Issue No. 5 February 2010 Welcome Welcome to the Life Magic Newsletter. Hope you are having a great summer. Seems pretty good to me. How has it been going with implementing your New Year's Resolutions? Just asking ... Topics we cover this 1st Quarter of 2010 are
I welcome any comments you might have about this Newsletter. If you would like to experience a Journey Process to help you to clear up a particular issue, please do contact me. I hope to hear from you soon. Enjoy Our prizewinner at the Mind Body Spirit Expo in Pakuranga on 3 & 4 October 2009 was Elaine Hale. Congratulations once again, Elaine. Thank you to everyone who entered. Wow! That was different. About 140 of us from around the world, led by Brandon Bays and her husband Kevin Billett, visited India for 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year. I was very fortunate to be able to be a part of this too. We flew into Delhi and the next day drove by bus to Rishikesh. A trip that would have taken us a little over 3 hours in New Zealand took us 8 and a half hours! It was amazing. So much traffic, and so many tiny businesses lining the road almost all the way. It was very difficult to take in - it just went on and on. Rishikesh was great. We stayed at the Parmarth Niketan Ashram, and the room I stayed in (with my constant and friendly room-mate Henry) was right on the edge of the Ganges. We were there 4 nights, and it really gave us a tremendous start to the yatra (holy pilgrimage). Our first day was free so that we could acclimatise ourselves, and most of us wandered around the many little shops, and were encouraged to hand over our rupees by street hawkers and beggars. Right through the pilgrimage, in all the public places, we were distracted by beggars and hawkers. I certainly bought some interesting things including a beautiful healing wand and a vajra or dorje (symbolical thunderbolt of understanding/clarity) made from himalayan crystal. While in Rishikesh we had the opportunity to take a dip in the Ganges, the idea being to wash ourselves of our sins in the Hindu tradition. I am not sure if I got them all ... It was certainly very cold, and the river was deep and powerful.
We then moved on to Lucknow, which is where Papaji, Brandon's guru, lived. We visited Papaji's house and also the Satsang Bhavan where he held satsang every day. It was great to visit these places and take in their essence. The nearby Brindhavan Organic Farm was a beautiful and peaceful oasis. We visited the farm a few times, using tuk-tuks (3 wheel taxis) to get to and from there. These rides were always great fun, and you felt completely safe as you flew among the traffic, the bicycles, people, dogs and cows. We spent Christmas Day on the farm, sharing gifts and eating homegrown food. We also had a concert put on by the children of the orphanage (Children of Mother Earth) set up by Ravi Rai, whom I had met in Auckland at the November Visionary Leadership Intensive. A beautiful concert for which the children had practised thoroughly over 6 months. One of the best Christmas days I can remember ... Our next stop was Varanasi (Benares). This is an amazing place, very holy and very noisy and dirty! We visited the Ghats both at dawn and in the evening, being rowed in flat-bottomed boats. There are 66 Ghats stretched along the Ganges at Varanasi, with great steps, areas for fires, and massive buildings behind. This is where people who are dying come from all over India, and where they are cremated and their ashes scattered in the Ganges. This means they will not have to reincarnate, according to Hindu tradition. The beggars and hawkers were ever present, with the hawkers even resorting to their own boats. In the evening we saw a few burial fires, and an aarti (fire ritual praising God) that priests perform every evening at sunset. In the evening we had a wonderful feast and concert in a "palace". We had to use rikshas to get back to our buses, another great experience. So moving into Buddhist territory we visited two of the four places that all Buddhist pilgrims should visit. Firstly Sarnath where there are the ruins of a Buddhist monastery, and where Buddha preached his first sermon. Then onto Bodh Gaya where the Buddha experienced enlightenment under the bodhi tree. A descendant of the original tree is still there, behind the temple.
We next had to fly south to Tiruvannamalai, which is where Ramana Maharshi lived. He was Papaji's guru, and is one of the most revered saints in India. The Ramana Ashram is great and we visited it a number of times. One of my highlights of the trip was to climb to the top of Arunachala, the mountain behind the Ashram and where Ramana meditated in a cave for 17 years. The mountain is beautiful, and the views from up there tremendous. The next day we walked around about a third of the circumference of the mountain. The feeling on the mountain and in the ashram was very peaceful and very powerful. Our yatra almost over, we bused to our final destination Mamallapuram where we stayed at a resort. This was great, though outside the grounds, including the beach, we still had the hawkers and some beggars. Anyway it was a good place just to relax and prepare ourselves for our trip home. There was an interesting 8th Century Shore Temple along the beach from the hotel, very worn by the elements, and also a site of caves and carvings, including the greatest bas-relief carving in the world.
I stayed on for a couple of days in nearby Chennai (Madras). I took in the shops - the main shopping mall was really a collection of many tiny shops, much as you might find on the streets. I had a very interesting time being shown around a Hindu temple in some detail by a young student, and also being taken to a few other places of interest in a tuk-tuk, by a driver who spoke good English and with whom I had a very interesting conversation. Everywhere we went there was lots of traffic, including buses, trucks, cars, motorbikes, tuk-tuks, animal-drawn carts, bicycles, and these drove wherever they needed to go. Then of course there were cows in the road, dogs, people, parades, not to mention on one leg of the trip, an elephant walking down the road with his mahout (keeper)! Everyone just hoots and takes any gap that appears. And it all works. I felt completely safe and at peace in all the traffic. It was amazing.
