The Chronicles of Swami Vivekananda in North America

30 – 31 August

Swami arrived during a warm Toronto evening and headed directly to Picton, Ontario, where the home and retreat of Darin and Wendy Madore, our students, is located; see Shanti Yoga Retreat, www.shantiretreat.ca, for more details. Jet lag … settle in….

1 – 21 September

Picton and Kingston, Ontario – Canada

According to Wendy, who was there, Swami gave a very successful series of workshops in Picton: The first, Art of Dying, already maxed out the capacity of Shanti. The following weekend’s Metaphysical Workshop brought even more students, and W&D scrambled to accommodate everyone, putting some at nearby B&Bs while other participants volunteered to sleep on the floor. The last weekend’s Tantra Workshop was attended by a record number of participants, and necessitated porta-potty rentals and the same juggling to accommodate everyone. The workshops were a huge success, and many students said they would join us in Thailand. Lectures in Kingston followed what would become the pattern wherever Swami went: Crowds would start small and grow as word spread that he was there and giving these incredible teachings.

On top of Canadian Agama students Wendy, Darin, Andrew, Maureen, and teacher Nancy from Montreal, Ioanna from Greece and Nina from UK came to greet Swami, attend events, and help out during his visit.

As for Swami, he began his quest to find many, many unique books and films for the Agama library….

22 September – 2 October

Vancouver, British Columbia – Canada

Swami hit the ground running in Vancouver, arriving by plane after a five-hour flight in the afternoon and later teaching the first evening presentation of the Metaphysical Weekend Workshop. Generally, the events were well attended, and again the largest audience attended the very last lecture.

During his visit, Swami continued to pillage the bookstores of North America for their spiritual rare and antiquarian titles at such places as Banyen Books, Abraham’s Metaphysical Books, and others. He saw the IMAX film about Mystical India while visiting the Vancouver Harbor, and was hosted by a new Agama student. Additionally, other Agama teachers and students showed up to greet Swami and help out at events: Canadians Thomas, Akasha, Katie, Rafale, and Patrik, Ronela from Finland, Salima from Switzerland, Israeli Yoav, American Lori, and Ioanna.

3 October

Seattle, Washington – USA

From Vancouver, Swami began his continental travels by car. He stopped in Seattle for one night to meet with an old Romanian friend, Dinu, a Yoga teacher who had become a citizen of the United States. The two had a lost boys’ night together.

The next day, we all met up for a delicious Thai vegetarian lunch at Araya’s. Swami thoroughly loved the lush, forested nature of this area, the majestic view of Mt. Rainer on the horizon, and the climate, which is mild year-round and considered a rainforest region. He would like to return for a longer, more exploratory visit, and has already been asked to come and teach here in the future.

4 – 8 October

Portland, Oregon – USA

Swami arrived in Portland, a beautiful and very progressive green city sitting in the shadow of Mount Hood and beside the Willamette River. We were met and hosted by Stephen, our most astrologically intuitive student (www.itsALLlove.com), who whisked us over to prestigious Reed College for Swami’s first lecture here. The setting of this beautiful old campus lent a collegiate feeling to the night’s event, and we could easily picture Swami as a professor – he felt very at home. :-) He also held a lecture at the Unitarian Universalist Church, pews and all, and a Tantra Weekend Workshop with a wonderful group of students at the very inviting HealthQuest Center. Meanwhile, in off hours, he continued his hobby of bookstore browsing, spending several days at Powell’s (a five-story bookstore downtown, which also has satellite locations throughout the city).

American students Steve, Stephen, and Christina as well as Lori and Ioanna joined Swami for his events here.

We left Portland traveling south by I-5, soon veering toward the gorgeous North Pacific coastline and beautiful Redwood forests along this road. Besides the expansive view of the sea and its rocky, misty shores, a highlight of this area was the 33-mile Avenue of Giants drive through the Redwoods, as well as the picturesque journey across the orchard-lined hills and valleys of Napa and Sonoma counties, two of the most prolific wine-producing areas in the US.

10 – 22 October

San Francisco, California – USA

Due to traffic, Swami arrived into San Francisco with just two hours to prepare for his first lecture here! For those of you who’ve been to this magnificent city of hills, lights, and bridges, excellent food, cultural richness, and cosmopolitan energy, you know what a spectacular place San Francisco is. For those who haven’t been, like Swami and Ioanna, they found out and quickly grew to love the city. Swami was hosted by Lori’s friends Jennie and Kevin, who also attended the Tantra Workshop.

In San Francisco, we had a harder time breaking into the local “Yoga landscape.” In the US, first of all, Yoga is often approached as a style of fitness, not a spiritual path, and secondly, in California there is a saturation of Yoga and energy workers with probably the greatest ratio of such studios per person in the country. On top of this, the area is so dynamic, with hundreds of events per night, that we faced a lot of competition. In any case, many enthusiastic and sophisticated people came to the events, and thoroughly engaged themselves with the subject topics. Audience numbers rose again toward the last of the events, which were held at both the Unitarian Universalist Society and at the San Francisco Zen Center. Agama students and Americans Allyson, Ed, and Kate, teacher Lilian from Holland, and Austrian Michael joined Steve, Lori, and Ioanna for Swami’s events.

Here, Swami got his visa for Mexico, and he continued plundering the bookstores of America – this time Green Apple, City Lights, Field’s, and others – and video stores, too (Amoeba Records and Video, Virgin Megastore, others). He additionally was invited to the Center for Self-Healing, for a meeting with its remarkable founder and director, Meir Schneider, who healed himself of blindness using his own blend of Yoga techniques. In San Francisco we discovered an almost unfathomable expanse of truly superb restaurants: Dosa, Herbivore, Cha-Ya, Ali Baba’s, Thomaso’s, Raja, others. The food was superlative, the views divine.

