Ricky Martin´s La Vida Loca (crazy life) - transformed by Yoga and Meditation

Ricky Martin released his autobiography in November 2010 with the title ¨Yo ¨in Spanish and ¨Me¨in English. I have read the Spanish version.

I expected the ¨Livin la Vida Loca¨ singer to start his book saying how his life became ¨Loca¨ which in Spanish means crazy. Surprise… He starts with a quotation of Mahatma Gandhi. The superstar who got his fans crazy with his vida loca song talks about how yoga and meditation have helped him to stay apart from his crazy career and look within himself and to stay calm in crazy moments. The Latino singer who rocked the world discloses that India taught him to listen to his own silence. He says his Loca life got completely transformed after his visit to India which helped him to discover the three keys to life: serenity, simplicity and spirituality.

Ricky Martin begins the book with the following quotation from Gandhi:
¨Help me to say the truth while facing the strong and not say lies to gain the applause of the week. If you give me fortune, don’t take away my reason. If you give me success, don’t take away my humility. If you give me humility, do not take away my dignity…… Do not let me fall in vanity if I succeed or in desperation if I fail. …If you take away victory, give me the strength to learn from the failure¨.

The first subtitle of the book is ¨The words of Gandhi touched my heart¨. He begins by saying that all of us reach a point in our life looking back at how we have lived. He says he has reached this point and is ready to stand before others as he is with his heart open and with no more fears. He says he has gained the strength to live a life of love, peace and truth as advised by the master, Gandhi.

He was passionate about singing even as a child, holding a spoon in the hand pretending it to be a microfone. He said to himself that he would become an artiste. He was selected for TV advertisements at the age of nine and got inducted into the Latin American boy band ¨Menudo ¨ at the age of twelve. His life got dizzy as a star with fans and fame. After some years with them, he broke up and started on his own as a singer and actor. He got opportunities to sing and act in soap operas in Mexico where her fell in love with a woman and thereafter another one. He came back to USA and acted in Broadway including in Les Miserables. He returned to singing and got a big break after the ¨Livin la vida loca¨ which made him famous around the world. This was his pinnacle of fame, fortune and fulfillment.

Despite his achievement of all that he wanted, Ricky was troubled in his heart. He had not been able to come to terms with his homosexualiy. He was afraid that if he had admitted it might jeopardise his musical carreer since he was considered as a sex symbol and Latin lover. So he tried to hide, deny and lie. But he could not sustain this double life. Finally he decided in 2010 to announce the truth to the world. He is now at peace with himself.

He attributes his courage to face and admit the truth after what India and Gandhi taught him. He travelled to India and went to an Ashram in Puri which was run by Yogeshwarananda Giri. He studied Kriya yoga for four days and this had completely changed his life. The yoga helped him not only to discover his own inner self but also connected him to the universal energy. After his return to New York, he continued the practise of yoga and meditation and this became his sacred moment every day and helped him to stay calm in the middle of crazy moments. He says that India has taught him that the real fortune is not outside but is within oneself. He does not need to hide himself any longer with the things which caused him pain in the past. He is now able to face the world without any fear.

What is his position about homosexuality now? He says love has no sex and soul has no sex either. He was able to love a woman even when he was in love with a man. But his basic animal instinct in his moments of fantasies is to be with a man. He has accepted his homsexuality as life´s gift and says ¨I am feeling proud of who I am ¨.

Deepak Chopra’s commentary on the cover of the book says, ¨Ricky Martin´s story is the history of a tortured soul which has returned to innocence and authenticity. It is in a way a reflection of the history of humanity itself; caught between the profound and the profane, forbidden luxury and unconditional love¨