Yesterday, I happened across the documentary Enlighten Up! which proclaims itself as a “skeptic’s journey into the world of yoga” and recounts the adventures (and misadventures) of  Nick Rosen, yoga pre-neophyte and overall spiritual skeptic. The premise is quite interesting as the filmmaker, Kate Churchill has the firm belief in the transformative power of yoga for absolutely anyone and sets out to make a film that proves this hypothesis correct. Nick gets to meet many of the key teachers of the yoga scene and through interviews and participating in classes worldwide, he is indeed given the full contact yoga experience. Along the way they encounter the full range of yoga devotees and Nick’s questioning nature provides a refreshing contrast to the wide-eyed “OK. I’ll drink the kool aid!” approach.

I really enjoyed the film as much of Nick’s journey was quite similar to my path in discovering Buddhism. The belief that both of these practices are what old sandalwood-scented hippies do was literally turned on its head and a new form of practice was investigated. One that doesn’t necessarily need to take in the full spectrum of the religious nature of mind-body practice such as yoga.

It’s a good film for those of us who always wish that we could share our experiences with others and the possibility that in doing so, may do little to impact their lives (contrary to our hopes or expectations).

You can check out a clip of the film here:

“Journey of a Dream” describes itself as “a heavy metal story of a Tibetan refugee” – that refugee being Shenpenn Khymsar who created this documentary as a means to tell the story of the Chinese occupation of Tibet through in a thoroughly modern and ear splitting way. Directed and produced by Shenpenn, it is his story of returning to his home in exile, Darjeeling, India after a decade of residing in the West and his journey to breathe life into the rock music scene of this region. The film profiles many rock musicians as well as spiritual leaders from Tibet so the middle way is well maintained here!

Journey of a Dream from JOURNEY OF A DREAM movie on Vimeo.

Shenpenn’s message:

The vision behind this film is to raise more awareness of Tibet’s sad situation under the Chinese government in a way that has never been done before by a Tibetan along with advocating and defending the very misunderstood genre of heavy metal which society is very judgemental about. Being a Tibetan refugee and finding peace through heavy metal gave me a new outlook towards everything in life, it became my outlet and the best way to deal with the inner demons. The illegal occupation of Tibet has been going on for many decades now and the way most of the developed and powerful nations are cow towing to the Chinese government is a very scary situation that we are creating for our selves and the future of the free world. As the director of this film my intention is to make people realize that Tibet’s independence is not just a fair cause but also very crucial for world peace and humanity. I have tried to create an artistic and entertaining way to arc the story in the film without losing its underlined message which being “why be mainstream and succumb to the norms when we all can make a difference?”.

I was even more thrilled to see this experimental film tracing the day of Amy Miller – a Buddhist nun living in Vermont.

This video features Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, who opened Dongyu Gatsal Ling a nunnery for refugee Tibetan Women. Her story became a best selling book by Vicki Mackenzie, titled “Cave in the Snow” which chronicles her 12 year Himalayan mountain cave retreata.

The National Film Board website has posted a series of clips from Gesar Mukpo’s film “Tulku: The Movie” which serve to get me all the more stoked to see this film. We’re all anticipating its release and details of how the DVD can be purchsed and once I hear anything, I’ll be sure to post news via this blog.

You can also follow news and discuss the film via the Facebook group.

For those who missed the trailer for this film, here you go -

Thanks to Carolyn Gimian who mentioned this trailer.