A REPORT ON DR ANANDA'S TRIP TO EUROPE -OCTOBER 2007

[Guest guest]

Dear Yogachariya Dr. Ananda Bhavanani:

 

Thank you for sharing a succinct account of your recent Europe trip filled with fun and poetic vision. It was indeed wonderful! May Lord Siva keep you healthy and happy while serving the distraught humanity in your unique way!

 

Sincerely yours,

Tushar K. Ray

www.centralyoga.org

 

 

 

 

-

Yogacharya Dr.Ananda Bhavanani

; internationalyogafederation-worldyogacommunity

Thursday, November 15, 2007 8:20 PM

A REPORT ON DR ANANDA’S TRIP TO EUROPE -OCTOBER 2007

 

 

 

A TRIP TO MY EUROPEAN HOME!

A REPORT ON DR ANANDA'S TRIP TO EUROPE -OCTOBER 2007

 

15th OCTOBER 2007: Whew!! It has surely been a busy time with all the music and dance performances in the 10 day NAVARATHRI CULTURAL FESTIVAL organized by the Pondicherry Music and Dance Artistes Association at the Sringeri Mutt's Sivaganga temple. I played for the inaugural concert by Shri B Govindarajan that was a resounding success and then had to practice for Yognat's dance performance scheduled for the next day. In between this I had a live Vocal Concert on the local TV channel and had to rush all around to fulfill my cultural commitments before embarking on my European tour to Italy, Switzerland and Germany. I had also been busy winding up the shooting and voice over for my new DVD project on Chakras as well as organizing my Pondicherry Yogasana Association team to conduct the 22 nd Yoga Sport Championship in mid November after my arrival!

 

16th OCTOBER: I have never enjoyed packing but have to make sure I have enough for the tour and also something for the lovely people I am going to meet. My anticipation is high after the grand success of my maiden tour in April. Give the students at ICYER a special class on Shanka Prakshalana to prepare them for their cleaning and then travel to Chennai. All is fine at the airport and I get on my Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt without any big hassle. The flight to Frankfurt is uneventful and I manage to get my flight to Milan without the problems faced last time around at Paris. Lufthansa is surely much better than Air France! At Milan Priyananda is there with a big smile to welcome me back and then get me to the Gitananda Ashram in Savona safe in time for a lovely lunch. Have a restful sound sleep at my Italian home and get caught up on all the news and views of the last 6 months that I was away.

 

17-18th OCTOBER: It is sure nice to settle down in the Gitananda Ashram that is now like home to me and give Lilavathi and Priyananda some lessons in dance and Mridungam. Lilavathi learns so fast that it is a pleasure to have such a student. She learns the Gananatha Kouthvam in virtually two classes! Swami Yogananda Giri has created a near replica of the Sri Kambaliswamy Madam as a tribute to Swami Gitananda Giri and has successfully fought all odds to emerge triumphant. A mini India created in Italy! The Puja at the Sri Lalitha Tripurasundari Temple takes on a greater meaning as this is Navarathri and so I give a concert in the temple with a selection of Devi Krithis. I feel an amazing energy here and this elevates the spirit into a higher plane of consciousness. Priyananda plays the Mridungam and is improving by leaps and bounds as a percussionist.

 

19th OCTOBER: Priyananda, Hamsananda and I leave Gitananda Ashram early to go to Milan for the Inauguration of the Milan Yoga Festival that is being organized by Sabrina, a student of Aruna Natha Giri. An excellent venue adds to the charm of the event and there are a couple of hundred people milling around as we enter the venue, an old Milan factory that is now the Superstudio Più. My workshop on Pranava Dharana and Dhyana goes off well with Hamsananda translating my thoughts and instructing very well indeed. We have a chance to meet up with Aruna and his students who have made the trip to Milan for his seminar at Sabrina's centre. Hariharan who has come from Locarno in Switzerland, Priyananda and I have a nice Italian dinner and an early night with plans for our Milan sightseeing the next day in shape.

