Georgia love...

Well its been quite a few days since my last post, and now flow begins to form again. So in my last few days in Russia, I spent camping in a beautiful village along the Volga River. The village was also in the form and creation of many of the principles shared within the Anastasia book series I mentioned before. It was a fascinating experience to live with these individuals for four days with a strong language barrier. My good friend Katya was the translator for me, allowing me to gain some insight into the beautiful souls within this village. She and her sister had lived in this village while her sister was pregnant. The village is known for its way in natural child birth, each individual who comes there desiring their own special way, completely created by the loving hands of the village folks. Upon entering this space, I could feel the child-like atmosphere and ambience of so many individuals embodying the beauty and essence of their inner child, but living and creating as adults. The food was incredibly delicious, all vegiterian, with a strong ounce or two of love in every bite :)

The experience was once again profound for me, as I struggled through the challenge of remaining in a bit of silence, with many people whom I would have loved to get into very deep conversations. But in this experience, spirit created for me a way to understand, appreciate and love the souls of this village, even without fully understanding the words from their mouth.

And I realize now for myself, my addiction and appetite for travel more and more, especially when I am simply understanding and seeing people simply by the essence which pours out of their being, so even though without conversation can be challenging, it creates another way to honor and love the beauty of humanity.

I had some insightful poetry I wrote in the village, but I am without my journal in this moment and taking advantage of the 5 star free computer access Sheraton hotel in the sea side village of Batumi, Georgia.

My original plans was traveling to the sea side city of Sochi in Russia, to get another taste of the Black Sea life, but my intuition was leading me to Georgia instead (and only a 30 day visa in russia, was not nearly enough time to see very much, so I will return again sometime soon, to dive deeper into the forests of Siberia.)

So, now here in Georgia, I am overwhelmed by the hospitality that rings strongly into the heart of every Georgia individual I meet. There is this intoxicating smile that each person from this country possesses.

I decided to give some more hitch-hiking a possibility in Georgia and it has been brilliant. While in the small wine country town of Telavi, I was picked up by this middle aged man, who barely spoke a word of English, however in his deep desire to show me his nearby villages, I spent the entire afternoon being escorted around to every beautiful cathedral nearby!

This particular adventure also included eating some of his mother's delicious Georgia cuisine and then being gifted a hand-knit sweater, that still had the smell of sheep permeating through its threads.
So, as my days continue here in Georgia, I continue to see and experience this profound level of generosity and inherent goodness within the people of this small country.
Just today, I was walking through Batumia, saw a small farmers market and decided it was time to have a couple of home grown tomatoes and some yummy green lettuce, that I do not know the name of in English. After buying the tomatoes and lettuce for about 35 cents, I sat inside this farmer to stay dry from the rain. As I began to eat my light snack, I was soon being brought a single vegetable from almost every babuskah in the market. With a warm hearted smile across their face, they turned my small snack into a full course meal, simply out of the goodness of their heart. The veggies were delicious, the bread fresh out of the oven and the spicy peppers full of flavor... so without too many more words, I think you are beginning to breathe in the culture and flavor of this country.
I will be heading north shortly up the mountains, to live with the mountain people, have some meditation time, and go for a 3-4 day trek with my new buddy from the states.
I will try to be more effective in my posts and next time include some beautiful photography, but simply let your mind run wild to the possibilities of spirit that fly within this world...
For as the game of life muttles on
All possibilities of creation,
run purely from heart to heart
from city to city
Allowing the true transcendence of time
to be the captivity of our new born religion
a religion beyond the borders of restriction
a birth of a way of being
which simply only speaks from the heart
allowing the pure creation of our greatest inspirations
be the shining moment of our greatest sun
for across the earth,
across the globe
beauty speaks itself wisely amongst us all
For the possibilities of adventure and insight
Are all just a mere "lurk" or two around the corner
so unwind your spirit
let yourself take that moment to dream
to fall asleep amongst the stars
to speak into the soul thats desires to play like a child
to breathe for the first time
to see the same sight as though it was your first
for even though I have the opportunity to travel
the same adventure works for anyone
at any time
its just waiting for the inner child in you
to come alive and breathe deeply into the
beauty of this glorious humanity!


until next time my beautiful loves :)

Lessons in Mother Russia...

