Photos at the bottom 😊
25th September 22
22:09 Tonight we’re staying in a house on top of a very big hill. The architecture is so unique and the house is unlike any other. The estate is overwhelmingly vast and full of nourishment for the mind, body and soul. Our hosts are Priyanka and Adi. Priyanka is a yoga teacher and Adi a sound healer/teacher/guide. We have arrived in heaven.
We sat down outside and were served hot drinks under a canopy of clouds. A vast open space lay in front of us with a direct view of the bottom of the valley where sattal sat proudly - sat meaning 8 and tal meaning lake = 8 lakes.
Opposite us, the landscapes rolled up towards the clouds and we were treated to nature’s arrival performance. I’ve never seen a curtain of clouds drop down in this way before. The closest thing that comes to mind is the dry ice that you seen on tv shows, obscuring a contestant right before they walk onto the stage.
These clouds, they were light and heavy at the same time.
In the distance they were appearing out of nowhere. Whispering with the wind, curling, swirling. We see the clouds for most of the year in England but when they appear within this kind of landscape only then can their true wonder really be framed.
To say we’d had enough of our previous accommodation would be putting it mildly. Maybe it was the black mould that was lingering on the shower curtain, fridge freezer and friendly signage or maybe it was the lack of towels and the too many half used soap bars. Just as we were leaving, one of the (adorable) dogs scratched Amy’s legs through her trousers. She will have the scars to remind her of our stay for a few more days.
Heal Farm, that’s where we are. Already I feel healed. It feels like we’re in good company. It feels like we’re with like minded people - people to both validate and challenge us. We’ve got 3 nights booked but we’re both itching to add another 1 or 2 nights already.
We’ve decided on a new rule for this trip. We’re only allowed to book a maximum of 3 nights anywhere. If we like somewhere we can extend if it’s available, if it’s not available then that’s down to the universe.
We’re “waiting” for our friend Atul to get back to us about an itinerary around Uttarakhand. Amy keeps telling me to hold off messaging him for an update, “just leave him alone”!
We’ve been umming and ahhing about a potential yoga course in Dehradun for 20 days in Nov. It’s something I accidentally booked while back in the UK. It’s so hard to find stuff on google these days and it’s so hard to see through people’s reviews, their thoughts and opinions, how are they relevant to my own journey. It’s so easy for someone to write something so out of context from my version of reality that caution is often necessary. Still, this opportunity in Nov looks promising and after much deliberation we are confidently planning to attend. So, we’ve got the whole of October and these last few days of September to travel around this state before Dehradun. Let’s see…
Right, yoga at 6:30am tomorrow so best catch some zzzzzzz’s
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26th September 22.
Too much to say.
Heal Farm. Total bliss. I’m blissed out. Long day.
Yoga @ 6:30am - completely the class we needed.
A group sound healing, just me and Amy. Unreal. Afterwards we came back to reality (partially), sat on the decking outside the healing hut.
Breakfast. Black coffee. Fresh papaya. Museli. Paratha. Y-U-M
Chill.
Individual sound healing. For me, I’m still speechless. I cannot intellectualise the experience and I certainly can’t put it into words. I’m a zombie. Super chilled.
Lunch, Thali. Y-U-M
All this with a view carved by the Gods themselves.
So much chatting. We feel like we’ve known each other for many life times.
Our hosts organised a candle lit, romantic dinner for two. Nils Frahm on the speaker.
A helping of night photography to let the apple pie go down.
Ram Ram, Good night 🙏
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27th September 22.
Up for sunrise and boy oh boy did it deliver. Floaty clouds sat above the lake down below. To think, down there it feels like a cloudy day. The sun is always burning, shining above the clouds.
Yoga was delish. Priyanka and Adi have developed their own sequence. Some nice stretches followed by tapping all over our body while offering gratitude towards it. Some interesting breathing and then we made noises to waken the chakras. If I can work on being less self conscious it would be nice to make the noises on a daily basis.
