Nepal, Bhutan & Beyond, Stories For Sleep | GSP Ep 55

Welcome to the Grounded Sleep Podcast. Dive into this sleep meditation inspired by stories from my travels over the last three months, and get some good rest tonight. Let the gentle cadence of travel tales carry you to a world of dreams and serenity.

Transcript

Hey friend,

Welcome to the Grounded Sleep Podcast.

It has been a minute.

I have been traveling and I haven't recorded in a while.

And so coming back to the sleep podcast,

I wanted to start by just sharing a bit about my travels and hopefully some of these really boring stories will put you to sleep.

So when you're ready,

Get into bed.

If you're not already there,

Make sure it's nice and dark and comfortable.

The temperature is right.

All the things that you need to put into place to set yourself up for a successful sleep are there.

And if you haven't done all those things yet,

Put me on pause,

Do them and then come back.

So at the time of this recording,

It's July,

2023.

And I went on a trip mid late March,

2023.

I had a retreat to teach in Nepal and another one in Bhutan.

And then I got invited to speak in Sydney,

Australia.

And I happen to live in Boulder,

Colorado at the moment.

Poor me.

And so I created about a three month journey trip for myself around these events.

And so as we go to sleep tonight,

I want to just share some of the highlights of the journey.

And as you listen,

Just allow yourself to drift off.

The details don't really matter that much,

But I hope you enjoy them.

I had an amazing trip.

I met so many interesting people,

Students of mine.

I made friends.

I hiked mountains.

I worked with an orphanage in Nepal.

And I got to speak in front of a really nice group in Sydney,

Australia.

So let me just start from the beginning.

I took about a 24 hour journey,

Couple of flights from Colorado to Kathmandu,

Which is the capital of Nepal.

Nepal is a pretty poor country full of very rich people.

They are wealthy on the inside.

They are incredibly kind and loving and open.

And Nepal sits on the border of China,

India,

And to the east is Bhutan,

Which I went to from Nepal to get there.

When you land in Kathmandu,

It can be pretty intense.

There tends to be a lot of smog.

It's pretty overcrowded.

There's a lot of poverty,

But it's also so fun,

Colorful,

Interesting.

And I've been to Nepal before.

I've led retreats there.

I lived in India for a while.

So it wasn't my first rodeo.

And when I got to Nepal,

I had a few days to get ready for my retreat,

Relax,

Meet up with my guide,

Barendra,

Who I've worked with in the past,

My co-teacher,

And just get everything set.

And I flew from Kathmandu to another city called Pokhara in the mountains,

Which is where people go usually to start a trek around the Annapurna circuit.

There are a number of huge mountains in this region,

Some of them 25 plus thousand feet high.

And so my group flew in to Pokhara.

It was 21 of us.

And that's actually where we started the retreat.

And we spent a couple of days getting ready for the hike,

Meditating,

Doing yoga,

Walking around town,

Really just enjoying ourselves and settling into the energy of Nepal.

And then we went on a five day journey.

We had about 15 Sherpas and guides for 21 of us.

So it was a pretty big group,

But it didn't feel big.

It was,

It felt just right.

And we did what's called the Poon Hill Trek.

So it took about five days.

And when you go on a trek like this,

You usually need help carrying your gear.

That's what the Sherpas are for,

And they're pros at it.

Usually one Sherpa will carry a bag full of stuff for two people,

And then some carry extra food and supplies.

A lot of folks think when you hike the Himalayas,

You sleep in a tent or outside,

But most of the time you actually sleep in these tea houses.

So they're little guest houses as you go up the mountain.

And the first few days were definitely straight up the mountain.

It was a good climb through the forest and jungle.

So a lot of vegetation,

Way more than I expected.

And we would stop at these amazing guest houses with incredible Himalayan views.

And we would meditate there together,

Do some yoga,

Eat,

And go on to our next trek.

And every day the landscape was so different,

So special.

Along the way we would meet goats,

We saw some monkeys,

Lots of cows,

All sorts of really cool animals,

Bulls,

Buffalo looking creatures,

I think.

So many,

So many animals,

Dogs.

There's a lot of pictures on Instagram of me petting different animals in Nepal.

And the very last day is when you hike up,

You leave at about 4.

30 in the morning in the dark,

And you hike about an hour up to Poon Hill,

Which has an incredible view of the Himalayan range,

The Annapurna range.

