Adventures in Italia, part due!

The second half of our Italy trip is now well underway. We have been so busy I’ve barely had a chance to take a breath, much less to sit down and write. We are staying in Massa Lubrense, a small town south of Naples on the Amalfi Coast. It is centrally located and off the beaten path, so it is perfect for us and far less tourist-y than other nearby areas, like Sorrento.

Our Luggage Strikes Back

During the four-hour train ride from where we were staying at the yoga retreat outside of Salento into Naples, we cursed ourselves for bringing so much luggage. We were forced to pile it up between our seats for the train ride to the point we couldn’t even see each other or sit comfortably. At one point E cried out, "where is mommy?!" I peaked my head over and responded so he could see i was sitting directly across from him.

I couldn't help but be amused by our predicament: the first part of our trip all we wanted was our luggage after it was lost by the airline and now we wished we didn't have it at all. I noticed how quickly we forget and succumb to the mental game of lamenting our situation; whether the situation is not having the luggage or having too much luggage doesn’t seem to matter. Our minds like to find something to bitch about.

Our Fabulous Villa

The luggage dilemma was quickly over and we made it to our villa, luggage and all. Our villa may be the most amazing place I have ever seen. It is gigantic; and the view is spectacular. We are up high on the cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea:

When we first got here it took me more than a day to get my bearings in the house. There are hidden terraces, a secret bathroom cave, artifacts, curios, knick-knacks and antique furniture around every corner. There is also a perfect room for our yoga practice; its upstairs on the third floor with an attached terrace overlooking the sea. The room has a distinct resonance different from the rest of the house, and feels like it vibrates after our morning practice sessions.

Just down the street there is an authentic local market with fresh smoked mozzarella stuffed with olives and peppers, countless other cheeses; fresh fruits like strawberries, cherries, apples, plums, watermelon, cantaloupe; beautiful home-grown vegetables; fragrant herbs; and local wine for 4 euros a bottle.

Eat, Eat, Eat

Up the road there is a little restaurant with the most amazing antipasto. We’ve eaten there twice already. The first time Rob and I went alone. The waiter speaks no English and didn’t give us a menu. He started talking to us in fast Italian and all we could make out was “antipasto.” We nodded our heads and said, “Si.”

First came a plate of bruschetta and I looked at Rob and said, “could this be it for the antipasto?” Before I could get the words out if my mouth, two large plates were placed on our table - one filled with fresh octopus and the other with squid combined with walnuts, cilantro and celery. I think in my whole life to date I’ve eaten less squid or octopus than I have this week. They are my new favorite foods; the seafood here is so fresh and delicious. After we dove into the squid and octopus platters, assuming that must be it for the antipasto, out came an enormous plate of fried Italian specialties - arancinis (which are large fried balls stuffed with rice and cheese), fried potato-cheese-and-prosciutto-stuffed-thingys, along with bread-crumby fried eggplant deliciousness. Then came an assortment of smoky vegetables - zucchini, peppers, butternut squash, green beans and more. Last came two giant hunks of mozzarella topped with prosciutto. It was never-ending and only 12 euros each. I forgot to mention the wine - I asked for "vino" and again the waiter muttered something in fast Italian and I nodded. I guess I ordered the large because we got nearly a gallon of red table wine delivered to our table. It was heaven - rich and slightly sweet on the tongue.

We went back again the night before last and ordered the antipasto again, this time feeling like we knew what we were doing. (Sort of). The antipasto was similar to our first experience but this time it came with indescribably-delicious fresh mussels instead of prosciutto and mozzarella. We decided that agreeing with whatever our fast-talking waiter suggested worked the first time, so why mess with success? In addition to the antipasto he brought us house-made flat pasta with clams and mussels that was divinity on a plate. We followed that with cannolis and cake for dessert and a drink he called “limocini” - not to be confused with limoncello (he corrected us when we suggested it was limoncello) - which is apparently homemade as well. From what we understood, it was grain alcohol with lime and one sip of it made my lips numb. Here is a picture of our antipasto:

It would be an understatement to say that I am eating the best food of my life. Liz Gilbert’s “Eat” portion of “Eat, Pray, Love” is no joke. Italy is fabulous for food.

So far from our home base in Massa Lubrense we have traveled to Sorrento, the island of Ischia, Positano and Amalfi. We have eaten our way around each of these places and experienced food like none I’ve experienced before. Oh, and they are each fabulous sites to see, too, of course. I’ve just got a one-track mind.

Still more adventures to come...


Check out my new and improved website: www.theyogalawyer.com

Adventures in Italia!

We have finally arrived in Salento, Italy, which is in the heel of the Italy “boot,” south of Brindisi. (Actually, we arrived Saturday night but our luggage didn’t make it until last night (Monday). More on that in a minute). We are staying at place called Yoga Salento at Agricolo Samadhi. It is a beautiful, idyllic location, dedicated to bringing in yoga teachers from all over the world for yoga retreats.

We are surrounded by at least a thousand olive trees, an organic farm where all sorts of herbs and vegetables are grown - sage, lemon balm, lavendar, rosemary, chicory, wheat, squash, zucchini, eggplant, lavendar, and mint, to name a few - along with fruit trees, and enumerable scented wild flowers.

