Re-Connecting

Well I’m back from a great week at the 3HO Winter Solstice Sadhana in Lake Wales, Florida. I enjoyed the time to meditate and take a break from every day life. It’s also cool to make so many new friends and meet other spiritually minded people from so many backgrounds. I took a few pictures…..and recorded one little video, but pretty much I took the forced "vacation" from my normal journalistic mode of capturing everything. 

Yesterday I drove a grueling 8 hours in terrible winter conditions to get up to Crested Butte, Colorado with my family to meet up with some of Arjan’s family for more vacation fun. It’s pretty scary driving in "whiteout" conditions where you can’t really see anything. I had to drive like 15mph much of the way. It’s was one of those tiring adrenaline focused trips.  I’m happy to have made it safely.

The weather is definitely not warm florida anymore. Here in Crested Butt, Co, it is now -15 degrees F. There is going to be loads of fresh powder today from all the new snow, so I’m looking forward to going snowboarding! It’s supposed to be a sunny day too! I’ll have to take turns going on the mountain since Charanjeet can’t go with us so one of us has to watch her while we go.

The kids sound like they are waking up so I should go….

Winter Solstice Stomp
Here is a cool video that I took with my tiny digital camera (so audio/video quality isn’t the best). This is from Winter Solstice in Florida. This is lead by Guru Das Kaur who got some of the participants at the camp to join in this fun Acapella "stomp". The video is the result of about three hours of practice and they did their "performance" in the evening at the "Yogi Tea Cafe".

7 Responses to “Re-Connecting”

1. HSingh says:

   December 28, 2008 at 8:07 am

   WOW! i love that, instead of going to the pub, a YOGA TEA CAFE!!! WOOOW!!! i want and need one in the UK! wow wot a unity! excellent!

   :D

2. Inder says:

   December 28, 2008 at 8:41 pm

   I was not sure to comment on this or not but finally made my mind to comment. I am a great fan of Sikhnet and all the other members who are associated with it. But after watching this Video a thought came to my mind that there is a certain way that we have been given by our Guru’s to enjoy Gurbani in. 

   Well there is always a way in one can do things but I think the way Gurbani is recited should be done as advised by the Gurus. Leaving Gurbani and Dancing apart can be done and should be done. 

3. Gurdev Kaur says:

   December 30, 2008 at 3:53 am

   i also didnt really want to comment but…. :-) there is a fantastic “dance” troup called STOMP who stomp and make music and use various peices of equipment.  Their dance form is trully artistic and this kinda reminds me of tha an art rather than just dancing.  Dance is art it is an ancient form of communication and it is also very natural to people to dance, watch babies and you will see what i mean….. it just happens. It is completely different if they were doing bhangra to gurbani or dhadi, but they are actually if you watch it properly using a form of communication and movement to relate every ang to gurbani which simply may be seen as “dance” but in actual fact is a form of communicating wordds with the soul.  Thee banging of the feet and the banging the hands on the chest activates meridians and the thymus too…anyway without getting too scienty about it i dont think its wrong….if you watch akj they bang their heads and move all around to the simran..isnt that dance? movement, sound = dance in many people eyes…my family think it looks like a rock concert with a lot of headbangers and they think it sounds like rave/dance music other than simran. 

4. Fateh Singh says:

   December 30, 2008 at 7:37 am

   Nice. Funny and kinda funky, and especially expressive of the spirit of Solstice — a communal and spontaneous joy grown out of the structured and lengthy meditations of White Tantric!

   In response to Inder, if he’s saying what I think he is… I would only counter that there are several Kriyas in Kundalini that require one to dance freely while also listening to music that is made up of Gurbani mantras and is meant to circulate the energy throughout the body after the meditation/yoga.

   There’s also tons of danceable Kirtan music, and Sikh pop music that if you just MUST get up and dance to when heard! I’m pretty sure there’s a rich history of Punjabi and Gurbani-associated dance that would support this.

   I could be wrong, but I think dance, expression,chanting and yoga go hand in hand, and freedom from rigid restrictions on Dharmic expression is part of what it means to be a happy, healthy and holy Sikh.

   Sat Nam & Happy New Year.

5. Inder says:

   December 30, 2008 at 11:50 am

   I do understand everyones opinion over here but again as I said in my previous post, we all  have our own opinions and our own way of thinking. 

   Isn’t the whole purpose of doing Yoga, to discipline oneself?

   Doing anything  just for the pleasure of that very moment does not seems to be disciplined at all!

   If anyone feels like Kirtan makes one feel like dance than I think that person has too much dance going in the head anyways.

   Also, if this would have been a natural thing to dance with Gurbani, why would the Guru’s have given us a specific way, specific set of instruments to recite Gurbani with. 

6. Teaching Kids Yoga says:

   January 5, 2009 at 7:42 pm

   Thanks for posting this – I missed winter solstice this year but got a real taste from this video.  It looked like a lot of fun and I felt the love.

7. Sat Atma Singh Khalsa says:

   January 10, 2009 at 11:26 pm

   Winter soltice or summer soltice are a great part of anybody’s life. It rehabilitate the body, the mind and the soul. God bless 3HO.