AYURVEDA FOR DUMMIES

By now, I guess almost everyone has at least heard this word: Ayurveda... It is Sanskrit. Ayus means life, Veda means science (as in knowledge). One of my works here in Copenhagen is to receive foreigners or new comers into our Sunrise School. This is a School that follows the Ayurvedic approach to eating. Believe me, if I had to explain about it some good 15 years ago, it would have been so much more difficult than now. Now, almost 80% of the people I talk about Ayurveda have an idea of what this is all about. Some even comment: Oh, I saw something about it in Larry King the other day...

Yes, it is all so simple. And complex! So, it is not enough to become a vegetarian only. There are many distinct groups within the classification of vegetarianism. There are the Vegetarians who eat dairy products and the ones who also include eggs in their diets. There are the ones who are very radical and do not consume anything that comes from an animal source (the vegans) and there are always the very flexible ones who "only eat white meat", or "real meat", just once in a while...

And... there is the Ayurvedic group!!! And what is the difference? Well, a person who follows a strict Ayurvedic Diet will have some difficulties in eating in Vegetarian places for 3 reasons, and I will name them: Onions, garlic and mushrooms... and you thought that cutting meat was the hardest thing...

The science of life, Ayurveda. There is so much beauty in reading any of the many ancient, and modern, books about this science and wisdom. My Grandmother always said: Bananas are gold in the morning, silver in the afternoon and stones in the evening. In a nutshell? Ayurveda! That's all there is to it. Some ages ago people were so in tune with their bodies and how it reacted whenever they ate something. It is said, and pardon me for not having an official source, that when sugar first made it's way into European Courts, it was almost a drug. Their bodies were so not used to "that thing" that the nobles would eat some of it and go into a type of stupor, tripping on the sweet stuff! And now??? How many spoons do we need to even taste it? My Grandmother died and with her some of the "old knowledge" died too, things that were never taught in Schools will also perish, or flourish, depending on which super star of the moment will adopt this or that religion and so on and so forth, bless their hearts for keeping it all alive and popular!

So, some food is good for you, some is bad and some, depending on the time of the day (like bananas and cucumbers) will be either beneficial or not.

The Ayurvedic system created names for each of these categories and that is when, if you are introduced to these strange names before getting acquainted with the notion behind it, you give up! They don't sound familiar at all, yes, Sanskrit, babe! Actually, officially, a dead language that has not being spoken for the past thousands of years but still is very much used to describe certain very refined concepts about life and Death.

So, now some hard core, old school, teaching, are you ready?

Tamasic: BAD BAD BAD!!! Food or substances that will have nothing positive to be said about!

Rajasic: IT DEPENDS (on where you are in the globe, which season of the year we are talking about and what time of the day it is).

And finally, the star of the show, the wonderful, one and only, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, I Proudly announce to you...

SATVIC!!!! You can't go wrong here. Whatever you eat, that falls into the Satvic category, will not only benefit your body but your mind and, for those who believe, your souls too!!! Some examples of things (or shall I say elements) that are considered Satvic? Ok... WATER AND AIR! Yes! You can have it as much as you want, suuuureeeee!!!

Yes, water and air are satvic but there are many other things too: Certain grains, fruits, fruits, grains (not all of them) and some more vegetables and vegetables and fruits and grains!!! BUT; ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION!!! NO mushrooms... If there is one vilain in the ayurvedic world (natural world that is, cause you could place number one in the list of TAMASIC stuff: Drugs and alcohol) this would be it: Mushrooms... they grow in the shades, no photosynthesis involved in the process, a fungus that will bring strange thoughts, create weird gases that will make you uneasy and thinking of unthinkable thoughts... yes, Lord Voldermort himself could be represented by an inauspicious mushroom!!! yes, we know, some of them have amazing nutritious values but Ayurveda is not only interested in your body. No, it also worries about your mind and, for the believers at the back row, your soul!