Our yoga space couldn’t be more perfect. This place, like a few others I have encountered in my life - including an Ashram in Homestead, Florida and the Rainforest Retreat in Coorg, India - buzzes with the primordial hum of nature. Imagine hearing what almost sounds like the inside of a conch shell vibrating constantly and faintly beneath the other more usual, perceptible noises like cicadas, birds, and human conversation. The yoga room buzzes more loudly with this sound than other areas of the retreat center and invokes a warm, peaceful feeling deep in my being.

So far during each of our practice sessions - both morning and night time sessions - we have been joined by one or more of the feline yogis that inhabit this place. They are the sweetest and they really seem to be innately attracted to yoga - like they can sense when yoga practice is occurring and couldn’t possibly resist the urge to join in. The other night one joined our yoga practice and laid on Jessi’s pillow with her after tratak (a candle gazing meditation):

Getting here was a bit hectic. We had three flights, the second of which was delayed enough to cause us to miss our third flight from Rome to Brindisi. No big deal as we were able to take another flight out of Rome only a few hours later. But, in the meantime, there was a bit of a mix up with our luggage. Lost luggage is the sort of inconvenience that happens often enough, though I must admit I got nervous when we showed up at the luggage lost and found to see that the printer they were using to aid in processing claims was the old-school, tractor-feed paper printer - remember the kind with the holes along the margins? I hadn’t seen one of those since grade school when it was hooked up to our classroom TRS-80. (Bonus points if you remember either of those!)

But it was really difficult to get upset about it given our surroundings, the amazing home-cooked organic meals, and the wonderful hospitality of the retreat center. Rather than get upset, we went with the flow and headed into town to buy a few items to hold us over until our luggage arrived. Warning - the clothing sizes in Italy (and probably most other countries) are much different than in America, where people are generally larger. Each of us bought large or extra large clothing only to find that they fit more like a “smedium” that we had to sausage our fat American asses into. Here is a picture of my hubby in his "large" Mickey Mouse shirt bought here in Italy:

And I didn’t have most of my toiletry supplies - including all my usual hair removal products. The result was reminiscent of the scene from the “Black Light Attack” 30 Rock episode where Liz Lemon reveals, “Everyone, I'd like you all to met Tom. Tom Selleck. He's my mustache.”

But everything happens for a reason, right? We might not have ventured out those first few days without the luggage issue, and we would have missed that humorous adventure which turned into a great blogging opportunity, along with some of the best gelato we’ve had thus far. And its hard to say in what other ways that missed luggage has and will continue to “butterfly effect” our lives. The theory being that even the most minute happening - like a single flutter of a butterfly’s wings -  sets off a ripple effect that ultimately can dramatically alter the outcome of our lives. And in my world, it is always all good.

And speaking of Tina Fey (Liz Lemon), in her autobiography, “Bossypants,” she explains how she treats her life according to the principles of improv, which can be very useful in situations like these. She explains that the key to good improv is a concept called, “yes, and...”

What it means is that the actors go with the flow and accept what a co-actor in the scene has set up without contradicting it; while at the same time adding something to it. For example, in my improv scene if my partner says, “this is a really nice ice cream parlor we just walked into,” it would be against the principles of improv to say, “this isn’t an ice cream parlor, it’s a skating rink.”

Instead, an appropriate response would be, “yes, this is a nice ice cream parlor and don’t you like the climate here on Mars?” In other words, you accept what your partner has set up and add something to it.

I am finding this principle very applicable to living a life where we simply love what is; a life lived in accordance with the principles of yoga. That is, when things happen, we don’t try to contradict reality by pretending it is not happening or by telling ourselves and others that it “shouldn’t be” happening. Instead, we accept what “is” first, and then add on from there. In the context of our luggage, we would say, “Yes, our luggage was lost. And we are going to take this opportunity to experience a portion of our trip without our luggage. We will journey into town to buy some items, and we will see what adventures might ensue.”

Many of the ancient yoga and Zen masters advocate this approach to life, along with more current spiritual teachers like Byron Katie (“Loving What Is”) and Eckhart Tolle (“The Power of Now”). It is an approach that surely makes life more contented and fun; it also makes it easier to see the good in the bad and avoid the tendency to limit our perception by only seeing what we expect to see. By that I mean, if we believe that the lost luggage is an example of how everything always goes wrong, we box reality in and we tend to perceive other things “going wrong” all around us. Whereas if we leave space for the possibility that the lost luggage was meant to happen as part of the larger interwoven tapestry of life where everything works out for the best in the end, we are open to experiencing the good that comes along with the bad.

All that being said, it was sure nice to get our luggage back. I found it amusing that my 3-year old was completely oblivious to the difference between having our luggage and not having it, even though he is capable of grasping the concept of “lost.” To him, all of life is bliss regardless of what is going on. Sure, he has moments of unhappiness or anger; but those moments quickly dissipate as he returns to his natural bliss. I think that bliss is a natural state for all of us; not meant to simply be enjoyed by children. Being here this week is sure to help us connect to that bliss, so that we might start to enjoy more of it for ourselves.

Stay tuned, more adventures to come!



Check out my new and improved website: www.theyogalawyer.com