Help send me to India!

  Hello my beloved friends and family!!  The opportunity for an amazing adventure has come and i write this blog in hopes that you can help this dream come alive.  As many of you know within the last two years ive had dramatic changes in my life, a whole reworking of how i live my life and in the middle of that reworking has been yoga, that has been driving my change, fueling my love for growth and god.  For those of you who didn't know me prior to this two years you do know however that my life is wholly dedicated to yoga and exploring the Self and who i think i am, in fact that is how i met many of you!  Now comes the next chapter of expansion  understanding and longing in my life, travelling to india.  yes, travelling to India!  I have met an amazing teacher, Shambhavi Sarasvati, Spiritual Director of http://jayakula.org/.  Recently she has been an amazing guiding light in my life, helping me to look at my life and how i go out into the world from a more expansive way, helping me to integrate everything in my life and use it as practice for the unfolding of Self-Realization.

A few weeks ago i went to an open practice that she was holding, the first Saturday of the month, on 41st and Division (come! :D) and she invited me to join her and 11 of her students on a pilgrimage to india for a month and a half, to do sadhana (practice) in the Himalayan mountains and to go to Anandamayi Ma's Ashrams throughout northern india, visiting the very ground where she gave Satsang and gave guidance on practices for her students http://jayakula.org/anandamayi/.   This is an amazing opportunity to deepen my spiritual practice and to help set the groundwork for the rest of my life as a serious spiritual practitioner.   In the past few days ive been reading books about Anandamayi Ma and her life and its opened up a whole new level of devotion to god and to this path, ive found my self crying tears of joy reading about her life.  Which in turn has really intensified my longing to go on this pilgrimage.

Shambhavi told me that i should ask family and friends for donations to go, for two reason mainly.  One, for thousands of years family and friends have been helping serious spiritual practitioners to go on pilgrimages like this very one and two so that i dont spend every dime i have to go on this trip and return broke and unable to stabilize once i return home.  So im asking you! My amazing friends and family, if you have any means to help me to make this trip a reality, anything would be much appreciated! 1 penny, 1 dollar, 10 dollars, 1000 dollars anything!  The expenses for the trip are $4500 that includes airfare and most of the expenses once i arrive in india.

There are two ways of donating, one is the Donate button at the bottom of this page, which will direct you to donate to my paypal account, or you can e-mail me and we can arrange another way. Zach.stavrum@gmail.

Ive said it before and ill continue to say it forever.... I love you all!

This is some of what ill be doing!

• see Haridwar beautifully aglow during Diwali, the festival of lights
• experience the annual Durga Puja at the Kankhal ashram of Anandamayi Ma
• bathe in the sacred Ganga at Rishikesh, the gateway to the Himalayas
• visit Shiva temple in Raipur and practice in Uttarkashi, where Ma taught and Bholanath lived doing lots of sadhana along the Ganga
• spend ten days in Varanasi, the “city of Shiva”, visiting temples, exploring ghats and doing daily practice on the ashram balconywhere Ma gave many of Her satsangs
• travel to Ma’s smaller ashram in Vindhyachal, walk the Trikona yatra (Kali, Lakshmi and Saraswati temples arranged in a triangle) and head to the surrounding hills to explore and practice in caves which have long been used by Tantriks
• participate in a traditional fire ceremony/yajna back in Varanasi before heading home

From Scrapbook Photos

homeless in portland

ok, so its month two of my homeless adventures in portland. Ive managed to have a couch every night, thankfully. Ive been going back and fourth between portland and lebanon, Or, its been quite a ride. Be homeless for three weeks in portland and then down to lebanon to be with family and have a home. Its a been of a stressor, one that i so willing chose. When i went to maui, i decided that i wanted to experince a new kind of life, one without that job that i work so mindlessly at for years, to just pay bills, i decided that i was going to search for what i loved, and i wasnt going to take and empty road for and answer. I told myself i would keep walking until i found whatever it is, happiness, purpose, love, whatever clicks. I knew that i was tired of working a job that i knew i didnt want to give my life to. So i went to maui, learned some new skills, learned how to hitchhike and how to be a bum, and i fucking loved it! Then i came back to portland my home, to where i thought i had a home. Unfortunately my parents moved from portland and i no longer had residence in p-town, i didnt let that stop me, my firends said hey, we understand, go out there find it, stay here while you do. Then i met Anna Marti, tantric practitioner, shes amazing, shes been teaching me about tantra as well as opening up her home to me. She one of the most generous people i have met.
So, thats pretty much a quick overview of the last couple months. went to maui, had a great time, learned a lot about myself, practiced yoga, was a bum, and brought it all back to portland with me. Now its a little less than one week till christmas, im headed down to lebanon to be with family, that will be nice. Then back to portland to bum around again. I told myself that if i was going to bum it, i needed to do something with my time, so ive been practicing yoga, and looking for valunteer work. Ive been finding some good potential. Then next few months are going to be great. My hope is that i get lost in volunteer work, at least for a little bit. I need a little selflessness right now. Well thats all for now! Oswell out!