A few days in advance, the Mayor of Arcidosso, Jacopo Marini, informed the Merigar Gakyil that the President of the Regional Council of Tuscany would come to visit the Amiata area and would include a visit to Merigar among his commitments. This important regional official would be accompanied by an Assessor and a Council Member, as well as by the Mayor himself.
We were very happy with this opportunity and aware of the importance it potentially entailed for Merigar, as well as for the area and immediately got busy to receive these guests and present the values and potential of Merigar and the resulting benefits for the local community and for visitors from Italy and around the world in the best possible way.
We had thought of a nice program, with a small reception, a guided tour of the Gönpa and the other buildings, although we were aware of the fact that it is not easy to foresee the commitments of important politicians; and in fact things turned out quite differently from what we had expected.
On November 25 the Assessor and the Council Member arrived first and together with the Mayors of Arcidosso and Castell’Azzara we took them to visit our Gönpa. It goes without saying that they were strongly impressed by the beauty and atmosphere of the setting and the building.
Then we went back to the Yellow House and, with a little delay, the President finally arrived.
Migmar and Yangcen offered traditional khatags to everyone and we took our seats in the dining room, which had been carefully prepared with a table laden with flowers as the centerpiece, cakes, tea, coffee and other refreshments. Norberto and Yangcen served the guests impeccably.
The atmosphere was pleasant and relaxed and at one point the Mayor, recalling that the program included, after the visit to Merigar, a meeting of the President of the Regional Council with all the Mayors of the Grosseto side of Amiata in the Arcidosso Town Hall, proposed to move the meeting to Merigar.
The proposal was immediately accepted, and in a few minutes our dining room was filled with the Mayors of Arcidosso, Castel del Piano, Santa Fiora, Seggiano, Castell’Azzara, Roccalbegna and Semproniano.
It was really an interesting situation: a political meeting to coordinate things, in which the representatives of the area were discussing with the President the problems of the area and plans for recovery after the great crisis due to the pandemic, was in fact taking place at Merigar!
It was interesting to listen to the assessments and projects in the field – projects that affect the territory and consequently our Community; taking part in the exchange that interests us as ordinary citizens, as well as Merigar practitioners. We noted with pleasure that none of those present, neither the politicians nor our representatives of the Community, felt uncomfortable or out of place, as might have been expected. Everything took place in a very natural way.
At the end of the meeting, Merigar offered small gifts to all participants. To the President and his colleagues a publication with the description of all the activities carried out in Merigar over 40 years, plus the book by the Master and Fabio Andrico on the open part of Yantra Yoga, and Fabio’s book on the ‘Breathe’ method, along with some small samples of local products. We gave all the others the two books just mentioned.
All of them were very happy and had their photos taken with khatags around their necks, a photo that the President posted the same evening on his facebook page.
Many contacts were made as were many promises of collaboration. We cannot know if there will be any concrete developments but we will surely do our best to make this happen. However, we are sure that all those who participated will remember with pleasure and satisfaction our welcome, the experience at Merigar and the atmosphere they found, and this will in any case give a positive orientation to all our future contacts.
Merigar Gakyil
