History of a spiritual quest – part i

Tags

Asana, ballet, Knowledge, Melbourne, spiritual quest, Spirituality, Suburbia-Urbia, Synchronised swimming, Yoga

Apparently I now do post topics by request.

Or I’ve been asked to provide more information anyways… actually a single post generated two different requests.

Anthroyogini asked to hear more about my experiences as a young heathen girl, trying out different flavours of paganism. There were a few!

And Catatonic Kid wanted to know more about “that moment you were talking about… when knowledge descends”.

Actually, these requests aren’t that far apart now I think about it! Anthroyogini’s question sorta leads right into CK’s. Just perhaps a little down the track.

So, on with the story, eh?

Actually, I can’t remember how old (or young) I was when I had my first thought about all things esoteric/spiritual. But I was young, and so this tale starts then.

As a child…

From a young age, I experienced things that aren’t supposed to be there – invisible beings, auras, disembodied voices delivering useful/accurate messages. Yeah, yeah, you believe it or not – I don’t give a rats umm… you know what.

Before I’d even graduated from reading my children’s bible, I was obsessed with the alternatives to traditional religion.

This obsession came from nowhere, growing up as I was in the culture-free vanilla world of deepest darkest Suburbia-Urbia (aka south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne).

My prevailing experience as a child was of feeling like a fish in a desert – being in the wrong place and surrounded by the wrong people.

There wasn’t anyone around with personal or intellectual knowledge in any of the topics that fuelled my interests and inner experiences. Not that it mattered.

Because regardless, and whilst still of primary school age, there was some things I knew about the world and how it worked. Not consciously, not logically. Just intuitively.

I didn’t feel like I had to know more, not just then anyway. But I was happy with my little nugget of knowledge, and felt no fear of the things I experienced. It was just how life was. No one told me stories to colour my perceptions and I didn’t talk about it either.

It’s funny how I remember very little of my childhood years, but this sense of what I knew to be real, above and beyond the physical world around me… that I recall very clearly.

What I remember from before the age of ten is limited. But most of the time I was off in my own magical world.

Life grew increasingly miserable the older I got, as I became the target of my brother’s anger more and more, and I was definitely far from popular at school.

But still, this kind-of-knowledge I possessed, it kept me going. I’d write in my diary about things I wanted to learn without knowing what they were called. There were no books to refer to in my school or local library and certainly no internetz (way back then!).

And while I didn’t know anything about yoga til my mid-20s, somehow I’d gotten into ballet and synchronised swimming, both requiring a lot of flexibility and stretching (very much yoga-like practices).

Plus, my best friend growing up was a gymnast and so for fun and as play; we’d practice the splits, handstands, backbends etc.

So I guess I had a head start with asana before I even knew what it was.

[Read part ii]

~ Svasti

Procrastination to the power of 25

Tags

25 random things, About a Boy, blog award, Butt cheeks, Catatonic Kid, Fake ID, Horses, Malicious Intent, Meme, molè, Muriel's Wedding, Santa, Sixth Sense, Sleep talking, Synchronised swimming, Tea pots, Toni Collette

Despite having plenty to do right now, I can’t even be bothered hanging my washing out (although I’m gonna, I promise, just not right now).

The lovely Catatonic Kid is writing again (some beautiful posts as always), and so she memed me (don’t care if that’s not a word, I’m making it a word). Which I reckon is somewhat akin to mooning someone… ‘cept without the butt cheeks.

And instead of vacuuming or sending out résumés (things I really need to be doing), I present to y’all my list of utter randomness:

