Yuppie Turn Yogi

The Yuppie "I" Went To Mt Abu To Seek Happiness And I Found It There.

The power of attraction - it must be. We were separated into groups of about 20 to 25 person according to the country we came from. Each group was named with a virtue. The group I was in was named "Happiness".

I must admit, back then in 2005, I was still very much a yuppie. I could not appreciate many things I have now. Neither have I truely experience some intangible virtues such as happiness (the kind that lasts for more than a few hours - yes, I was quite pathetic back then), love and definitely not peace. I could only mostly appreciate tangible things - material things. The intangibles simply eludes me.

When I was into my first day at Mt Abu - we stayed at this retreat called Gyan Sayrovar, I wonder how I was going to "survive" through the 2 weeks - I must clarify that the retreat was comfortable but there was no any form of my standard "entertainment"; I went alone and not crowded by my usual "gang". The hosts were all dressed in whites. There were several sessions of talks per day which under "standard" circumstances I would have stood up and leave or simply dozed off. But, it was a situation when the student was ready, the teacher appeared. I actually enjoyed every session of the talks - except the first day when I was just too exhausted from the journey. The talks were mostly about intangibles...words of wisdom from yogi who had experienced and walked their talks. All I felt was their passion for passing on the wisdom because whatever they had attained had benefited them and those around them. It was a twist for me because I never knew what I was missing out all these while chasing after my "material" rainbow. Seems like the promised pot of gold at the end of my rainbow will never be the same again.

The group activities had been workshops. Somehow, the group facilitator was "entertaining" enough that I too enjoyed it. She actually played some nice music that I normally also enjoyed - not the pop kind of music at the peace retreat (of course) but the new age - "spaced-out" type. She was quite close to my age too so I felt "connected". I found out later that she had been a yogi for more than 20 years and had lived in various parts of the world. She spoke impeccable English as she was a Londoner. We did some harta yoga exercises at the workshop which I really enjoyed and helped me gain a sense of peace and a sense of inner control which I had not felt for many years.

That was the third day and I started to look forward to each day's activities. This was a case where looking back, was predestined and aligned with the Celestine Prophecy. Nothing was coincidental although they just seem so.