Münster

I never knew about this wonderful town. This is my 100th blog post and I am making an exception to write this blog about a charming University town in Germany where I stayed for less than 24 hours. The reason why I am making this exception : it was a profound learning experience for me to be in this wonderful place, thanks to Raphaele. She is medical doctor with specialization in psychosomatic medicine and a deep interest in spirituality. She began her spiritual journey at the age of 6! She gave up her practice in her spiritual quest and studied Life Divine at SACAR (Sri Aurobindo Center for Advanced Research). She is the Founder  of Field Dynamics,  which unifies body-therapy on the level of the cells and tissues, with spiritual and evolutionary exploration and integration. For more, please see www.feld-dynamik.de
Raphaele and Brigitta attended a Pranayama workshop in Auroville. One day, I  happened to Raphaele at Matri Mandir after the workshop and she extended an invitation to Münster /Westf, her home town. When I was planning my Europe Trip, I got a pleasant surprise - a mail from Raphaele,  inviting me to Münster. She learned about my planned workshop at Berlin, when she went there to do a session on Field Dynamics. I was quite moved by her invitation and decided to accept it, even though, just for 20 hours. She said she will receive me at Münster but actually met me at Hannover, on her way back from Berlin. It was a beautiful drive and she took me around Münster, helping me to see this beautiful city through her eyes, sharing her experiences and her life. This was an unbelievable experience for me and left an indelible impression inside me. The next day, we had a fabulous breakfast at the lovely home of Brigitta and continued to explore  Münster for another 3 hours, after which Raphaele dropped me at Osnabrueck railway station.
Fast forward to  Dec 2013. Brigitta came to Pondy in November and was staying at Golconde, Pondicherry. Raphaele arrived on 3 Dec 2013 at Auroville. I could meet neither of them.  On 4 Dec 2013, my lap top was giving a problem and I had to go to Pondy and called Brigitta after I finished my work. She was free and we met at the Ashram and were walking towards a restaurant for tea, talking about how we could meet along with Raphaele some time in the second week of December. And we meet Raphaele, walking towards the Ashram! This is synchronicity! This meeting added further meaning to our friendship and I am sure all this was meant to be and I am blessed to experience this .  

The rest of this blog is a joint post by Raphaele and JV

Raphaele’s house
It is a typical bungalow from the sixties in the country-side, a 20-minutes bicycle ride from town and friend Brigitta.

Entrance to the home of Raphaele

The lovely living room is where you enter into the home

Living room and dining room to the right

Life Divine in pencil work painting by Jacques de Jong

Garden

Garden - another angle of view

A most vibrant green that was stunning in the golden sun

A big old farmhouse in the neighborhood:
Differently-abled live and work here together with others,
running a restaurant, a farm-shop, maintain stables etc

Raphaele's Münster

Parent's house

Annette-von-Droste-Hulshoff-Gymnasium - The high school
from which Raphaele, her mother and eldest daughter graduated 

Elementary School

Way to school along the Promenade.
the medieval fortification around the town
Now for pedestrians and bicycle riders only

Raphaele's office for Psychosomatic Medicine
from 1992-2005, right opposite to her parents home

Raphaele's apartment in an art nouveau house (from about 1900)
where she lived form 1999 to 2005

Town house of country nobility

Her youngest daughter's humanistic Gymnasium

(Latin & Greek High School) opposite to the apartment

Sculpture of a man who had been demonstrating
 in this place against many issues for decades and
wrote innumerable letters to the local newspapers

TOWN WALK

Art nouuveau-house form about 1900 at Promenade

Baroque castle of Arch-Bishop now used for
University  Administration (50,000 students) 

A nicely renovated fancy house at Promenade

Franz von Furstenberg, Founder of the University &
great Humanist of the early 18th Century

Town hall where the  "Westfalian Peace" 1648 was brought about
by delegates of Sweden, Netherlands, Spain etc
after 30 years of European War 

Principal market and Lamberti Church

Erbdrostenhof, Baroque house of another country-side nobility 

Map for the blind - so that they can 'see' through touch

Raphaele's elementary school

Another view of Raphaele's elementary school with children playing

VISIT TO Guardian of Lamberti church tower: 

