Shake It Up, with Govinda Kai
There has been an over arching message here at BaliSpirit Festival 2012. Eoin Finn asked us to follow our bliss to our life’s mission, Leza Lowitz insists that creativity can meet you at the most mundane or profound moment, so long you are open to it, and Danny Paradise insists that we explore and heed most reverently the guru within. The theme is clear, we each have a path uniquely tuned to our personal frequency that will most speedily bring us face-to-face with our own nirvana.
Yesterday’s dharma talk with Govinda Kai was no different, and yet at the same time, it was a real shake up to the asana and fabulous African dance that was unfolding all around. Govinda, he goes by Lunatic Monk on his blog, began by shaking a rattle. He said that the rattle had been used by indigenous people throughout time as a way of connecting with the spirit, the sound can cut through the mundane and call us closer to the edge. Closer to the things we can see unless we open with our whole being.
The class topic was Ashtanga, Vinyasa & Philosophy Sex and Yoga. We spoke about the changes that are eminent in our time, the waking up all around us and the shift from the human expeience being about ‘things’ to a much more fulfilled function of our capacity. “We are instruments of ecstasy.”, Kai demanded, “Things are the lowest denominator.”
Govinda has a passion for extremes, he is 53 years in age and has been practicing semen retention for the past 25 in his partner practice, a fact he attributes to his obvious vitality. He urged us to play with our own extremes, to get as close to the edge without going over, in all of our experiences, not just the sexual.
He broke down the sexes as void and light. Men are in search of the emptiness, whether concious or not, they are always yearning to be closer to that experience. It can be explored in a black T-shirt, or in blowing things up, but Govinda sees it as the same quest toward nothingness, a return to the place of stillness.
Woman have a different frequency, that vibration of light, color, movement, sparkle. These are not conventions of this time in history, according to Kai, but rather at the very core of the divine feminine. He urges us to explore our sex and fulfill its every wish. He asked that women open to the question of where and how the are penetrable, and when they may need to soften and sweeten. He asks that we dance and express the tenderness that is innate in our female experience. Govida asks the men in the room to speak up, to make decisions, to save the world.
Yoga is a science of energy, and with it comes a hunger for liberation. Govinda urged that we each be committed to only the highest possible level of experience, in everything we do.
On sex, he said some things that really stirred the pot. A woman near the front asked how to keep passion alive in a relationship after many years. The self-proclaimed Lunatic Monk said, “Have a conversation with your partner, explain that you are committed to the having the best sex possible, and if it isn’t going to happen with this partner, take another partner.”. He expanded on that with, “All the fetishes, all the toys, all the ‘things’ in the world won’t make passion. Because things don’t know how to have fun, only real human beings do.” He said we are each responsible for making our own passion, looking into what we eat, how we exercise, who we spend time with and how we communicate. “Drink more water, for godsakes, see a therapist.”
The most eye opening for me was the permission to be questioning everything, Govinda asked us to look into what we accepted as a reality, and see how an we break through that ceiling. There will be passion behind it.
Written by : Alexis Lea Arvidson