nothing a walk to the coconut stand won't cure...

i have been a bit homesick and had a head cold today after the incredible 5 days in Madras (Chennai) India for the music festival. But its like the feeling after a large event, exhausted yet richer in experience. Highlight: temple concert last night (day after Hanuman Monkey Gods birthday) and in there was a 4 story high Black stone Hanuman statue...wow.

so i just wrote two blogs since i was out of internet zone for awhile. its almost 2009. excuses aside..i have been enraptured in my little world here of South Indian Music and Guru time.

doesn't mean i havn't thought of home and all of you fondly through the holidays.

2009 resolution...liberation from too much seriousness, PLAYFUL radiant lover Julie freed up.

love to all,

j bird

the Light returns...

Namaste!
I promised pictures but the camera had to take a trip to the sony service repair...timing is key in promises, make them but allow the natural flow of time to unfold...this lesson is always at the surface here in India. Culturally, the we have different sense of time ranging from dinnertime (here 8-9pm), to when things are right to undertake. Westerners here soon drop the "want it now" attitude if they want peace of mind.

Well, news around here is a very small xmas buzz, i mean wee...some children outside my window at noon strolled by singing jingle bells today (the 23rd) and a man in a shop wished me happy xmas when i bought some decorations to give to friends. For me, Xmas has always meant extra special connection to family and friends more than the occiasion itself--- i do miss that, but otherwise...laying on my roof under the coconut trees for 40 min. after a morning of violin practice and an early lake walk, and speeding around on my scooter in sleeveless to pick up a package from home has so far been a grand pre xmas-eve day.
Most of the westerners are gone from Gokulam (Yoga students that is) as the Yoga Shala has a two week break. Kind of like the "off-season" since come Jan. this place will be teeming with foriegners...that's when i will shift my set-up to Saraswatipuram neigborhood and dig into the music even deeper. David G. and I have a new Years performance planned- a kirtan, celebratory participation singing with a local Tabla friend, and we go 3-4 nights a week to do this Kirtan thing at various Westerners and Indian places.

My plans for xmas are to fly to Chennai tomorrow for 5 days to attend the biggest South Indian Music Festival in the world...entire month of Dec. is devoted to concerts, 150 venues thousands of concerts. Nagaraj and Manjunath are playing every day somewhere and I shall dive in. Each venue trys to outdo the next with free food specialties and glam treatment of Artists and audience. Indian Musicians are a joyful, fun lot...more soon.

I've been doing some "inner work" here and one thing has been the interesting process of "The Artists Way" by Julia Cameron. It's core work is morning writing everyday longhand to process and connect with the inner Artist. Week 7 has some great insights: That are especially poignant as I move toward a recording project of a few tracks of my own arrangments with some Local top Indian musicians:
"Do not fear mistakes, there are none" Miles Davis
Drop perfectionism in all things it is a refusal to let yourself move ahead.
Perfectionism is not a quest for the best in ourselves, its the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough- instead move ahead into action to ...RISK most of us talk ourselves out of risk.
We can not escape fear. we can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures.

the small things...

Seeking occurs in time,and follows a path out of the present moment
into an imagined future.
Discovery is grounded in the present moment,
centered here and now.

Seeking focuses on a distant goal.
Discovery focuses on immediate Reality.

Seeking is fueled by restlessness and longing.
Discovery is delighted, fulfilled and satisfied.

Seeking is predicated on lack and grasping,-- and a sense of something missing.
Discovery is completely open and receptive-- accepting and embracing Reality,exactly as it is.

Good friends Phil and Grace in Bend mentioned they liked India "in the cracks". Perhaps they mean the small meaningful happenings like...

~walking 2 blocks to sit under a canopy a drink fresh cocnut "water" with a straw, whenever thirsty
~or sipping a wee 3 rupee "chai" tea at same walla, several times a day of course.

~walking just one block more to a small tin hut where a man irons clothes with a coal -fired piece in the heat of the day with a huge smile. laundry is an overnight journey out to the rocks where it is "slapped" clean and then sun dried.
~the special the moments of visiting an Indian family or individual where as the guest treatment is royal.
~asking directions in India...you'll likely get 4 different answers and versions in the same crowd and go somewhere entirely not where you thought (which turns out where you needed to be anyway).

