Alaya
Alaya – a tiny meditating dynamo
So much energy in such a small frame! Whenever I meet Alaya I am always fascinated by both her beauty and her energy. It isn’t a frenetic energy but a life energy and I always feel invigorated after meeting her and having a chat. As well as being an extremely efficient business woman, running her own management training consultancy, she is a passionate and prolific painter, about which she is still bemused as she has never painted before in her life!
Before hearing of Osho she had been into Buddhist meditation but then, around 1997/8 she heard an Osho tape and became interested in him. Even 10 years ago, fairly recent in Osho time, it was NOT the thing to do to be interested in Osho – and her friends in Leamington Spa, where she lived with her daughter, thought she was ‘barmy’ when she tried to find out more. Through her friends Atosha and Paritosh she finally tracked down a weekend of Osho meditations with Pradeepa taking place at the Relaxation Centre in Bristol, and took a leap into the dark by deciding to attend.
Life, of course, changed for ever! During the first day of the meditation weekend she had a vision of Osho holding out his hand to her. At first she couldn’t take the hand and she spent the whole day in tears until finally she surrendered, took his hand and everything changed. Pradeepa told her to go to Poona and one month later she did – she says it was totally extraordinary, and very hard, for her to do something so out of character. During that intense month she took sannyas and, in the middle of the ‘Opening the Heart’ meditation she had a strong experience of being showered with flowers and jewels and became aware of the abundance of existence. This was another life-changing experience from which arose an immense love of colour and of life and eventually led to her painting.
Alaya in her garden and the view from her studio at dawn
A few years ago she bought a beautiful house by the sea in Teignmouth, Devon, and it was here that she was suddenly inspired to paint. She says she hadn’t realised how important the place you live in is to one’s creativity. She now has a beautiful light studio overlooking the sea and a huge expanse of sky and, she says, the paintings just paint themselves. For her it is a fun experience as she has no idea what is going to happen so she is as interested as anyone to see what she has painted that day! She now exhibits her work in art galleries and art exhibitions throughout the UK.
Apart from running training groups, she enjoys doing improvisational theatre and has joined a group – which she finds very challenging – called ‘Playback Theatre’ based in Totnes and Exeter. She also likes to do things with Devon sannyasins and plans to have some meditation and dance days at her house because the experience of dancing on the lawn which leads immediately to the sea is a glorious one.How amazing to see yet one more sannyasin so beautifully creating that incredible balance between being in the marketplace and being in meditation. I think Osho must be doing a very joyful hop and a skip somewhere just watching her!
You can contact Alaya at 01626 776 857 or by email: nora1@onetel.com and see some of her paintings in our Art Gallery.
Text by Veena - April 2007
