Koh Larn

Looking forward to exploring the tiny little island of Koh Larn.  I was ready for some beach time in the south of Thailand, so this morning I grabbed a flight to Bangkok, took a 2hr cab to the town of Pataya, then boarded a quick ferry to the island of Koh Larn.  I rented a scooter and went around the entire island in about an hour.  Found lots of beaches that I want to explore tomorrow when I have more time. . .Here's a taste of the island that I got today.

Ferry ride to Koh Larn

my bungalow hotel

scootering around the island

street sign of all the different beaches

hotel

 

Studying Thai Massage

The primary reason for Marissa and I coming to Thailand was to further our study of Thai massage.  We’ve both learned some through AcroYoga, and I’ve studied with teachers both in the US and abroad.  But this is the mecca, the homeland.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we chose to do the majority of our studies with Pichest, who is a master among masters.  It was amazing that EVERYONE we talked to in Chiang Mai who was studying massage knew of him, and he is the teacher of many teachers. 

If Pichest is the soul of Thai massage teachings, I’d give the rhythm to Amnat, who is graceful and fluid and teaches you how to flow.  We studied foot reflexology with him, and it was amazing to concentrate so much time and energy on just one part of the body.  So if you need a 90min foot rub, give me a hollar!  Amnat used to be a Buddhist monk, then got married, had a kid, got divorced, and now spends most of his time in NY so he can be near his son, and a few months in Chiang Mai teaching what he learned from his grandmother, who in turn learned from her grandmother before.  His sister teaches as well, keeping up the family tradition.  If you are in NY and desiring an amazing treatment, look him up (thaiyogajourney.com)—I think he charges about $100USD for 90min, which is still a bargain given his skill and lineage in the practice.  ALSO, he may be coming to SF in May. . .anyone interested in doing a workshop with him?  I’m going to help him set something up as I’m anxious to learn more from him!

We also spent time just receiving massages, to feel what ‘amazing’ is like from a master teacher, and to contrast that with ‘meh’, from the local beauty parlors on the street.  But massage, like pizza and sex, even when it’s bad, it’s not THAT bad, especially at the rate of $4/hour.  We spent one afternoon at Hom Prang’s retreat.  She owns a beautiful school outside of the city where she lives and teaches.  It’s like being on a farm, a nice respite from the city.  She is known for her herbal compress treatments.  She picks fresh herbs from her garden, makes them into compresses, then steams them before applying them with pressure on the body.  Divine.  We had a 2-hr treatment here with traditional Thai massage and herbal compresses, followed by lunch with her students in her beautiful garden. 

 Another teacher that was recommended to us was Master Sinchai.  He is a sweet, old, blind man who still teaches classes Monday through Friday.  And while he melted my heart with how cute he was, I was totally distracted during the massage because he kept nodding off!  He would lean in to give pressure on my leg, then I could feel him just sinking in/falling over, then he’d jerk awake, press another point, then the same thing happened again!  But he did make some progress on my neck which was stiff, so maybe I’d just try to go back earlier in the day versus at the end of the evening after he’s just taught a class.  And last but not least was a guy named Trayle who is from South Africa and does mostly oil massages vs traditional Thai.  It kind of reminded me of Esalen massages, very fluid and continuous strokes, almost hypnotic.  Then there was the part when he only covers you from waist down, which was a little surprising to have exposed boobies, but I guess anywhere outside of the US, it’s no big thang. 

So all in all, Chiang Mai is a storehouse for amazing bodywork, with deep roots in the healing arts that were once performed on the Buddha, and now have been passed down through generations.  All the while retaining the reverence for the Buddha (the original teacher, the Enlightened One, the teacher in each of us), the dharma (the teachings, the practice, the calling), and the sangha (the community, the connection, the shared spirit).  I feel blessed to have come closer to the roots of this lineage and to have experienced transmission of more art than science, more feeling than thinking, more gentle healing than quick fixes, and more intuition than technique.  Excited to be able to teach from this experience in our Therapeutic Acro workshops, and to offer this to friends, family, and clients!

ABUNDANCE

I didn’t start my travels with the idea that I’d be seeking more clarity about abundance, but it seems to be creeping up on me around every corner, and I’d be blind not to notice the seemingly everpresent reminders.    

When we were in Bali, a friend of a friend had a mix of essential oils called “Abundance”.  We were to put a drop in our water bottles, and then let the magic unfold.  The next morning I woke to my only two pairs of shoes torn to shreds by Honey the housedog.  The following morning I lost my iPhone.  Couldn’t help but question what type of abundance I was receiving, and what this deeper lesson must be.  (Surely there was a deeper lesson, right??).   