 

20th OCTOBER: Milan is a trendy city with lots of new and old buildings coexisting that intrigue me as we go sight seeing and visit the Duomo di Milano , the second largest Gothic cathedral in the world that is vintage art with a jigsaw-like piecing together of all pieces made from marble. I wonder how many mountains got used up for so much marble. We then visit the Castello Sforzesco that houses an excellent museum of musical instruments that was a good learning experience as most of the instruments were new to me. The Egyptian section with real wrapped-up mummies was also a real treat. The entire afternoon and evening are spent at Sabrina's centre with Aruna and his students and we have a great time with discussion, music and even a Mridungam lesson thrown in for good measure. After a quick bit of Italian pizza we rush to the festival venue to enjoy an evening of music by Prem Joshua and his band who belt out interesting compositions of music that has most of the audience swinging and swaying in quite a wild way! Swamiji taught us that we must listen to music with our spine but here I was witnessing more of a tailbone dance! I have never been a fan of those using Sanskrit mantras as 'mere' lyrics for they have so much more in them and I am stunned out of my wits when the band sings a mantra for Devi and claim "this song is for Shiva"!!! Ignorance has never been more blissful I believe!

 

21st OCTOBER: My workshop on Dhyana in the Gitananda Yoga tradition was scheduled on the final day of the festival and we had a good group of enthusiasts in the class. It was nice to have many of Sabrina's students as well as Vijaya and his wife in the class that dealt with Mandala Dharana, Chakra Dhyana and the Mantralaya. Sabrina organized a surprise concert for me in the afternoon and we had a marvelous time singing and playing with Priyananda, Hariharan, and Stephano joining in to entertain the hundred strong appreciative audience. Swami Yogananda presented a contemplative and introspective conference in the evening on Upasana that tied in the relationship of Hindu rituals with the concepts of Yoga in detail. This was followed by a nice Kuchipudi dance performance by Lilavathi with commentary by Hamsananda that was appreciated by all those present. Hariharan and I then left by road to get to his home in Switzerland before it was too late in the night.

 

22nd to 24th OCTOBER: My time in Switzerland was the busiest of my trip for all the classes Hariharan had organized for me at his centre and the hospital in Locarno. Sridevi and Revathi made the trip from their parts of Switzerland to be with me and we had a nice time interacting for the entire first day with classes, food and talk. Locarno is a beautiful town the nearby valleys and lake are wonderful testimony to the beauty of nature and we had a grand sightseeing time on the last day after I had earned my bread and butter! Hariharan and his lovely wife Patti have a nice little Vijeya Yoga Centre and he has developed a dedicated and sincere bunch of students who were very good in the classes. To meet his and Patti's mothers and their relatives who are doing Yoga was a nice treat. He had also organized a workshop and talk for me at the local hospital and I enjoyed my tour of this modern European hospital. The director of the hospital and some doctors and other paramedics attended my sessions and I think that we have successfully opened the doors of the hospital to more Yoga in the near future. Patti is an excellent cook and I had quite a fill of Swiss-italian food with them in the company of their cute little daughter Jeya, a bundle of Pranic energy!

 

 

25th October : Woke up early and traveled with Hariharan to Milan to catch my flight to Berlin for the next leg of my journey. Uneventful journey ended in Berlin with a grand welcome from the Gitananda Yoga Society committee that was there in full attendance. It was nice to meet Dr. Marianne Yaldiz who as the president of the society has been instrumental in its growth. An indologist she has a deep love for India and its vibrant culture. It was nice to see Leena and Prema again so soon after their trip to India in August. Leena and her husband Simo had organized a nice room for me in their house and after a short rest we were off to the Tagore Cultural Centre at the Indian Embassy. An appreciative audience that included so many known faces enhanced my presentation on "Yoga and Modern medicine" that was well appreciated by all those present. To meet Keshav Rekai after so many years was really touching and it was nice to touch down with others like Dr Birgit who had made the journey from the UK.