So, this was the easy part of the Philosophy. I mean, common sense, right? Most of it at least. We don't need no Ayurvedic Doctor telling us that a life of Drinking, smoking and tripping around will not lead anyone to a place in the sun. And before I continue, I have to say that this is my favorite aspect of it. It is not that some people will want to stop eating this or that right away but actually to go a deep further into the investigation of what will be my body and mind responses to certain foods? I have the obligation to know. I might want some onions in my tofu tonight but I will know that meditation will not be smooth next morning. And I will know why: Onion heats up the body so extremely that, according to Ayurveda, you should only eat if you find yourself trapped in a snow storm. Do we really need all this heat walking around in the office on a day to day bases? And how will this heat affect my mood on a continuous mode? Garlic? The best natural medicine we can have? The strongest antibiotics in the world? But what will be the point of it if I take it everyday in my life? Will it be effective? Of course not, try any antibiotic for more than a couple of months and it will be as good as nothing (plus, the inconvenient truth that it is banned from any pilot's diet before long flights since studies have shown that it slows down vital responses, brain wise!)

So... I like to know these things. I might not follow them 100% all the time but I like to be in control of my body and aware of what I put inside of it and Ayurveda has such a complete catalogue of different types of food and why and what and when that I am a huge fan of it!

Yeah, and we haven't even started to talk about the different types of people, according to Ayurveda... People that are categorized as having more AIR, EARTH OR FIRE and all possible combinations between those 3 elements and all the specific diet that each combination proposes (If you are a fiery person you do not want to ingest fuel all the time, right? You will probably benefit from cooling down a bit with certain herbs, etc). But it does take a good and serious Ayurvedic Doctor to really study your body, your habits and your whole life to come up with a customized diet that will only serve you and no one else but you! And this is another thing I love about it. There is not one body that will need exactly the same thing as another. We are such complex beings, and Ayruvedic medicine acknowledges that. Or do you think an Ayurvedic Doctor will tell an Eskimo not to eat a seal?

Well, just to end this piece (of what is totally up to the readers) I have to quote 2 very interesting people (interesting, to say the least) First was this fellow, you probably heard of him, a very smart, kind of wise guy called Einstein. Is he a genius? Did he change the way we see the world? Well, he said: I do not eat meat because I do not want my body to become a cemetery, holding within the carcasses of dead animals. But let's ignore it, right? Let's focus on more important things this man said such as the theory of relativity and other more complex stuff... Maybe he was not smart in every aspects of his life, right? Maybe he was actually pretty stupid when it came to his eating habits who knows?

The other one I want to quote was also a very controversial guy called Jesus, aka the saviour. I guess somebody said in the Bible that one day Jesus said: It is not what comes in your mouth that matters but what comes out of it!!! And I love it cause having said it all I must add that no matter how little onion you eat in your life, if you open your mouth and only unpleasant, negative and destructive stuff comes out of it, well... I will be happy to show you the way to the next garlic bar, oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why...

Miracles...

Yes, more than 20 years ago when I started my journey through meditation, vegetarianism, alternative life styles, India and Yoga, it was a drag to try to explain to anyone what it all meant. There was little written, little interested and Gym studios did not offer Yoga and health food shops were not trendy. Madonna hadn't discovered the joys of Yoga and the US was not in love with Deepak Chopra. I did have a HARD time with my family, looking at me as if I had just turned schizophrenic cause I started eating soy meat (that was pig's food in Brazil). One day my grandmother opened my bedroom door and caught me in my lungotas (type of Indian underwear for men) on a full "candle position". I did not blink, after all I had to hold this posture for 3 minutes but she carefully closed my door and quietly called my mother to say that she was very worried, that something was going on with myself and blablabla...

When i came back from my trip to India I found this same grandmother in a very difficult state, in a hospital bed, with tubes sticking out of her nose and she could hardly utter a word, she had had a stroke. I felt pity for her but I have to confess I had a shaky relationship with her during my teens so, after spending the official time for a visit, I got up to leave. That's when she reached out a hand... my mother and other people were in the same room, we were all surprised by the sudden and rather strong gesture. But even more so when she tried to say something... she was clearly trying to communicate... we all came closer to her bed, she was looking very intensely to me... I came even closer, held her hand and again she tried and this time we could understand: PRAY FOR ME... the voice was week, trembling but we all understood. I could not leave the room anymore... I stayed and in this same night she was taken to the Center for Intensive care, she had another stroke that would paralyze her, almost completely, for the next 8 to 9 years. I could not get over it: PRAY FOR ME. Why me??? The one who had terribly fights with her, the one who even once said, and I do not feel proud of it at all, that I would not shed one tear the day she died...

