Riding a Bigger Wave

Today, I sat down at the Maitland River and just watched the water. The water is quite a bit higher than normal, so it was really flying over the rocks and crevices of a normally pretty quiet river. The water was flying over the rocks at such a rate that it was creating white caps and serious current.

What struck me was how the force of the river made sure that the water didn't get stopped by the rocks in its way. The water just went over them effortlessly. If the river had been lower, the water would have had to take a different course. It would have had to go around the obstacles. But with such a volume of water going through, the water just flowed over those rocks... Hmmm...

In our lives, there are many obstacles that it seems we are constantly working around. Some big, some small. We are mature people that know we have to "go with the flow". But sometimes we are truly disappointed that we have to change our course even if slightly because these things come up. And hey, if it's a big enough obstacle, we get stopped right in our path!

So comparing this to our river... When there is very little flow, it is easy for the water to become stuck in small cesspools behind big rocks... Hmmm... stagnant cesspools... we know what that feels like.

When there is average flow - adequate to get done what we need to do - when we come across an obstacle, we can change our course and flow around it. Sometimes a bummer. But it's possible. We soldier on.

But what if there is high flow? What if there is all kinds of water? Then the power of the river simply takes us right over top of the obstacle.... No changing direction... Just up and over. So, you know where I'm going with this...

In our lives, what is the high flow? What is the energy that we can flow in that will just bring us up and over the obstacles in our lives?

I definitely don't have an answer for everyone. On a spiritual level, it would be whatever faith means to you. For me, it's believing in something bigger than me that I can tap in to (and when I do, life is so much more interesting).

In meditation, we often feel a beautiful stillness inside that strangely enough makes us feel connected to the whole. I think that the "bigger wave" is connected to this stillness.

The truth is that the more I describe what the "bigger wave" is, the further I will get from the truth. We each have to sit quietly and feel what that big wave would feel like. What is it for me? What can I do in my life to make sure I stay tapped in to that "greater flow"? How do I just be a water drop riding that wave?

This is what all the great religions say... That all we have to do is relax, have faith, enjoy ourselves.

That there are no obstacles we can't rise above.

That we just have to enjoy the ride.

Is Nudity Immoral?

When we decided to go on the Nude Cruise, we thought it was quite an adventure (and still do :)). We were excited and nervous and excited again. The experience itself was by far the funnest experience I've EVER had in a billion ways that are very hard to explain.

When we returned, people all had very different reactions to it. Some were intrigued and would LOVE to try it someday. Others were intrigued but knew that they could never do it. Some had no interest at all in ever doing it. And this is all good... God knows we're all different and not everyone has to like everything.

But what has surprised me lately is how many people are coming out of the woodwork telling me that they have a friend/aunt/neighbour who think that it is IMMORAL and WRONG and DISGUSTING and all kinds of other things. One man approached me and said, “Well, aren't YOU the talk of the town?”. Someone else said that it was disgusting that I was blogging about it and that I must really think a lot of myself parading around all naked like that.... Hmmm...

Honestly, this just blows my hair back. I realize that I tend to think outside of the conventional box, but normally I can at least understand the thoughts inside the box. But this one has me bewildered. And so, I thought I would share some of my experiences around the morality of nudity and see if it helps...

The main concerns that I've heard or imagine are:
1) Nudity is heavily linked to sexuality and so therefore if people are nude, they must be doing “inappropriate” things
2) Nudists think a lot of themselves to be walking around like that showing off their bodies
3) Some vague opinion that “It's just wrong” that doesn't need explanation. Any moral person would know that... or something...

OK. So here goes:

1) Sexuality: The interesting thing about nudist resorts, clubs, and this cruise ship is that overt sexual behaviour is absolutely prohibited. There are certain resorts that are all about swinging and sex games and all that. But you don't have to be nude to do that (and most of that activity happens among the clothed population).

In fact, on the cruise, any kind of overt or inferred sexual anything is absolutely prohibited! If you do anything at all to make another person uncomfortable in the least, then you will be put off the ship at the next port. And they are so serious about this that they ACTUALLY enforce it.