 

26th - 27th OCTOBER: It was really touching that Catherine Davis and Janitha made the journey from the UK and France to be with me at Berlin. We had an excellent session of Music, Satsangha and Chakra Dhyana in my morning session with 20 other dedicated Gitananda yogis and yogis who converged at Leena's house. Dr Birgit, Elena, Vijaya, Marcos, Madeline and Thomas were amongst the group and to have so many known faces in one place was a pleasant experience. After the session we had a talkathon catching up on all news and views and then went to visit the Natural Biological Museum. A lot of dinosaurs and stunning displays of wild animal models with excellent depictions of all biological phenomena really blew my mind at what can be achieved with modern technology. A grand musical evening awaited us on our arrival back at Leena's house where her son and Marianne's son had got together a grand musical programme with Jewish and German songs by Madeline, classical music by Jaakko on the piano and his girlfriend on the violin and Jazz by Nessin on the double bass with his friend on the Sax. The musical treat was followed by a feast that had been made possible by eatables prepared and brought to the event by different members of the society. Simo spent some lovely time singing Finnish songs and playing the piano with a gentle meditative quality. The next day we had a guided bus tour of Berlin and saw a lot of the sights including the remnants of the Berlin wall and the labyrinthine memorial to the Jews that does really affect you in a deep psychological manner creating a feeling of being caught with no escape in sight. An excellent lunch at Marianne's place was another chance for all of us to spend some time together before I caught my flight back to Milan.

On the flight back to Milan, I realised that though I was enjoying myself I had started to miss home a bit. It also dawned on me that my going back to the Gitananda Ashram itself had started to feel as if I was returning home. As we drove back to the Ashram from Milan, I joked to Hamsananda that I now had a cold Italian home to balance my hot Indian home.

 

 

28th October: A full day at the Ashram with a workshop on Pranayama in the morning, Puja with energetic Bhajans by Uma in the temple and then my concert in the evening marked my return back "home". A host of students and devotees of the Ashram had assembled for all the day and I enjoyed myself with a freedom that only comes when you are at home. Starting to really like Italian food and even the language seems to be much easier for me this time. Maybe I will give classes in Italian on my next visit here!!

 

29th to 31st: Taking dance classes for Lilavathi are a real pleasure for me, as she learns so easily. She really makes my choreography come to life with her energetic and complete movements. She learns the Yogini Tillana in praise of Patanjali and I wish I had more time to work with her. She has been busy with a new batch of puppies that she helped deliver and I marvel at how she and Priyananda have grown into their responsibility in such a graceful manner. Both young adults who have their heads steady on their shoulders. A real tribute to Swami Yogananda and his core team of Hamsananda and Uma. Priyananda takes me to town and I have a dizzy time at the local supermarket realizing how tiring and energy consuming shopping can be in a European supermarket. I give a class on meditation at their city centre and have pleasant time with many of their students who make it to the class despite the short notice. Sabrina and a few of her students make it to the ashram on the last day and it is nice to have my yoga family members meet and interact in this manner. Swamiji will be happy to see how the Yogic seeds he has planted have grown in Europe.

 

1st November: Another early morning pleasant singing trip to Milan with Priyananda driving me as I sing for him, and I catch my flight to Frankfurt. The flight is delayed by heavy fog and when we land in Frankfurt I really thank the pilot and God for it is so thick that I can barely even see my toes!! The flight back to Chennai is full of Indians coming home and it is interesting to compare different cultures and people on such trips. A lot of learning for my brain cells and I am still absorbed in these memories and thoughts as I land at Chennai. Amma is there at the airport to welcome with her trademark smile and I know that I am back safe and sound with Swamiji's blessings. -- Yogacharya Dr Ananda Balayogi BhavananiChairmanICYER and Yoganjali NatyalayamPondicherry, South Indiawww.icyer.comwww.geocities.com/yognat2001