This blog has moved

This blog is now located at http://livingourtruenature.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://livingourtruenature.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

In the Now…

Stillness, love and clarity were certainly at the rendezvous at the end of the 5-day ‘returning to the source’ that took place in Shenzhen this late March. Participants gently yet surely made their way back into the timelessness of now.
And existence is always at work to bring us opportunities to move from the unclarity and confusion of our conceptual mind to the clarity and joy of being in the present moment.
Some of Shanghai’s participants of the ‘meditation, a key for a transforming life’ seized the opportunity at hand and were rewarded with a sense of Joy and Love at the end of these five days. Some did not take the opportunity and missed…. Such is life!
Moving through these opportunities is also a constant learning and a joy for me. It is like seeing existence at work and it brings gratitude in me towards existence for presenting me with such opportunities. It also forces me to recognize – in case I forget it - that I am in the service of this vast existence that we call ‘life’, that there is no right or wrong, only a neutral happening that arises from some silent depth and manifests itself through love. Some call it the power of now. Existence is truly compassionate!
Some of the Shanghai participants took the occasion of my extended stay to support themselves with individual sessions in order to clarify an issue or disperse a difficulty that they face in their life.
After a short yet busy week, I took off for Shenyang, in Liaoning province to set up the basis of a future cooperation in this Northern part of China and in Mongolia. Despite the cold temperature – just around 1° or 2° Celsius – the welcome was very warm and heart-full. Thank you Deva Masta for providing the means and supporting a new possibility for meditation to arise in these parts of China.
Visiting friends and students at West Lake Hangzhou concluded this Chinese journey. Next step is the southern UK for a series of events and the now regular spring time 'Love in Awareness intensive' at Osho Leela.
The month of May will see me back in Shanghai, yet this time simply to visit friends and delight in my favorite Chinese activities… massages and drinking tea.

Keep in touch and feel free to connect with me for any info you may require or question you may have. Do check Upcoming events for time & dates of the next courses.

Looking forward to meet ‘you’ along the way
With Love and a passion for awareness
Namaste to you all
Rakendra

Primal Healing & Self-enquiry

Taking time for myself, I plunged into intensity during these last weeks. I started with a 2-week Primal Intensive at the Janov’s institute, in Santa Monica, California, followed by a 10-day self-inquiry intensive based on the teaching of Ramana Maharshi at the AHAM Retreat Center in Asheboro, North Carolina.
It might seem strange to walk concurrently these two different paths which can appear contradictory or far apart at first glance. In reality they are very much connected and interlinked. To me they work hand in hand and I see them as complementary on this path towards oneness, towards my true nature. They actually serve the same purpose, dis-identification from non-reality and rooting oneself into that space of ‘pure or naked awareness’ of the ever present moment.
If you’d like to read more on this theme, do check the monthly perspective section where I’ve just posted a new article on this very subject as well as a comment on my experience during the self-enquiry intensive. You can also check the ‘about awareness intensive’ page if you feel drawn to this type of work. Now comes the time for me to get back on the road again and after a short stopover in Paris, France, I’ll head for Shenzhen, China to facilitate a 5-day ‘returning to the source’ and then on to Shanghai for a 5-day ‘Meditation - a key for a transformed life’.
Meanwhile this website, www.livingourtruenature.com is under ‘reconstruction’, to be in alignment with the Chinese one that came to life last November.

Well, that’s all for now,
Check Upcoming event for time & dates of the next courses and connect with me for any info you may require or question you may have.
Looking forward to meet ‘you’ along the way

With Love and a passion for awareness

Namaste to you all

Rakendra

Incredible Pune, India

Spending some time at the OIMR in Pune is always both rewarding and challenging for me.
Rewarding in the sense that whenever I am ready and open to meet the challenges offered, something positive comes out. This time challenges knocked on my door more than once, testing my ability to let go of old patterns and jumping into new unknown spaces.
The end of the year party had a soft and light-hearted ambiance and I’m certain that 2010 will have a similar flavour. No doubt that it will also be a promising year for all and I take this opportunity to express my desire that 2010 carries lots of Joy, Love and Laughter for all during this coming year.
It was soon time for me to set up the practicalities for the 12-day Awareness Intensive training. Although small in numbers, this training carried the flavour of a ‘special vintage’, maybe because all of us have this same love for this process. It certainly was a joy for me to share this passion.
The 3-day Awareness Intensive embedded in the training gave them opportunities to experience the awareness intensive retreat from a different angle as well as offering hands on opportunities to practice and test their newly learned skills. All of them recognized that with this training they gained more understanding about their own growth process as well as being more at ease with the awareness intensive process.
The 3-day helped participants experience spaces of de-identification from the mind and serene tranquillity for some and freedom from old patterns and beliefs for others. Quite a number of grateful hearts met on the follow up day.


Time flies and it is already time for me to pack my case and move on. First to Chiang Mai for a short relaxation time and then to the Usa where I will participate in an intensive at the Arthur Janov’s Primal Institute. I will also take part in an ‘intensive self-enquiry training’ based on the work of Ramana Maharshi.
Quite a program indeed for these first months of 2010!

Check Upcoming event for time & dates of the next courses and connect with me for any info you may require or question you may have.

