| Special Announcements |
| If you have anything that you would like to share about you or your family...send me an email giving me permission to post your news. You can email me at: bellarose69@gmail.com |
Winter in Fairbanks
Love, Curt |
| Curt & Paula's Update from Alaska! Christmas Letter – 2008 There is so much that has changed in my life since I last did a Christmas letter.
My car (driven 4,000 mile up the AlaCan highway) now has one of those electrical cords sticking out the front to heat the anti-freeze, the battery, and the oil pan. (Did I mention that it is cold here?) They tell me that it will get down to 40 or 50 degrees below zero. (Phht! How bad can that be?) We only have about three hours of dawn/dusk twilight per day now. You can see the Aurora Borealis sometimes, but only if you actually go outside when it is really cold and clear. The North Star is directly overhead, (as if north were straight up). Let’s talk more about Alaska summers shall we? It is really green and beautiful here. (Of course its green because it stays light 24 hours a day everyday for two or three months – hard to know when to go to bed and harder to fall asleep.) We do have a slight (big as your thumbnail man-eating) mosquito problem, but that only lasts for three of the four “summer” months. Of course, they are so thick that there are literally hundreds of them buzzing around your head anytime you venture outside. No matter what repellant you use, by their shear numbers, some are bound to make it through to your eyes and nose. So you mostly just try to ignore them. Mostly! Paula, is an acupuncturist here and really good at what she does. She has a practice that is booked out at least three months in advance and has a “in case of cancellation, call me” waiting list with 50 or 60 people. Some say that in addition to being good at acupuncture, she is also successful because she is sort of like a “professional friend.” She is a loveable person with a friendly smile and an easy comfortable laugh. We get along great. Mostly! Happy Holidays to all. Curt Paula’s part: Seriously, there were almost NO mosquitoes this last summer. Really. (I only used the DEET four or five times all season) . I’m not sure what Curt is referring to, but I shudder to think what a real summer will feel like to our latest transplant. (okay, for all the locals who get this—DON”T tell him!!!!) J Major highlights of 2008: This was my second summer running and I joined Team in Training to run the Equinox marathon this year. (Hiked it last year). Curt was a trooper and did many training runs both with and without me. In fact, for his “first“ year of being a runner, he kicked ass. (Pardon my French, but it’s there for those of you who speak French). For me, 26.2 miles of elevation had to be reconsidered after some pain experiences that were persistent and REALLY persuasive. Ended up doing the third leg of a relay team, my favorite part of the course—beautiful, but alas nine miles of all downhill. Several weeks of new and unusual knee sensations followed. My little house is now home to US (after many years of living alone at the edge of civilization, this is huge), two cats and two dogs. Having a partner with a similar mindset and on a spiritual path has proven to be a blessing in many, many ways. Plus, he appears to like my cooking. BONUS! Otherwise, life continues to allow many opportunities for growth, self exploration and amazement. I hope the same is true for you and yours as we journey thru the coming months together. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Joyous Chinese New Year! Peace paula PS We mostly call them the Northern Lights |
|
Curt in India....Update Was it just a dream? I’m back. I have returned home from India after another 24 hours of traveling. When I look back over the past month I have to say that what I experienced was a tremendous blessing, an amazing gift from God. There were a lot of logical reasons why I probably should not have gone on this trip (money, time, responsibilities, etc.). I have to say that I am ever so grateful that I am not strictly a very logical minded person. I feel like I have been so blessed by this experience it is hard to put it into words. I met, and made friends with so many interesting people from different parts of the world. I lost at least 10 pounds, and got my body finely de-toxified. I picked up some great ideas and techniques for my healing practice. I gained a greater understanding of the effects that herbs and the foods we eat have on our bodies. I feel a freer flow of energy through my body and a closer connection to things of the spirit and my intuitive sense. And I made some connections with some wonderful people (one in particular) that it appears will have a profound influence on me for the remainder of my life. I have had several people ask me why I stopped sending out my travel logs. I have to smile a bit when I consider how to answer that one. It has something to do with the first two weeks being a new and exciting adventure, and the treatments from the clinic being designed to lead up to the last two and a half weeks of treatments. During the first two weeks leading up to and including virechan day, it is all about purifying the body by removing all of the aam from the digestive system and the tissues in general. Virechan day is the culmination of that preparation – meaning you get to be so sick you think you are going to die, and then eventually you become afraid that you will live. Everything in the digestive tract gets cleaned out, and a lot of stuff that it seems isn’t even in the digestive tract as well. After virechan day the process shifts to a cellular level and the purification continues ever so finely. That part is primarily accomplished through the use of herbal basties. A basti is pretty much the same as an enema, except that it consists of mostly oils and herbs that are designed to nourish and purify, so you are encouraged to retain them for as long as possible. Now that you know much, much more about basties than you ever thought you wanted to know, you can understand why I was a bit hesitant to write again. That and the fact that I got into a really wonderful place where I needed to keep somewhat quiet, peaceful and alone in order to hold the space for whatever it was that I was experiencing – one of those subtle special spiritual growth times. I probably sound like I have gone Hari Krishna or something. Not hardly, but it was a special experience for me none-the-less. To give you and idea of just how profound this experience has affected just my physical body let me share this with you: In the recommendation of what to do on the return trip home, it specifically says, “Do not eat the airplane food.” I have always been very healthy, had a strong constitution and have been able to eat most anything without any problems. So, I ate some of the food on the way home. I’m talking about only the main entrée, which was a vegetarian rice dish – the rest of it did not appeal to me at all. Last night my body let me know that it was not happy with my poor judgment, and it let me experience a little virechan day of my own. I fixed a bowl of mung soup today and thought it was the best soup I have ever eaten, even though I have been eating mung soup