I asked the Doctors permission to go with her, to stay inside of the isolated area with her for a while... they had to discuss it since there were other people in different cubicles and the scene was not pleasant at all. But since I insisted and one of the Doctors was part of our family, they allowed me to. It was a horrible place, dark, many beds separated by screens with mechanical devices making sounds that added up to a bizarre symphony of mourns and heavy breathing from the other patients around. I was barely 18 but, recently arrived form India, must have given an exotic impression to the nurses and Doctors around me. I had a full grown beard, long hair and only wore Indian clothes, a lot of white long and light cotton shirts with big and white and light pants... I did not know what I was doing but I sat down, close to my grandmother, reached out for her hands. She had an amazingly tense look on her face, as if in pain. She is in a coma, the Doctors told me. She can't listen to anything you say. So... I just stayed there holding her hand and because the sound of suffering around us was so disturbing, I started to talk to her. Not really talk... I started to narrate... in a very detailed way, I started talking about a green field covered with sunflowers, a blue sky and butterflies of diverse colours flying around her... in this setting we were walking and she could feel the breeze on her face and the smell of the green grass underneath her feet...

I know... in a traditional tale of a self-help book this is when something amazing and unexpected happens, right? This would be the moment she would press my hand or open her eyes and smile... well... something did happen... that was not less strong nor life changing than any of the above mentioned scenarios...

There I was, holding her hand... the hand that held mine so many times crossing the streets in Rio de Janeiro when I was a kid... the hands that helped drying my hair, brought delicious food to me when I was sick... this hand was now inside of mine. I was the one holding it for a change... I must remind you that at one point in my life I thought I hated her. Or I did indeed... but, there and then, I remembered the love I once had for my grandmother... it was a profound love that for some years was totally blurred by feelings of rejection from my part, thinking she did not love me at all. I started crying, I tried to make it as soft as I could but I was sobbing, allowing my feelings of love for her to come up. I told her I loved her and it felt as if a heavy stone was all of a sudden lifted off my chest...

Now, the following sentence will raise some cynical and tough eyebrows just because it will sound as if I am saving a punch line for the end but, sorry, this is a 100% narration of what happened this day at the Hospital. It was her expression... it wasn't tense as it was before. When I first arrived there was a thick division on her forehead, as when we have a headache and we frown. Now, it was gone... she looked very peaceful and relaxed. I continued coming back there cause no one on earth could convince me that she was not listening to some of the things I was talking to her. I had to go away again, I was not living in my home town anymore, I had to go... she came out of the coma and was transferred home, where she lived, totally depending on machines and nurses for the next 9 years. Whenever I visited home I would sit beside her bed (she had her eyes open, could move her neck and one of her arms but could not walk, speak nor eat - she received a special fluid through her arm), I would get a mini electronic organ we had at home and would simply sing mantras for hours... from time to time I would ask her... do you want me to stop? And she would softly shake her head negatively. We had many quality times there together. And now, looking back , I simply realize that maybe these were the most beautiful and loving times we ever spent together... When she passed away I was not home... I am glad she died at home, in her bedroom, surrounded by familiar faces... and when I heard she had passed away... I cried. And I still do, from time to time, when I think of that day in the Hospital when my heart opened up again for her...

Oprah

OPRAH WINFREY

Yaw, Oprah... just watched her... she is fascinating, she is larger than life, no doubts about it and I am a true admirer of her strength and talents and got tears rolling down my cheeks when I saw a special program on her life trajectory. But then again... the other day, here in Copenhagen (during the selection of the next Olympic Game's city), watching on TV the Danish Queen coming out of her Palace to receive World leaders, seeing other Queens and Kings stepping out of their cars, rushing up the stairs and shaking Queen Margrete's hands... right after Juan Carlos and Sofia (King and Queen of Spain) ran up the palace's stairs, another car stopped, the door opened and... Oprah Winfrey comes out of it. The Queen is there, waiting, outside in the cold, to shake Opra's hand and escort her into the Palace. EXCUSE ME??? I know she is great and all and has helped some people but what on earth was she doing in a dinner with world leaders received by the Danish Queen??? So, i thought to my self, she is indeed that Powerful... there are so many skits and spoofs making fun of her and watching her today I totally understood why. She can seem so empathizing with the suffering of people around her (even when she has to cut some body's speech, like she did to this woman who lost her breasts due to a wrong diagnosis, to call for commercials). But it can all also be so outrageously disrespectful toward millions of people who do not share her tremendous wealth when she says that her dream person is someone who will talk about buying an Island, or how she gleefully says that the other day she opened her front door and one of her friends had left a white convertible Bentley right there as a friendship gift or when she spends precious Television time talking about a puppy she has adopted and showing pictures of her puppies...

