Touch & Go

Archive for the 'Lessons from Thailand' Category

Jun 05 2010

Ode to Water, and to all the Water Goddesses

Published by Sunny Klaber under Lessons from Thailand

“The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire”- Pamela Hansford Johnson

Appreciative joy - Sunset in Baan Thalaynok

What comes to mind when you think of water?

Cooling, calming, cleansing, refreshing. Sweet, peaceful, beautiful, still. Blue, green, golden, white. Undulating, flowing, frightening, destructive. Stagnant, polluted, frothy, sour. Hot, relaxing, soothing, healing…

Water is life’s “mater and matrix, mother and medium”. Water’s true nature is predictably unpredictable, and its manifestations are multifarious and contradictory.

So… if our bodies are composed of over 60% water, what does that suggest about our true nature?

In February, I had the pleasure of spending three weeks exploring southern Thailand’s unique culture, stunning landscape and fascinating healing traditions with a fabulous group of massage therapists and yoginis.

The Water Goddesses - DEEP South Journey 2010

Our itinerary included a homestay in a Thai Muslim fishing village on the Andaman coast, a week on a small island in the Andaman Sea that was solely inhabited by a small tribe of Moken people (nomadic “sea gypsies”), and a week on floating bamboo huts on a lake in the middle of Khao Sok National Park.

Our floating bamboo huts - Khao Sok National Park

Over the course of our journey we were exposed to several unique water oriented life-styles, and had the opportunity to embrace water in a variety of different forms. The sudden abundance of water in our environment led us quite naturally to occasionally contemplate its significance in our lives, and its influence on our various healing practices.

Yoga class in Mu Ko Surin National Park

On our last night together we sat on our floating porch underneath a star-filled sky and shared the liquid lessons that had penetrated our cells, psyches and souls. Then we paid homage to the water goddess by placing traditional home-made krathongs on the lake. This is a sampling of what our ritual revealed…

Paying homage to the water godess

Like water, we have the potential to be graceful,

Jungle Yoga - Khao Sok National Park

Like water, we have the potential to be fluid,

Music and movement in Khao Sok National Park

Like water, we have the potential to be powerful,

kayaking in Khao Sok National Park

Like water, we have the potential to curve around sharp bends,

Thai Yoga Massage class - Koh Ra

Like water, we have the potential to travel to distant lands,

Cultural exchange - Baan Thalaynok

Like water, we have the potential to be wild and free,

Log jump - Khao Sok National Park

Like water, we have the potential to be lazy,

Day off - Mu Ko Surin National Park

Like water, we have the potential to be nurturing,

Thai Yoga Massage class - Khao Sok National Park

Like water we have the potential to facilitate healing,

Showing gratitude to our hosts in Baan Thalaynok

Like water, we have the potential to facilitate growth,

Planting nipa palms in Baan Thalaynok

Like water, we have the potential to carve out new pathways,

Teaching yoga to children in Baan Thalaynok

Like water, we have the potential to expand,

Sunrise yoga - Koh Ra

Like water, we have the potential to make beautiful music,

Koh Ra serenade

Like water we have the potential to be still,

Floating meditation - Khao Sok National Park

Like water, we have the potential to transform.

Snorkeling - Mu Ko Surin National Park

We discovered that we are healthier and happier when we take time to remember what we are (at least 60% of what we are), accept the full spectrum of our true nature (multifarious and contradictory though it might be), and live up to our potential as Water Goddesses.

Have you discovered your true nature? Have you learned how to live and practice powerfully with fluidity and grace?

Join us in February 2011 in southern Thailand for the next DEEP South journey. Register NOW!

Selected offerings to the Water Goddess:

“To the water goddess,

With these treasures I give up today,

I also vanquish to the depths of your body

all attachments in my life that I see to no longer be worthy of my time, my attention, my energy.

I ask you for the strength I need to do so.