Looking forward to meet ‘you’ along the way
With Love and a passion for awareness
Namaste to you all
Rakendra

Tao in Phoenix Arizona…

During the last two week intensive that I participated in, I was working on the question/koan ‘what sexuality is’; little did I know at the time that this would lead me some time later to the Phoenix Taoist center and help me letting go even more of preconceived ideas and beliefs around sexuality, as well as learning many transformative practices.
Tao, ‘the way’, well…. it seems that the concept of ‘Zorba the Buddha’ was something well known from the Taoists since the earliest time. They certainly have a different way of naming and mapping the ‘path’ yet it is all the same, it does lead “From Sex to Super-consciousness”.
I really enjoyed my time there, learning in a different way, playfully and heartedly. It seems to me that like the legendary Phoenix who is reborn from his ashes, I too, am reborn from my ashes and certainly my ‘Tantric Awareness’ courses will take another turn after this new experience!

Finally it happened; ‘Living Our True Nature’ is now available in Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. I used this opportunity to give the site a new look and soon the English and French sites will benefit from it too.
And in preparation, I have a 7 months stream ‘Life is Relating’ which should take place next year in Shanghai.
Now it is time to get a visa for India and journey to Pune for the next months. I’m looking forward to be back to the OIMR and meet old and new friends as well as facilitating a 12-day awareness intensive training mid January. I’m sure it will be a fruitful experience.
See you there...
Check Upcoming event for time & dates and connect with me for any info you may require or question you may have.
Namaste to you all
Rakendra

Meditation & Inner Child in Shanghai….

Time is certainly relative and this whole month that I spent in Shanghai really felt like just a few days, even though my schedule was full on and now it’s already time to move on!
I arrived just in time to celebrate my birthday at the end of October and to get over the jet lag, after these few relaxing days, it was then full on with putting a last touch for the 5-day course ‘Meditation – a key for a transformed life’ which I co-lead with Santa and on we sailed… introducing participants to what meditation is and is not, slowly yet surely, leading them into experiencing what meditation is.
It was a first time adventure to co-lead with Santa and I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed this joint venture of leading participants into becoming more familiar with ‘turning in’, with turning the focus inwards rather than outwards and thus experiencing awareness more and more until a space of meditation arise on its own accord. And it certainly did for some of them, not a smooth sailing for all though, yet many harvested a lot from these 5 days. And I take the opportunity of this blog to salute their courage and perseverance during these 5 days.
Then time came for me to do some sightseeing around Shanghai, enjoy nice diners with friends and treat myself with wonderful Chinese massages. I also took time to indulge in my favorite passion…. drinking tea. Since my tea experience in Taiwan some years ago, I always take time and opportunities to discover more about Chinese tea. They are so exquisite and of such a variety!
Next was a plunge into the ‘inner child’ world. Childlike and happy faces were shining at the end of this 5-day course.

It was a joy for me to playfully lead participants into reconnecting, healing and supporting their inner child. I trust that all of them will now enjoy a new way of relating in their daily life.
As this time there were no requests for individual sessions, I used that time to complete the Chinese version of 'Living Our True Nature' as well as a brochure that will come out soon.
And with Serena we have also put together the basis of a 7 months stream 'Life is relating’ that will take place next year. Check here soon for more on this project.
And now it’s already time to move on!
I left Shanghai with a little sadness in the heart, the time left too short, I wanted to stay a little more, just to enjoy friends and doing nothing! Yet I’m happy for all the richness that I’ve experienced and also happy to have been able to share my passion for awareness and meditation with so many friends, also pleased to know that I will be back soon in Shanghai for more.
I cannot end this blog without a warm thank you to Serena for organizing these courses; she and her staff put a lot of energy and care into setting this up in a beautiful way, including the translation which was ‘first class’, thanks to Miranda’s mastery of English and I’m sure that all the participants will have appreciated her skills.
My inner journey is now taking me to the Usa for a couple of week to learn and experience more about Tao. Then it will be time to return to Pune, India for a month or so where I’ll be leading a 12-day 'awareness intensive training' mid January.
So long Chinese friends, do check these blog pages and the website, I’ll post new blogs from time to time.
Namaste to you all
Rakendra

The long and winding road to enlightenment….

‘Being at the source’ is certainly what we all long for and those who participated in the Odessa 'Awareness Intensives' really put all their effort into just doing that; intending to be at the source. So did all the Uk participants, whether in the ‘Love in Awareness Intensive’ or working on ‘another’ during the community intensive at Osho Leela.

Some reached the source, some regain contact with their ‘amness’, others with their childlike innocence; for sure all of them did face their ever creating mind!
I’m always blown away by the amount of openness and love that these ‘Awareness Intensives’generate. And I also find it amazing and sometimes challenging too, how each participant seems to be just here to reveal a facet of my own mind.
I’m ever so grateful for what I receive through facilitating these intensives.
Yet what puzzle me the most is how we all go on looking away from ourselves for something that is already there, present and available each second of our life.
Nowhere to go really, nothing to look for, just being in one own presence is all that is required. A true existential joke!

Shanghai, China is my next stop. First a 5-day ‘Meditation - a key for a transformed life’, it will be a joined venture with a Buddhist monk to introduce awareness and meditation to busy busy people.

As a vital and essential step on our path towards oneness I will also introduce ‘Innocence Regained’, a 5-day to restore and support our connection with the inner child.

Check Upcoming event for time & dates or connect
with me for any info you may require or question you may have.


Looking forward to meet ‘you’ along the way
With Love and a passion for awareness
Namaste to you all
Rakendra