Perhaps it’s the lack of importance of material things.  I could replace my flip flops and live with one pair of shoes for the next 3 weeks.  OK, done.  Perhaps it was a gentle reminder to disconnect from the virtual world, and take more notice of the vibrancy in front of me.  Admittedly, having a phone that’s paid for by work with international access to email, texts, and internet at any moment did not encourage me to disengage from that very normal, very over-connected life that I usually lead.  So, could I deal with not having a phone?  Sure, it’s been nearly two weeks now and I don’t miss it all that much.  We actually have to plan times to meet, and I do most of my emailing in the morning, and at night, with a break during the day.  I’ve probably missed out on a lot of texts, and a few calls, but nothing feels lacking.  Liz, Marissa, and I have also formed a “club”, a learning group called “jnana vichara” which means inquiry regarding knowledge.  This month’s theme?  Lakshmi, goddess of. . .you guessed it. . . .abundance, prosperity, wealth.

So maybe those are some of the lessons of abundance?  Having less without feeling deprived. . . appreciating that all I have is all I need (one good pair of flip flops can go a long way). . .feeling very full in my time with Marissa and the other AcroYogis, slackliners, and other Thai massage junkies here. . .eating lunch for $1 and getting an hour foot massage for $4. . .waking up excited to start another day walking through the market for breakfast and seeing what new kinds of street food we can discover. . .missing home in a way that feels like, ‘wow, I have amazing friends and family in my life, and I can’t wait to see them, but I’m enjoying my time away as well”. . .abundance in JOY, abundance in opportunity, abundance in adventure.  

I am grateful for the not so subtle push to look at my life through a different lens in order to see the beauty, the simplicity, and the downright-overflowing-never-ending-busting-at-the-seams stream of abundance flowing my way.

Thailand Street Food

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  This video should just about do it. .  .

CHIANG MAI

Chiang Mai is definitely a jewel of a city, up here in the North of Thailand.  It’s an old city square, with a mote around it, and gates at each side.  Makes it relatively easy to get around once you get the lay of the land.  There are several ‘main’ roads, then they call the little roads off of them “Soy 1”, “Soy 2”, etc.  Though when we first arrived we were staying outside of town and taking tuk-tuks or taxis everywhere so felt quite lost.  We arrived on Sunday so were told to check out the Sunday market.  That was an experience unto itself.  The city was basically closed off and filled with TONS of vendors.  Of course Marissa and I found delight in the food stands and tried all kinds of interesting things.  I’ll do a separate post just on the street food of Chiang Mai as it deserves its own day in the sun.

Tha Phae Gate (east Wall)

We decided that amongst the many many recommendations we had for Thai massage teachers, that we would start the week off with Pichest.  He was known to be less about technique, and more about the spirituality side of the practice, and how to feel and sense versus just work through a sequence.  This sounded perfect to me as I’ve studied at a couple of different schools and learned a series of “moves”, but I feel that my massage technique definitely lacks more of that intuitive sense.  The only challenge with going to Pichest’s is that the directions are extremely vague on his website, and we couldn’t locate it via any maps.  So we took a 300 bhat taxi, only to find out later that the local bus goes there for only 15.  Oh well, trap of being a tourist.  His studio is in his home near Hang Dong, about 20 min south of the city.  On Mondays when you arrive for the week you bring an offering for the temple, which is basically where we are studying.  The morning starts with prayers to Buddha, and Mama and Papa, and teachers, and any other gods or such that we may personally recognize, and finally Shivago, the original founder of Thai massage who was said to be the Buddha’s physician.  Then Pichest lectures for a bit, mostly about Buddhist philosophy, in very broken English, and he has such a generous heart and big smile, and he cracks himself up all the time so you can’t help but go along with it and find yourself smiling and laughing even though you’re not sure if you even get it.  He’ll usually grab one of the students and have them lie down, then says, “Here.  Block here” as he points to the spot on the person where the energy is blocked.  He’ll demonstrate how to open that area, then it’s basically a free-for-all the rest of the day.  Pairs break off to practice what they saw, and he’ll go around and correct you, teaching you how to feel, not think.  Then lunch at a local ‘warung’ for no more than 35 bhat a day (about $1).  Late afternoon for more practicing on each other.  It was a bit overwhelming the first couple of days because there is no syllabus or schedule, so you’re just wondering what you’re supposed to be doing.  But the days go by, and everyone gets a bit more comfortable, and the students who have been studying with him for a while help to orient the new ones, and then we just try to turn our brains off, and forget about technique, and try to listen to the body that’s in front of us.  Very hard for a western mind to do.  But I’m learning more about scanning a body before working on it, and how to heat the muscles before diving in, and about how to create comfort and relaxation so the person does not tense or try to protect certain areas.