And you spend a few hours up there taking pictures,

Taking it all in.

And we had some really nice group photos,

And just a really beautiful experience.

I won't share all the details because when there's a group,

There's kind of a private thing that happens,

The emotion we share and the experience.

But let's just say that it was really,

Really special.

There were folks on the retreat that had been through some tough life experiences in the recent past,

And the rest of us as a group got to hold space for them.

And there was just so much happiness,

So much joy,

So much shedding of tears.

It was a journey.

And then we made our way back down the mountain.

And we still had a number of days left on the retreat.

So the retreat was 10 days in all.

And then we went up another mountain and stayed at a beautiful hotel guest house called,

I believe,

The Serenkap Mountain Lodge with just stunning views,

Wonderful food.

And it was kind of a celebration.

And then as a group,

We headed to Kathmandu,

Where we worked with an orphanage that I love,

Love to work with.

So I have a foundation that I get a lot of help with called the Himalayan Children's Future Fund,

And that's the website,

.

Org.

And we've got about 43 kids from ages four to all the way up to 20 who don't have parents or can't live with their parents for a number of reasons.

So we help with school,

Tuition,

Food,

Housing.

We bought them a ping pong table,

Which they seem to play on all day.

And again,

I've shared lots of pictures of all of this.

And we built them a computer lab this time,

Got them about 10 computers,

Couple of laptops,

A number of iPads.

And they've been loving it.

In fact,

One of the kids messaged me the other day on Facebook and he said,

Hey,

Do you know the code to open the iPad?

And one of the other things we got to do for the kids is there's a big public pool,

But it's private,

Excuse me.

You have to pay for it right near the orphanage.

And it's about a hundred bucks to send all the kids for a day,

Rent them bathing suits so they can swim.

And they just love going to that pool.

Feel free to sponsor a day at the pool with them if you just let us know and donate a hundred bucks.

And so we did some swimming.

After the group left,

I stayed and spent a number of more days with the kids and did some swimming and set up all the computer stuff.

And just,

I really fell in love with these kids.

I've been there before.

I've met them before.

I've worked with them.

But this time I got to really spend a lot of quality time there.

And so the group,

Many of them were in tears,

Just really moved by being with these kids and seeing how happy they are and resilient and how much they were able to actually make an impact.

And so we worked with the kids and we had a few days in Kathmandu,

Do some last minute gift shopping and closing the retreat and then saying our goodbyes.

And this was definitely one of the most special retreats I've ever taught.

And the day after that retreat ended,

I took another group to Bhutan,

Some of the same students and a few others who weren't on the first retreat.

And we spent a number of days traveling through the incredible country of Bhutan.

So fly from Kathmandu to Bhutan.

It's one of the scariest flights probably in the world.

You weave through the mountains.

It looks like the wing is going to touch the mountain as you weave through it.

You're holding your breath and you can see Everest out the window on your left and the Himalayan range.

It's absolutely stunning.

It's hard to describe.

And then you land in the kingdom of Bhutan,

Nestled in the Himalayas,

About 700,

000 people.

They have a king who decided to make the country a democracy.

So he did,

But then they said,

You know,

Continue to be the king.

So there's both systems there.

I'm not an expert on how it works.

And we visited a number of Buddhist temples,

Incredible sites around the country.

We spent a day way up in the mountains,

Seeing yaks and other wildlife,

Hiking,

Horses and cows and beautiful local people who served us an amazing lunch.

And we got to just be in Nepal.

Oh yeah.

And we saw really cool monkeys a number of times.

I love the dogs there.

You can pet them.

They live outside in packs,

But they're so nice.

In one of the hotels,

The first time I went to Bhutan,

This is my second time,

It even said in the book,

In the room,

In the hotel,

Our dogs are citizens and we treat them well.

So please treat them well too while you're here.

And I just loved that.

And we had a great time exploring Bhutan.

One of the places we stayed had a temple and they let me teach classes in this temple,

Which was so cool.

We all had some traditional Bhutani clothes we got to put on or Bhutanese clothes and sit and meditate in the temple.

And we flew back to Kathmandu and that was a really special journey.

And by the time these two retreats were done,

I was a little tired.

I took a rest.

And then with some friends of mine,

I did another hike of the mountains for another five days back in Pokhara.

