting and bright, I know how to heal.I soothe all the wounds with my one prayer,Living to open, loving to unveil.Pinpoint of the gold, your true guide I am.Serendipity is our family.Coming from the blessed Seed of Abraham,I feed all the bees with just plain beauty.In the minuscule, I like to retreat,Dancing with the Name, eternal being.Friending the mustards, I flow in all heart,I bow to your soul, the precious sunset.If you come near me, sensing the living,Your self becomes ours, your life becomes art.
Here, medicines come from the garden or from the heart of the doctors, prescribing the art of surrendering and the one and only life purpose of spreading positive energy around you.
Imagine if trees, stars, souls, the sky and the Earth and the whole world of the invisible could express themselves with words and sentences, how would that sound like?
Journalist turned "scribe" Valérie Mallet connects with this vast and universal source of information (known as “ether” in philosophy, “vacuum” in quantum physics, “Akasha” in sanskrit, “The Book of Life” in religious texts.) She spontaneously brings those words to life, creating new prisms and symphonies of our own reality.
In this podcast, she furthers her work and mission and shares about what the Earth and others are telling us today.
Augmentation does not mean evolution. The augmented man is not an evolved man. Nature and man could accord in the evolution of their form.
One of the pioneers of the Plant based food and gastronomy in New York, Neal is also a profound lover of nature and anything gardening.
A collection of poems inspired by the magnificent and transformative gifts of Anatolia.
Clay Marsh is an American physician, scientist, educator and university administrator whose purpose is to “live the mindset of unity, peace, joy, love, creativity, and abundance.” He has been Vice President and Executive Dean for Health Sciences at West Virginia University since 2015.
Matt Presti is a metascientist, musician, philosopher, poet, volunteer firefighter, practitioner of Universal Law, Natural Science and Living Philosophy. He is the former President of the University of Science and Philosophy, formerly called the Walter Russell Foundation.
In this conversation, massage therapist and healer Phurpa Dorji expands on the Buddhist art of healing, meditation and life after life.
A selection of poems and notes inspired from the center, the source, the East with the West, the Old with the New, Mother Earth opened: Istanbul.
Born in Madikeri, Coorg, India, Ayurvedic Doctor Shylesh Subramanyaon is a lifelong scholar of nature, lifestyles and culture. He is the Director of The Spa & Ayurvedic Retreat at Four Seasons Resort Landaa Giraavaru (located at the Unesco Biosphere reserve of Baa Atoll) and the author of Healing beyond traditions. In this conversation recorded in the Maldives in April 2021, Doctor Shylesh discusses Ayurveda and the true meaning of Wellness.
Pranayama or Rhythmic Control of the Breath is the 4th petal (or limb) of Ashtanga Yoga. It is represented by the leaves in the Tree of Yoga.
Stéphane Allix is a journalist, former war correspondent, author and founder of the Institute for Research on Extraordinary Experiences in France.
Marie Pierre Dillenseger is a French American speaker, author and expert on Chinese Timing and Spatial Strategies. She reads spaces and dates the way an acupuncturist reads a pulse.
Michel Odoul is a shiatsu and psychoenergetic medicine practitioner as well as the founder of the French Institute of Shiatsu. I met him in Paris, in October 2020, to discuss about the time we are in, Shiatsu, the importance of touch and the art of being human.
Adi Shankaracharya was an Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. He wrote the Song of the Soul.
In this podcast, Marie Pierre Dillenseger and Stephane Allix introduce the world of guides and the invisible, spirituality and joy with the most practical and scientifically driven approaches that have been at the core of their work. I connected with both of them in the Spring of 2021.
Read more about Marie Pierre Dillenseger and Stéphane Allix at www.gardenandthemoon.com
Adi Shankaracharya was an Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. He wrote the Song of the Soul. You can find the Song of the Soul at www.gardenandthemoon.com.
Michel Odoul is a shiatsu and psychoenergetic medicine practitioner as well as the founder of the French Institute of Shiatsu. I met him in Paris, in October 2020, to discuss about the time we are in, Shiatsu, the importance of touch and the art of being human. You can find the full English translation of the podcast at www.gardenandthemoon.com
They are the postures formed through your body, the branches of the tree, the 3rd petal of ashtanga yoga. Asanas irrigate each and every cell of the human body and nourish through copious blood supply.
Through a renewed, invigorating interpretation, Annick de Souzenelle lets us discover our sacred texts and foundational myths via the inner path.
Dhanvantari is the Hindu god of medicine and an avatar of Lord Vishnu. He has been the king of Varanasi (also called Benares on the banks of the river Ganges). He is mentioned in the Puranas* as the god of Ayurveda.
Equality is a right, equity is a duty, yet the scale of the just is not the justice. Equality is a fact, an arithmetic fact. Equity is an action, an ethical construction.
Man by looking at nature could understand what relates to him and how to rely on it to accomplish his task. It is an ally, even when it seems violent and unfair. Nature teaches you how to find your wisdom.
If science means research and knowledge, consciousness would be like her cane, the one that guides the blind on his way. Consciousness is a rudder, the chief of our internal government, she holds the thread, the straight thread, the guiding axis.
“Now it is about reaching other spheres, both physically and in thinking. I admit that I would love to live in your century”
“To take care of the Earth is to ensure the maintenance of life. There is no wall in the living. The living belongs to one same system of organization and development. Ecology is not a philosophy, an ethics, a religion, a policy.”
“Absorbed in your thoughts, absent from your belly. You start from the thoughts to go to the paunch, but it is to the paunch, as a starting point, that we must return.”
“Anything that circulates in a vacuum. The pocket around the Earth is a wonderful membrane that protects against cosmic winds, but also stellar bombings: like a skin.“
We are called to go back to our celestial roots. Today is a time of “unveiling”. A big reversal.
If the portrait is an expression of our identity, the face is the key to our humanity. Our face is the encounter all in itself. An old man’s face – beyond that – is a compelling lesson about our condition.
A journey through the depth of the Greek vineyards and its ecosystem, biodynamic winemaking and connection to the divine.
Vaggelis is a gardener from Athens and a profound teacher. Here are the plants and flowers he introduced me to, and the poems inspired from them.