And so, what you end up with is an environment that is not sexual at all. What's interesting is that there aren't these strict rules at normal clothed beaches or bars or resorts. You can do anything you want there. But here, because nudists are trying to change all of the misconceptions that society has about them, they are absolutely militant about keeping things “clean”.

And so, when you're walking around or dancing or swimming or anything, there aren't people staring or leering or making comments or approaching you or anything. It's just a bunch of people hanging out (sorry :)) naked.

Now, there certainly is a sensuality about being naked in the fresh air. It's like the amazing feeling of skinny dipping. There's something wonderful about feeling the water all over you. There is the same sense when you are walking around in the sunshine. But this is just a sensation of the body. It's not sexual.

Honestly it felt more like we were a bunch of little kids just running around the backyard through the sprinkler naked on a hot day than a bunch of adults naked on a cruise ship.

2) Self-Image: There will always be all kinds of people everywhere you go. There are people who work hard to be fit and are very proud of their bodies in all sections of society – and in the nudist world as well. But what is interesting is that most nudists aren't like that. In fact, that's one of the rotten things that I do hear on occasion... “Ya, nudists are all just old and fat anyway” or “Most people who are nudists really shouldn't be naked (because their bodies are unattractive)”

These comments are part of the training and programming that we all received that makes us so terrified of being naked.

 

The first time Wayne and I did the “naked thing” was last year in Jamaica. We went to Breezes Resort in Negril because it had a “clothing optional” section which we thought would be a nice way to try it out – and if we didn't like it, then we could just stay on the clothed side.

Truthfully, it took us about 3 days before we felt comfortable. But it wasn't the other people who made us uncomfortable. It was our own brains. Every day we were there I could feel programming and thoughts and fears and judgements coming up and being discarded. It honestly felt like I needed to be de-programmed to be able to be there at all.

At first, my issue was that I didn't want anyone to look at me. My body isn't “perfect”. I've got surgical scars and cellulite and varicose veins, and things just don't look like they did when I was 18....

And then I didn't know where to look. Was it appropriate to look at other people's naked bodies? Was it rude? Was it going to feel sexual? It was very confusing.

But everyone acts so natural and casual about it all, your fears and judgements just disappear. They make no sense there. There is no judgement. Your body is just your body. (And in fact I've come to a beautiful new appreciation for our bodies – when you consider what they've been through and carried us through and survived!! Honestly how could I not appreciate how this body has survived nearly dying three times and all the other things it's gone through... Our bodies are quite miraculous actually!!)

So by the time we got to the cruise, being naked wasn't a big deal. The “de-programming” was completed. There was no judgement or fear or worries. It was just easy.

And the reality is that we all have “imperfect” bodies. There were people on the ship who were 400-500 pounds (likely this was the one place where they were the least judged). There were people in wheelchairs, paraplegics, people with extreme reconstructive surgeries done so that they could just walk with arm crutches. And of course you see every scar from every surgery... and trust me it's amazing how many of us have lots of scars... :)

There were also very young and very buff people. But they just looked like young, buff people... And because there's no judgement, there's no “good” judgement either. They just had different bodies than others... But it just didn't matter. We were all just there to have fun. What our bodies looked like was completely irrelevant. You can just enjoy being who you are.

3) “It's just wrong”: This is a curious one. I'm guessing that it comes from our religious roots - modesty being important and all that. But the curious thing is that in the Christian religion, Adam and Eve were living in perfection in Eden – nude!! And then the snake came, and they now felt the need to hide themselves... Interesting...


Truthfully, I can't judge whether something is right or wrong for someone. All I know is that my experience of nudists and nudist “adventures” have been overwhelmingly positive. Being around these people released me from negative thoughts about my own body. It has allowed me to be more relaxed in ways that I can't explain. These people are fun in a way that I've never experienced.

