Bindi Girl reads Bindi Girl: new "live" video

Author Erin Reese reads the "Arrival" chapter from her #1-rated travel book, The Adventures of Bindi Girl. November 24, 2012, San Francisco. Special thanks to PL Interactive, Inc. for footage.

August 2011 Travel and Soul News

Europe Tour 2011
Hey world family! I’m heading to London, Berlin, Brussels, and the South of France this August 15 through September 14. If you’re somewhere near these areas, give me a shout. We can have a coffee talk, or set up a reading of Bindi Girl at a yoga studio or bookstore near you! In addition, I’ll be available to give consultations across time zones.

Bindi Girl Gains Momentum!
Thanks to your reviews, Bindi Girl: Diving Deep Into the Heart of India is now rated #4 (fourth!) of all top-rated Amazon Kindle books on India! If you’ve read Bindi Girl, please post your “Like” and your review here and receive oodles of good karma.

"Erin Reese goes places, physically and metaphorically, few travelers dare to go. Her stories amuse, outrage, inspire and provoke. This isn't the tale of someone who received a book advance, jetting off business class for a few weeks in an ashram. This is third class train, steerage class ship, with a dash of indulgence thrown in. Reese is a gifted, special writer, and she' s the real deal as a traveler." ~ Lynn Braz, travel writer featured in The Dallas Morning News

Also available on Amazon UK (now with her first review!) and Amazon Germany.


Follow me on Twitter!
@erin_reese
I finally joined Twitter just for the tweet of it. I’ll tweet my Travel and Soul posts, as well as astrological and spiritual insights. Click here to ‘follow me.’


Recent Travel and Soul articles

• Follow That Muse! The Magic of Midnight in Paris Woody Allen’s new film reminds us of the portals in time and space there for us to walk through… if we just say yes.
• Erin’s Top India Film Picks: Part One Some Like It Spicy! Five of my favorite India-themed movies - with some real oddball picks!

An 'Oldie-But-Goodie' Post

• Neti Pot, Neti Pot – O, How I Love Thee Neti Pot! If you don’t know about it already, it’s time for you to meet the ancient yogic cleansing tool known as the “neti pot.” Clear your head, clear your mind. . .

Happy Summer!

Love,




P.S. If you'd like an astrology or intuitive reading this week or next, let me know soon. This gypsy time traveler is about to hit the road again. . .

Follow That Muse! The Magic of Midnight in Paris

If you’re a born romantic, or a traveler worth your Samsonite, you’ve got your Paris story in your repertoire. Most everyone who touches down in the City of Light for more than a day or two has been blasted by her mystique in a life-altering sense.

But one doesn’t even need to lay eyes on the Trocadero, La Tour Eiffel or the Louvre to have such a wallop of awakening: magical rabbit holes to our own heart and soul are here, there, and everywhere. We only need to look with a somewhat diffuse, open way of seeing. When the muse comes knocking, we have to take the leap and trust – and leave all cynicism and doubt aside. We are then duly rewarded with inspiration – real soul juice – beyond our wildest dreams.

Woody Allen’s new film, Midnight In Paris, reminds us of the portals in time and space, and in our own imaginations, that are there for us to walk through… if we just say yes.

Quelle coincidence I found myself watching Mr. Allen’s Midnight on Bastille Day itself, in my favorite old-fashioned theater in San Francisco, the legendary Balboa. It happened also to be the Full Moon in Capricorn, the Sea Goat being a great lover of all things traditional and lasting. Woody’s love letter to Paris relies less on sexual and relationship tension and neurosis, than his typical fare. This film is an uplifting homage to all that is beautiful and meaningful – that which LIVES ON – from the past’s Golden Ages, namely ART, MUSIC, AND LITERATURE – three muses that keep us going when the world becomes drab and dull, bleak and isolating.

Halfway through Midnight, I felt the spirit of La Bohème pulsing through my veins stronger than ever, an affirmation that I was on my way to my own enchanted island of creative inspiration – that intoxicating knowing that nothing could ever keep me from expressing my true self. As long as my body remains strong enough to move and groove, and the mind spry enough to quibble and scribble, I am pretty damned sure I’m going to remain fused with the muse: the art of writing, performance, music, film, and whatever else airs on my personal self-expression channel.

Perhaps it is true that artistes are born, not made. Yes, in one sense, we don’t get to choose the muse; the muse chooses us. However, we all have” inklings,” don’t we? We can all surf the waves of inspiration and make our very lives into art. Our approaches to this world can change in an instant, quick like a bunny. Opening oneself TOTALLY and completely to Life As Art is a risky business, indeed.

