a i m l e s s

How do I start to describe this experience?

Marnie told me when I was first thinking of joining the Pyramid Yoga course about how things just fall into place when you find your path.  Maybe it’s a bit like the time Jessy and I were stuck in the woods behind Sayen Gardens; we were trudging through thicket and stickers and mud and branches to the eye with all kinds of difficulty.  The sun was going down and it was scary, but we wouldn’t turn around (probably my stubbornness).  After 20 or 30 minutes of  pushing through bushes and climbing over brush we came across a lit path made of concrete, about 20 feet to our left.  It was there all along.  We were going the same direction of the path, parallel.  Ironic, but that’s the way my life is positioned.  I’m resistant to doing things the easy way, seemingly, exuding all kinds of extra effort.  But the path is right there, twenty feet to my left.  Hah.

I find myself now, at 25 years old, with a teaching degree, without a job, in the mountains of northern Thailand, studying Thai yoga massage.  How I got here, I’m not sure.  But I think somehow I have found my path.  I’m sure theres some thicket and bramble.  But at least I have a direction.

 Thankfully.

This massage course was fused with buddhist concepts surrounding insight meditation, yoga of mindfulness, and the connection of touch.  I have always believed in the importance of touch, and it’s connection with contentment.  The Thai massage I learned integrates yoga stretching positions, internal energy lines, chakras, reiki, acupressure, and aromatherapy.  It is awesome. 

After a good massage your body experiences restoration, energy, and clarity. 

I WANT TO SHARE THIS. 

Our course was set in the Lahu Village, in a time where villages that are mostly untouched are people zoos, only this village wasn’t that way. People didn’t perform for us. Kids hit us with sticks. We awoke to the sound of pigs snorting and roosters crowing at 4 am. The village was ALIVE. The children were so beautiful. Learning massage amidst all this was the icing on the cake of the course. Unforgettable.

The only way to truly experience this place is to exhale deeply when you say it.

From KoPhangan, Th…

Though parts are overcrowded by foreigners, the island maintains so much natural beauty.  The coast differs greatly from rocky shore to powder white sandy beaches.  The coral reef around the northern tip is full of schools of colored fish, many of which Bubs and I have recently learned about in the Osaka aquarium. 

We are having a beautiful time here.  The air is moist, the beach is always right nearby.  It’s a bit hot at times, sometimes it will rain thunderous downpours for hours and hours, and it’s also a bit expensive (for Thailand).. but I love it here.

 The main reason I love it here is because I have recently learned of the Pyramid Yoga Teacher Training Program that is held in the northwest jungle.  Marnie, a beautiful faerie / photographer / yogini / artiste I met while teaching in Korea has just finished her course.  She couldn’t glow any brighter.  The course not only teaches you asanas (physical postures) but delves deeply into the metaphysical world of sacred geometry, chakras, and chanting.

 So Bubs and I have magnetized a troupe of four.  Adam Shane dropped in for a visit on his way to somewhere else, plus one Marnie equals a magical four day stay on the secluded and quiet bottle beach, and numerous adventures including a 4 hour jungle trek in the pouring rain (unintentional, of course).

The people on this island are about half foreigner half Thai.  This worries me. 

Marnie and I depart in a few days for Chiang Mai, a city in the north of Thailand.  I will join her in a 12-day Thai massage course in the mountains (if you thought I gave good back rubs before… pheeewww!) and then meet up with Bubs for some jungle explorations.

The biggest dilemma in my life is as follows:

“Should I stay or should I go now?”

I am applying for the yoga teacher training program at Pyramid for next year.  February 2009 until April 2009, back in Thailand and  learning to surround myself with purple energy forcefields and shaping my body and mind into tip top condition.  When I am accepted, I have this big decision to make.  I need help making it.

If I go home, I will spend a lot on a flight.  Then car insurance, gas prices, find a job, catch up fun.  Then another flight back in 6 months.

O R

Or, I could teach somewhere for 6 months, still traveling, and save up enough for the course.  Maybe Australia?

That’s where my mind is.  Once I figure it out, I will be all anicca and awareness.  But for now, mitote.  Mental chaos. 

The Thai new year begins in mid April, with a big water festival called Songkran.  It is celebrated all around the country, in big cities, the airport, villages, roadside restaurants, etc.   We arrived in Bangkok just in the thick of it.  ... [Continue reading this entry]