1. As a child, I used to act out cereal commercials at the breakfast table. Y’know, pretending to be one of those kids eating Coco Pops on TV and talking about how yummy they are (especially when the milk turns chocolatey).
2. I shouldn’t be allowed to sit too close to anything made of sandstone, coz I might just have an orgasm (I have a seriously weird fetish for the stuff).
3. I have two common recurring dreams, always a little different of course. One is about sharks and swimming with them, unafraid. The other is about vampires. Usually I get to become one and then I have super powers, like the ability to fly. And that rocks.
4. The beguiling Malicious Intent (you need to request access to read her blog) recently awarded me with a blog award. Many thanks, MI!! *blushes*
5. I’m feeling a little embarrassed about the recent spate of blog awards I’ve received. Is there somewhere I can donate them for charity? Actually, if you feel like it, go pick one up from my awards page and tell everyone it’s from me (I’ll back your story up). If you want it, it’s yours…
6. I collect tea pots. Sorta. I’m kinda against accumulating too much ‘stuff’ which conflicts with my desire to collect tea pots. So I only have four. Which isn’t too bad. And I use them all, since I’m a fan of brewing large pots of tea.
7. I was a synchronised swimmer for around nine years of my life, starting at age nine. Yep, glitter, sequins, gelatine (used to keep the hair out of your eyes when performing), wearing make-up in the water – all of that.
8. Synchronised swimming, whilst looking rather camp, actually requires a great deal of strength and skill. Not to mention the ability to hold your breath for long periods of time. So don’t diss the synchro swimmers!!
9. Gelatine, made of horses’ hooves or something revolting like that, actually makes one’s hair very soft. So, each time there was a competition, we’d all looked forward to washing our hair at the end of the day for our ‘hair treatment’.
10. Speaking of horses, I always loved them but was never allowed to have one. Dang! I had a horse poster above my bed for years and used to imagine he was real. A lot.
11. I once sold Toni Collette (of Muriel’s Wedding, Sixth Sense & About a Boy fame) a futon, when I worked in a futon shop. It was for her mother’s house. She was super-nice and very grounded. It was before she was super-famous, although she was definitely well-known by then. I decided to play it super-cool, so I didn’t gush, didn’t say hey, aren’t you… (I knew it was her when she handed over her credit card).
12. When I worked out Santa wasn’t real I used to ransack my parents’ bedroom just before Christmas. One year, I found three albums and knew mum and dad would give us one each. So, I dropped hints about the band I liked, and received the one I wanted (teehee!!).
13. I used to make fake ID for myself and my friends. That was back in the days where a birth certificate extract would suffice! I found a way to fuse together blue and white paper (like the real thing) and with a bit of white out, a typewriter and the school photocopier… I’d run up very realistic looking birth certificate extracts.
14. As a result, my friends and I went to way too many nightclubs in our last year of school. One of those times, I passed out drunk in the toilets. My friends thought I’d gone home and left without me. I had to make my own way home at 6am or thereabouts.
15. I was a vegetarian and/or pescatarian for oh… a good nineteen years of my life. I do eat meat now, but prefer white meat to red.
16. Although, when it comes to wine, I much prefer red. Almost exclusively. Mmmm, one way to my heart is with a very nice bottle of red!
17. Something else you can feed me if you’re trying to seduce me is molé. Oh god, how I love, love, love molé!!
18. Whilst my hair is reddish-brown, I haven’t seen my natural colour in years. Before I started dying it, my hair was often described as ‘strawberry blonde’ – whatever the hell that means – and its been various shades of red ever since. Right now, it’s kinda natural-ish but I’m getting a little bored with that…
19. If you come to my house, I’ll ask you to remove your shoes. I’m anti wearing shoes inside that you’ve worn outside, getting who knows what all over them. Eeew! I’ll offer you slippers or socks to wear instead, so your feet don’t get cold.
20. My parents never, ever respect my take off your shoes rule, even when I ask politely. Neither does my sister.
21. I’m incredibly visually oriented. Often, things I want to say, write or do appear to me as pictures, way before they become anything else.
22. One of my many skills includes the ability to raise my right eyebrow independently of the left. It’s something I practiced for years in front of the bathroom mirror. My mum can do the left and the right, but I only ever learned one side, damnit.
23. Speaking of skills, I’m very flexible. Have been all my life. I can still do the splits and most of my joints hyper-extend. When I have my leg straight and not over-extended, it feels bent.
24. I thought I’d outgrown my sleep talking habit, but in Thailand last year sharing a bamboo hut, my room mate reported my nightly mumblings each morning. Apparently, sometimes you can have a conversation with me while I slumber!
25. I’m fairly certain I know what I’m gonna write my first book about. Hooray! But it’s still a baby seedling of an idea, protected from anyone else for now.

P.S. I’m one of those folks who’ll happily pass on a cool email, but remove the imperative to do so or else bad luck is coming. So, if ya wanna play and haven’t already done so… then go for gold! 😉

~Svasti