I've never experienced an environment that was so truly non-judgemental. I think that this is such a big deal. This is the one thing that we cannot even imagine living in the world we live in – which is why when you get to one of these places, it takes time for our brains to adjust. We just don't even know how to act or think or interact with people where there is no judgement at all. I find this the most mind-boggling because I didn't think I was a judgemental person. But being there, I've realized that the programming goes deep.. and even if I try not to judge others, I can still be pretty hard on myself. It's a fascinating realization to have and I'm very thankful for the de-programming!!! Definitely easier than 20 years of counselling!! :)

And so, “Is Nudity Immoral?” I truly don't think so. It hasn't been my experience. I can understand that the IDEA of it might be frightening and what we IMAGINE it could be like could go a thousand bad places... But it just doesn't seem to be true in the real world...

In the end, my heart now has a permasmile that was cemented there one day on a nude cruise as I danced to YMCA with a thousand other naked people. And when I ever get down, I can just close my eyes and go there... And I think that that's a VERY good thing. :)  

   

Day Three - Nude Cruise Questions Answered

OK, so I've received some interesting questions that are quite fun to answer!! (If you have some, I'm happy to answer them. And if I don't have the answers, then I'm more than entertained to go ask random nudists... hehehe!!)

1. What happens when men become sexually aroused? Do they just parade around like “that”?
   The truth is that they just don't become aroused. I've talked to lots of men about it who have been nudists for a long time and it just doesn't happen. Nudists just like being naked. They don't connect being naked and being turned on – which is really a huge connection that we make in the “clothed” world. We think that if we are clothed, then we aren't being sexual and if we are naked, then we are obviously into sex or something (broad brush I know, but it's something like that). You truly get used to seeing a lot of skin.
   
   
   One guy told me that if a woman came up behind him and brushed his shoulder or said or did something provocative, then sure, he would become aroused... So then you jump in the pool until things subside...
   
   
   We were just talking about this at breakfast actually, and our friend from California said that sometimes guys will bring a girlfriend to their nudist club who is shy about getting naked so she'll wear some skimpy little bikini. This woman in the skimpy bikini turns way more heads than if she was naked... So it's an interesting perspective that being naked makes things more sexualized...

2. Is the environment more sexualized?
   It isn't on this kind of nudist experience. Most nudists aren't looking for anything sexualized. There certainly are resorts like Hedonism in Jamaica where it is clothing optional plus there's all kinds of swinging, sex games and all of that. But the resorts are very specifically one or the other.
   
   
   This cruise is definitely the other. In fact, if anyone is caught doing anything at all that might make someone else uncomfortable, they are kicked off of the boat at the next port. Friends of our new friends actually did get kicked off a ship a couple of years ago because they pretended to take a picture of themselves giving oral sex on the deck. It wasn't real or anything. They were just being silly. But one of the staff saw them and Carnival kicked them off the ship because they couldn't risk any of that getting out!!
   
   
   The other thing about the sexuality is that it's not like you don't look at each other. You do. And sure you notice “nice bits” and stuff. But for some reason, it just isn't all sexually charged. It's like you can just appreciate something and get on with it. But in the clothed world, we just get all amped up about seeing nice breasts or whatever. Maybe it's marketing. Maybe it's old-school puritan training. I don't know. But it's really only in the clothed world that we're so weird about it.

3. What is the median age of the nudists?
   I'd say the range of nudists go from 30 to 80+. Average age? Probably 50.
   
   
   This also does something for the “sexualized” question. I mean, you can be sitting there and some young, buff guy is strutting along, all tanned, tattooed, whatever. And right beside him is someone's 75 year-old grandma who looks just like any woman that you'd find at any knitting circle in Goderich. The mix of ages and body types seems to kind of normalize the whole experience.

4. Jumping up and down? How does that work?
   Well, honestly, I was trying to figure this one out too. But honestly it depends on the person. Some women “keep 'em still” and others just give 'er... And the men? I kinda think that they like the sensation myself (I apologize to my children and their friends if they're reading this... :) )
   
   
   
   

I'm not sure you can have more fun than this!!

