Intuition, India Part 1
I spent half the year for three years living in Mumbai, India. I absolutely loved it. The culture, food, people, music, dancing everyday, exploring. It was so not like my life in the states, It was incredibly spiritual, but not in the om shanti om kind of way. I was doing yoga 6 days a week in NYC, not at all in India.
Spiritual more in the everything you believe will be challenged on a day to day basis, I came face to face with my perspectives, judgements, entitlements and had to reconcile yourself with who I am and the way life and culture exists here. If I deny, ignore or get stubborn, everything is hard, learn to go with the flow, surrender and I loved it.
People ask me, how did I get to India, what inspired it? Well, one day that voice in my head said - “Remember that film you saw 7 years ago? Watch it again”. So I did. I was swept away into a world of awe, enchantment and inspiration.
There are so many parts to this story - let me start by saying, listening to my inner voice led me on a life-changing journey.
People ask me, how did I get to India, what inspired it? Well, one day that voice in my head said - “Remember that film you saw 7 years ago? Watch it again”. So I did. I was swept away into a world of awe, enchantment and inspiration.
The film starred Shabana Azmi and I was so struck by her presence and elegance, I followed it by renting whatever I could find that she was in. The 3rd film I saw was Morning Raga. The opening sequence the music, oh the music! It struck and me - I was like, THAT! That’s the music I’ve been looking for. It was Carnatic Music.
One week later I was sitting in a temple in Queens, NY and studying Carnatic Singing.
There are so many parts to this story - let me start by saying, listening to my inner voice led me on a life-changing journey. I spent the next year watching film after film - India’s classics, fell in love with the films and music from the late 1950s-early 60s, met one of India’s greatest dancers — she was in a film I watched Mera Naam Joker and down the rabbit hole of the internet, I found she had a dance school in New Jersey. I called. She said, oh, I haven’t taught in 7 years. You want to study Bharatanatyam? You’re not Indian -ok, come to my house. !!! I was there after 2 trains, a bus and a cab on a Saturday and like a kid, took my 1st Classical Indian dance class with Padmini.
This was the start of a 3 year experience. All because I listened to that voice in my head, again and again.
That first film was FIRE starring Shabana Azmi with whom a year later, I would be sitting and having tea her home in Mumbai and music by AR Rahman, who I would later write several songs with, including Dreams on Fire for Slumdog Millionaire. The soundtrack won a GRAMMY.
I can’t say it enough. Listen to your intuition. It knows what’s possible, the dreams you have and how they can be created.
What adventures have you had thanks to listening to the irrational impulses of your inner voice?
Stay tuned for more stories from my experiences in India.
#trustyourgut #india #slumdogmillionaire #adventures #risktaking #intuition