Its sometimes in this journey of our heart, where the greatest lessons emerge in our least expected circumstances. Sometimes, in a simply journey of joy and discovery, our dark deep fears emerge directly into the front of our consciousness awareness. There have been a few times in my young and short 27 years upon this earth, where these lessons ran directly into my streaming thoughts. And often before, in the seats of my youngest imaturity, I was unaware of the possibilities of growth and evolution that were being displayed before my heart. And as I grow deeper into the pure observation of our beautiful humanity, I am continusouly displayed many ways where the evolution of my soul is still running awake and alive to my present day reality...

Well enough of the theoretical observation, I will get there an deeper in just a moment of time.

This journey began again with the slight nudge of spirit. I entered into the city of Kazan, just a few short days ago, to begin my observation and appreciation of yet another fabulous Russian Community. Kazan, being one with a straight Tatar influence....

I don't feel like going into history, but look it up if it interests you...

After two days in Kazan, I feel asleep the other night to the sounds of the Netherlands beating Uruguay in the world cup seminfinals. I was sleeping with the awareness that I would take another day in Kazan, explore more and possibly enter some beautiful lakes...

However, like other moments of this journey, I was awakened from within at 3 in the morning after just a few short hours of sleep. I realized this was something speaking to me, so I listened and got a little caught up on some of my blog entries... :)

And within time, I realized I was being called to this other city about a 7 hour bus ride from Kazan. I had already made some connections with some Russian friends in the city, but did not think I would have thetime to make it to this beachsidу community before my 30 day visa expired.

However, within just a few short hours, I was on a 6:50 am bus to Samara...

Now, let me preface this next part with just a little discussion of the language barrier that can be present in many interactions of this journey. I have found comfort and understanding often with people simply with discussion through intuition and comprehension, beyond the need for a universal language, as my comprehension of Russian only grows very slowly.... IE, I have been able to have conversation of the heart, with simply interaction and understanding without the use of words...

So upon arriving into this city of Samara, I sent texts to my friend and she informed me we would be meeting after her work. Well this did not exactly happen, as while I was walking down the city cener street, about an hour before our meeting, she happened to ride her bike right by me and delightfully our meeting reached an earlier time :)

So, we began our conversations and I realized that there would be a strong language barrier in this communication. Her comprehension of the English language was strong, but a bit more challenging for any form of fluid conversation or thought, which is absolutely perfect for the creation of spirit taking place...

So after a few hours, and some amazingly great Russian cuisine, her friends began to arrive in her one room, very Sovietly covered flat, and I realized that her friends whom she told me spoke english well, was not exactly accurate.

Again, perfectly fine.

As the pre evening discussions began, I often sat in the corner, simply appreciating the love and beauty of the people before me, and occasionally engaging in conversation. I then, in the beginnings of a "deep meditation," had a strong flip over my consiousness...

I thought, wow, this is strange, almost as though I ate something that changed my clarity of consciousness, and in this moment, I began to watch my mind drift between this fine line of strong fear and love....

As our dreams once become our reality

A fine line exists

between a space of greater light or greater dark

A space of chemical foreplay upon the senses.

where in the journey to light

is the pathway leaving behind the abnormalites of dark

Created in perfect unison

Fallen by untrenched fears

this pathway continuously presents itself upon the mind

Challenging us to follow our dreams

or steer to the fears

but when the fears dissipate

and love rejoices

All forgotten fears glide easily away from the consciousness

to which they were created

for in the journey of beauty

is the rocky road of our troubles

Sifting and falling away

these once troubled avenues

now fly like beautiful angels

away from the beauty of tomorrow....

Now, this fear that surprised me in this moment was overwhelmining strong and dilligent. It encapsulated every thought of my movement and breathe and I began to loose straight clarity of my easy thoughts and awareness....

But I soon realized, this was a test of spirit to truly overcome this moment of trepidation. For the fears that overcame my thoughts were that of a deep childhood nature, being displayed into every "foreign-Russian" individual in the room. As I sat there, in a bit of a quagmire, I had these beliefs that these individuals around me were discussing the bizareness and obsurity of my behavior, and honestly I felt I began to loose control...