Another sound bath before breakfast and I left my body and was somewhere else entirely for some time. My body was aching by the end of it, I had no idea why but it wanted to get up. My stomach started making noises and joined in with the symphony.
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28th September 22.
No entry
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29th September 22.
07:42 Can you start a day with a lie in or does the day start after a lie in? Amy let me sleep in. I’ve just come outside and she’s painting. She’s been trying to find the time for a long while now and she’s finally located it.
There’s another hill somewhere in the distance making the most amazing sounds. An old baba in his 90s lives in a temple surrounded by monkeys who he’s become friends with. They respect him and wait their turn to be fed. Apparently all it takes is time to forge a relationship, to develop true understanding and move beyond language. Beyond form, to some place where there’s an understanding between species. A mechanical drum machine resonates around the hills once in the morning and once in the evening.
It’s going to be a hot one today.
We decided to stay here for a few more nights. Adi has offered us a short, 3 day intro course into sound healing and it was a no brainer to accept his kind invitation and to soak into the wood work a little more.
Yesterday was an early start. Up at 5:30am to await the sun rise. The day took a similar shape with a yoga class, group sound bath and then individual sessions.
It’s so nice here. It was nearly impossible to not extend our stay. Plus, Atul still hasn’t shared with us any contact since he said about a week ago that he’d work on something for us. I’m afraid he may have bailed on us and I’ll wait until tomorrow before sending one final message. Then, we’ll find our own way to Rishikesh.
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1st October 22.
12:34 Amy is in the Sonorium with Adi. A final sound bath each today. We’ve just booked our next place, our next location after extending our stay here again and again… and again.
Yesterday was a real weird one. A pit of anxiety in my stomach for most of the day. Unbalanced. We did a group healing session where we all took turns lying down and transmitted intention and energy from our minds and hearts. Experiences like these always remind me of Jeremy from Peep Show. Maybe that’s the next tv show we need to revisit actually.
I am so aware how much tv and film mock “spiritual” stuff I have inadvertently consumed over the years. Never makes it easy to open up to new experiences when certain industries have created a foundation of doubt.
My anxiety started after leaving the property and being amongst real life. I thought it really peaked when I found a leech on my toe whilst visiting a lake (This place had a water feature like no other - a water chapel would you believe! I’ll pop a photo below! Who knew such things existed?!). My toe bled for a good hour and my mind took me through thoughts of infections which would lead to my ultimate demise.
Returning to the farm chilled me out a little. We watched some tv, ate some dinner and just after I sunk into my pillow I woke from the depths of sleep with acid reflux from one too many parathas. I couldn’t breathe. Amy woke up, startled, watching me choke, watching me unable to find my breath.
I’m still alive. Frightening though. 38 and I still haven’t learnt my lesson with digestion.
Going back to Thursday… we studied with Adi in the morning. We both led a sound healing session. What an opportunity! Amy took me to somewhere completely new. I couldn’t contain the joy inside of me and spent most of my session, leading Amy, hysterical. I felt like a child. I had to close myself down in the corner of the room, to save disrupting Amy’s experience.
Thursday evening and we attended a birthday party. We spent the evening with good people, sharing stories. A remarkable American couple shared their experiences of living here for the past 17 years. Both their children bought up in these hills, fluent in 2 languages. The hosts didn’t totally commit to our dietary preferences and a little bit of butter was consumed! We wound the veganometer back to zero.
On the way home we got delayed about 500m from the farm. A JCB had rolled off the road. We were waiting for a larger JCB to recover it. Adi stepped out and asked what had happened. Apparently the operators had known the JCBs brakes were a little faulty so they were half expecting an incident. The driver, knowing the chances of something happening was able to jump free in time.
I’ve been in a waking dream state here at heal farm. Good people, good food, a splash of Downton abbey. Clouds coming and going decorating the landscape with endlessly flowing formations.
The opportunity to build a foundation into sound healing has been truly unique. An unexpected friendship that has been built to last. A big shift. Grateful!
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On our final morning, thanks to Priyanka’s eagle eye. We saw, sitting on a branch, a baby owl. Photo below 🦉