~or how about the man who swings by the house several times a day singing "papayas...etc." delivering fruit and vegies right to the houses.

photo tour of the hood soon,

namaste!

intelligent vegetables

Life in india takes some delightful turns...
my new house mate brought me out to a farm 20km outside of mysore to an organic/ biodynamic gardening intensive based on Rudolph Stiener's work...www.basilacadamy.in
wow, the academics and details of growing high quality "intelligent" food from rich and fertile soil created from all natural methods including alignment with the moon, sun and constellation rhythms, cow dung composting etc. are fascinating ! cosmic farming on the Cauvery river outside Mysore...a welcome and serene departure from the city bustle. above pic is the layered compost piles we made.. cow dung slurries on a grand scale. And below is the group (a varied crew from Indian to new Zealand, canada and U.S) making the biodynamic soil and planting fertility boosters in cow horns (to be buried for months in either summer or winter depending on the mixture). Met some great characters here. Very interesting to "work" together...cultural differences are subtle and interesting... Indians have a great cooporation-team sense, whereas westerners seem to be more individually minded.


this Goshala Farm is something special (see purple lotus pond below) complete with morning and evening singing and music devotion in the small Krishna temple.
I am planning to go back soon to take a music writing stint and meditation break from city...

Now back in Mysore after this 3day course i am settled into my nest across the street from the Ashtanga yoga Shala of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the 93 year old legendary Yoga Guru and my original inspiration. He no longer teaches now (it is his grandson Sharath and daughter Saraswati) but i see him from time to time at his house and it often gives me tears of joy to see the light shining so bright in his eyes...he taught yoga to my Violin Gurus Manjunath and Nagaraj's father way back in the day so we talk of South Indian music.

I think of him when i am practicing music since with windows open sounds carry throughout the neighborhoods here.

Windows are surely open...its been very comfortable temps...70's 80's ...cotton is king.

Just finished a 3 night stint of concerts at Jogomohan Palace with some masters of South Indian Music. Getting around fine on my wonderful rented scooter, Indian traffic is a chaotic flow of horn language and anything goes, timing in the moment is everything...

Met some musicians here for recording projects and collaboration...

More soon, love and spice from India

sunshine again

the mysore train station...

violin concert in bangalore

Manju, Nagaraj, and friends

Classical Indian Music at its finest

not sleeping much, jet lag still, excitement still

too much chai and wireless internet in my new room. directly across the street from P. Jois's Shala...in the middle of the Yoga world.

everybody knows most everything about everone here, not much autonomy.

here i sit, sing and play the violin.

i go back and forth through various states of total bliss to complete bafflement around here. best is even keel through ups and downs. india is the perfect practice grounds for that. did i mention that the food is unbelievable? very fond of idlis and sambar this trip. cooking class tomorrow.

listened to my voicemail from U.S. (thanks for calls) and felt very warmly missing friends at home.

sun came out again, it rained for a week due to Sri Lanka cyclone coastal storm.

India shakes things up and smoothes out the rough edges.

looking forward to more of that, hanging in the moment for now,

got to get a scooter soon but walking all over the place has been nice.

santosha (contentment) in mysore...

love,

j bird

thanksgiving in india... safe here in the south

landed smoothly in india and we are tucked way down south in a beautiful "small" city of mysore hopefully off the map of the northern terrorist scares. even so, we are staying clear of downtown and tourist spots for awhile and keeping to the 'burbs where we are staying...within the first hour of wandering in mysore i saw this friendly familiar face by lucky chance (telepathy seems to work here...).

getting settled... more blogging soon. feeling thankful to be here on this adventure...Stacey and i are hiking up Chaumundi Hill to Goddess's temple with the seven golden spires and layers for our thanksgiving (my second time in two days here...!).
love and warmth from india
jbird

my violin and i

departure day !

gratitude to ALL of my family and tribe...Mom, Dad and you know who you all are, for inspiring and making this journey possible. i am feeling full of joy and blessed this early morning ~ it is brisk and cold.