Now, loosing control can be on a variety of levels, for sometimes in meditation, it is often brilliant to feel the loss of control, and simply fall deeply into the energy of love that is created.

However, this loss of control was increasing my heart rate and my blood temperature, beginning to feel every "perceived" thought of the individuals in the room.

Now, this is where the language barrier was both perfectly created, but also divinely orchestrated. For in normal conversation, with other English speaking individuals, I could have easily explained my present circumstance and there would have been very little too create worry, just a few simple laughs....

However, in these moments, in my deep dark entrenched thoughts, I created every soul in the room "out to get me," in simplified terms, a habit and a continued thought upon my previous way of being. So, now here I was, loosing a bit of control of my consiousness awareness, in a city far away from any real soul to whom I thought knew me, creating this situation of my fears with the individuals as puppets of my consciousness inside the room.

In this moment, I felt very alone, very segregated and I watched my thoughts drift between that line of light and dark...

The line that history has shown that with some of the most intelligent and wise individuals of our day, have fallen upon, loosing full understanding or reason for ones actions, just simply following one direction or the other..

And has history shows, those leaders who follow that line of light are forever remembered as the amazing artists, political leaders, saints etc. of our time, Jesus, Buddha, Davinci, etc,

And those individuals who follow that line of dark, are also forever remembered and genius, but in the darkness of our greatest trauma, Hitler, Stalin, etc.

Both situations and both "types" of people are both created by God and live in complete harmony and beauty. And it become overwhelmingly fascinating for me in this moment to see how my thoughts, my beliefs, all of which are a patterning of my evolving soul, was creating anything and everything in this situation. Either to follow that reaction of my mind being displayed into trouble and fear, or follow that line of love, into divine joy and ultimate compassion of being..

So, in this moment, after speaking briefly with a trusted friend in Moscow, I began to go deeper and deeper within. Those people around me, wondering when this strange American man would return his spirit back into his body...

And it was through this moment and in this perfectly created situation, I literally fell deep into this divine state of love. I had never before had such an overwhelmingly realization to the beauty of all those around me and upon further understanding of my consciousness realized what I had created.

A situation, where fear overwhelmed my being, but love surpassed every thought, emotion, action and present day creation of this experience....

So, once returning to my body, in broken English attempted to explain my journey of the spirit, and soon the room was filled with laughs and love...

Wow, this was amazing. I had realized that again, spirit, life, journey had given me this amazing opportunity to overwhelm my body, mind and soul with a fabulous lesson of my self growth...

I know the length of my description can be challenging to you, however this is simply my finest attempt to share with all of you the process and delightful complications of a growing internal love and awareness.

So, if did not loose you, then thank you, for it becomes overwhelmingly fascinating me to attempt to put to words the flow and growth of my evolving, loving state of being, which is why often my words go to poetry, in attempts to describe that space between.

In my next post, I will discuss how the conversation of greater truth continues to arise amongst all nations, all people and my own discovery of a more specific innate peronsal purpose...

blessings, love and light to all of you, and share if you would like, for I appreciate and respect all of your adventures into a more aware self as well :)

-Aaron

tales of a Dacha.

Into the outskirts of Nizhny Novgorod....

As you noticed from my last post, one of the aspects of this Russian life I enjoy the most is simply entering into the countryside. It is very practical for almost all city dwellers here in Russia to have a "dacha," outside the city. So normally, on the weekends, especially in the summer months, the roads are very congested leaving the city on Friday afternoon and even more on Sunday night. However, this slight congestion is worth every minute for the calmness and serenity that exists in this quiet country homes.
As a couchsurfer and a world-wide friendmaker, I found myself with the great oppurtunity to spend this last saturday and sunday with a family in their beloved dacha. It happened to be the father's birthday, so all of the family came out for the excursion. I thought possibly at first that I would be unwelcome, being a foreigner and not part of the family, but from the moment I arrived, I was greeted with OPEN arms of love and huge curiosity.
Even before I could close the car door, my friend Olga's 84 year old grandpa was giving me an earfull. He spoke russian and a bit of German, as do many older and elderly individuals, as in their hayday, German was the international language of choice.
I continued to share with him my true inability to fully comprehend his witty remarks in both Russian and German, but he continued to share away and soon began to ask questions galore about me...
Within a few minutes, the man of the hour, PAPA, stole me away from the family bombardment and began to show me his beloved Dacha.

