Day 41

Woke early and went down to the beach for a paddle and to have a look for the physical version of the stone from yesterday’s Shamanic Journeying. Didn’t find it but I think I now know where I need to go to get it. Feeling very happy and energised. Back in time for Chi Kung. Couldn’t understand why I was repeatedly falling over during the stand-on-one-foot bit, since I did it perfectly easily yesterday – then I realised that today was the first time I have tried it with my eyes closed. Back in my room, I ran through that bit of the process with my eyes open, just to reassure myself, and had no problems staying upright. Clearly I balance largely with my eyes! Next up was Initiation, where Richard passes on chi from Master Mantak Chia. The process itself was nothing much – took about 6 minutes and was mildly disconcerting. In terms of result, I’m not sure what I was expecting – something between neutral and a mild positive buzz I guess. I was definitely not expecting the overwhelming, profound, formless sadness which arose immediately after the process and remained for most of the day. Iron state control is useful – but of course can’t be maintained during processes like The Inner Smile.

Managed to buy and deliver my ‘secret Santa’ gift without revealing my identity – not easy in a town this small.

Next up was Kundalini Meditation. We shook for 15 minutes, danced for 15 minutes (old friends will be pleased to hear that I largely resisted the temptation to channel the Caddyshack gopher!), sat for 15 minutes and lay on the floor for 15 minutes. I would have been inclined to attribute my underwhelming results (an intense tickling sensation as if ants were crawling over the sole of my right foot, and a lessening of the slight pain in my lower back) to my initial state, but none of the other participants were exactly reporting fireworks. Finished the day with a near-death experience (more fun than it sounds!). Lovely post-dinner relax-tivity (strolling and talking) with Maria Noone. We stopped on the way home for a coffee and decided to try ouzo (since we’re in Greece and all). We were rather shocked at the generosity of the measure:

Maria (eyeing the large tumbler of cloudy liquid): what do you suppose they mixed it with?

Me: more ouzo?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *