MISA, seen with eyes wide open (III)
by Roxana Florea and Daniel Radu Farcaş
Each human being has own vibrations, aspirations and quests. Yet, there is a place where, even if different reasons bring people together, they all take enthusiastic steps towards the same aim: discovering the ultimate essence. Seekers of the truth meet in the Yoga Holiday Camp twice a year, in Herculane in the spring and in Costineşti in the summer. We were curious to discover some of them and to find out their points of view on MISA and the spiritual practice, beyond the nice words that people exchange, with kindness, whenever they meet in a spiral or in the unique initiations that this yoga school is offering.
Read the second part of this article here.
SAMULI RAUNIO, 6th year of Yoga, FINLAND
How did you discover this yoga school?
I actually heard about it from my brother.
And your brother?
He found it through a friend!
What do you like about the school?
Everything! Before I came to the course I was studying lots of esoteric things, so I noticed immediately that it is authentic and it is practical!
How do you know it’s authentic?
It feels authentic. You feel! It works, that’s how you know it!
What were your expectations of the camp the first time you came here?
It is my third year now. I can’t remember really. Of course you expect this great atmosphere, great spiritual experiences… I went to get all the possible initiations, like Trance, INDRA, SVARGA LOKA, everything! I was here the whole camp. I couldn’t expect anything, I knew I had to come and see what it is.
But the first time you came here, how was it like?
Very strange, the first time in Romania! Like the Bucharest train station… and then we got here before the camp, then there was the field of the camp, and then everything was so different, it was like a vivid utopia here! The yoga school in this country is so different from the regional ones, it is so amazing!
What did you think about the people, the food, the accommodation, everything?
Very warm and nice, especially the people! Very different from Finland, where it is so… MULADHARA!
What were your best experiences in a yoga camp, what makes you come here again and again?
Hard to say one single best… As a whole, it is like you get energy for the whole year, there are so many good experiences that are empowering you on many levels! Every year is a new step in transformation! And it is so fast here, you feel like you can take a leap.
Why do you come here every year?
This year I was both in Herculane and here. After I took part in all these amazing activities and felt the field, I felt how big our school really is, and all the people here when we are together, I felt how powerful it is when we are all here supported by Grieg!
GALA, 4th year of Yoga, BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
Originally I am from Israel, but I started the course when I lived in Italy, and then I moved to Romania.
How did you discover this school’s classes?
I discovered the school by chance, or not really by chance: I met my teacher on a train, in the middle of the night, and he suggested me to come to the class, so I said: „Why not?” And as soon as I came, I fell in love with the course, right from the first time.
Did you feel that you receive authentic teachings?
I love the fact that is authentic spiritual knowledge! There are so many New Age or other courses claiming to be spiritual nowadays, but none of them offers this lost knowledge that we get in the course.
Do you remember your first yoga camp?
My first yoga camp was an experience that changed my life. In the last day of the camp I was the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. I met good happy people, who are really committed to the spiritual work, who really want to offer themselves to God in a genuine way. I think it is quite unique in the world today. Many people say that they want to get closer to God, but here you find people who are actually doing it!
CĂTĂLIN RĂDĂŞANU, 21st year of Yoga, BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
How did you discover the yoga classes offered by MISA?
In that time I was undergoing a period of crisis in my life and I was looking for answers for certain questions that I had back then. Seeking for something that would help solving my problems, I discovered the yoga course.
Did your problems solve?
Yes, they did! Yet, in time, other problems appeared, but they also got solved… Problems keep appearing, but I pursue solving them every time!
Why do you continue coming to the class for more than 20 years?
The first thing that I discovered here is that one can live all the life experiences being completely aware! You can have fun, you can be happy, you can become wiser and so on… Yoga offers this possibility.
How does the yoga practice get along with your daily life: work, friends and so on?
From my point of view, to approach yoga in the social life is to embrace the universe with everything that it is. Everything has to be integrated in all we do. The yoga principles can be integrated in the daily life. If we talk about BRAHMACHARYA, or sexual continence, it can be applied in all fields, if we talk about non-violence, also it can be applied in all areas of or life.
What is your favorite practice?
Making love with continence.
How did this help you in your transformation?
BRAHMACHARYA, meaning continence, leads gradually, through practice, to approaching these ancient yoga principles in the daily life and offers a state of control, a state of knowing exactly when you have to act in a certain direction, to know how to wait, how to enjoy every moment, how not to lose yourself in insignificant details, to be focused on the essence in every experience, so that everything that is called life to lead you to spiritual development.
Do you remember your first yoga camp?
I remember that the first camp that I participated in was in Herculane. I liked it very much because I met lots of people. I was in the “order team” and I had contact with many, many people! It was an extraordinary beginning in discovering very different people, who have the same aspirations and the same purpose: to evolve spiritually.
What makes you come back in these camps again and again?
I believe that these camps are a sort of a new beginning in the year to come. After the spiritual yoga camps finishes, in September we start a new year of yoga. It is a refuel with energy! We have three vacation notebooks with extraordinary information, lots of materials that present different aspects of the world in a way that awakes one from ignorance; then the meditations, Miss Shakti competition, the initiations, all these are a start, an extraordinary impulse for the year to come.