And this track was called Mardi Hamal.

And again,

You go stay in these guest houses and go up,

Up,

Up,

Up.

And the views were absolutely spectacular.

The weather was a little harsher this time around.

There were some hail storms and a lot of rain.

So you'd have to stay in the guest house and sit by the fire for the day and,

You know,

Play cards and just relax and read.

So it was a bit of a tougher hike,

But it was also so,

So rewarding.

I spent a few extra weeks in Nepal after that,

Hung out with the kids.

And then eventually I decided to go back to my old stomping grounds in India,

Rishikesh,

Which is about a five,

Six hour drive north of New Delhi.

Or you can fly into a city called Dehradun.

There's a brand new,

Beautiful airport.

And then it's about a 35 minute drive to Rishikesh.

And when you get to Rishikesh,

You walk across a suspension bridge to the other side of the river.

If that's where you're staying,

That's where I stayed.

And I got to just be there for a couple of weeks,

Visit some of the ashrams and just relax and do some writing.

There's a couple of famous ashrams there,

Like the Shivananda ashram,

Where the great guru of Rishikesh,

Shivananda,

Lived.

He wrote so many books.

You can find them online on all the cool spiritual topics.

There is the Ved Niketan ashram,

Where I lived for a while.

The Gita ashram.

All sorts of cool ashrams.

And the big popular one now is called Parmat Niketan.

And that is where they actually held the G20 summit the week after I was there.

And I got to have a private audience with one of the main teachers there,

Gurus,

I guess.

And that was pretty cool.

And then they also have the Beatles ashram there,

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram.

That's where the Beatles came to live and stay in India in the 60s,

I believe it was.

And that's where George Harrison really got deep into meditation and transcendental meditation.

And then Maharishi eventually moved out to the West,

To the US and started teaching and really spread that teaching across the West.

That ashram has been closed for,

I don't know,

40,

50 plus years at this point.

But you can pay to go in and see it.

And it's a pretty cool place.

The Beatles were inspired to write some music there.

And there's just,

You know,

You can YouTube it for hours and see all the cool stories and all the stuff that went down.

I've heard Paul McCartney say he didn't love it as much as George Harrison did.

And I rented a guitar.

I'm a lefty.

So I rented a guitar from a guitar store and played and just relaxed and made some friends and wrote.

And then from there,

I flew to Thailand and stayed in a city called Chiang Mai,

Which is in the mountains in the north.

It was pretty hot.

There was a heat wave,

But I spent about three weeks just sitting,

Writing,

Relaxing,

Working.

And from there,

I flew to Sydney,

Australia,

Which I got to stay with a friend and student of mine,

Leila Jeffries,

Who's an amazing photographer.

She takes incredible pictures of birds.

You can find some of her books on Amazon,

Some really nice coffee table books with fantastic photos.

And so me,

Leila,

And a naturalist named Tom,

Three of us were on a panel at the Australian Museum in Sydney.

And I would be lying if I didn't say I was a little nervous when it started.

A few minutes before they told us there would be a camera crew of 15.

There's about 400 people and blinding lights.

But it was such an honor and so fun to be able to get to talk to an Australian audience.

And the topic was reconnecting to nature.

And so as a spiritual teacher and artist and a scientist,

And you know,

I'm not the artist or the scientist.

And that was really fun.

I give another talk in class at the Olsen Gallery,

Which is a really cool art gallery there in Sydney.

There was a painting on the side of me while I was teaching for sale for a million bucks.

And I was very cautious not to bump into it.

And I got to meet some amazing Australian students of mine that I had never met that showed up in person.

And that was really special.

And then I flew the 20 something hours back to Colorado and immediately flew to Florida to visit my grandparents.

And if you've heard me make fun of my grandfather before,

He's 93.

He's like,

David,

How was Australia?

It's got an adorable vibe about him.

And every morning he gets up early,

Walks a couple of miles,

93 years old,

And walks along the beach,

Comes back.

It's pretty cool.

And so that's the very short version of the last three months or so for me.

And if you're on my email list,

Sometimes I send updates and share meditations and I shared some photos.

It was a really great experience for me as a teacher because through COVID,

I was only teaching online and it was nice to be back out there.

And I'm going to be heading on another adventure at the end of August to teach a retreat right outside of Barcelona in Spain in the mountains.

