A week with hippies

During my time in melbourne I decided to head back north to the byron shire to attend a week long intensive lomi lomi training. Lomi Lomi is a hawaiian massage technique that involves healing the soul through the body while drawing on the resources of mother nature and God.

Naturally, every single person there was a hippy. All but me.

The training was really good, it involved a lot of respect for your own body, the earth, and hawaiian culture which was interesting. It started out rocky though. We gathered together to pray and then we had to "enter the temple, claiming all that we are." I had no idea what was going on.People walked up to a sliding glass door that led to the living room, and said things like..."I am trevor. I am RAGING BULL! I AM SUN AND MOON! I AM YIN AND YANG. KATUA LO MAHINA SHU RAGA!!!!" When my turn came i said "I am jessie. I am confused. I am here to learn." and I wasnt allowed in. People were screaming about being raging bulls, and I wasnt allowed in! I had a near nervous breakdown because A) I didnt know any of these people and B) I thought the whole thing was weird.

Long story short I made it in eventually and then everyone group hugged me. THis was a really common theme during my week there. We hugged hello, we hugged goodbye, we hugged when we were sad, we hugged when we were happy. We didnt just hug, we group hugged. Group hugs involved deep breathing, rocking or swaying, and occaisionally humming or singing. By the end of the week we all had colds from being in such close proximity to each other and breathing the same air.

At one point there was a rainbow around the sun, and everyone went outside and was freaking out. If you've ever seen the youtube video of that high guy crying about the double rainbow, imagine that but with about 10 people all soberly staring at the sky in awe and gleefully cheering and clapping.

I will say this for the hippies...they are awesome. I dont nessesarily agree with everything they say, do, or eat, BUT they are some of the kindest, most accepting people I have met. The couples didnt act exlusive. The girls weren't possesive bitches, and the guys weren't assholes who treated you like a diseased harlot if you attempted to make conversation with them. A refreshing change. They didnt harbour judgments about religion the way my christian brethren do. I actually had a really good talk with one hippy about Jesus. He said that Jesus was cool and everything but he didnt really know how to handle him. in his own words, "Jesus is just too much for me sometimes. he was really passionate and rebellious, and I just don't understand him." It was nice to have a conversation with someone with a conflicting viewpoint and not have it turn into an argument. So I'll give sound healing and guided meditation a miss, but we can hang out and make some polenta. One thing the hippies do that I LOVE is have drum circles and dance parties. I feel that these two social events should be staples in all societies.

So in conclusion, I need to start giving awaying some lomi lomi massages. If you have a massage table, or access to one, call me and I will lomi lomi you. I need to keep doing it or i get out of practice.