I have not mentioned that every day we had "yoga" in the morning to wake us up, and then satsang in the late afternoon and a bit of chanting after dinner. Everything was done at a slow easy pace, and was well organised by our team of Journey "trainers". Spiritually what happened for me? I don't know. Some people had some very powerful experiences and revelations, and others like me did not. However, as Brandon explained it, we all would have been affected at some level, and that it will take us time to integrate. I must admit that I came back feeling extremely unmotivated to do anything, and also able to sleep really well for about 9 hours a night. That lasted about two weeks. Then suddenly I became really strongly motivated once I acknowledged to myself what it was I wanted to do! This motivation has continued, and things are moving forward. If you haven't been to India and you get the opportunity to go, let me recommend it. It is a real experience. Going over December/January was brilliant. Although mid-winter, we had temperatures of about 28°C every day, and only the nights were a bit chilly in the north. Certainly it was cold on the Ganges at dawn and in the evening at Varanasi, but we all had warm coats and scarves/pashminas.
We were very fortunate to have Deva Premal and Miten visit Auckland in January for a Friday night concert and a Sunday workshop. I attended the concert and was captivated by the gentleness of their stage presence and the beauty of their music live. I unfortunately did not make the workshop, but I have heard from a few of those who did attend and they found it amazing! Fortunately there is a DVD/CD set out of the concert as recorded in Byron Bay. It is essentially the concert we saw, and has the same beautiful atmosphere. It is great to see Brandon Bays and Kevin Billett in the front row, Brandon singing along enthusiastically as she does at The Journey events. Here is a link to the ad for the DVD on YouTube. Note that at the end there is the option to play some other songs. These are not off the DVD but are similar versions and are certainly representative of the DVD. Enjoy - I did!
You heard it here first! The next three events we are likely to hold in New Zealand this year are another Visionary Leadership Intensive, a Visionary Leadership Advanced Programme 1, and JourneyMan. No dates yet, but these events are likely to be run by Bill Macleod in New Zealand, tying in with the greater Journey and Visionary Leadership programmes being planned for Australia. Let's take them one by one. If you would like to attend any of them, please let me know by email and I will make sure I contact you as soon as the dates become available. Visionary Leadership Intensive: The Visionary Leadership Intensive will be a two-day programme similar to that held in Auckland in November last year. It serves as an entry level event for all of The Journey's advanced level courses, and also leads into the Visionary Leadership Programme. The Visionary Leadership Intensive is about clearing out limiting beliefs and social conditioning which stand in the way of true clarity:
While this course is aimed at business, it is presented in a way that addresses the needs of anyone who wishes to take leadership of their life. In fact, as it is very unlikely that we will be holding a Journey Intensive in New Zealand this year, please do consider this as a very valid alternative to the Journey Intensive. I attended the November Visionary Leadership Intensive, and frankly I found it to be superior to The Journey equivalent! It was tremendous. For more details take a look at www.consciouscompany.org. Visionary Leadership Advanced Programme 1: At the Visionary Leadership Part 1 Retreat you will discover how to:
The retreat includes five nights shared accommodation, vegetarian meals and course materials. Prerequisistes are that you have attended The Visionary Leadership Intensive or The Journey Intensive or JourneyMan. JourneyMan: (For Men's Eyes Only!)
In the exclusive company of other men who face these and many other similar issues, we tackle these issues directly in a supportive environment, free ourselves from the self-sabotaging rules and behaviours that have prevented us from being all we can be, and discover who we really are. An amazing weekend awaits you at JourneyMan. There are no prerequisites other than that you are a man, and JourneyMan allows you to continue either the Journey or Visionary Leadership programmes if you wish, without necessarily undertaking the Intensive weekend. The essence of the Intensive programmes is included in JourneyMan. So as I said, if you would like to attend any of them, please let me know by email and I will make sure I contact you as soon as the dates become available.
Here is another snippet of news hot off the press. Gangaji is visiting New Zealand for the first time in November 2010. Gangaji is one of Papaji's followers, and is resident in the US. Her Auckland dates are 24 to 28 November 2010, and include two public meetings and a weekend of enquiry. Her Christchurch dates are 1 to 5 December 2010, and include one public meeting and a weekend of enquiry. For further information email info@diamondawareness.co.nz
or phone (03)329-9989. Brandon Bays and her husband Kevin Billett have designed 44 inspiring Journey Cards that are “filled with profound contemplations … that invite you into a direct experience of your own enlightened awareness”. I am featuring one in each newsletter, and this quarter it is "Perfection". "God does not need your help to make Life more perfect." If you wish to purchase a set of The Journey Cards please contact me, as I have them in stock - only $35 so great value. I also have all of The Journey books available for purchase.
Past issues of this Newsletter are available on our website if you would like to refer to them. To experience a Journey Process now, and so assist
any healing you need in your life, please contact Alan Dawe
on (09) 533-7210 or at
Questions are always welcome!
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