In medieval tradition, the guardian on the church-steeple of Lamberti blows the horn during the night

JV freezing at this height but happy to experience a rare sight

Talking to the guardian, who is a philosopher.
He earlier had his office for  philosophical guidance in
Raphael's medical office at the Promenade

               View from the steeple onto cathedral

On the 301 steps to the tower, we see pictures of the
devastation caused by World War II

Copper engraving of the medieval town  

Looking up to where we have been 

Relaxing after the unique tour

WHIRLWIND TOUR OF SEVEN OF THE FAMOUS CHURCHES OF Münster 

in 90 minutes

Münster is known for its innumerable churches, dotting the skyline  and beautifying it in an unique way. I am sure that there is much more to see and experience in Münster than I could in the short trip.  Münster was major center of Catholic faith and this aspect seems to be on the decline in the last few decades with the ascent of materialism. I experienced a vibrant, yet peaceful and quiet atmosphere in this University town. 

Cathedral, the place of the Bishop and Clergy.
This was built on the place where Saint Ludger built a church &
school in 800 AC during the first wave of Christianization

Lamberti, the church of the citizens

Dominikaner, the church of the monks

Clemens: The Church of the nobility

Servati, the spiritual church of permanent adoration

Martini, used to be a classical parish church.
It is now church of the youth, with all classical objects removed.
Now, there is a plain table and movable chairs.
This is an experiment to have the youth to remain interested in Christianity
What I saw there is quite amazing to me, given the orthodox nature of Christianity.  

A picture of Petri, the University church is lacking because I ran out of battery,
clicking so many pictures of the wonders ad beautiful sights of Münster .
So, I am inserting here a recent painting of in the cathedral, showing (for the first time, as far as I know)
in a Catholic Church, the corpse of Christ being taken from the cross and transforming into Ananda!

Integral Being Workshop iat Dransfeld,Germany

 This workshop is the first first one for me in Europe and the first with translation.
All made possible by Kristine. She attended one of  my Workshops in Savitribhavan and in our conversation responded enthusiastically to the idea of a workshop. She is Qi Gong Teacher and she arranged it in her studio. Kristine visited India in 1974 for the first time and has been on the spiritual path since the age of 15. It is inspiring to know her and her multifaceted accomplishments in Ethnology,  journalism, Qi Gong, translator ..... She came to India and Auroville in 1974 for the first time in her spiritual quest. I met her in Auroville in Dec 2012 when she attended the Wellbeing workshop. I shared with her that I was planning to be in Europe and Germany in June 2013 and asked her if she could help me to do a workshop. And she did! She did with such wonderful, enthusiastic and positive energy. The biggest leanings and gains for me in the workshop is getting to know her, her friendship and a glimpse of spiritual journey.

We planned the workshop as two day event but finally had to settle down for 1 day. It was quite ambitious because it had three aspects : Pranayama. Freedom from Stress and Happiness and beyond - the three basic ingredients of Integral Being. When you add the time needed for translation, you get an idea of the degree of our ambitiousness.
I am happy and satisfied with the results - mainly because the participants were great and Krsitine did a great job in translating and being co-facilitator of the event. I was pleasantly surprised that the participants were very knowledgeable! It was privilege to  work with them and it was a wonderful first event for me in Europe.

One lesson for me: avoid compression and cramming of too many topics

Pranayama Workshop at SAYFNA, New Jersey

Sri Aurobindo Yoga Foundation of North America, New Jersey was the venue of the workshop. The venue is rather unique - founded as a Spiritual Center or individual and collective Sadhana of Integral Yoga. It is located in the house built by the founder, Prof. Vyas. The Center has a meditation room, a nice library and a beautiful hall for talks and workshops. Vivek and his family live here and Julian introduced me to Vivek.
It was very interesting for me to meet so many people who came form near and far - as far as 70 miles.Many have come early to meditate or chat with the family of Vivek or meet others. This part of the program is aptly names 'meet and greet' and I was pleasantly surprised to meet so many people touched by the Integral Yoga of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.
The next part of the program was  group meditation. It is heartening to see so many children being part of the group meditation and being routed in this very important ancient practice.
The Pranayama workshop went very well with great and enthusiastic participation. The youngsters added to the positive energy of the event and I was very happy with the numerous questions and clarifications.
A simple but delicious   Indian dinner was the last part of the program. I could get to know more people and this community appears to have combined the best of East and West, committed to nurture their Indian roots.
I am grateful to Vivek and his family for hosting the event and for the opportunity to connect with this wonderful community and experience SAYFNA briefly. It would be great to come back here and do more workshops.

