I'm off!

I'm on my way to Marco Island for the week to participate in a Chopra Conference called Seduction of Spirit. I and a few hundred other people will spend one week practicing yoga, breathing and meditation. I can't wait to get there. I participated in this event about 6 years ago when I decided to learn to meditate to manage chronic back pain. Each day begins with a gentle yoga practice and breathing. The rest of your day is broken into lectures and meditation. Each day you meditate for about four hours. Dr. Chopra is there and before each meditation, you receive a Sutra to incorporate into your meditation. Sutra translated means "a thread" or "that which holds together". They are basically intentions that are universally understood. At Seduction of Spirit, you receive 28 Sutras. Four for each of the seven chakras. The Sutras help to establish positive affirmations and actions in your life. They do work.

Because I've gone before, I get the honor of attending Seduction of Silence. A group of us will separate during the meditations to a different room where we will receive different Sutras than the larger group. The Sutras that we receive are intended to facilitate levitation. Yes, I said levitation. The room is padded floor to ceiling in case you start bouncing all over the place. I saw the room six years ago when I attended Seduction the first time. It's insane!

I don't know how I feel about levitation. I assume its possible. A physicist will tell you that anything is possible given enough time. If you were to try to walk through a wall for eternity, apparently you would. I've done lots of research on this subject in preparation for take-off. There are lots of stories about levitating saints, monks and shamans. There are even a few videos on youtube which look pretty real and include skeptical BBC reporters. Apparently, some Dutch scientists even levitated a frog in 2004 using a magnetic field.

I don't think I really care if I levitate or not. Deepak would be proud to know that I'm completely detached from the outcome. I'm a little worried that if I actually do levitate I will become completely insane. It will be difficult to teach yoga wearing a straight jacket. I don't understand the purpose of levitating. There must be some amazing spiritual reason to levitate or so many Saints (over 300 documented) and monks wouldn't have bothered. Dr. Chopra said of his own experience: "It's totally effortless; you're surprised. But after a while the surprise wears off and then it is not so interesting any more." So, follow my blogging this week. I'll let you know if this gets a little deeper than a party trick.