Last Year’s Trip to California

Surfer on Venice Beach

We just returned from California.  We also went last year.  Going back in time, this is a reflection on last year’s trip.  It was truly a blessing in so many ways.  There was getting to be on the ocean, reconnecting to friends, meeting new friends, getting to be in the presence of our teacher, who is of the lineage of Yogananda, to name a few.  We got to visit SRF which sent chills up me, as did the film our Swami showed of Yogananda’a earlier years during our meeting.  We listened to just five minutes of a Sanskrit mantra done without taking breath.  You literally quieted down and couldn’t move for a while afterward.  It was like an hour of total body and brain massage.

We had great sattvic food served to us, which is always a cleanse, and you never even get hungry.  I was really surprised my husband didn’t starve, but he was fine.  It was a service meeting, as we signed up to be volunteers.  We are being taught Vedic wisdom, ayurvedic principles, environmentalism, vegetarian eating, and yoga practices.  On the other days we discovered great organic/vegan restaurants, so plentiful in California.

Santa Barbara Beach

We drove both up and down Highway 1 from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles as well as through the mountains.  We were on Venice Beach, but were not really attracted at all to the commercialism and had no desire to even see Hollywood or the normal tourist things.  We would have gone to the Getty (perhaps next trip), but we stopped so much to observe nature that we ran out of time.  The weather was just too perfect to be indoors.  My uncle plowed us out of a now bank the day before, or we wouldn’t even had made the plane.

I loved the ocean, the mountains, the fresh air, the views, but still I love where we live.  Real estate was unbelievable there.  I can understand why.  People were renting just a bedroom and bathroom for one thousand dollars per month and were grateful to do so for the benefits of living there.  Everyone was so relaxed.  Traffic  was easy-going like the people.  We did a lot of walking and found a very nice coffee shop  in Venice Beach for breakfast.  We got to go again this year. They had the most delicious bagels.  The homeless and rich blended really well.

Sites of Venice Beach

The California weather had an equalizing effect on all, no matter how absurd.  People there could truly follow their heart.  There was a total acceptance of differences and no judgment from what we could see.  I found this truly refreshing.  As we walked down the street around the sleeping homeless a policeman pulled up beside us and rolled down his window, laughing, “It isn’t as glamorous as you see on TV is it?”  I guess we stood out as tourists.

I think my husband was ready to move out there.  The one thing we have over all of it is no other houses around us and the silence, and of course a much lower cost of living.  I guess I’m a recluse at heart.

On Venice Beach we ate at the famous Sidewalk Cafe.  The picture to the side is one of the many views from the outside cafe.  It was Spring in the section of California we were visiting.  I’m thankful we went when we did.  Most any other time would have been too crowded.

Sierra Mountains

Our favorite restaurant was The Seed Kitchen, a vegan, organic eating place right across from our hotel.  While there we got one of their cookbooks….more on some recipes from that later.

I think my whole life revolves around having spiritual experiences, as this trip was one.  Also, just being in the now, wherever I am, is one as well.  Learning to see the divine in everything and accepting life and people and the lessons they bring is my passion.

I’m thankful we got to go back again this year, reconnecting with previous friends and making new ones.

Vendanta Temple

Wednesday Warm Up

Wednesday Warm Up I always consider Monday fresh start day, but in this case it is Wednesday. I refer to it as a warm up day due to residues of jet lag. I’m slowly approaching all those new things I’m doing – in most cases they are just what I took a vacation from. At the same time I hope to approach them with a new vigor and awareness.

We just returned from Lake Zaca Retreat near Santa Barbara, California.  One of its claims to fame is being the site where “Creature of the Black Lagoon” was filmed.  It was a rustic experience, but then I am used to rustic. There will be more on that later. We also got to spend some time in Venice Beach, Santa Monica, and Marina del Rey, also more on that in later blogging posts.

While away I basically disconnected myself from cell phones and Internet. In some cases it was my decision. But for several days it was due to the fact that in the mountains there was no cell service, and for part of the time no Internet service. We were stranded in nature, a good thing and a bad thing.  Needless to say, the post a day 2011, fell by the wayside.

Today, I’m back in nature, my own natural surroundings. The weather is beautiful. I walked out into our own woods with our black labs, Barney and Benka. Barney is enjoying the creek in the picture.

There was a brief hiatus from regular yoga practice, which I had kept up seven and a half months. I missed a few days due to travel. That will also start again tonight. And now on to one of those new projects – learning to make vegetarian gyros for dinner.

Right now I’m thankful to be home safe and sound.  That was iffy at times.

Taking My Blog to the Beach Today

Venice Beach

On this cold winter day, I’m thinking of the ocean and an upcoming trip.

The seductiveness of the beach is no secret.  Humans have been flocking to where water meets land since ancient times.  After all what made hundreds of thousands trek across wilderness and treacherous mountains for the ocean blue, well besides gold, that is?  I would have to say it was to experience the serenity of aqua waiting on the other side.  The ocean teeming in paradoxes, one of the last frontiers for discovery is a small piece of nirvana to which most of us are drawn at some time in our life.

I can remember my first time.  Who doesn’t’ remember their first time seeing the ocean, especially if you waited a good part of your life to do so.  My first time was in college.  You know you are closer when the trees in the horizon start to disappear.  Then comes that smell.  It’s so different.  A salty freshness permeates the air. My first ocean visit was to Daytona Beach, in Florida.  Did I mention there was also romance in the air?  Well, that goes along with both the ocean and college doesn’t it?  It wasn’t “From Here to Eternity,” with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr.  It was just myself walking with a boy along the beach.  I can’t even remember the boy’s name.  The romance came and went as swiftly as the tide.  It was just one of those pristine, innocent ocean moments to savor.

There is definitely something magical about the beach.  What is this allure of the ocean that causes half of the world’s

Hendry's Beach, Santa Barbara, California

population to live within fifty miles of its shores while inviting the other fifty per cent to vacation there?  For many others and myself the spray of the ocean waves offers a renewal of life.  The stresses of the world begin to fade away.  Being near the ocean can change one’s “to do” list drastically.  On the top of my to do list is to watch the sunset and squish my toes in the sand.  Then there is to recreate the ocean/kiss scene in “From Here to Eternity,” with my husband.  I know that will come.  There is also to just let go and relax and let the ocean waves lull me into a deep meditative state.  This was our objective with our latest ocean visit.  This idea I found was hardly novel, as my husband and I, sat cross-legged on the beach, fingers in mudra position, less than a year ago, our last morning there.  As I looked out there was quite a string of people doing likewise.

Ever since that first time of experiencing the ocean I’ve needed a “fix” so to speak as often as possible.  I’ve experienced different beaches at different times in my life now, from different areas along the Pacific, the Gulf Shores, the Atlantic and even The Netherlands.  While each individual beach offers a different flavor like ice cream they all still provide me with that Zen essence of ice cream.  The water rolls up on shore for a brief moment of time and recedes back into the oneness representing the fluidity of life.

Whatever beach you choose prepare to lose your stress, let your children play in the sand, and let your own inner child come out.  Before you go, rent “From Here to Eternity,” to watch with your significant other.  This is a note to myself.

I’m thankful for all my beach experiences.