Impressions

TOURISTS' IMPRESSIONS

TouristWhen I arrived at Gautama I didn',t know anything about the place or the people living here; a friend of mine had just talked to me a bit about it.
My first impression was very positive, I immediately felt at home.
As soon as I arrived I got into the Tourist Program, an experience I'll never forget, which took me into a magical space of deep meditation and cleansing at all levels.
It was one of the most precious gifts existence could give me.
At the beginning it was,t easy: entering an intense program such as this is not so simple... but thanks t the structure and the people who followed me day by day, from whom I constantly received a lot of support, I slowly began to unblock ant to simply say: "Yes, I can make it!"
At the end, I felt I could fly, I was finally feeling trust in myself and my body. I felt more energy and sensitivity, two things I had forgotten for a long time.
Here at Gautama I had the chance to meet beautiful people, who love you for who you are, with whom you can everyday experience how important friendship is.
There times when you may fight and confront each other, but if you stay with the truth of what you are feeling, such moments help you to grow and relate with others at so many levels. With love, Chandra

"Oh, here comes the new Tourist!" I've been welcome to Gautama with more or less this kind of remark, a sentence that triggered all my expectations, fears, curiosity.
For two weeks these sentence kept me in a sort of protecting cocoon, inside which I was able to plunge into a inner journey, destination unknown!
This sentence made me feel accepted by everybody as someone who had come just in order to get to know and understand himself.
"The Tourist Program will change your life": it could be a slogan (maybe somewhat worn out) for such an experience, but it is true.
It started with the morning meditation, the much feared "Dynamic".
I would wake up at 7,15 absolutely exhausted and I would come out of it at 8,30 exuding energy from each pore.
And it went on through the experience of community living where you cannot hide: you uneasiness is immediately manifested, you cannot lie because when you do so, you lie to yourself; and you are always inter-relating, people keep mirroring you and you are confronted with your mental patterns, your prejudices, your false beliefs.
It happened also in the many meditations or guided visualizations where I discovered parts of myself which I have no idea existed, some pleasant, some not so pleasant, but which were all asking to be accepted.
And t kept happening in the two groups included in the program: I would meet lots of new people coming to the commune to experience a process of inner growth which accelerates in this togetherness at a speed you don't know where it will take you.
The Tourist Program is all this and much more.
"You are OK the way you're now!"
What a relief, what a pleasure when I would hear this sentence, because consciously or unconsciously, I was (and still am) always ready to feel and judge myself wrong.
"And how are you doing right now?"
This was maybe the sentence and gesture that touch me most, the care without ulterior motives of all the members of Gautama towards me.
Yes, towards me! Not only from the team which accompanied my journeys (one may think it is their job) but also from the students and the residents.
You wake up in the morning and someone you hardly know is asking (and meaning it): "How are you doing?". It's like a breath of fresh air.
Have a good journey you too! Alex