Now this was not just a simple Dacha, this happened to be an old schoolhouse for children, so this place was HUGE. With two floors and an ample amount of space, this home was incredible. It had this old soviet type feel to it, just simply transcribed into wooden logs and large sleeping rooms. He gave me the thorough house tour, and before long, I was chopping wood, assiting him with his beehives and fully engrained into the beauty of this home and this loving father.
We soon sat down to begin our daily feast and my eyes were huge with anticipation with all the goodies laid before the table.
So as my appetite got quenched and my taste buds awakened, I soon feel deeply in love with the compassion, care and generosity of this family. The toasts also began, which in Russian tradition means a steady flow of Vodka.
Now, being that I am a bit older in my traveling and drinking days, my quench and love for alcohol is not quite the "necessity" that is used to be, however in this particular situation it is very customary and down right rude, not to partake in the vodka drinking aspect, especially for a birthday. So my liver tolerated the day's festivities and honestly with the more toasts that were given, I felt my comprehension of Russian greatly increased....

I also recalled a previous story while traveling through Minsk, in Belarus. My friend Charlie and I had been welcomed into the home of one of the Belarussian women we were traveling with..
By the end of the evening, I had drank more and eaten more than I every thought possible, all to the company of two older women who spoke zero english and two younger women who spoke very little. But as I recalled in this previous traveling adventure from many years ago, I always began to understand the fluidity of the language with increased Vodka...

Well back to this present divergence into the Russian dacha... As the day progressed, I soon learned I would be the man helping out to begin the festivities in the Banya.
For those of you who are unaware, the banya is basically the Russian Suana, customary especially in these Dacha homes. It is a two part wooden hut, one with a very strong burning stove and another with a washing room. In between these two rooms, is the space for eating very salty fish and drinking beer.
So, as being the father's helper with all aspects of this day, I started to load the stove up with firewood and begin the Banya..
As the fire started to heat up the hut, we went off to tend to the beehives...
Honestly, at this point, my hesitancy, if it ever did exist, was completely thrown out the door. In normal conditions, sans the vodka, I feel my brain would have kicked in a little bit harder about actually putting on an old beekeepers suit and tending these hives. However, in this exact situation, it was perfect, for I learned that actually the vodka helped calm any of my nerves and I soon realized that there was very little to fear around the bees. So for next time, I would gladly do the same, even without the prearranged nerve calmer...

The beehives were amazing to me and even more so how he laid out the traps to catch the wild bees and then bring them back to his home...

As the day progressed, soon I was informed to get naked and begin the Banya tradition. This was a interesting moment, for the place of the eating table and the place of the banya were relatively close, but like all other things through the day, I simply followed the lead of the father, who ginerly took off his suit and plunged into the outside pool.

He went over to get the salty fish and beer and I began to prepare for the extreme heat of the following hour or so....

Once inside the Banya, it is customary to take rolled up trees leaves and have your banya partner slap you furiously with these leaves...
Need I say more, that with a natural flow of beverages, and great food that this experience was incredible.... After jumping into the cold plunge pool, I got to experience the tastiness of the fruitful berries that were growing everywhere, my favorite being the blank curants...

Well I could continue on and on with this story, but essentially, this day helped me really discover the meaning and purpose within these Russian Dachas. For as the family works hard in the city during the week, living in the flat, the real inspiration and growth happens out here in the countryside. I saw the vibrance and energy that was felt and appreciated, giving each of them the strength and perseverance to work through their difficult weeks.

Now, this whole story takes place in the glory of the hot summer, and my taste buds and body temperature can only imagine the extremes had I been here in the beats of the cold Russian winter....
Maybe that is for another adventure, but for now, we left the dacha on Sunday, returning to Nizhny and the following day I hoped on the Russian Railroad to the city of Kazan, where my adventures are currently happening...
more for another day..

A creation into consciousness...

A

I spent last sunday in a small eco village about 150 km south of Moscow. The village was created around ten years ago. I have been reading a book series entitled Anastasia, which is essentially about a Russian Entrepreneur who comes across a woman living in the Taiga, completely off the grid, raising her son and thoroughly intertwined with nature and the animals. The books go on to demonstrate and talk about a vision for small villages of this type to be built all across Russia and the world. This particular Village was created and envisioned from much of the same principles.