CESARE MASSIMINI, 8th year of Yoga, BOLOGNA, ITALY
I found this school by chance, even if “chance” doesn’t exist. I was working in my shop and one client brought me the flyer of the course. I started to go there, then she left and I remained, because I felt something from the very beginning, it was connected to my heart. I immediately felt: “Yes, this is my way!”, so I started to go and I continued.
How did you realize that you have the chance of receiving authentic teaching?
I knew the teaching is authentic because in time I saw the result. From the very beginning I felt with my heart something, but then in time I saw the transformation very quickly, so I started to practice and the results came quickly.
Why did you start to come to camps?
I was very curious. In Italy, Romania is not the most popular country for vacation, but I like Romania, I feel like home here and I was amazed from the very first time.
I came the first time in Herculane and it was very hard, I was purifying myself, but in the end I was fine and I enjoyed it a lot: the people practicing all together, the spirals all together, this feeling of being part of something big…
What do you like the most about the camps?
What amazed me always, also in this camp, is this strong connection with Grieg. This is the most important thing for me. Also the meditations, but what is important for me is the feeling that everything comes from him – from God through him. For me it is important to feel his presence, to feel Grieg, to feel the communion with him.
What works best for you from everything you learned in this school?
I like HATHA YOGA. It transformed me a lot. I increased my masculinity, I refined my relationships with women, many things! I discovered God, I discovered my true nature, amazing things!
What do you like most in these yoga camps?
The camp is a special moment – to be all together and to share, to live these brotherhood feelings and I feel that it is very important for as many people as possible to find out about these camps – people from the school but also from outside the school. I feel that sometimes our school has problems in integrating in the society, because sometimes we are separated from the society. We speak our language and other people cannot understand us, so we have to learn to integrate much more with what we are, especially because with all the actions that we do in these camps, all the prayers that we do… everything we do here is changing the world, so this is why it is important to be integrated much more in the society.
MILOVA NICOLICI, 22nd year of Yoga, TÂRGOVIŞTE, ROMANIA
21 years ago, in the high school I was attending, a yoga instructor came and made a presentation about the yoga system. It was a magical meeting, as I was seeking for something more than what the society and my environment had to offer. Right from that moment I wanted very much to start practicing yoga. I remained to this yoga school and I am very pleased with my choice.
What do you like about the yoga practice?
I like the fact that it helps me discover myself, that it is a way that helps me to get to know God, that it is something that fits with my soul, that I succeed in discovering my spiritual guide, in discovering outstanding people, in discovering a way of being, a way of life, a way of existing integrating in society, while being in God as well, being on a spiritual path.
How did you discover that the teachings are authentic?
Through spiritual practice. If you don’t practice, if you don’t train, then doubts might appear, but when you practice and you feel, you live the things that you’re being told that you’d be able to experience, and even more, then there is no way that you can have any doubts and you feel that what you do is right, is divinely integrated, is a path to the Truth.
What about Tantra?
Tantra is also a path to the Absolute, which can integrate the lovemaking side of life, but it can also not integrate it, by sublimating it, thus helping people rise towards God.
What techniques do you like the most from everything that is being taught in this school?
There are many things that I like – the Hatha Yoga techniques, the ASANAS, PRANAYAMA, meditations; depending on the situation, the moment, the stage of my life I practiced some things more, others less, but I rediscover them. For example I rediscover the Lightning Rod technique; MAHAMUDRA, which is an exceptional technique; the Tibetan tradition, which is being taught in the 7-8 years of yoga, connected to the possibility of sublimating different inferior emotions in our being in states of wisdom; the PHO-WA technique, which I’ve done plenty of times in the latest period; the spirals, of course – there are a novel thing, which defines us as school, as movement. Also the Charismatic Movement is an exceptional way of discovering God, simply being present in those conferences that Grieg prepares got me extraordinarily closer to God.
I could say what defines this yoga school: the spirals, the fact that Grieg presented the resonance, the chakras in detail, the Great Cosmic Powers, the resonance with SHIVA, the communion with SHIVA, all the initiations that Grieg prepares every year, the communion with VISHNU, and with His avatars, KRISHNA, KALKI, the communion with INDRA – all these things define us, plus others: the Charismatic Movement, many things that we have and that others, unfortunately, have not discovered, make us unique in our own way.
Do you remember the first yoga camp that you participated in?
My first camp was in Voineasa, in 1993. I enjoyed the moment, I got into a state of aspiration, of community, of spiritual fraternity. The reason why I recommend everyone to come to all the camps if it is possible, even just for few days, is that here we are simply held in hands by God: He uplifts us, we just have to open up our souls, and if we have any problems, all of them are being miraculously solved. It is a very simple method of evolving spiritually.
SONIA, 5th year of Yoga, RUSSIA
The yoga camps are amazing! During the camps I probably lived the best experiences of my life! Everything that happens during a camp is unforgettable.
Every time I am very happy to come to the camps, especially that they take place twice a year, but I am very happy that the camps are scheduled in very beautiful periods: in the spring and in the summer.
Read here the next part of this article.
yogaesoteric
February 26, 2014
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