all this is such a spit on the face of millions of people facing difficulties in life. Not that I am against the entertainment industry, not at all, laughing is super Important and bringing lightness to people's lives is also necessary but all of a sudden the beatification or the opening of the World's most powerful doors to someone that, bless her heart, can be that shallow and empty is a bit disturbing. Again, she is a great entertainer but this fascination about her also possesses some distorted and weird components of a relationship that is abusive and the abused part is the one on the other side of TV, thinking she is a saint while, again, bless her heart, she is flying on John Travolta's airplane, pampering her beloved dogs (don't get me wrong, I also love dogs and believe they should be well treated as much as thousands of homeless children should also be well treated) or posing for the cover of her own Magazine. Yes, nobody is perfect, Charlie Brown, and maybe she is just like me: either amazingly deep or terribly superficial... at the same time!!!

And having said it all I must add that she is Supper dupper and I want to be her best friend to discuss death and diseases over champagne and cheeses !

The temptation...

Once again I fall into the vanity abyss... that was not the reason why I decided to write a blog, it was not to create the best impression, to change the world, to change an ant even... and all of a sudden here I am, only wanting to write if it will be beautiful and if somebody will identify and if I will be recognized. Fuck shit hell! That is not what I want. What I want is to let it FLOW, FLOW FLOW... to pop the cork out, to blow the lid off, to let the words pour out and cascade into this empty space... I was missing the words and this flow of expressions that downloads thoughts and feelings and, why not, bring me closer to friends that I don't see for a very long time... these are the talks I would have had with them, with Alexandra, with Ludmila on cold or hot evenings in Rio, Sao Paulo, we would be all together in bed and than we would talk and talk and talk about everything and than at the end of our talks something would start making more sense, we would alternate being totally focused on each others stories or just selfishly waiting till the other shut up and we could tell our own stories... and that was fine... that is how we understand things, when we get it out of our heads and hearts and realize that they are either too ridiculous or simply too genius and we need to do something about it! Yes, I created this blog to reproduce all this talks that I don't have so often here in Denmark... but then there is this trap: Recognition... validation... noooooo, please, I want to write everyday without expecting anyone to read, and then when they do, like Alexandra wrote the other day: "I was missing you so I went to your blog to feel closer to you"... yes, they then know where to find me... and they will see me, and they will know... they will know that today is a holiday here in Copenhagen, they will know that I am fighting, trying to motivate myself to go to the gym instead of staying home specially cause the sun is shining and believe me this is not anything to be taken for granted here in this part of the world.... They will know that I am thinking more of the swimming pool and the sauna at the gym and the shopping center around the gym than the exercises itself... they will know so much! They will know that tomorrow I am going to Sweden with Christian and a couple of friends of ours... they will know that the house in Sweden is the cutest thing. Totally pure, minimalistic wooden house, by a huge and beautiful lake surrounded by a dense Swedish forest where we pick mushrooms while reading in our mushroom book identifying the types... what else will they know? Oh so much... they will know I have been super-busy with multi projects dancing around my head, my hands and my heart. Artistic projects (I am giving a private Theater class that has been sooooo inspiring! I teach in my house, emptied a living room and created a space I call: L'Atelier where I am teaching very refined techniques of contemporary acting). They will know that I am super excited for going to watch the Berliner Ensemble directed by Bob Wilson on Shakespeare Sonnets! Wow! Try to see the images in the Internet! They should know that I am going to Brazil on December and that I am bringing my 2 children and Christian along. This will be so great, it will be the children's first time in South America and I do not want want to miss a second of their experience...

And now... off I go, and promising that I will try not to want to win the Pulitzer while writing for this blog, I promise I will try to keep it plain, direct, honest and wonderful! oh oh... I am impossible!!!!!