had the oppurtunity to play music with some close friends the eve of departure for a fundraiser for the couple who were brutally attacked while travelling in
s. america. heartening to see the community turn out for an event like that to transform that awful situation into support and love.
also feels somewhat like a prayer for safety in my own travels, a friend told me recently (Jen P) that when we offer healing for others it opens the same channels in ourselves. so if there is any suffering or confusion in our own world it's useful to go outside ourselves, find a similar circumstance or situation in need of healing, and imagine/offer our help.

now onto this exploration mission of sound and healing..with my very close companion
the violin i've played since i was 10 yrs old! nice to think of all the colorful experiences we've had together, temples, concert halls, bars, nature, yurts, trains, airplanes, porches, gigs, practices, orchestras, bands, living rooms and kitchens too numerous to count, etc. etc. i have played that instrument for nearly all of the people i have known and loved in my life. what an incredible thread. i can sometimes hear the vibrations of that grand picture when my ears are particularly open and near my f-holes & sound box.

soon, india!

Spiritual Exile

exile. n.
Enforced removal from one's native country.
Self-imposed absence from one's country.
The condition or a period of living away from one's native country.
One who lives away from one's native country, whether because of expulsion or voluntary absence.

I am often asked: why do you go to India time and time again? ...perhaps looking for a tangeable organized answer, for which there isn't. Best answer is just to smile and laugh when asked "why"
(deep sage-like wisdom from two year old Hunter Grace here).
Perhaps another answer to why? is "To find yet more questions of a higher nature that experiences outside our normal ruts, routines & culture provide." Or the answer to satisfy our sense for normalcy..to study Yoga, Indian Music (Violin & Voice),certain types of India Massage to bring back and enhance, heal & teach others here in this culture while otherwise hanging out in a warm, spiritual and expansive environment with yummy food. To visit my dear family friends,The Violin Gurus Manjunath and Nagaraj and their family, (Manjunath says to me that what we Learn and practice in our lifetimes are our closest intimate friends i.e. Indian Music, Yoga, more so than even our loved ones ) or to go away from the U.S. for awhile to return not asking "why" so much!

Four and a half more days to go...
Was blessed to "sit-in" for Jai Uttal, the famous luminous kirtan singer who got the flu in Bend. Wonderful Lolo from Hood River lead the kirtan, i played violin. We were both in awe of the amazing and brilliant Daniel Paul on the Tablas (Jai's drummer) sitting next to us and also the full Old Stone Church audience who decided to stay put and sing despite the missing lead character.
Kirtan, as Jai puts it is "The Lifeboat of the Soul"...and it just FEELS good to sing together that way, kind of like everyone in the audience gets to experience the joyful "emptying of what we come full of" to a musical performance that us Musicians get to feel each time.
Many things to be grateful of...
and now the "letting go" pains of leaving beautiful Bend and the circles of family friends, which i seem to be particularly sensitive to this time around !

A sequence of connected musical notes

...my life is like a (says gaurdian angel Kay O.). At the moment i am in the "bridge" of my life's symphony. And speaking of metaphors I have been contemplating a few in this interesting limbo time with the help of some friends.

1. The Burning Ship and the Island: (Thanks to Cass and embellished by me)...A change of Life's situations, (somewhat tumultuous). After a storm on the sea, a ship gets struck by lightning and burns! (The circumstance we have to give up or transform in ) No choice but to abandon ship (way of thinking, circumstance etc.), hop in a row boat and row towards an Island for safety. Be careful though, the bright flames are intoxicating and might make you spin around and look back and ponder the disaster, get blinded by the fire or even get drawn back into a sinking ship! rather--- spin around and row bit by bit towards the shore of the island ...so by facing the right direction your path can be illuminated by the burning mess behind you. that is, IF you keep your eyes open, chin up and stay alert to the lighted path out of the storm . The sacred rowboat of change is usually a solo journey but if those that you love were on the ship too, have them hop in or wish them well in their own rowboat.