Funny Breakfast Happening:

So over breakfast today, we're sitting at the bar chatting away with a couple from Idaho... And this 70-yr-old guy walks over towards the bar... and my eyes are drawn down to .. you know.. because there were two yellow eyes looking at me!! It was some kind of clamp/jewellery-type thing that basically put one eye on either side of his penis... And yes, I couldn't stop looking at it. So, I said to “Laurie from Idaho”, “Hey check out those eyes!!”... As soon as she saw them, we broke into hysterics! Then it was just one line after another... Hey, you lookin' at me?... Hey four-eyes! ... Keep your eyes to yourself!... Whatchu lookin' at?... The husbands were going, “What? What?”... We could barely eat our breakfast!!

If you ever find yourself in a serious Fun Deficiency, then I would highly recommend going on a nude cruise!! I don't know whether it's because only people who take themselves lightly can go on nude cruise or the fact that as soon as ANYONE gets naked, they immediately become more relaxed, take themselves lightly and are just open to anything else that's fun...

So, I have to paint the picture for you... There's the Lido Deck – which is where most of the pools, hot-tubs, waterslides, etc are – where all the fun is!! There's a pool and a couple of hot-tubs in the middle. From there, there are tiers that go up all around for two floors that look down on the pool and hot-tubs. And all the tiers have various kinds of chaise-lounges and chairs on them.

So we're lounging on the top tier – overlooking the ocean flying by... Aaahhh... And all of a sudden, I hear all of those crazy songs that they play at weddings all of the time that are so desperately over-played it's truly painful when they play them... the Macarena, the Twist, ride a cowboy and of course YMCA!!!

The music is absolutely blaring, people are laughing and having crazy fun... So the macarena comes on... first my eyes instinctively roll. But then I thought, “Hey, when will I ever have the chance to do a naked macarena?” So I climbed down all the stairs down to the dance-floor and joined all of the other naked people doing a crazy-fun macarena... And then the twist... I really dislike this song... But the people I was dancing with were so much crazy fun, I just had to keep going... And the crazy dancing continued... I didn't even know that doing the naked macarena or the naked twist was on my bucket list... Who knew?

And then, I'm back up on my chaise-lounge, and the music starts up and it's this great song that I danced to in Jamaica that goes “Penny, nickel, dime, dollar...” And so I jumped up off of my chaise-lounge and became one of those crazy people dancing in the aisles all by themselves... and then the cruise director saw me from across the way and the two of us started doing this crazy Jamaican dance together from across the Lido expanse...

And then I lay back down...

Soon, this awesome salsa music is playing (blaring really)... I look up and my cruise-director-friend is doing some dance moves and sweating like a crazy man. So I get up and walk over to the railing and look down. The whole bloody place is dancing. Everyone in the hot-tubs were standing on the edges just salsa-ing like crazy. People in the aisles are just given-er!! I have to tell you that my inner smile was absolutely laughing hysterically!! It was completely overwhelming in the most awesome way!!

And then YMCA came on!! OMG!!!

Normally, this is where I run for the border. But the first few bars came on and the entire deck started cheering and now nearly everyone was on their feet. Hundreds and hundreds of naked people were just jumping up and down following “Victor” in really fun YMCA moves.

I'm totally on my feet dancing to YMCA like I've never heard it before and it's the best song ever. Even Wayne had to concede and started dancing too!! :) Now everyone is just going crazy. People in the pool are doing it! People on their chaise-lounges are doing it! Everyone was just groovin'... The smile on my face is killing my cheeks. It's definitely one of those “now-I-can-die-cause-I've-seen-everything” moments...

But most of all, it was just SO MUCH FUN!!!

We need to have fun like that.

Do we have to be naked? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not...

But to feel so free and so uninhibited – and not wasted (the drinks are crazy expensive and not included on the ship – so alcohol wasn't really a factor...).

It was absolutely wonderful.  So healing and fantastic!!

I tell you... I will never be able to hear these songs ever again without getting a crazy silly smile on my face and be jumping on the dance-floor dancing like a crazy person!!!

Such good medicine!!! Might be worth a try ;)

The Big Nude Boat - Day One

So here we are on a cruise with 3000 naked people. It should be a bigger deal. But strangely enough, it just isn't...

