Passing through Corfu – August 2010

Krishna Radha visited Corfu to rest after leading a Tantra group in Umbria (Italy) with 40 participants from all over the world (Japan, Russia, Taiwan, etc.). A visit to Corfu was long overdue – the last time she had been here was 18 years ago when she visited Anadi at Alexis Zorbas – it was time to come and “check it out.” After seeing the Corfu Buddha Hall she commented with a “WOW” and after some pondering: “My schedule is full for next year, but I am getting some ideas…” tantralife.com

She was accompanied by her partner Stefano who dubbed our reminiscences of how we first met in Pune in 1974, then the year later in Tuscany, my adventures in the kitchen with Deeksha and hers in the boutique with a: “Reunion of the colonels! When old sannyasins get together and remember things it feels like a reunion of veterans from Vietnam.”

Radha met up with Agostino who works with her in some Tantra groups offering breath sessions. He gives, independently, breath workshops in Tuscany and in major cities in the north of Italy.

It was a pleasure to meet his partner Paki who works as a designer for a furniture company in Milan (very busy as recession has not hit top end producers!) and who was happy to have some time off.

Vanya and Narendra are combining a visit to me and Amiten with a well-deserved beach holiday. Vanya works as a consultant for quality management for care homes and runs her own company out of Frankfurt. Her work consists in assessing the needs of the guests, the staff and the rules and regulations from about 7 federal agencies. She helps the staff to work out a collective vision and to become more creative which results in happier staff, happy guests and good points for the insurances. Vanya took  sannyas in 2001 in Cologne and shortly afterwards was in charge of the housekeeping department at the Resort. This is where she learned how to remain centred under heavy pressure! Amiten and Narendra worked together in maintenance before her arrival and have been good friends ever since. nklauss-qm.de

After six weeks walking the El Camino de Santiago in Southern Spain (a whole other story) Ziva Sarvaan hooked up with long-time buddy Anupada, who has been in Corfu for the last few months.  He was excited to discover a thriving sannyas community with it’s new amazing Buddha Hall and found an opportunity to contribute by working in the kitchen creating delicious vegetarian food for the  ‘In the Light of Love’ and ‘Tantra Mantra’ workshops.

He is now on his way to a holistic health retreat center in Kalikalos, then to Spain for a tantra internship for six months. He’s happy to have figured out, while being here, his next step of where to go and what to do!

Chitten, who lives in Totnes (UK), visited Corfu for the first time to see Abhar. He studies sustainable horticulture at the Schumacher College, Dartington Hall. The course is the first of it’s kind in the UK. We all know 20th century agriculture is not sustainable and education is needed to reverse our dependency on fossil fuels, and soil erosion. He is also involved in Transition Town Totnes which supports local community sustainability.

He loved the sun, sea and community – especially the Saturday Meditation at the new Buddha Hall.

Right now Jivan Sunder is running the ‘Gurdjieff Movements Awareness Intensive’ at the Corfu Buddha Hall, where he has come in past years to teach. He is next off to the Far East (Taiwan) then back to Europe (Italy, German) before settling in his home in Tel Aviv for the winter. gurdjieff-movements.co.uk

At the beginning of the month we had Deva Premal, Miten, Manose for a concert and the singing workshop ‘In the Light of Love’ (over 100 participants), multi-instrumentalist Kalyan from Canada for a concert and Rafia for ‘Tantra Mantra.’

Gupi came over for tea and biscuits. Last year the board of directors of Bells Associates, a British company with offices in Freiburg, Germany, chose to meet in Corfu. One of their division, Prabhu Music, manages and promotes Deva Premal and Miten’s concerts and workshops, so even some of their staff were here. They liked Corfu so much that, not only did the directors meet here again this year, but are looking to build their holiday homes in Corfu, reason for Rajen’s and Gupi’s frequent visits.

Yashen (the third of the directors mentioned above) and Farida came to see the property they have bought: a home in Arillas with a wonderful view of the sea and the neighbouring islands. They had only seen the pictures of their house so far! Talk about the trust sannyasins have! After some renovation work which will be done during the winter they will be back in spring. Yashen works as a financial director of a company producing and exporting products for dentistry in New Zealand. He helped the firm from being a one-man-band to become a multimillion dollar enterprise in just 3 years.

Thanks to Daya for some of the news items