From the moment I entered into the open vast expanse of green, wild flowers and the fresh smell of wilderness, my heart and spirit began to slow down just a little bit. I was happily greeted by the friends of my friend Ekaterina, whom I am staying with here in Moscow. She, personally, had experienced living in one of these settlements, when her sister had a child completely in nature a few years back. So Alyonna, and her mother Ekerna, greeted both of us with a warm Russian embrace and even with a strong language barrier, I could simply feel and understand the presence & energy these women were living in within this community.

It was amazing to simply connect without language and understand and feel most of their discussions. Intuition was practiced and experienced for me throughout the day! We shared together some local honey, some wild berry jam, and the best were the Siberian Cedar nuts. These are small brown nuts with an incredible sweet taste and also thoroughly discussed throughout the ringing Cedars book series for their natural healing capabilities.

As the day continued on, we had lunch with some of the other local families and got to be a part of a raw cooking class taking place amongst the children of the village. One of the older women of the community brought all the children together to teach them about various herbs and also how to make a very tasty typical Russian Dish. It had potatoes, dill, radishes, cucumbers, some locally cultured milk and a brew made from fermented nuts. Once this was all mixed together it made a sort of raw stew that we all thoroughly enjoyed!

Having my friend Ekaterina with me, allowed me to understand a lot of what was happening, as she could easily translate their discussion. A few of the homes we visited were built 100 percent from raw materials, simply by mixing clay, straw and various stone mixes together, these homes were built to be cool through a warm summer and easily sustain and comfort through a harsh Russian winter.

The expressions of gratitude and continual growth were ever present throughout this community, as it was easy to see their constant evolution as individuals, but also as a large community within one combined vision. Some of the residents spent the entire year within the settlement, simply depending on the strength and durability of their home. Others spent their summer weekend inside their home building and preparing it for all of the seasons.

The grasses were filled with small red wild strawberries, which were a delicious bite of pure natural living. Each wild flower had its own unique specialty, and purpose, and most of them with a delicious flavor. One unique family was almost complete in their vision of building their own home in the shape of an oak leaf. The bottom floor of this beautiful “Dacha” was mostly complete, with the second floor still on its way towards completion. Each inch of these locations was a perfect demonstration of the ingenuity and focus of a family towards a combined dream of sustainable regenerative living.

The day was happily greeted by a brisk jump in the local stream, which many of the locals were enjoying. The water was extremely cold and refreshing, filling my body and soul with the pure energy of this magical land. From this stream and many of their own wells, each family plot had a large supply of water. This was not just ordinary water either; I could feel the layers of earth it had been filtered through to be delightfully delivered to the grateful embrace of my mouth.

After meeting with many locals and fully engulfing and absorbing the vast beauty of this settlement, a cozy nap amongst the trees in the naturally built hammock was perfect. My body needed a rest and my spirit had a moment to rebirth. As I began to drift into the beauty and energy of this environment, I began to see the creation of this new planet.

Captivated by the presence of a new dream

Living upon by the thousands of years of ancient wisdom

Locally created by the dreams of the grateful and fortunate

This grass speaks its season of glory

Into the spirit of the waiting child

Speaking,

Laughing

Loving

The creation of the perfect consciousness

That he has been so pleasantly greeted upon

When the earth begins to speak its wisdom

The Sun allows the stars to speak

To wait in the open veins of its forgotten father

Bringing forth the presence of this newly remembered dream

Being lived in by the warmth of a new race…

So with the thoughts and experience of this beautiful day, I entered back into the busy streets of Moscow, with an even greater appreciation of this life I lead and more importantly YOU lead. For this day brought the knowledge back to me, that in every moment, and in every location, this same life can be lead as these wise people of this village. They may be acting out upon their own individualized dream; however this can take place for anyone with anything. I personally resonate and feel the energy and vibe of this more natural way of living, but with a simply breath of your growing plants outside your busy city apartment, or a calm embrace of the sweet air surrounding you, it is quite easy to return your consciousness to the love and truth of its being.

Soon, I will be off to more country homes and village beauty farther deep into the vastness of Russia…but more another day.

Blessings