There were personal stories of those who had healed themselves from every imaginable disease and others who just experienced a strong, general benefit to their lives through shaking. Slowly and without effort, I got to know and feel close to many people in a short time so that by the time I left the ashram I felt I had a lot of new, dear friends. It's very bonding to share those strong hours of shaking together. Knowing what it takes brings automatic respect and, following Ratu's indefatigable lead, a lot of humor. We had 4 hour breaks between shakes to dine, do projects, swim, and sneak in a nap or two, though there was a very clear message
to stay 'positive, active and creative.' That was a big emphasis.
There was my lovely roommate Sue from Scotland who has been shaking for 10 years. She taught me by example to welcome our 'processes' as she coughed many nights in happy faith that it was clearing her arthritis. Her own healing experiences since shaking, and that of so many others, make that faith not apocryphal. She kept saying, over my doubts, that I too might come home with a cough as a sign of my own healing and clearing. Now, three tissue boxes later, I am so grateful for her insistence. It has helped me to say thank you when I otherwise might have had other words and thoughts about this 'process!'. "No pain, no gain," I guess.
There was Reiner, top center, from Germany whose story of healing is well-known and who also has been shaking and knowing Ratu for quite awhile. Reiner had been suffering from Spondilytis Ankylosans. (I think the may be German for Spinal Stenosis) Anyway, he was apparently completely bent over before he started shaking. Here in his words, "My view was directed to the ground and fixed. To see the eyes of a person standing in front of me, I had to bow my knees and lean back. To see the sun, I had to lie on my back. Stomach and digestive tract were inflamed all the time. For years normal stool was impossible. The daily dose of pain killers was between 1600 - 2400 mg of Ibuprofen. In spite of different therapies and all fights, the disease didn’t stop. The consulting physician told me I was in the terminal stage of the disease and that there was no way back to bring the spine to any flexibility. My body height had reduced from 182 cm to 173 cm. In this condition I met Ratu Bagus in November 2003 at a five-day retreat in Germany. At this time I was 43 years old. Sceptically but curious, I started with shaking. Watching other shakers gave me the idea: maybe you are not right, these people seem to be crazy. It took me 3 days of watching Ratu Bagus before I spoke the first time with him. First I needed to recognize that he had no ego. This was important for me to open myself. After the evening meditation of the third day I introduced myself and spoke about my health problem to Ratu Bagus. He asked me to lie on my back. For a short while he held his hand above my chest. I got the sensation that the chest started to soften. Then he gave me a small photo of himself and the advice to keep it overnight on the chest. For years I hadn’t slept as relaxed as I did that night. The dreams were intensive. During the next morning session, Ratu Bagus gave a talk while I was shaking in front of the people. When I was completely wet from shaking he started to touch me at several points in the back. There was no pressure in his touches, but I heard and felt my back cracking and felt straighter. At that very moment I figured out that the path of Ratu Bagus was the way I had looked for. In February 2004, I spent 4 weeks in his ashram in Bali. Since then, I stopped taking painkillers, and I don't need them anymore. " (Reiner's picture, top center, kneeling shows a happy and healthy guy who was delightful to meet.)
There was Sue from Holland, (In the picture below, sweeping the dining room and smiling) who upon hearing me say I wish I had a headband to catch my sweat, made me one out of a sock she had and embroidered it with the initials of the mantra. That was even before I really got to know her.
There were to two young guys, adorable both, whose high energy my first day showed me my frailty by comparison. When I first saw Marco and Darren shake and then jump around and fly through the air and land unscathed in paroxysms of laughter, I felt like the oldest person on the planet. But soon, I could shake hard and bounce around pretty good myself. Marco is in his early thirties and was originally from Florence. He manages a pizza parlor in Ibiza in the summers to bankroll his passion for shaking which he calls, 'Freedom!' Shaking and Ratu have completely redirected his life away from drugs and partying to a place where he leads and inspires, at least that's what he did for me. ( Top Left: Marco in the Taman with Richard and others in the background.)
Darren, at 19, is here with his mother Tilda who is building a house that will give them both a permanent place at the ashram. I got to know these and so many other lovely people when the word got out that I could do astrological charts. It was so much fun and rewarding as one after another asked me so sweetly if I would do their charts. My last week at the ashram was a busy one as I read charts for 25 people and learned that, after more than 3 decade of knowing and studying astrology, I actually have some stuff I can say that people found helpful.
Noone wanted to leave the ashram or miss a shake, but I wanted to see something more of Beautiful Bali and was able to convince two others, Savannah and Dick, both from Holland, to join me on a one-day adventure. We first went to Besakih Temple which is the mother temple in Bali. We climbed the many levels to the very top, which is at the foot of Mt. Agung, the very day some of our other friends were actually making the arduous climb to the volcano opening itself. That climb, which Ratu says is equivalent to 200 hours of shaking, takes about 6 hours up and the same amount down and takes a full body effort to pull oneself up one rock at a time. Our smaller climb was strenuous enough and apparently very few tourists go to the highest part of the temple. We walked a narrow uphill path through the jungle following our able and kindly guide who said he had climbed Mt. Agung 43 times! Finally, huffing and puffing we got to the last part of the many-leveled temple where we meditated, thought of our friends on the mountain and truly felt the energy of that sacred volcano.
Then, our driver took us to lovely White Sands beach where we enjoyed a lunch of baracuda, caught that morning, and swam in the beautiful ocean. That little trip satisfied my wanderlust and I was happy we got back to the ashram in time for the last shake of the day.
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