To Santa Fe

I have never blogged before but a few friends suggested I write down my experience learning about vastu this next month. I could try to define vastu but it is much more complex than I could write in one or two sentences and so will let the blog define it as best I can as I learn.

I am in Santa Fe NM now and will be here for the next month. I will spend 2 weeks in the classroom and 2 weeks building a vastu structure. It took 3 days to get here from Portland, with stops in Boise, Idaho and Moab, Utah. I brought my best dog charley (charles barkley, chuck, carlito, chas michael michaels, char char binks, charley horse, charles n charge) with me. He has been a trooper. So curious he is about everything! It should be interesting to say the least. Lately he is charles barkley given his love of barking in the hotel room at every little noise.

I was in Santa Fe 10+ years ago. It is sprawling like so many towns. I also noticed the same with Salt Lake City on the way. Are all cities just stretching out their edges with the same cookie cutter buildings? Why is this? Builders are eager for work and money (understandably), growing populations are eager for easy access shops. But can this happen in a way that is developed with more awareness? It is like there is a free-for-all and no thought as to the effects. There are other options. And I have a feeling vastu can show how and why.

Vastu, ayurveda, jyotisha and yoga are vedic sciences which are closely linked. The spirit has a house. This is the body. And ayurveda shows us how we can learn what energies are present in our experience to help our spirit (us) move through life with ease. When energies are aligned we have resonance. We have health. When energies are "off" we have dissonance. Dissonance is another word for dis-ease. So when we build a house or spend time in a building, this too is like adding another layer of 'body' to our experience. How it is shaped, the materials used, the direction it is aligned can create health or not.

Jyotisha is vedic astrology. And as much as people think astrology is a hoax, it is very helpful to use as a tool. The ways the stars were aligned the moment we are born shows the energies being imparted on us. It isn't that we cannot change things, but there is an umbrella we are working under and knowing this — much like the energies we are working with in our body/mind makeup — empowers us to make the changes we wish or need.

The root of Yoga means "to yoke". Yoga is about bringing seemingly disparate things to one place, one truth. We think things are one way or another and are amazed when we find they are not either or they are both the same. We end in the same place. With one thing. Night and day seem separate. Yet they are both life. Man and woman can be different. Yet they are both human. Yoga is not just asana (poses). The asanas were designed to move energy in ways through our body to create an ultimate peace. Not all asanas are appropriate for all people. In addition to asana are other forms of yoga - yoga of the mind (jnana), yoga of devotion (bhakti), yoga of action (karma). And many others. Each have their place.

I just wanted to comment a little about these different disciplines to start because there is a place where they all link together to form a bigger picture. On my way down here something came to me: I feel as though learning ayurveda, vastu, yoga and jyotisha can be likened to learning letters of a new alphabet. And that at some point the alphabet will create new words and expressions which translates to a new level of communication. There is a place where they all meet. In India this knowledge still exists. It has been around for tens of thousands of years. But much of the old ways had been frowned upon with the emergence of western viewpoints. As we are finding western thought cannot answer all our questions, these vedic science are seeing a re-emergence. Both are needed and both are valid. And in the end they are really one. It is possible that the builders of the pyramids had access to all that we 'know' with the modern mind. They may just have traveled a different route.

Tomorrow night is the first session. Will write each night if possible and recap the day.