Some of my favorite teachings from Pichest, and my personal interpretation:

“Know yourself.  Then Do.” (In that we all have a divine true nature in our hearts, and we should follow that vs what the outside world tells us to do)

“I think.  I like.  I want.  Sad or no sad?  Ego or no ego?  Attachment or no attachment?”  (Basically that the more we want things, and attach to things, and look to outside things to make us happy, the farther away from happiness we are.  We weren’t born with the shirts on our back, only with the love from our parents, and our own pure hearts.)

“No religion?  Doesn’t matter.  From here only [fist to his heart].”

“Protection.  Emotion.” (All the blocks in the body caused by emotion we are storing, or energy that is blocked, and we keep protecting that area, so it’s important when working on someone to ease into that space so you can help them release it)

“Listening the body, not the technique.”  (The body will tell us what needs to be healed and how)

“Honey, honey, honey. . .thai chili!” (Start soft, soft, soft, then deep)

“Technique headache” (Only following technique leads to headache, no help for client or practitioner)

“Poke poke.” (Uses his cane to poke-poke when we do something bad/stupid)

“Zero” (pronounces “see-row”)

“Don’t push, no pushing.  Only feel.”  (Especially with thumbing work, place the thumb, sink in/block, that’s it.  Easy.  No pushing)

“No mind.  No problem.”

“The head no feel.  The body feel.”

So we found Pichest.  We found a wonderful teacher and a classroom full of wonderful students.  It’s been a fun week being at school all day, playing Acro and slackline after class, then maybe a foot massage, or night market stop for dinner.  Giving alms to monks in the morning, riding the “songtheao” (public bus taxi) to school, red bean bouzi and fresh smoothies for after school snacks, papaya salad so spicy my nose sweats—that’s a typical day in the life. And we found a cute little guest house in the center of the city for only $20USD/night.  We're getting settled into the life of Chiang Mai.

Special bouzi for Chinese New Years

Fish pedicure

Songtheao (local bus/taxi)

A Day in Bangkok

We left Ubud for Bangkok on the 14^th.  While sad to leave Bali just as we were getting the hang of things, I realized I was really excited about getting to Thailand.  Six or nine months ago when I started making my dream list for sabbatical, I knew that studying Thai massage in Thailand would be on the top.  All of the schools are up north in Chiang Mai, but we had a flight connection in Bangkok so decided to spend part of a day there.  It’s definitely a HUGE city compared to tiny Ubud, but it was nice again to have a fancy hotel with silky sheets, full chocolate bars on the pillows with turn-down service, and a sweeping view of the city.  We were able to get some curry and noodles at 11pm, and the streets were still bustling as we made our way home.

The next morning we took the water taxi to visit a few sights.  I loved this iced tea/coffee vendor, who made each cup step-by-step, brewing a single glass of tea, adding the condensed milk (and sugar!), then pouring over shaved ice with some more condensed milk on top as an added treat.  15 bhat, that’s less than $0.50 a glass.

We visited the temple of Wat Pho, also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.  This temple is  also known as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage.  It’s named after a monastery in India where Buddha is believed to have lived.  Adjacent to the building housing the Reclining Buddha is a small raised garden, the centerpiece being a bodhi tree which is a scion (cutting) of the original tree in India where Buddha sat while awaiting enlightenment. (from Wikipedia)

We took part in a traditional offering before entering the temple, lighting incense and candles, and placing pieces of gold leaf onto the statues. 

The feet of the Buddha are inlaid with mother-of-pearl. They are divided into 108 arranged panels, displaying the auspicious symbols by which Buddha can be identified like flowers, dancers, white elephants, tigers and altar accessories.  While viewing the Buddha, you can hear this tinkling and clanging of coins behind the statue.  As you walk around you come upon 108 bronze bowls lining the corridor indicating the 108 auspicious characters of the Buddha.  You can make a donation for a bowl of coins to drop into the bowls as you pass by.  If you are reading this blog, likely you are my nearest and dearest so you were thought of with each of my offerings.

Mother of pearl in-lay

We left Wat Pho to visit the Grand Palace in the hour we had left to explore Bangkok.  The King and his court used to live there until 1925, but now it is mostly used for official ceremonies, and of course, for visiting tourists.  The magnificence and grand scale of everything was what impressed me the most.  Huge temples that appear to be crusted in gold and jewels, sprawling courtyards, grandiose statues.

With not a moment to spare, we took the water taxi back to the hotel and hopped a cab to the airport.  I think our checked luggage cost as much as our plane flight to Chiang Mai—so much for “discount airlines”.  But it was a quick one hour flight, and we landed with mountains all around us, and the air even a bit chilly.  Settled in at our ‘landing spot’ guest house (~$40/night with breakfast and wi-fi included) and tried to figure out how in the world we’d find out how to get to our Thai massage teacher the next morning. . .more on that later. . .