When we left San Francisco, we headed along the coast – the famously scenic Route 1: Pacific Coast Highway. We passed by the ultra grand Hearst Castle high on a hill, with its zebras and other animals running free along its grounds. We visited Esalen, an alternative spiritual college, to study it as a model for our future community and center. And we also stopped by Treebones, a “yurt village campground” of sorts, which was fascinating. Swami avidly researched the construction of these structures, as he hopes someday we will build our own “Yoga-ville” in Europe or elsewhere, and yurts may prove to be a last resort in the event we do not find the donations for regular construction. Just nearby, we also absorbed the gorgeous, celebrated views of Big Sur, and farther on down the coast, stopped to see a beach full of sea lions sunbathing together on the sand.

25 October – 5 November

Los Angeles area, California – USA

After dinner in Santa Barbara, we arrived in Los Angeles, where Swami met new friend Nicu, who hosted him for one night, as well as old friend Andra, a Yoga teacher in the Los Angeles area, whose associate Mary Ann then hosted Swami in her home for the remainder of his visit. Events were held in Chino, about 40 miles east of LA, at Shanti Yoga and Ayurveda Center (www.shantihealth.com). The center has a very warm energy, but attendance was moderate, due in part to the location so far from central LA and also due to competition with the extraordinarily happening cultural life of Los Angeles. Events were attended by Romanians Andra, Nicu, and Ileanna, as well as Lori and Ioanna.

While in the LA area, Swami visited Six Flags, a huge amusement park (with 16 rollercoasters – his favorite was the Collosus – where he also saw a fantastic hypnotist, Mark Yuzuik). He also saw the ashram and retreat center of Paramahamsa Yogananda, 100 miles south of LA in Encinitas, as well as the Palomar Observatory, whose telescope holds what was once the world’s largest optical mirror. He took in a performance of some former Cirque du Soleil performers, and of course spent some time on the Venice Beach boardwalk, checking out the outrageous scene there of street vendors, costumed rollerskaters, men playing the piano on the sidewalk, and other colorful characters. Swami also visited Bodhi Tree Bookstore, a fantastic spiritual bookstore, and some of the nature areas around Chino. And of course he saw lots and lots of highway! The traffic stories you have heard of the Los Angeles highways are not exaggerated… it sometimes took three hours to travel 40 miles.

While in LA, Swami met with the top managers of Yoga Works, a very successful “chain” of American studios, about a potential collaboration. He was also invited to appear on the local TV program of Yogi Ramesh, the “laughing guru,” who was thrilled to meet Swami and whom we thoroughly enjoyed meeting as well. Yogi Ramesh again visited Swami on another occasion, and even plans to visit our center in Thailand.

After the Los Angeles events, we headed across southern California, toward Death Valley, which was beautiful and otherworldly; it is both the hottest place on record in the US and the place of lowest elevation (282 feet below sea level) in North America. We took in the glorious view from Dante’s Peak, one mile above the valley, and drove through Artists’ Drive loop before heading south again at sunset toward Las Vegas.

There is no mistaking your arrival into the 2000-megawatt Las Vegas! It is a neon-fueled wonderland. Here Swami saw the Penn and Teller magic show, almost saw the Treasure Island pirate show (but the last one was over for the night), and watched Lori and Lilian play roulette at Bellagio’s. We walked up and down the Las Vegas Strip, awed by the incredible hotel resorts (this city is home to 14 of the world’s 15 largest hotels), with their fantasy themes: Paris and the Eiffel Tower, the Luxor Pyramid, Caesar’s Palace, the Venice canals, etc.

The next day we were off to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, a long drive well worth the absolutely breathtaking and awe-inspiring view; Swami called it the best view of the whole trip. We arrived toward the end of the day, in time for sunset, and since the park cabins were closed for the season, no one else was there … a truly special treat at one of the nation’s biggest and most popular natural attractions.

8-13 November

Denver and Larkspur, Colorado – USA

Onward to Green River, Utah, for the night (after 12 hours of driving), and the next day onto I-70 past Vail and over the Continental Divide into Denver, where Swami was hosted by old student Paul. Again, Swami arrived just two hours before his evening lecture! The lectures, held at the Metaphysical Research Society – a large and gorgeous Victorian home turned into this center – attracted a great group of people. American students and teachers Paul, Justine, Sioux, Susanne, Kerry and Grace, Julius, new friend Kevin, and soon-to-be TTC’er Annie joined Lori and Lilian at the events. The workshop drew a sizable crowd of participants to the warm and lovely house of Paul, where we made huge meals together for lunch each day and one morning watched new snow flurries dust the woodsy surrounds. We saw foxes and deer strolling through the neighborhood, from our view at the window.

In Denver, Swami visited the Tattered Cover Bookstore as well as the Planetarium and 16th Street Mall. Before leaving the state, he will visit Boulder (and Naropa Institute, situated there) and Loveland, as well as Rocky Mountain National Park and hopefully some cool secret hot springs….

18 – 26 November

Monterrey, Nuevo Leon – Mexico

On 17 November, Swami flies into northeast Mexico for 10 days of events in the clean and dynamic area of Monterrey, where Elisabeth and her husband will host Swami. Stay tuned for details later, and wish him well on this last leg of the tour!