I ask for the direction and shift of the wind

when I veer off this course I promise to myself I will follow.

Whether it be rain, or tears, or the ocean mist,

I ask you for your presence.”

- Katherine: Martha’s Vineyard, MA (DEEP South 2010)

“Offering to the Water Goddess:

My offering is my creative nature, my music, my song, my joy! Through and across the water my song will travel…to the depths of every sea, lake, river, and everything in between. It will emanate and reverberate an eternal song of life and beauty. In return, I ask that the Water Goddess relieves me of my anxiety, my constant, incessant worry, my habitual nature of unnecessary concern for that which I cannot control. I ask the Water Goddess to strip me naked and make me pure and whole again. I ask that she bathes and nurtures my soul.”

- Kate: Asheville, NC (DEEP South 2010)

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Apr 24 2010

Healer, Heal Thyself!

Published by Sunny Klaber under Lessons from Thailand

What is health? What is suffering?

Why do we suffer? How do we heal?

These are some of the questions that a small group of inquisitive travelers and I recently explored during a three-week journey through Northern Thailand.

The premise underlying our “Adventure in Healing“, was that by immersing ourselves in an unfamiliar culture–one whose customs differ greatly from our own–our conditioned beliefs would be challenged, our unconscious habits would be revealed, and our faulty assumptions would be exposed. We hoped that as our old mental constructs began to collapse and dissolve, a fresh, raw, clear state of mind would emerge. This mind would be capable of perceiving the human condition more honestly and completely, and would thereby be better equipped to understand the integrated nature of health and healing on a personal, community and environmental level, and to make more conscious, empowered lifestyle choices.

Although our group was relatively small, we represented a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives: 23 to 57 years old; of Asian, Indian, African, Caribbean, and European descent; male, female, gay, straight, single, and married; massage therapists, nannies, actors, music producers, and social activists; peacemakers, devil’s advocates, comedians, introverts, pessimists, and optimists. Our colorful little group proved to be the ideal microcosm for testing out opinions and theories, letting go of old patterns and prejudice, gaining insight, and generally having great fun in the “land of smiles”.

Our journey began with a four-day silent meditation and yoga retreat at the International Women’s Partnership for Peace and Justice (IWP) in the rural village of Baan Mai. Ouyporn, a Thai woman and a native of Baan Mai, facilitated candid discussions on the Buddhist perspective on suffering, and the importance of cultivating “the true medicine of the universe” (the four divine states of mind – loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and non-judgment), and led walking meditations through the rice paddies.

A woman from Australia and I led a daily yoga practice to help prepare our bodies for sitting meditation, and several local women prepared delicious home-cooked vegetarian meals that we enjoyed in silence in an open-aired sala.

From Baan Mai we traveled north to Mae Taeng and spent a few days living on an organic farm called Pun Pun, which operates as a seed-saving center, and conducts earthen-building workshops.

We learned to make adobe bricks, plasters, and paints; to prepare natural soap and shampoo; to plant kale and chilies; and to cook traditional Thai dishes including homemade tofu and soy milk.

From Pun Pun we traveled south to Chiang Mai and spent a week studying Thai Yoga Massage with esteemed teacher Cherchai Chumpoopong. This gave us an opportunity to integrate and cultivate our yoga, meditation and massage techniques, which elevated our practice to a whole new level.

Our evenings were spent sampling the rich collection of massage treatments, restaurants and markets throughout the city.

Our last weekend was spent volunteering with abused elephants at the Elephant Nature Park, a jungle sanctuary north of Chiang Mai. We fed, bathed, walked, and fell in love with the elephants, and were inspired by stories of how they had overcome tremendous physical and emotional pain.

The lessons that we learned about ourselves and the world that we live in were profound. In the end, resistance gave way to surrender; enduring boundaries dissolved; hearts expanded; burdens lifted; and we all felt a little freer, lighter and more motivated to continue our journey toward cultivating “the true medicine of the universe.”