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!