22 October 2010
Twenty one LHSG members left on a field trip to Lake Naivasha. There was excitement in the air as we left Nairobi early in the morning. By 11 am we were in Simba Lodge Hotel on the shores of Lake Naivasha. After a quick fruit drink, we all gathered on the beautiful lawns of the hotel and waited as Tejal Gohil explained about Holistic Yoga. We were asked to stand in a circle. With Tejal’s guidance, we went through the Yoga Postures which had a bit in common with the traditional Yoga asanas, and yet were different. A lot of fun and laughter ensued when the less fit amongst us could not maintain the posture for more than a second or even do it! A perfect example was when some of us found we could not reach our neighbors hands with ours after crossing our arms across our chest. We complained that our arms were too short, when in actuality we were not able to stretch them well!
The session ended with a beautiful exercise. Each one had to look into the eyes of her neighbor and speak out a positive quality that came to her mind about the neighbor.
Next we walked further up the grounds towards the lake and chose a spot that had many trees around. The energy of the trees was great! Yoga mats / kitenges (Kenyan for cotton colourful cloths) were spread out on the ground and everybody lay down. Kamal Tolia took all through the meditation of the 5 elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Air Space). Unfortunately, halfway through the meditation, it started to rain and we could not complete it. No doubt the ‘water element’ was asserting its presence! The meditation was done again later in the afternoon in the covered View Point shed.
After a sumptuous lunch, we gathered in the verandah of the hotel for the ‘Quiz’. Two teams were made: Shiv and Shakti. Questions on Lake Naivasha, Kenya, the Environment, Reiki, Crystal Healing and The Soul’s Journey Home course were put to the teams. If the team did not know the answer, they could still get the points by singing a song! Much fun was had by all, and with each team complaining that the opposite team had been given easy questions, it was decided after much deliberation, that Shakti team actually won by about 2 points!
After this it was time to heal the lake. We trooped down to the lake side and each of us filled a bottle with the lake water. Then we sat down on the ground by the lake. First we tuned into the energy of the lake by being still and simply listening to the sounds of the lake water and the surroundings. When we were sufficiently centred, and could feel ourselves as ONE with the environment, we blessed the lake water in the bottles in our hands. Each one spoke out loudly her blessings …….. Love, Peace, Harmony, Health, Laughter, Compassion, Unconditional Love, Tolerance, … etc. More than 21 blessing were wished in the water. Then we stood up and one by one poured this blessed water into Lake Naivasha, while chanting ‘Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi’ (Om, Peace, Peace, Peace). Since the waters of the Earth are connected with each other, we know that our blessings will be spread into all the waters. This was our way of healing Lake Naivasha and healing all of Earth. Even the hippos joined us with a noisy blessing of their own!
After that it was time for tea! Hema Lumb had a nice surprise for us. She had asked the Hotel chef to make a lovely cake with the words ‘Happy 5th Anniversary LHSG’. Daksha Shah and Dee Hockey together with Aleena Rupani, a youth group member, cut the cake and blew out the 5 candles!
It was now 4.30 pm, and time to leave the hotel. We gathered in the bus, and to much singing and laughter, we completed the journey back to Nairobi.
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