So, first of all, we made some awesome friends – Peter, Laura, Heather, Jerry & Marina from San Jose, California. Most of them are hard-core nudists. They belong to “naturist clubs” which are like golf & country clubs except for all of the events are naked. Before a year ago when they banned public nudity in San Francisco, they would walk down the streets naked for an afternoon stroll. They even have a big 10K running race where all the nudists would walk it together – just for a chance to walk naked outside in public together. (I'm not sure, but I don't think Goderich is ready for that yet! )

We got to travel with them to the ship and navigate where to go and all that. So nice to have friends!! It's also nice to have people to ask all the silly questions that we all want answers to. Plus, they're just the funnest people I've ever met!! So awesome!!

So, we all get on the ship – Carnival Freedom (such an appropriate name!!!) - at noon and it was absolutely crazy! Everyone was dressed because we aren't allowed to be naked until the ship is 3 miles out to sea... it's an interesting distance... as if anyone could see anything half a mile out to sea... but regardless, it's actually a really big deal for Carnival cruise lines to even have these nude boats and they want to make them as proper as possible. So, everyone starts out dressed.

But what a party going on!!! I don't know if all cruises are like this, but we headed to the Lido deck (there was food) and the music was absolutely blaring – all seventies and eighties... (I think we're going to hear a lot of Prince and “Mustang Sally” this trip!!)... And people are up dancing in the aisles. They're laughing, they're happy, they're just having a blast! I mean, sure, they're on a cruise, why wouldn't they be happy. I was happy too, but I didn't just start dancing in the aisles... and in the pool ... and in the hottubs... According to our new friends, these nude cruises do tend to be a little more light-hearted and fun and the people are just totally relaxed and easy-going... Hmm...

Then an announcement comes over the loud-speaker that the captain will announce exactly when the "fun" will start... (when everyone's allowed to get naked). So then I start thinking, “What's going to happen when this happens?” Is everyone going to start ripping their clothes off and hooting and hollering? I was having quite a bit of anticipation imagining watching 3000 clothed people suddenly ripping their clothes off... And the more I thought about it, the more I just couldn't picture it at all...

And so, for a couple of hours, I kept imagining different scenarios of how this was all going to go down

But alas, it was all quite anti-climactic. We had to go for our emergency briefing about where to gather for our lifeboats... The ship was late to leave... It started raining... We had to go for dinner (where we have to be dressed)... So, by the time we were done dinner, we all went our separate ways and found hottubs around the ship (because it was bloody cold with the wind and rain...) and by this time, most people on the ship had simply become naked.

There were naked people walking down the hallways, on the ship's deck, in the hottubs, at the customer service counter, in the casino,... everywhere. There are also clothed people who just came from dinner, or for whom it was too cold to be naked. There are people walking around in bathrobes, sarongs, just t-shirts, and every combination of dress/undress, you can imagine.

But it's all pretty chill. Nobody looks at you funny... Not even all of the Carnival cruise employees who are fully dressed. They just say as you walk down the corridor totally naked, “Evening ma'am. Hope you have a good night.”... And life goes on...

Hmmm...  

And so, off we went to a hot-tub at the back of the ship and warmed up with a whole pile of people from all over the world... I sat and chatted with Dino from North Carolina for a while... talked about the weather... how this was our first time on a nude cruise... you know, basic stuff... And it was... really normal. 

In fact, so far, I swear it was even more relaxed BECAUSE we were all naked... No posturing. No pretending. Just totally there... chatting in the hot-tub... Very cool... Really nice :)

Aahhh... So we'll see how many pictures I can come up with from here on in... pictures are totally prohibited for obvious reasons... But we'll see...

The Healing Power of Love Meditation

I was recently in Jamaica at the Caribbean Yoga Conference and I made this video about how we can bring the feeling of love into our everyday life... partly through understanding how we push it away... and partly through practising a simple meditation.

I know that it sounds a little hokey... like every love song ever written... "All you need is love.." 