2. The Scales: Again thanks Cass Estes...Again related to transformation or for example putting energy/time towards some aim...Like putting small increments of scale weight on the side of the scale you are after...eventually there is enough weight there so that the scale tips in the right direction.

3. The Favorite Old Tattered Jeans: As a symbol of an important Relationship that changes. (thought of by me on a hike beside the river this summer)...perhaps the favorite jeans start to unravel at the knee and cuffs. The more they go through the wash, the more the threads separate once the hole is started. The cuffs scrape ground and become frayed, but the jeans are soft, comfortable on the skin and very dear to the wearer having gone through all those experiences together. So, one attempts to "patch" the hole in the knee when it gets out of hand.
One could throw a patch on, try a different look & bring in outside materials for help ... just forget the frays and hole underneath for the moment... but that will eventually unravel its stitches too and once again fall apart. Perhaps the underlayers of the fabric can be carefully woven back together and then covered with a colorful well-intended patch on the knee for therapy, and the edges of the cuff can be trimmed, what's not needed is discarded...Well, those are some character-filled yet intact jeans!
OR, one could just give up the whole process somewhere in the mending and throw the jeans out and get some new ones. OR, perhaps (cass's idea here, she's a seamstress) one could cut off the jeans into shorts! and just retain the best parts of the favorite jeans. And finally i thought perhaps the jeans could become a homage to their original form through ART. Stitch a jean pillow and use it to cushion your behind, to sit on and act as a muse to create...music, poetry, a letter, a painting, an idea and...
finally, the jeans could be put into part of a beautiful patchwork quilt of life's joys, trials, & rides, with all the love and experiences... curl up with this quilt and sleep soundly knowing the fabric of life is interesting and eventually healed at some point. 8 days for liftoff to India...
shout out to genius music man Neil Young tonight from portland cafe' xxoo j bird



2.

The Music lures me to Seattle...

Good morning from rainy Seattle ,

the road feels like it has begun so i start my entries here. after an 11 hour train ride over the Oregon mountains (covered with the first snow of the year! mixed with still brilliant yellow fall leaves--- a very sensual experience), Chemult to Seattle the slow way...where i read most of a Hafiz poetry book, journaled, napped and played some violin down in the cafe car. We saw THE most deeply rich full triple rainbow i have ever seen out the east window near Eugene, and the new friend sitting near me took a picture~ he said "hold up your hand like it is coming out of it", i did and a split second later it vanished! He said it appeared to go right into my hand...a good omen for the future? and sure enough, as i stepped off the train there was a phone call from Tor, my Tabla-percussion friend in Seattle that we indeed have collectively shifted our countries Hope for the future with our new president. I could feel the web of excitement in the atoms of the air i was breathing. I believe that thoughts, energy and words are very powerful and can indeed effect each other "through the air".
here are a couple of soul-awakening poems from the visionary Hafiz:

THIS SKY
This
Sky
Where we live
Is no place to lose your wings
So love, love,
Love.

A GREAT NEED
Out
Of a great need
We are all holding hands
And climbing.
Not loving is a letting go.
Listen,
The terrain around here
Is
Far too
Dangerous
For
That.

THE AMBIENCE OF LOVE
We all
Sit in His orchestra,
Some play their
Fiddles,

Some wield their
Clubs.

Tonight is worthy of music.

Let's get loose
with
Compassion,

Let's drown in the delicious
Ambience of
Love.

This blog will be some "writing home with the latest travel adventures" but mostly a sharing of the wisdom along the way.
Tor taught me "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" a buddhist chant that when repeated diligently daily, is said to transform anything we want, sky's the limit...the Unlimited power of sound and vibration is my main mission for the days to come...
Sat in on a practice with Debi Prasad Chatterjee from Calcutta, India... Tor Dietrichson played Tabla... and a jazz saxophonist from Seattle Neal together weaved the improvisational magic of Indian Raga based music. I joined them towards the end and learned a few things about Hindustani or North Indian music. Then recorded a few songs on my good friend David Garrigues new album at Greg Gilmore's cool basement studio. Followed by a warm and joyful kirtan at 8 Limbs on Pike st. with David and Tor.

Countdown to lift off to Mysore, India...16 days!