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!

listening

A week ago Monday morning, in the old walled city of Chiang Mai, I met up with a group of people from all over the world to go to the market to buy flowers, incense, candles and fruit for an offering to Buddha, God, and to the lineage of teachers of Thai massage. Known as "Nuad bo Rarn" here, Thai Massage is an ancient healing practice that uses "sacred medicine". It was brought here from India through China along with the teachings of the Buddha. There was a hermit, known today as Dr Shivago, who offered bodywork and healing to the Buddha and his sangha to keep them healthy in body and mind as they traveled and shared their teachings. This practice was passed down from generation to generation in the temples, and in families.

We drove 20 minutes outside of Chiang Mai to meet Pichest Boonthume, who is one of the more traditional Thai massage teachers in Thailand, and is truly a master. His teachings are deeper than I had expected them to be. I was interested in studying with Pichest because I had heard that he has found ways to use his body intelligently and not injure himself. I also knew that he did very deep physical work, but I had no idea his teachings were so deep emotionally and spiritually.

We begin the day in a relaxed way, people filtering into the classroom, which is a large room, with about 1/4 of the space used as a temple to the Buddha, teachers and our parents, and spirits. There are mats placed around the room, and pillows, and not one single chair. Pichest gives talks about meditation and dharma, and the importance of taking good care of ourselves so that we can give good feelings to people when we are giving massages. He shows us ways to get deep pressure without using too much energy or force, and even shows us ways for us to receive benefits (this reminds me of the principle of "Mutual Support" I have learned from Breema Bodywork. We spend some time praying and chanting to the buddha, and to the lineage of teachers, as well as spirit. The rest of the day is spent watching him give amazing effective treatments, and laughing (he really loves to make us laugh), and watching how he assesses the body with his heart, not his mind. We then take turns working on each other, and practicing listening and maybe some of the new techniques he demonstrated (but only if they are a good fit for the person we are working with).

My sessions with him have been quite intense and profound. He is incredibly intuitive and could see where I was holding on to emotions and things from my past, and used some ancient chants and folk medicine to help me to let go of this old energy. I felt incredibly light and free after this... like I had been carrying an invisible backpack, and it was suddenly gone. The next time, he was working very deeply on my neck and I burst into tears, but not because of the pain, but because an emotional block was being released.

I am beginning to understand the power of the heart, and the importance of taking time to sit with myself and listen. Listen to the emotions and thoughts, and watch them pass. He says that when you have a thought, it's like a big rock that is tossed into a still pond, and we usually follow the ripples which can be big and dramatic. But if we simply follow the rock, it simply falls to the bottom of the pond.

I resonate very deeply with his teachings, and feel that my intentions are very similar to his when I work. I can't tell you how often he says "listening" and "from the heart". And the name of my practice is Listening Touch and my logo is hands in the shape of a heart, with a ripple. So now, I will practice deepening in with my heart, and aim to not follow the ripples, both in my meditation, and in my bodywork.

Today was another amazing day. Pichest guided me to make a special offering and I received a blessing from a American Buddhist nun who only comes to see Pichest once per year. When she gave me blessings from the ancient mother goddess, I felt an old, negative thought pattern slip away. As I sat, listening, I could feel deep peace and unconditional love settle into my being, and it was sealed with gold leaf on my heart.

Wow... I am so grateful... and sending you a little virtual blessing of gold on your heart!

meandering

Ah Chiang Mai...

I am settling into life here quite easily. Chiang mai was my home base when I was here six years ago, so it feels familiar and comfortable to me, although there are even more tourist-oriented businesses than before, and it seems a bit more crowded. But it is still lovely. I have a room in a simple guesthouse, right down the street from my favorite restaurant, the blue diamond, in the old walled city of Chiang Mai, where there aren't many blocks without a stupa or a bodhi tree. One of my favorite things to do is bicycle through the little narrow streets and see what I find. It is a small enough area that if I get lost, I can't be that far from my guesthouse. One of my favorite sights that I saw yesterday was a man taking a nap during the heat of the day, with his five little dogs, one of them he was resting his legs on (just like a bolster is used during massage!) I snapped a photo before the dogs started barking and woke him up.


If I ever feel like I don't know what to do with myself, there is usually a temple close by where I can sit and meditate while the monks chant. The weather has been sunny every day, with humidity getting pretty intense at times, and lovely cool evenings that make me snuggle into my silk sleeping sack (something I splurged on for this trip... highly recommend it for you travelers out there!) and blankets.

In Thailand, blind people are trained to do massage and there are clinics where all the therapists are blind and do massage. I have enjoyed a couple sessions with them already, and tomorrow I will get a session from a man named Sinchai. He is also a teacher of Thai massage, which peaked my curiosity because I couldn't imagine teaching and not being able to see what my students are doing. So I got to observe him teaching and see how he feels his student's position and where they are on the recipients body, and was fascinated. He had about six students, and each one took turns practicing after he demonstrated.

I found a lovely yoga studio that has anusara yoga teachers here! (one of my favorite styles of yoga) It's a small world there, yesterday I bumped into a woman who taught raw food classes when I did my fast six here years ago, a friend of a friend, and my friend Mary from Chicago stopped by too! I topped off my yoga practice in the beautiful Thai sauna complete with singing rainbow songs and chants with a new friend, and shortly melted into bed feeling totally relaxed! And tonight, they have a kirtan (yogic chanting) which I am really looking forward to. I've been feeling inspired to stay connected to my Breema practice, and I am doing self-breema in the mornings, and hope to teach a self-breema class at one of the yoga studios here before I go!

I am really looking forward to starting class on Monday with the Thai massage teacher Pichest. Even though I have studied Thai Massage with Chuck Duff, The Old Medicine Hospital, and Asokananda (now deceased), I am ready for a new perspective. I have heard such amazing things about Pichest, that he is really into the meditation aspect, making sure that you are in a good space (mentally, emotionally, physically) before you offer healing to someone else. He is very devotional, as well and expects his students to bring flowers, insence, candles and fruit to offer to Buddha. I also hear that he is quite the character, and can be a bit rough, and very unstructured... but as long as you go with a beginner's mind, and have a good sense of humor, and not many expectations, it can be an amazing experience.

Sending you a bit of sunshine!