But one interesting point comes from people who have near-death experiences and the amazing sense of love that surrounds them when they're "in that other place". I have had this experience twice in my life. But I couldn't articulate it until I read Anita Moorjani's book "Dying to be Me".. and while she was clinically dead - her body wracked with cancer, she was having the most beautiful experience.

She felt completely happy, blissful and surrounded by love. The love absolutely permeated her entire being. There was no lover or child or anyone else there... just love.  This is what we forget "down here". We think that we have no love if our partner thwarts us or we're struggling with our parents or children. But that "love" that we think we've lost isn't really love... It's relationship expectations and other twisted versions if it.

But real love is a beautiful feeling that we experience. It's not rational. It's just there. And our biggest problem is that we actually only let it so far in... then we push it away - ever so slightly - or a lot!!

But this love has amazing abilities to heal us.

When Anita Moorjani returned to her body, her stage 4 cancer was healed. She was forever different. There's something to be said for that. (As a side note, we are super excited that Anita is coming to Blyth from Hong Kong on April 21st to speak about her book. More details can be found at: http://www.eaststreetstation.ca/coming-events/april-21-anita-moorjani.html )

And so, without further ado, here is the video from Jamaica. 

Enjoy!

Just follow this link: Meditation Video

Please share this with anyone you know who needs some love in their life... anyone who needs hope and uplifting... anyone who feels alone. 

Love always,

Katrina

Our True Human Potential

I truly believe that we are able to do anything we put our minds to. I believe that our bodies and minds will respond with vigour to any challenge that we put before them. The problem is that our goals are too small due to fears, conditioning, "what has always been", our upbringing, our society, whatever.

And so, with this in mind, I have signed up to participate in a Tough Mudder challenge on May 11, 2013. (See www.toughmudder.com for a video). This is a challenge that is truly quite beyond me right now. It is a 20km route with 25 military-style obstacles designed to test your strength, your mettle, endurance and challenge your fears. There's everything from climbing cargo nets to getting over vertical walls to jumping into ice-water to jumping off 30ft heights into water. And in-between these things, we run... in our case, it's at Mount St. Louis Moonstone, so it will be all climbing mountains.

(By the way, this is a team running electrified wires... 

always the final obstacle before you get the headband and the beer!!)

So why am I doing this? It's a great question. But I feel called to do it in that wonderful way that always turns out to be the most interesting!!!

Basically, at the time of writing this, I have 18 weeks to be able to comfortably run 20 km with serious hills in them (I'm nowhere close). I have to improve my upper body and core strength enough to even be able to participate in the challenges and help my teammates(I have the upper body strength of a T-Rex) ... Oh yeah, this is a team sport. So the teams must progress together through all of the obstacles. For me, this is a huge stimulus...Letting other people down is definitely one of my greatest fears!! 

Our Human Potential:

This challenge lets me finally test my deeply-held belief that our bodies will rise to any challenge that we put before them. Back when I wrote "What If You Could Skip the Cancer?", this was the number-one finding in the research I did about spontaneous healings. Over and over again, we see people overcoming SERIOUS disease. People heal against impossible odds. 

Why? Because this is what these amazing bodies are designed to do!!!

These bodies are not only phenomenal in their physical make-up alone, they are linked to our amazing minds and spirits which have infinite potential for ideas, healing, and future possibilities. When our minds are clear, our bodies respond.

And our minds are absolutely amazing things!! They are entire pharmaceuticals that will help us in any situation we find ourselves in. Our minds are amazingly plastic - they can adjust and adapt to any situation that we put them in. We are limited only by our imagination and our fears.

And so it only stands to reason that our bodies would also respond to this kind of challenge - to build strength, endurance and stamina... 

And so, these 18 weeks will be a chance for me to really dig deep inside and weed out the ideas, beliefs and thoughts that stand in my way. Because as long as they are there, I won't train enough. I won't heal enough. I won't become strong enough.

But when I can get my mind and intentions clear, what is possible? Anything? Everything?

This is what I truly believe. And I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to really experience it!!

It's going to be an interesting 18 weeks!!!