I Learned 5 Unforgettable Lessons By Getting Trapped in the Himalayas

After 8 months, I realized how backward our inner lives in the West have become.

Photo by Sreehari Devadas on Unsplash.

Have you ever felt like abandoning everything and heading for a simple life in the mountains? I felt this so often growing up, I actually acted on it when I got the chance. In 2019 I headed for Dharamsala in India, to learn Tibetan Thangka painting. I didn’t know where I’d go afterwards, but I booked a one-way plane ticket with no intention of return.

I didn’t want the capitalist, materialist West I’d known. I was set on leaving, determined to build a totally new reality for myself. What followed was the most disturbing inner wakeup call of my life.

Sensory over-stimulation makes deeper purification impossible.

The very first thing I noticed was the quiet. It wasn’t just my underground room, practically vibrating with the Earth’s healing resonance. It was digital quiet.

I had deleted my social media accounts prior to arriving. There was no WiFi; cell service was sporadic unless perched atop a nearby hill (after hiking for a half hour). The conveniences of modernity lay evaporated. And along with them, all the abuses they bring to the nervous system.