and/or vegetable soup every day for the past month. It is very nourishing and healthy. Want the recipe? I am supposed to stay on a strict diet for the next nine weeks and I have a bunch of herbs that I am taking, as well as some home treatments for various things. This is a rather inconvenient time to be eating healthy, but I am feeling like it will be worth it as there are some things that I want to accomplish that are very important to me. One of those goals is to release some old anger and pain that resides in my heart area. (Most of the time I am not even aware of it.) It is something that is probably generational (a family trait), meaning that I was born with it. I am not aware of it affecting me much normally, but still, it needs to be healed. So, anyway, I’m back. I had a great time and feel very blessed. Very glad I went. I found India infinitely different than I had ever imagined that it would be. They say there are no straight lines in India – it is so different than living in the US that it forces you to think differently about life. You have to be flexible and assertive at the same time. I loved the experience and I love the people of India – they are a people of heart, a happy people despite everything. And now I have to get back into the swing of working and life in the US again …. Wish me luck. Love, Curt |
Curt in India
October 31st, 2007 There are so many fascinating things it would be fun to share with you all, it hard to decide where to begin. I suppose one of the most striking things for me still is the traffic, and how it is a microcosm of life here. I was traveling last night in an auto-rickshaw thinking how I could best describe the experience to someone back home. There are like a jillion of these little motorized buggies, all are painted black with an occasional brown or blue top, but mostly just black. They are about three feet wide and five feet in length, all with soft tops and no doors, and they go only about as fast as a golf cart (which is plenty fast for the conditions). The big, main thoroughfare streets are about as wide as a regular two lane subdivision road in the states, and a regular street is like a singe car lane. Here that main road is wide enough to be as much as ten or twelve lanes wide (no painted lane lines) in addition to all the considerable foot traffic on the sides (including of course the many stray mongrel dogs, cows, etc.) Most intersections don’t have stop lights, and there is no such thing as a stop sign, or cross walks. The whole thing is like a constant free-for-all with every vehicle constantly honking their horns. The honking of the horns is an essential part of the system, and is not the rude “get out of the way” message we are used to, though sometimes it is, but usually it is merely saying, “Look out! I am coming up on your left to try to fit into that slight opening”. Painted signs on the bumpers say, “Honk Please” meaning that they are attuned to those horns behind them so they know they need to squeeze over if they can in order to let the next guy in and avoid a collision.
On the rare occasion when they have to stop at an intersection for a red light, it is like they are lining up at the starting line of a marathon race, and when the light changes (or usually prior to changing as they anticipate it happening) it is like the start of a rugby scrimmage line with unbelievable jockeying and butting in and honking and jostling. Once they get to moving down the road it more resembles a trail of army ants constantly on the move like in a National Geographic special. Basically they don’t stop for anything unless they absolutely have to (pedestrians don’t qualify as a “have to stop for” entity). That means that if they need to do a U-turn, they wait until there is a slight opening or break (10 to 20 feet is all you get usually) in the on-coming traffic, then they nose into that opening. Of course this then creates a have-to-stop situation for about a second which will allow the U-turn to be completed and the gaps close instantly. The same is true of a pedestrian crossing the street. Basically you step into any break in the flow and dodge your way across the four to eight lanes as best as you can, expecting to get honked at all the way, just to let you know they are there, of course. It is total chaos, but an organized chaos, that has its own rules, and everyone understands the rules because they fit the situation, and so it just works. It is incredible how well such organized chaos works, almost like poetry in motion, in a way. Quite beautiful really, once you get used to the sheer terror of it all. Fascinating!
Speaking of U-turns (somewhere back in that monstrosity of a paragraph) here is one that I was involved in that wasn’t quite so smooth.
I was traveling in a rickshaw when suddenly a car from the oncoming traffic decided to do a u-turn. He pulled out in front of us, but we were going too fast and didn’t have time to avoid colliding with him, so the driver swerved towards oncoming traffic (the only place he had any space as it was tightly packed six or eight lanes going our way). He was going so fast and turned so sharply that the buggy began to fall over on its side (they are three wheeled by the way). Luckily, the next car behind the u-turn-er was right behind him so that he actually hit our buggy and knocked us back upright before we could fall all the way over. (Remember me saying that the speed of a golf cart is plenty fast enough?) The driver got back into our side of the road, pulled off to the side, got out, examined the relatively minor damage, exchanged nasty glares at the other drivers involved, and then we all drove off our separate ways. (After all, you can’t expect not to have a few dents now and then. Right?)
I received the most amazing massage of my life here. The guy was incredible. He spent two and a half hours vigorously massaging every part of my body. Absolutely wonderful. All for about $25.
The treatments at the clinic where I am staying are all set up to systematically loosen up the toxins within the body for the first couple of weeks. Then I begin the de-toxification stage where the impurities are released and purged from the body. At this point I am receiving daily treatments which include tandem male therapist giving me massage with heated pads.
Then I have warm oil drizzled from a pot onto the middle of my forehead for about ten minutes (very relaxing). I have a treatment for my eyes using a milk bath, and one for my heart using oils. I am on a strict vegetarian diet eating food all prepared here at the clinic according to ayurvedic tradition, which is delicious by the way.
The last thing I want to share is about the people, the Indian people. India has been described as a country of heart. The people are a happy people in spite of, or perhaps as a result of, the conditions they live in. Even those that live in shanties. One of the cleaning staff here yesterday, a skinny old man, came up to me and gave me a flower, put his hands together in the show of respect in front of his warmly smiling face, and then placed his right hand on his heart as an indication of the love he feels. It was very touching to me. They are a people of heart.
Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here. Curt
|
|
||
