Inhale… Himalayas, lakes, caves. Exhale… Horns, buses, carts. Inhale… Bells, prayer flags, mantras. Exhale… Oranges, saris, mandalas. Inhale… Samosas, turmeric, chai. Exhale… Sadhus, beggars, guides.

Nepal is life. Life is what you make it. Feel the depths of both as you feel into the breath. Come home to yourself, find stillness in the chaos. This is the raw land of beauty and nature. This is the raw land of development and poverty. This is the land where love resides in the promise of emptiness yet brings fulfillment. Here there is no shame, there is no judgment, there is no expectation, there is only what is and all is open. Nepal is the land where all is one family, the language calls not for him or hers, names or egos, yet this is brother, this is sister, Aunty or uncle. Blood means nothing yet everything is given from those who have nothing.

In the middle of the chaos, one learns how to be. Where are you running to? What are you running from? Nowhere and nothing, for you are here experiencing this moment and that is the truest expression of you. That is all that is to matter. Open and share, no one will stare.

The Nepali people live by a Tibetan saying, eat half, walk double and laugh triple. They live this, not say it. In the Western culture, we have many a saying, yet they are just sayings passed from mouth to ear, ear to mouth and nothing more. Here they eat but twice a day, Dahl bhaat with vegetables and rice to keep hunger at bay. Walk across the mountain range, through goats trails over rivers, valleys, and lakes.

You have time!!! Allow it to unravel your western mind. Talk, scream, laugh and cry. Feel the emotions as they come, for it may be a few days til you see the sun, hold each other in emotional bliss. Join them and you will experience the beauty of life, the gift that it is, to just be. Life and travel here are not about the fastest way to the next town, the site or next indulgence; it’s ok to sit and watch the Himalayas, and do only that. One does not need to read, write, eat, sip coffee or tea, be on the move, planning the next step, thinking of last and how it could have, should have, maybe would have been, enjoy what you have seen. Now is the moment one can just be.

This is the truth the Nepali taught me.