Pranayam and Stress Mnagment Workshops at Matagiri, USA

It is always wonderful to go back to a place to do a workshop again.  If it is Matagiri, the experience becomes euphoric.
I was here a year ago and immensely enjoyed meeting Julian, Wendy and Eric, the natural beauty of Woodstock and doing a workshop (see my post http://jv-personalgrowth.blogspot.com/2012/05/pranayama-session-at-matagiri-usa.html)
The pristine beauty, sylvan surroundings, the cool breeze and the ozone charged air sort of took me over as I stayed overnight to enjoy the hospitality of Wendy and Julian. The natural beauty of this place must have been one of the major factors for holding the famous music festival hare. The walk in the woods added to heighten my enjoyment of my visit and Wendy is a gracious hostess and made my visit memorable with her kind hospitality.
We planned two workshops this year - Pranayama and Freedom from stress. the venue was the Library of Matagiri - a wonderful place with Divine vibrations and ambiance.What I most enjoyed about the events is the participation of the small group of people. It is unforgettable experience for me and a source of immense satisfaction in my mission to share and spread  principles and practices of well being.
Julian and Wendy were going to Auroville International meet in Spain and drove me back to NJ. Julian is a walking encyclopedia of the human network of the followers of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.  It was a very enriching experience to listen to him and his narrative style is fabulous and I enjoyed listening to him. He introduced me and my work to Vivek in New Jersey and made the workshop at NJ possible. I feel so happy and grateful! 
 Apart from the memory of Matagiri, I take back an everlasting inspiration from Julian and Wendy. It is an experience to see the kind of energy they generate in their work, radiating that peace and inner calm in Her work. 

Wellbeing workshop at Durga Temple, Fairfax, Va, USA

It was a wonderful celebration to be back (after a year)at this beautiful venue in this green and serene city, thanks to Jay. The first workshop happened in April 2012, thanks to my friend Jacob Abraham, who took the initiative to enroll Jay into giving me an opportunity to conduct a workshop at the weekly yoga sessions.
This year, my friend Jacob is in India but he and Susan helped me in many ways to make the repeat event happen this year. In fact, but for them, I could not have come over to this beautiful town!
 Jay was very positive about the workshop this year and he, along with the Yoga Group Team worked for the past six months to organize the event. I got to know Jay a little bit more in this trip. He is a living example of the power and magic of Yoga. He was diabetic with hyper cholesterol and he is free form both these 'incurable' disease.  He devotes a lot of his time to organize and conduct the programs of the Yoga group. His passion and dedication to spread Yoga are inspiring to me.
 We planned a longer workshop this year and I had was apprehensive about people attending the workshop form 7AM to 10:30 AM without breakfast. The apprehensions were baseless and we had an excellent and enthusiastic group of participants.The group is mulch-cultural and  I am amazed at their interest, sincerity and enthusiastic participation as they are really committed to Yoga. The group Jay conducts many of the weekly sessions.  meets on every Saturday and Sunday an It is a privilege for me to share pranayama and the other a practices with a group like this.

I planned the first part of the workshop to introduce the daily practice that I share with explanation and practicals. I liked the questions, which were many and interesting for me to respond to. The group being quite Yoga aware, the questions were quite 'in-depth' and it was a matter of joy to share the time and space with this group.

After the break, based on some discussion, I decided to a short session on 'taking care of you back'. This is because back issues are becoming endemic with the kind of life-style that is prevalent nowadays. My sense is that it is well received.
 After the workshop, I went to the temple. It was so serene and well mainatined that I ermebered the syaing "Cleanliness is Godliness". The Goddess was resplendent and a group of about 30 devotees were chanting slokas. I wish every place of worship would spread  such Divine vibrations.
Thank you, dear Jay, Jacob, Susan and every one of you who were there on 11 May.  I look forward to more opportunities to be here.