And then another retreat in Colorado in Boulder in November.

And we're about to release our dates and sign up for Bali 2024 in May 24,

Which I've done before.

And I love Bali.

So for me in my life,

I like to balance my work,

My teaching,

Being at home and recording with getting to travel and meet students in person.

I think just like with anything in life,

If you overdo something,

You burn out.

If you stay home too much,

You get isolated.

And so I'm always looking for that balance of moving,

Meeting people,

Sharing,

And then coming back,

Going inwards,

Creating teachings and recordings,

Writings from home.

And I did not forget about the sleep podcast or putting you to sleep.

Hopefully you've already fallen asleep.

But if you're still here with me,

Make sure your breathing is slowed.

Imagine that you're slowly melting into your bed,

Letting go of the day,

Of the checklists,

Of the to-dos.

Sometimes one day can be a huge journey for us.

Sometimes it's a week or a couple of months.

We go through cycles of being productive and energetic and then resting,

Regenerating.

And tonight as you fall asleep,

Go into that dream state.

Slowly allow yourself to regenerate and rest.

Make sure your breathing is nice and gentle.

Now that I'm back home,

I'll be playing some piano,

Maybe getting back into singing lessons,

Playing guitar.

And since it's summertime here in the US,

Do some swimming and hiking.

And I'm currently teaching a meditation teacher training certification.

And we're over halfway through.

And at the moment,

That's my life,

Enjoying the mountains,

Teaching,

Doing some art,

Writing,

Recording and putting you to sleep,

Hopefully.

As you fall asleep tonight,

Let yourself be really gentle.

If you ever get upset for not falling asleep quickly,

Just let some of that go as you breathe into this moment.

I hope you have a wonderful sleep tonight.

Get some good deep rest.

And I'll see you on the other side.

Be well.

Reviews

Absolutely loved this, did not fall asleep only because I didn’t want to miss any of the details! Bahahahaaaa! Will give you a follow on IG, thanks so much! Namaste ✨

Excellent 👌 travelogue 💜. Thank you for sharing 🙏🕊️🙏

i was truly interested in your story and test still fell asleep 😂😴😂😴😂

Interesting! But your voice evidently (!) sent me right off to dreamland . All good. Thanks!🙏🏼

Thank you, David. It was in the middle of the night, your sleep podcast popped up, I pressed on it, fell asleep about immediately, slept for an hour, pressed the button again, now heard the full story, and I am right awake. It sounds like you’re having an amazing life. I am contemplating how fascinating it is to hear about the way people live their lives, what they are creating for themselves.
Anyway, it’s about 3 am, and I’ll probably put my head outside the backdoor to feel the cooler air below 20 degrees (Celcius), for the first time after months and months of relentless heat. So excited about that , I want to experience it! Then write a bit, meditate a bit, then find a different sleep meditation, and go back to sleep. Thank you for sharing your story🙏🏻🌟🦋💗🌟🙏🏻

Lovely recollections! Thank you David!I love these Himalayan stories. I’d like to join you sometime…

Wonderful way to help me sleep 3 hours straight waking up just before my alarm. Thanks for the middle of night relaxing and interesting story. 🙏🏽🥰

Thank you for this. Love hearing about your travels and then……..zzzzzzzz

🙏🏼

I don’t think I made it to Bhutan. Sounded like a great trip. Thanks for sharing. 🥱 💜 🌺

As always, enjoyed this so much!

Loved hearing about your travels and experiences ❣️Nice that the dogs are also citizens 🙏🏼🐾

It was a pleasure hearing of your travels! Thank you for your gentle voice and happy chuckle…

Amazing and soothing as always. Fell asleep the first night, made myself stay awake the second time because I wanted to hear all of the story/updates! Glad I did, definitely reignited desire to do a retreat as well as volunteer work. Thankful for you!

🙏💗

I was far too invested to fall asleep!😆 Beautifully told with David Gandelman's signature soothing voice.

This was way too interesting to help me fall asleep. Lol. I enjoyed every second and was happy to learn about all your programs and offerings. I feel alive and inspired. Thanks so much, David.

Thank you, David🙏 You always have the best sleep meditations! It sounds like you had some good experiences on your trip 😊

Fabulous thankyou David.
Drifted off whilst listening to your story.

Love your travel stories- they are my favourite! I do hope I can join one day too.