It's a Miracle! I can See!

I have just completed a week at The School For Perfect Eyesight in Pondichery, Tamil Nadu.In only one little week of eye exercises and not wearing my glasses (a terrifying prospect in a city where you have no idea where you're going and you can't tell if that's a cow, a rickshaw, or an elephant coming towards you) I have reduced my prescription by 0.5 in each eye and completely reduced the cylindrical deviation to normal.

Impossible you think? Well I am living proof. Let me tell you all about it. We arrived at the school. A beautiful colonial building which is a part of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondichery. Within minutes our eye sight was being checked. Jose apparently was mildly crosseyed (not that I ever noticed) and my eyes went in the opposite direction. Who knew! No one ever pointed this out to me before!We were given a set of exercises to perform right away - 2 times a day for the next week.

The first torture I had to endure was horrific - a drop of honey in each eye while I swayed my body in the sun! I recommend no one try this - it burns like a mofo. (lucky Jose only had to put saline solution in his eyes). The other exercises were much simpler and even enjoyable. Playing with a tennis ball, reading itty bitty print in candle light, and looking at all kinds of charts.Who would've thought! After such a simple workout my eyes would actually improved, and I would have no problem walking the strange streets of Pondichery blind. And even though we cheated for 2 days (renting a scooter and going to visit nearby Auroville
(which is a whole adventure onto itself) and thus wearing our spectacles the whole day) We both improved our vision significantly.

Another Allopathic myth busted. My optometrist (as lovely as he is) could be out of a job. And what does this cost you ask? Well besides the flight to India, the $3 a day for accomodation and the $3 a day for food and the occasional beer - we're talking nothing but what your own generous heart wishes to donate. And as we left we each receive a cute little package with an eye cup for washing our eyes, eye charts, an eye patch, and some sweet tasty honey (for my tea of course).

OSHO Tales of a Madman

Jose and I have both joined a robe wearing, mad dancing, cathartic releasing, hugging and laughing, crazy cult. Ok so I became a card carrying member a long time ago, but this time I brought along another victim!

The Osho Ashram continues to grow in ways I'm not so supportive of, but at the same time the loving essence of a brilliant teacher still remains, and those on a spiritual quest can begin here. It's a great place to learn the language and teachings of spiritual masters from around the world. From Jesus to Mahavaira, Hasidism to Buddhism - you will find all these at Osho's commune (now commercially known as a Meditation Resort).

Is healing to be found here? Absolutely. As long as you have the money to come and stay for an extended period of time. If this is available to you than there is a lot to learn, and many opportunities to connect with meditation and spirituality both of which are inextricably linked to health and healing. When we find awareness disease is no longer necessary. Illness is a signal that something is amiss, but when we're fully aware, fully awakened the warning light is not required. There is a growing amount of medical evicence to confirm this ancient knowledge. Click here to read about it on the BBC, or click here to read about what NCAM has to say about it.

My favourite meditation at the Ashram, is the evening meditation, also known as white robe (becaues everyone must come in dressed in a white robe). This provides the best opportunity to hear and see (on video of course) Osho. It combines the best of Osho's teachings and meditations: dancing, giberish, satsang, silent sitting, and most of all celebration Osho was very adamant about life being a cause for celebration. Here is what seems to me a great unbiased article from Wikipedia you can make up your own mind. But the one thing I can say is Osho taught people to find joy in life, to let go of their hang-ups and concentrate on the most important things. For the religious and political establishment this was considered was sacrilege, and immorality. Explore your sexuality with love and awareness, meditate, find the truth for yourself, be kind, radiate love, stand up for what you believe in, don't follow societal construction if you do not agree with them, work to bring awareness to the world. Universal teachings that to me work towards global healing.

The Alchemy of Healing

While I sit on my stool at Riverdale Homeopathics I picked up a book by Edward Whitmont tittled The Alchemy Of Healing. The book eloquently explores healing in the context of Jungian philosophy, alchemy, and homeopathy. It's a brilliant illustration of how spiritual thought and practice is the basis of healing. Without internal transformation ultimate health is impossible.

Whitmont explains how our present dualist understanding of reality creates a barrier between us, others, the environment, and ultimately healing.

"Despite their differences, relativity and quantum theory both imply an an underlying "unbroken wholeness of the universe," Bohm's "implicate or infolded" order. What we perceive as "separately existent particles" and "ordinary notions of time and space" are abstracted as forms derived from the deeper order. These ordinary notions in fact appear in what is called the explicate or unfolded order." (Bohm, op.cit.xv)
The habit of treating mind and matter as though they were fundamentally separated and incommensurable has serious consequences. It keeps us from dealing effectively with psychosomatic reality. It inhibits the acceptance of a holistic model of healing. It sanctions the and destruction of our habitat because it prevents us from seeing our planetary body as a conscious organism of which we are a part. In destroying our environment, we destroy ourselves." (Whitmont, the Alchemy of Healing, P.48)

By understanding that matter is a manifestation of energy, and that all energy is interconnected (and is actually all one single organism) then we understand that our thoughts are influential and can materialize in physical reality. We also understand that our actions affect everything around us. If this is true then there is a deeper understanding of illness, its causes, and its cures. We need to treat, or stimulate, or transform at an energetic level in order to heal at a physical, mental and emotional level.