One week of madness: Boom festival

I'm going to be honest with you. You know I always am. If you read my little stories from time to time, you might find out some things about me. Like my love for hippie festivals. And beards, wedding dresses and skinny dipping. At Boom festival I didn't have a wedding dress, so mostly there was minimal clothing involved. I wish running around in the nude would always be as possible and easy as at Boom. Like going to the bakery, naked. Visiting a museum with no clothes. The whole world would be a better, hilarious place! Think of the advantages when shopping: all the money you would save on not buying clothes!

But - there is a but. When I swim and run around wearing un-existing outfits, there is mostly an un-existing bag without handy things like for example, a camera. Not many pictures were taken those seven days with my little camera. Do go check out Boom Festival photos on Google, it's an absolute out of this world festival. I felt like Alice in Wonderland in between morning time dancing, sunset meditations, full moon magic and all the crazy people/parties/things happening everywhere. Boom was a big playground for adults. 40 000 happy hippies gathered in Portugal for a party they wouldn't easily forget. 

It was an unforgettabe week for many reasons. New perspectives, dreams and true friendships were created. Expanding and growing by letting go. I knew this week was going to be transformational. Many friends warned me: it's not a festival, it's a life changing experience. They made me curious. I looked forward to it for months and expected my life would transform into one where fireworks go off daily and every moment is like a big fat cake with whipped cream and sunshine and happiness. And rainbows coming out of my ass. Or something. 

Instead it was like I got eaten up by a massive animal, swallowed down and spit back out. And slowly I turned inside out and realised what it was all about. Everything happens for a reason. While I was at the festival, I couldn't see through the whirlwind I was in, but now I'm home and reflect upon those seven days of madness, it's oh so clear. Life has been one step ahead of me, now it's time to keep up and savour seconds. Do the things that are most important to me, like hanging out with friends and taking time to enjoy the small pleasures in life. Instead of traveling around, looking for happiness in the furthest corners of the world, I'm finding it right here.

Meditation: dancing, shouting, jumping, shaking

Just another day at Osho Tapoban:

7 - 8 am: yoga while yawning like a lion and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes

8 - 9 am: dynamic meditation. Very interesting and pure madness. Every exercise lasts for 10 minutes and gets crazier every time. First you have to breathe fast through your nose while flapping your arms, then you scream like a mad man (you can also cry, crawl over the floor, kick a pillow around, anything even slightly related to madness), after which you jump up and down while yelling out "HOO" every time you touch the ground, then you freeze like a statue and you dance with your eyes closed. Goodmorning! 

9 - 11 am: breakfast buffet

11 am - 1 pm: watching an Osho video and dancing or chakra meditation

1 - 3 pm: lunch buffet

3 - 4 pm: any type of Osho meditation like humming or breathing energy into the chakras, or sitting in silence while observing the sounds of the forest and the monkeys on the roof

4 - 5 pm: tea time

5 - 6 pm: kundalini meditation, one of my favourites! Every exercise is 15 minutes. First you shake your whole body like crazy (exactly, like a mad man), then you lose yourself in the music and dance, after which you sit in silence and let your sweat dry, and then you lay down and rest

6 - 6.30 pm: aarati, worshipping the gods by dancing around their statues in the garden

7 - 8 pm: dinner buffet

8 - 9 pm: watching an Osho video

9 - 10 pm: celebration! Osho believes every day is a celebration and you live a happy life if you dance a lot. So people go absolutely crazy! Your average night club fades away next to the parties in the meditation hall! There is no alcohol, drugs or even meat allowed in the ashram, yet everyone dances like someone slipped something in their drinks. After every song, people yell OSHOOOOO all together. I just can't stop laughing at the hilarious sights of people in white robes dancing like this will be the last party of their lives, and the next day again and again! And the songs, oh the songs! They are even better than the dance moves! 

