The Intensive

I awoke at 4:00am Saturday morning in order to arrive at the Siddha Yoga Meditation Center in Los Angeles by 6:30am. Yesterday, the LA Center was one of many centers, worldwide, offering a one-day spiritual retreat, called a Shaktipat Intensive (held annually). In Siddha Yoga terminology, an Intensive is "designed to give spiritual initiation [shaktipat] by awakening the kundalini energy." Essentially, the Intensive is about (re)connecting to one's own sense of divinity.

I've been fortunate to have been able to take the Intensive for the past two years, due to the generosity of others. But this year it wasn't to be. So, instead, I decided to offer my seva (service or volunteer work) to the LA Center during the day of the Intensive. I'm glad I did. And here's what my day looked like:

6:30am -- Recital of the Guru Gita, an ancient and sacred hymn about the Guru-disciple relationship. I used to chant this at the Santa Barbara Center (when it was open) at least twice a week. It's in Sanskrit, and almost an hour long, thus it took me many months to get used to, let alone get good at. I love the Guru Gita, therefore it was important to me to get to LA in time for it.
7:30am -- Breakfast in the dining hall, where I saw many Siddha Yoga friends from Santa Barbara. That was sweet.
8:45am -- Seva in the garden, which consisted of sweeping leaves for about one and a half hours. It was actually rather draining, physically, but was the most rewarding part of the day, spiritually. While 150ish people were inside for the Intensive, I was alone outdoors in a beautiful garden, getting into my own little zen zone.
10:15am -- Seva in the bookstore, helping the cashiers bag up books and CDs and other SY merchandise for the Intensive participants, who were on break. A little stressful - not as much fun as the gardening. But the point was to be of service, not to be entertained.
11:15am -- Meditation in the temple (where I did the Guru Gita earlier). I didn't intend to only do seva at the LA Center. I also planned to get a good dose of Siddha Yoga for myself. It was important to me that I have a chance to soak in the amazing shakti (energy) abundant at the Center. I did.
12:00pm -- Desiring more of my own individual retreat, I decided to read some SY literature for a bit.
1:00pm -- Lunch in the dinning hall. The food at the Center is fantastic. Almost worth the trip itself. Always vegetarian, mostly Indian, consistently delicious. Yesterday, the highlight was the lentil soup. The chai was great, too.

After lunch, exhaustion from having been sleep-deprived caught up with me. I was beginning to dread the nearly two-hour drive home. So, rather than stay to offer more of my seva, I decided that I was done. Happy, but done. And with that, I headed north.