Goa and blissful yoga wih Tim Miller

Left Pune on a night bus, a sleeper bus. A 12 hour bus with a single sleeper turned to 15 hours of sharing a tiny space (much smaller than a single bed) with an unknown Indian at the very end of the bus on the top sleeper.

Needless to say I was looking forward to Yoga the next day.
Arrived at Purple Valley retreat center in Goa to spend 2 weeks here with the great teacher, Tim Miller.

Morning practice, really great food, mostly by the talented Sayuri (A 32 year old Japanese girl that looks 16 at the most), some swimming in the beautiful swimming pool (yes, not really India here...), an afternoon class and great dinner. Lots of eating, some Indian food and some western.
It is really nice to have the balance.

Tim is a great teacher, knowledgeable and very compassionate. It is a gift to both practice with him, and meet him on a personal level, to learn from his wealth of wisdom.

Some days I get to use Ozge's scooter and go around Goa. So much fun to ride the little roads, through the palm trees, across the river and along the ocean. Indian scenes happen every moment, and at times I need to remind myself that this is all real. There is no movie set here, even though there is an international film festival going on.

Each beach with it's own character. hippies, yogi's, party goers, the packaged vacationers...
Indeed Goa is changing every day.

From the first time I arrived here in 1992, landed to a quiet postcard place, with cows eating pineapple peels and newspaper on the beach (they still do), some full moon parties and the smell of ganja. Through 2003 when parties were still going wild in Anjuna but Yoga was already hitting the beaches, to today, where Yoga is taking over, and the big party seen is quieting down.

Many more western restaurants around, more and more westerners that live here, and lots of people coming to practice Yoga here, and pay more than they would in the west.

Yoga is a special place, a meeting place. Land of plenty. Pineapples, papayas, coconuts, bananas, fish and lots of sand.
A place where Christianity (The Portuguese ruled here many years) meets Hinduism and blends together like a fine curry.

Curry and Lasagna share menus in peace, Russians, Israelis, American, British and Italians all share the same Shala (Yoga studio), and chant the sound of Ohm together.

Grateful to be here. Sending sunshine and gratitude in a curry of Love.

Pune and food

Pune is always home for me. Maybe because Sassoon lives here, always so welcoming. We meet for food and long talks that no one could ever afford in the west (time wise that is…). A drink at home, then a walk, dinner at the famous Masala Dosa restaurant and then tea back home.

India, the land of papaya with lime every day, pineapple juice, little bananas, fantastic Thali’s and dosas.
The Thali’s are a meal served on a metal plate, with many little metal bowls, each holding a small amount of heaven. Dhal (lentils), sabji (vegetables), curd (sometimes with raw onion and cilantro), aloo (potatoes), and sometimes even a sweet, like gulab jamun (round dough balls in syrup), or carrot halva.

Masala Dosa is the famous southern dish. Paper-thin dough rolled and stuffed. The dosa can be up to half a meter long, usually stuffed with a potato curry. The dosa is served with coconut chutney, (coconut rules in the south!) and a spicy red sauce.


Keeping low profile, quiet nights and just being. Observing, In India I feel no pressure to accomplish, to meet deadlines or to prove anything. Just walking around, Rickshaws zoom by, fruit vendors say hello, a cow walks the streets, children playing cricket in the alley, a young girl washing dishes at a pump on the side of the street, eagles fly above, long tail, green parrots play on the trees of a school’s playground, millions of motorcycles with one, two or whole families on them, and people, everywhere you go, fascinating people.

Bombay, Osho's Ashram

Good friends,

Landed in Bombay at 2:00am, realizing that I have made no plans of where to go first. I walk outside to the nice cool air of Bombay night surrounded by the smells that define India.
After discussing with a taxi driver, I decide to start with Pune, a large city 4 hours from Bombay and the house of mister Iyengar and Osho (Rajneesh).
The driver tried to pull a trick of swapping a 1000 rupi bill with a 100 one. A few moments of talk and he agrees not to ask for extra 900...Got to start watching out in India...

A welcoming of Bollywood music in the taxi, and the chai stops along the way.

Pune has grown bigger, more people and more pollution.
Arriving at Osho's Ashram, (a day later with some extra hours of sleep), I smile at a little paradise. The Ashram, now more of a resort, or club meditation.... is beautifully created. Marble floors, lush tropic vegetation, little streams and ponds with flowing water, Buddha statues, Black structures, many pyramid like, and all people dressed in Maroon robes.
There is a Zen feel to the place, an oasis within India. A resort that has a huge meditation hall, a swimming pool, tennis courts, a book shop, and a huge white marble plateau, where many activities happen. Dance celebration every day, tai chi, Kyudo (Zen Archery), healing movements and more.
(Well, OK, its not a perfect place, but lets look on all the good points…)

I join the Kyudo classes, and the master asks me to practice with him later in the day without the class. I end up having 2 Kyudo practices a day, what a gift.
I enjoy the Osho, Kundalini meditation, Vipasana, and the evening gatherings, the white robe event.
The white robe gathering is amazing to see. Dusk arrives, and all are dressed in white robes. Walking towards the main mediation hall, which is a huge black pyramid, watching as the white dots walk the path surrounded by water, go up the black stairs and enter the huge structure. Inside there is a feeling of celebration, of prayer. I think the first time it seemed like a seen from a science fiction movie, or like a cult gathering, but now that I understand it, I see a huge celebration. Dancing as an appetizer, then some mediation followed by a screening of Osho's talk.
Walking into the quiet night, the moon never fails.

Israel, Mom turns 70, family, friends, art and Yoga

6 weeks in the holy land. No, I do not believe there is such a thing as a holy land. All land is holy, and all land is only land, land that shares with us all its splendor. The land never asks who is it that lives by it. Never asks from where we are, and always gives without hesitation.

The blessing of being with close family and true friends, the blessing of having a mother turn 70, her eyes wide open to see life as it is, with all it’s beauty, an optimistic woman full of love.
A gathering of all the family creates energy much more powerful than individual encounters, a connected web of very different individuals sharing one love.

Rediscovering Israel; meeting friends, feeling a connectedness to people, a caring and honesty, as well as seeing the harsh side, the aggressiveness and the need to be right.
A land of contraries, beautiful souls that will give you all they can, help and be there for you, and man to man wolf just around the corner.

I want to mention the great dinner parties we had (thanks Galia, ), and all the amazing friends I met, but will keep the stories simple, and all you that I meet along the way, know that you are in my heart.

Israel is also a land of creation, so much art. Worked on a few different projects and met some beautiful people.
Of course I got to do a project with Polak along with Orly, working with a naked bed, a broom…and a naked soul, stripping off the mind, and diving deep into experience.

Got to shoot from behind a running motorcycle (thanks Shay) for a photo story about social justice.

I continued my human and food project, shooting with pomegranates, lettuce and Carps (Yes, the fish that is used much in Jewish cooking), all handled amazingly by Mia and Rotem.

Fortunately I met Maya Gross, a gifted Yoga teacher, and had the opportunity to deepen my practice. Waking at 4:30 am in Jerusalem so I could drive to Tel-Aviv to take her class in the Ashtanga tradition.

Spent some time in the Sinai desert, floating above the wonders of the red sea. Better than any art show I have ever seen. Nature, and that that is hidden underwater, is a splendor of color and forms, floating in silence surrounded by blue.

Last night in Israel, flight at 5:30am, I drive to Tel Aviv to spend a white night with friends in the lively city. 4:00am we leave for the airport, and the city is still awake.