TRAVEL WORK AND BOOKS

Third day of Primal Feeling in Lithuania. I am in my room, in the hall downstairs Dynamic Meditation is happening, the last stage has just started. From my window I can see an amazing sky, still the colors of dawn, some grey and orange that look done by a painter with the brush.
Long time has passed since I wrote my first blog. I have been in Goa for few weeks, one of the places in the world I love the most, very special for me. Goa for me is space, is going in, is meditation, is letting go and non-doing, is resting, is relaxation, and also fun, is the joy of the body that receives good touch, good food, good exercise. And it is friends. The perfect blending of being alone and being with friends. It is fun. It is wild and free. It is recharging the batteries, going deep inside, far away from the world and the worldly activities. It is my Paradise. And then it was time to leave: taxies, airports, planes. Few days in my hometown Milano where I met old friends and then the flight to Vilnius, Lithuania. The day I arrived it was snowing and very windy, minus 1 the captain said. What a difference with hot India! Anandramo and Amiya took me to their cozy house in Kaunas, nice and warm, in fascination I was looking like a child outside the window at the snow that was forming a white blanket on the ground and the cars. And then the workshop started. I have not been in a group situation for four months, probably the longest time of gap since I have started facilitating Primal Work. 34 beautiful people are right now in the middle of what I call the ‘surgery’. After the long break I was happy to start again, and once more I feel grateful I have the opportunity to be in the presence of the deep transformation that always takes place in the participants, I feel also privileged that people trust me so much that they allow themselves to expose their wounds and to let go of their masks and protections. No matter what our job is, what our status in society is, what our age is, we all have a very hurt child inside, and when it starts surfacing it is always deeply touching, I feel so much compassion for us human beings as we all go through so much in life and particularly in childhood. And after meeting the hurt child, after opening the wounds, then comes the next stage: the validation and acceptance of our primal feelings allow the the ‘wonder child’, to surface; it is the ‘original face’, that part of us which is still pristine, still uncorrupted, that is deeply buried inside behind layers of conditioning and wounds. And when this miracle happens, and it always happens in the group, it is magic, and all the difficult moments we have endured in the process, are deleted, gone, brushed away, transformation has happened, it is just joy, light, freedom.

And now the books. I love books, you could call me a book worm. Book stores are the shops I love the most, I could spend hours there cruising between shelves. Just looking at them, smelling them, touching them…..it is like an aphrodisiac. I just finished reading ‘Don’t Tell Mummy’ by Toni Maguire. ‘A true story of the ultimate betrayal’.A memoir about a child sexually abused by her father. Very beautiful and very touching. It describes very well the feelings of the child. As soon as I finished it I started another one: ‘Travels On My Elephant’ by Mark Shand, the story of an English man who traveled in India on an elephant! After a few chapters I understood I have to postpone this book, I was already totally absorbed into it and I was going back to my beloved India, feeling myself on a bike in Goa, with the wind in my face, big green fields and palm trees around, the ocean….and than I felt… no, I need something else now that I am in a primal group, so I am going to read ‘Rock Me Gently’ by Judith Kelly, ‘A memoir of a convent childhood’.
And talking about books, people again and again ask me what I recommend reading to support primal work, so I am going to give you a list. And with this I say good bye. Time to go back to the group and to the beautiful and courageous people who are going through this amazing process and transformation. We will meet again….. With love….
RECCOMENDED READING

John Bradshaw:
-Homecoming
-Healing the Shame that Binds You
-Bradshaw on: the Family
-Creating Love

Arthur Janov:
-The Primal Scream
-The New Primal Scream

Alice Miller:
-Thou Shalt Not be Aware:
Psychoanalysis and Society’s Betrayal of the Child
-For Your Own Good:
Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence
-The Drama of the Gifted Child

Charles L. Whitfield:
-Healing the Child Within

Lucia Capacchione:
-Recovery of Your Inner Child

Cathryn L. Taylor:
-The Inner Child Workbook

A. H. Almaas:
-Essence

Premartha &Svarup:
-Twice Born

Erika J. Chopich & Margaret Paul:
-Healing Your Aloneness

Robert Firestone
-The Fantasy Bond
-Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice

Byron Brown
-Soul Without Shame