If you're an aspiring artist, a patron, or a casual admirer, keep in mind that it takes a highly sensitive soul to bring words, scores, images from the beyond – the superconscious – to planet earth - which is why having a muse is so comforting. It is a constant dance, a romance with that unseen – to be able to focus totally and listen to the muse and heed her coaxing. Without realizing it, we often make ourselves unavailable by shutting down or ignoring her prompts. Still, we must try, for it is our art that gives us real nourishment and feeds our souls completely. It is true alchemy to create exquisiteness. The care and feeding of a true artist-muse relationship is like the life of a hothouse orchid at times: it takes a delicate balance of food, light, water, temperature – and L O V E . . .

But oh, how grand it is when we’ve aligned ourselves with our muse! It could be the Winged Glory, the exterior of the Pompidou, or an accordion-playing busker near Montmartre that brings you to tears and drops you to your knees in humility. Even if you never leave your hometown, no matter: We all have a “Paris” in our souls. Whether an actual place, or an imagined scene in time and space, our portals to the fantastic are those truly unique circumstances that make you swoon and sends your heArt straight to the Moon.

Because when all is said and done, it is art that makes life worth living. We are born to create.

Our muses are not only friends on our paths; they are the very lifelines to our soul. I laud Mr. Allen for reminding us to trust, to hang on with all our might and never let go. Chapeaux!

In celebration of artists and their muses!

Erin

P.S. If you're headed to Paris, I recommend Rick Steve's Paris guidebook for lovely tips and suggestions. Be forewarned: you may never want to come home again...

Erin's Top India Film Picks: Part One

You can take a Bindi Girl out of Indyah, but you can never take India out of the Bindi Girl!

True love for the spicy subcontinent never dies - even if you're saturated after four years in the masala.

Today's post shares five of my favorite India-themed movies - with some real oddball picks! (This will be a multi-part post, since there are so many to share!)

In no particular order...

1. Outsourced (2006)
Sweet, sweet, sweet with just the right amount of sugar in the chai. A Seattle guy gets shipped off to a village in Maharashtra, a few hours outside of Mumbai, to set up a call center. This heartwarming flick does a great job of portraying the cliches of typical India, without going over the top. It's mightily accurate and doesn't try to be anything than what it is: quirky and beautiful, just like India. The main character, Todd (whom the Indians call Mr. Toad) falls in love with bindis, too!

Josh Hamilton and Ayesha Dharker are sheer naturals without a trace of overacting.

2. Monsoon Wedding (2001)
Ooh, la-la. This visual fest by filmmaker Mira Nair captured my heart in a big way. It was Monsoon Wedding that put me over the top, watching it in an art-house cinema in Berlin, I fell deeply in love with the colors, the music, the madness of India. Mira Nair's films are known for incorporating controversial social topics in a way that keeps you in contact with the beauty and soul. The soundtrack is unbeatable and the best is "Aaj Mera Jee Karda" (Today My Heart Desires) by Mychael Danna, sung by Sukhwinder Singh. Listen and enjoy here.

3. The Namesake (2006)
Based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, here's another Mira Nair splendor. From the beginning train journey scene, in which the main character (Irrfan Khan - a intellectually-sexy favorite Indian actor who also stars in Slumdog Millionaire) loses everything save for the drive to start anew in New York City, we are glued to the screen with our very souls. The back and forth transition between traditional Bengali life in Calcutta (Kolkata) and adjusting to the ways of the modern world is poignant and heart-wrenching. I'm getting choked up just writing about it. Gulp.

4. Bride and Prejudice (2004)
For the sheer fun of a crossover between Bollywood and Hollywood - and the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai - former Miss World and the indisputed queen of Bollywood. Of course, other princesses have already come and gone, but nothing can take your eyes off of 'Ash' once you've fallen under her Bolly-Barbie spell. Part screwball comedy, part Grease musical ("No Life, Without Wife"), Bride and Prejudice is a good time all around.


5. Erin Reese's YouTube Channel (2002-2011)
*Just-for-fun Amateur Pick!*
The making of mini-movies around the globe has opened my heart and mind, and India gives me inspiration no end. From sunrise yoga to Varanasi rickshaws, the wild east Orissan seaside to the promenades of Mumbai, this novice filmmaker professes no technical expertise, just a whole lotta love, light, sound, and spice - it's travel and soul.

Coming Soon: Darjeeling Limited, Mississippi Masala, Slumdog, and much more!

Liberate Thyself: The Heart of 127 Hours

Warning: Spoiler alert! If you’ve not seen 127 Hours yet, and are planning on it, go see the film and then come back and read this article. This article reveals key parts of the storyline.

In Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, climber Aron Ralston saws off his own arm in order to survive. I have never been stuck in a Moab desert crevice, but I have experienced trauma in which I’ve been trapped and terrified. Even if we haven’t been in a major life-threatening situation, we’ve all felt stuck between a rock and a hard place. Sometimes, the hardships of existence feel just like that canyon fissure, don’t they?

Facing the Self

Just below the surface, 127 Hours is about a young man coming out of extreme selfishness. Our hero realizes how narrow-minded he’s become: not needing anyone for anything, ever - and not giving of himself to anyone, either.

At the end of the film, Aron gushes, calling to his rescuers, “Help! I need help!” and we know he is talking about much more than medical attention: he is talking about the human condition, the need for interpersonal connection in order to get through this thing called Life. Aron’s existential bubble of destructive self-centeredness has popped; he can’t make it alone.

The guiding image that inspires Aron to make the final cut is that of his unborn child. This vision is revealed as his future son in a delirious premonition. We can also interpret this adorable boy to be the as-yet-unborn – unclaimed – part of Aron's self that wants to survive: this is raw Life Force appearing as his Inner Child. (I also like the symbolism of the son-flower on Aron’s t-shirt.)

On its deepest level, this film is about liberation. Aron goes for FREEDOM in its rawest sense.

In severing his arm, Aron doesn’t know if he’ll pass out from the agony, or if he’ll bleed to death. He has no choice but to take the risk, and face the horror of it all. IF we come to the point in our life where we are TRULY ready to be free, we have to face everything. We have to be willing to face the death of the “me.”

The Death of the "Me"

How do we ‘do’ this facing? Through the process of inquiry, called vichara, we allow it all. We go with the tiniest tad of willingness – sometimes kicking and screaming and frothing and flailing, but go we must!

We LOOK underneath the pain, the suffering, the agony, the horror. Through the inquiry process, we keep going, into and through the black hole of grief and loss to the point of Nothingness – the Nothingness that is everything, the fullness, the plenum.

In order to truly realize liberation, we must face the fear of our very own death on the deepest soul level. Absolutely, it can feel like we’re cutting off our own arm, or even decapitating ourselves. If we’ve suffered enough, banging our heads against the wall by seeking here, there, and everywhere for happiness, we may finally get to the point where we raise the white flag of surrender.

I call that moment Grace.

I’ve observed in great teachers and in my own direct experience that effective surrender has to be total. It has to be the only thing that matters in your whole life – more important than any desire, relationship, worldly acquisition, or outcome. And, like Aron Ralston found out: you have to be willing to face your own death.

The Ultimate Freedom

It’s not surprising that a key song in 127 Hours is called “Liberation Begins.” Liberation is a process, and a moment. In Aron Ralston’s case, it takes five days of crushing inquiry, but he eventually sees that it's built up over a lifetime. Everything has to happen exactly this way in order for him to wake up.

In this moment of realization Aron tells us: “Everything... just comes together. It's me. I chose this. I chose all this. This rock... this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. Its entire life, ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space… It's been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I've been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I've taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the outer surface.”

We don’t have to be stuck in a Utah canyon with nothing more than a cheap Made-In-China chisel to try and pry ourselves loose. We’re already stuck in the crevice, the crevice of our own limited mind, right here and now. We’re already in the perfect position to face everything, because it’s all before us and in us. We don’t have to go anywhere – not India, not church, not even out of the house.

In fact, it’s often more useful to not move at all. Just stop. Face everything. Face the blood, the gore, the severing of the nerve. Have the nerve to go there.

It doesn’t have to be all at once (though it might happen that way); you can start to inquire anytime - little by little, day after day - as it arises. Die to your concepts, beliefs, and constructs that give you the illusion of safety. Be willing to die to that which gives you a false sense of identity, a “me.” Find out what is unchanging – that which never dies.

This is ultimate freedom, and nothing can ever take it away.

You have enclosed yourself in time and space, squeezed yourself into the span of a lifetime and the volume of a body and thus created the innumerable conflicts of life and death, pleasure and pain, hope and fear. You cannot be rid of problems without abandoning illusions. Fight with all the strength at your disposal against the idea that you are nameable and describable.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That

Welcome to India!

It's been too long, weather's getting cold, and so...

Feels like time for a little India action!

Turn up the volume, click play and view Full Screen,
or go straight to YouTube here.

From my heart to yours.
Enjoy!




http://www.youtube.com/user/erinreese#p/a/u/0/FEE8vEFTXrA