Every song is about Osho, and not only traditional Nepalese songs are played by DJ Krishna (the man who teaches meditation in the day time turns into a DJ after dark). Oh no, there is also house and techno music happening in Tapoban, with lyrics like "Osho, we want to have a love affair with you" or my personal favourite: "Rama on the dance floor, Rama likes to party, Rama loves to move that sexy Rama body". Those Nepalese sure know how to party! Sometimes things get shaken up a bit and the Vengaboys blare out of the speakers in the meditation hall. I feel like I'm 12 again. 

At least I look mature in my maroon (for day time) and white (for evening time) robe. A shapeless, sizeless gown not even your grandmother would wear to sleep in. I thought it was obviously to hide any female shapes from eager male eyes. But boys will be boys and the way some of the Nepalese men stare, you feel like you're not wearing anything at all. Conversations start with the same two questions every time: "Where are you from? Do you have a boyfriend?" An ashram would be the last place where you would expect to pick someone up for a night or marriage (we are still in Nepal), but these men worship a master who calls himself the spiritual playboy. 

Osho is not your average guru, that's for sure. And his disciples are not your average people. Because life is one big play and seriousness is a disease, people laugh and dance from morning until evening in this meditation center. It's easy to lose yourself in this happiness, and soon I'm running around laughing and jumping for hours on end. I realise this place is a bubble of joy, far away from any reality I'm used to. I'm a happy person, but I can't see myself in any city acting like the wild dancing, body shaking, hysterious laughing child I am here. Because in Tapoban, I've got the feeling judgement doesn't exist. If you start crying or laughing like a maniac, nobody looks at you in a strange way. This is something that set me free. In 'real life' you are always worried of what people might think if you act slightly different. People don't like seeing someone acting crazy or ridiculously happy. They don't know what to do. Here, everyone does whatever they want and they get away with it. They talk to monkeys, sing as loud as they can, smile all day and all night long. And I happily join them during my week in the pink bubble. 

Another meditating hippy in Nepal

"I have been here before", is the first thought that comes to mind as I arrive at Osho Tapoban, an ashram in Kathmandu where I am about to embark on my first ever meditation course. I wasn't looking for inner peace when I came here four years ago, all I wanted from this place was a banana lassi and a chocolate brownie. Little did I know then that I would come back to participate in a meditation camp. Ha! Last time I visited Nepal, watching old hippies float through Freak Street was about the biggest dose of spirituality I could take. I didn't get why all book shops were packed with stacks of self help guides and why all spiritual masters offering their services look like dirty old men who use chakra alignment as a way to get in your pants. Any word on meditation or ashrams would result in me rolling eyes and yelling out my kind of spirituality comes wrapped in a chocolate bar.

Four years later I still worship chocolate and the melting sensation on my tongue is the closest to meditation I've ever been. But I'm open to an inner journey that doesn't involve stuffing my face with sweets. I don't know what to expect from this experience, but I'm in Nepal and this time it's strangely easy to float along with meditating hippies and soul searchers. So yes, I'm new to this. And yes, that means people at the reception of the ashram can sell me things I don't even need for more money than I would ever spend on spiritual supplies. But as I said, I'm new to this stuff and all those goodies give me the feeling I am ready for what is about to come. So off I go, with arms full of Osho books, a maroon robe, a white robe, eye masks and an empty space where my wallet and confidence used to be. I'm getting out of my cocoon and I'm jumping into the deep end, broke as ever but with enthusiasm. 

I open the door to my room and bounce back as I see Osho's big smiling face looking at me from the opposite wall. Not a picture in a nice frame or a teenage room type of poster, no. A wall full of Osho. Not even teenagers would go that far. But we are in Osho Tapoban, and life here turns around one bearded man only. Statues and quotes of the master decorate the garden. His style of meditation is taught here and soon I will find out it is very different from your average 'sitting in lotus position for hours in silence' meditation. I catch a glimpse of the dynamic morning class. People in maroon robes wearing eye masks screaming their lungs out, jumping up and down while making monkey sounds, then freezing like living statues, then dancing to happy music after which they walk to the breakfast buffet as if nothing happened. This is going to be an interesting week.