village

I just spent ten days in a small Lahu hill tribe village in Northern Thailand, studying Thai massage with teachers who teach Asokananda's style of Thai massage. I studied in this village when I was here in 2004, and after hearing one of the assistants share his love of the village life and the meditation practice, I could feel the village calling me back. I longed to witness the simple life there, and I wanted to freshen my memory of the massage and meditation teachings, as well as get a break from the hussle and bussle of Chiang Mai.

Ho Nam Rin is a small village of about 500 Lahu people, a traditionally nomadic group of people who used to live in China. Only one person in the village actually does Thai massage, but my teacher Asokananda was invited to teach there, and set up his life there. He died of cancer in 2005, but his instructors still carry on his traditions with much love, compassion and wisdom. The slit bamboo platform where the classes are taught is right in the middle of the village, so students have to learn to live with the many sounds that come from the kids, pigs, chicken, puppies, kareoke, and fire-crackers! It is very interesting to meditate with fire-crackers exploding every three seconds. It was especially lively in the village this time because it was the Chinese New Year, and people were visiting from neighboring Lahu villages, and there was much celebration including pounding of rice, drinking, dancing, firecrackers, slaughtering of pigs, giddy teenagers singing songs with their cell phones.

But the scene was very serene up the hill where we gathered every day at 5:30 am for an hour of silent vipassana meditation, and a full yoga class. You could still hear the roosters echoing through the valley, but it was much more peaceful there. My instructor Laurino spends a lot of time meditating, and it was great to practice with him. The rest of the day was spent watching demonstrations of Thai massage, and practicing on each other. There were many assistants who were available to help us with any questions we had about the stretches and points we were working, as the work is very specific. The meals were very simple: sticky rice, vegetables, fruit, spicy peppers, and the occasional egg and brown rice.

I shared a lovely little bamboo bungalow in the outskirts of the village with a lovely French woman who helped motivate me to wake up for meditation. Though there were some nights where our third room mate kept me up for most of the night (I never did find out what it was, but it sounded bigger than a gecko, and it liked to chew on plastic). I decided not to make a fuss about it because it probably lived there most days of the year when there were no massage students staying there. The villagers would pass by our bungalow with their water buffalo on their way to graze in the meadows up the hill from us. One afternoon, as I attempted to take a nap, they were grazing just outside of my bungalow. I must have been really tired because I was still able to doze off despite the ringing of the bells around their necks.

The village really came alive during the Chinese New Year festivities. The Lahu people dressed up in their traditional colorful clothing, and blew off fireworks day and night. On new years eve, my vegetarian belly did a flip flop as I had to pass the central washing area in the village where they were smoking and butchering a half dozen pigs. It was quite the scene, villagers were walking away with buckets full of meat, and the dogs were feasting on the scraps. Many people stayed up all night to dance around in thier circular dance pit to the sounds of their traditional instruments. A few of us from the massage class went to watch, and they dragged us onto the dance floor where we attempted to copy what looked like simple foot work. Everyone had a good laugh that night. Our landlord invited us into his small bamboo home for a new years dinner that included pork, sticky rice, "french fries", and sticky rice cakes that were dipped in honey. I politely passed on the pork and pulled my cashews out of my bag to offer to the table, but I did have some broth to go on my sticky rice, and it was delicious! He was such a sweet man, and kept expressing his joy and gratitude that he was able to have us over for dinner.

I really enjoyed my classmates, who were from all over the world. Giving and receiving that much bodywork, meditating, and staying in a place where there aren't as many distractions (like TVs, internet, pubs, etc) can be a bit intense. Emotions surfaced, healing and understanding happened, and by the end of the 10 days, I felt pretty close with this group.

So now I am back in Chiang Mai, visiting with friends, new and old, and studying with Pichest for a few more days before I leave for India on Saturday for the 2010 International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh!