Dates (are also numbers)

September 18, 2010 was Yoga Mala for Peace in Chiang Mai, Thailand, held at The Spa Resort in a wee village 20 minutes from Chiang Mai. The Yoga Mala for Peace is a project with the purpose of "uniting the global yoga community from every continent through collective practices based upon the sacred cycle of 108 on September 18th or 19th, the Fall Equinox as the yoga world's offering to further the UN International Peace Day." Therefore, within these two days, at different places all around the world, people got together to raise awareness for peace.

I am not a yogi, don't even practice it as much as I would like, but I attended the event because I hurt my ankle and couldn't climb that day. The first session I attended was on Vipassana meditation and a Thai Buddhist monk talked and led the group in meditation. He was a simple and wise man who talked of the need to exercise our mind just as much as our body. He said that our minds are like monkeys, and it isn't that we need to tame the monkey, thereby suppressing its natural way of being, but rather, direct the monkeys energy into a productive direction.

I received an email later that day from my friend Gabriel who is a mountain guide and was one of Fede's best friends. On this same day, September 18, 2010 Gabriel and the mountaineering community gathered in Ashford, Washington to plant a tree for Federico Campanini,who lost his life tragically a year and a half ago. The tree was planted in Fede's memory, but is also an act of peace, directing the energy of loss, of grief, in a productive way.


What I find beautiful about both of these events on this date is that it was a day to celebrate life in times where tragedy has occurred and continues to.
Life and death continue as well, on this date, on every date.

Plant a tree, a new life, and as a reminder of someone who has left us. I suppose the roots always remain, even though its leaves must, seasonally, continue blow away. But new ones will come back, its a cycle.

Sacred cycle of 108

I had never heard about the "sacred cycle of 108" before September 18th. the Thai monk briefly explained this during the session. The cycle is associated with meditation and the beads often used for the practice of meditation. "Mala" is an eastern rosary with 108 beads. The mala is used both in Hinduism and Buddhism for counting mantras, chants or prayers. When one is meditating they are supposed to count the beads to help the individual focus on being present during meditation.
108 beads...

108--Fede and I were married on October 8. (10-8)

108 has been a sacred number for a long time, and this number is explained in many different ways. Traditionally, Buddhists have 108 beads, representing the 108 human passions that Avalokiteshvara assumed when telling the beads. This number ensures a repetition of a sacred mantra at least 100 times, the extra beads allowing for any omissions made through absentmindedness in counting or for loss or breakage of beads.

There are 8 extras, 8. It is all so "fitting" when sometimes you don't want it to be. I keep seeing patterns, in numbers, in dates, in moments.

When I saw the monk holding the meditation beads I remembered the day that I went to Doi Suthep and I "accidentally" bought meditation beads. I never thought to count them and I have yet to use the beads to practice meditation, but now I know that it is a possibility, there when and if I need it.

Today (insert the date that you read this) is not just an awareness of peace, it's also an awareness of the cycle, peace and suffering, life and death, a number with a pattern but sometimes just a random number.
What was I doing last September 18, or the one before that? Before it was just a date, now this day will never be the same. But, then again, I suppose that no day will ever be the same. No number will ever be the same.

But, there are 8 extra beads out there waiting to be used when needed.

For more details about Fede's tree please go to www.elfede.org (a non-profit foundation who seeks to take a tragedy and use it to make changes in a productive way).