Massage School Pics

Here are a couple of pictures from my last day of massage school. The first is a picture of our class, and the second is me with one of my favorite teachers, Noo.

Happy House

I've told you plenty about my many Thailand activities. But my daily life here is probably the best thing about Thailand, and the primary reason I'm still in Chiang Mai.

I'm living in "Happy House", a small guest house run by two Thai women named pi La and pi Eh, both in their mid-thirties. (FYI, "pi" is the polite way to address anyone older than you in Thai). The guesthouse opened about 1.5 months ago, and my friend Philippa and I were some of the first guests at Happy House to stay for any reasonable length of time. During the first week of our stay we were semi-adopted by La and Eh.

In the last month I've gotten to know La's baby Kona, her husband Jason who runs the rafting/kayaking company, the neighbors who have a laundry business, the friends who are Goji Berry entrepreneurs (yes folks, just wait - Goji berry juice is the next hot health product in Thailand!), the extreme kayak film makers making a movie somewhere in northern Thailand, and the dogs Pepsi and Cola who live across the street. My room feels like home.

Sadly, I leaving Chiang Mai tomorrow and will miss Happy House and all my friends here. A quick picture of the Kona:

Right foot goes thus...Meditation

I just returned from a two day silent meditation retreat near Chiang Mai. A group of twenty-five people (all foreigners, mostly from Holland and the United States) arrived at a temple called Wat Suan Dok at about 2 pm tuesday afternoon. We were given a short lecture on Buddhism by one of the monks, and then we piled into busses and drove about 30 minutes from Chiang Mai to a new mediation retreat center. The center is so new that it is not yet finished -- a work camp is set up next to the center to complete the library and dorm rooms. Luckily the most important parts of the center (the golden Buddha, temple, and kitchen) were finished.

When we arrived at the center we were assigned rooms, white clothing, and nametags that said "silence". For the next hour or so we had free time, and everyone wandered around the retreat lawn, not quite knowing what to do with free time, no books, no computers, and most importantly no talking.

At six pm we had a small dinner. Usually when people in Thailand go on Buddhist meditation retreats they do as the monks do, not eating after 11 am. I chose not to eat dinner, just to see what it would be like to go without food for an evening. As it turns out the lack of food at night is not so bad if you go to bed early -- monks are usually in their rooms by about 9:30 pm.

After dinner we met in the temple and learned about the different types of meditation. First, there is sitting meditation. The idea is to sit in a comfortable position (usually cross-legged) and focus on a single thing such as breathing in, and breathing out. Next is walking meditation. The monks demonstrated this type of meditation, picking up each foot slowly and placing it on the floor. While walking the focus should be on the feet -- the mind is thinking "Right foot goes thus. Left foot goes thus. Right foot goes thus...." The third type of meditation, lying meditation, is the most relaxing but quite dangerous because it is easy to fall asleep. Finally, counting prayer beads (108 on a string) is another type of meditation. If you get a number besides 108, you are not in the proper meditative state.

After the demos, it was our turn to try mediation. I quickly realized that sitting meditation is by far the most difficult for me. Sitting in a cross-legged position without moving for more than 5 minutes is painful. My legs begin to fall asleep. My back slumps. I fidget. I forget to focus on my breathing an instead listen to the bugs buzzing outside. The monks call this wandering mind "monkey mind". During our sitting meditation practice, each minute felt like ten. Walking meditation was quite enjoyable. I felt like I was learning how to walk again, feeling every muscle contract and release as I picked up each foot and set it down again. Lying meditation was great: I fell asleep!

To end the evening we chanted with the monks in Pali language, paying respect to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha (I think). We also chanted in English and wished compassion on all living beings. Bedtime at 9 pm was welcome, because we were awakened at 5 am by a gong for 5:30 meditation practice. Morning practice was more of the same; sitting, walking, chanting, and some yoga as well.

After the morning practice we observed the Thai tradition of offering food to the monks. In Thailand, monks do not cook. Instead, from 6-7 am each day they walk from their temple with bare feet and collect "alms" from Thai people. I've really enjoyed my early morning runs here because of this spectacle -- watching monks, dressed in saffron robes, walking barefoot throughout the city and collecting breakfast is quite a sight!

After breakfast was a discussion on Buddhism and meditation. For the first time in 12 hours we broke our silence and talked about our experiences. An interesting conversation, much too long to repeat here but by far my favorite part of the meditation retreat experience. Most importantly, perhaps, I learned that Buddhists do not consider Buddhism a religion but rather a way of life.

Finally, we practiced sitting meditation one last time, ate lunch in silence, and returned to Chiang Mai. The bus ride back was quiet -- although we did not have to keep silent any longer, my fellow retreaters and I were suddenly happy to stay with our own thoughts for a bit longer.

Back to real life, I've realized a number of things:

1) Sitting meditation is not my thing. I prefer movement, such as yoga or running, to put myself in a meditative state.

2) Monks are happy, happy people despite (or probably because of) the simple lives they lead. The monks who organized our retreat maintained a sense of calm fun all of the time.

3) A day of silence does me a great deal of good -- without constant talking, my mind becomes more clear.

Certified Thai Massage Therapist

Last Friday was my last day of massage class, and after 120 hours of instruction I am now an internationally recognized Thai Massage Therapist. But don't believe it! Four weeks is definitely not enough time to learn all there is to know about Thai massage. When I come home I hope all my friends (*hint hint*) will be my massage dummies, because I need the practice.

Thai massage is very different than the classic Swedish oil massage we most often encounter in the US. First of all, the massage is done fully clothed and on the ground, not on a massage table. This aspect of the massage is nice because I can give massage almost anywhere, as long as the floor surface is soft enough. Second, Thai massage originally meant to be used in hospitals to cure sick patients, and therefore involves many more deep stretches and work on specific pressure points than Swedish massage.

The first two weeks of my course covered the very basics of Thai massage - how to move my client's body, how to position my own body, how much pressure to apply, what kind of touch to use. Thai massage requires that the bodyworker lift, stretch, press, and rotate the client's body (see pic below) and it takes plenty of physical strength to give a good Thai massage.

The second two weeks of the course covered specific medical treatments: massage for back pain, headache, shoulder pain, numbness, dizziness, etc. I've also learned all sorts of interesting pressure points on the body. Certain points can cause abortion and others can kill the client if pressed too hard. Yikes!

During the last four weeks I've also received plenty of massages from students and teachers. The teacher massages were fabulous...I felt like a new person after each two hour session. Massage can truly change one's outlook on life if done properly. The student massages weren't always so good, and occasionally I'd leave massage school more bent out of shape (literally) than when I arrived in the morning. My best moment during the last month was when one of my "clients" fell asleep during her massage. Now that I'm done with school I will try and have a massage every couple days while in Thailand, since they are so cheap here (only about $6 US for a two hour session) and receiving massage is a good learning experience.

Tomorrow I will take an overnight meditation course at Wat Suan Dok and then go to the rainforest for five days of whitewater kayaking with friends. So don't worry if you don't hear from me for a while - I will either be meditating or having sanook (fun, in Thai) in the jungle!

Rafting the Mae Tang River

Last weekend I headed for the hills with a rafting company called Siam River Adventures that is headquartered at my guest house. The company is run by an American named Jason who takes tourists up to the river on an almost-daily basis for rafting and kayaking adventures. After three weeks in Chiang Mae I was itching to get away from the city, and Jason offered me a screaming deal for two days of rafting and an overnight stay at the jungle camp near the river.

We left Chiang Mae at about 9 am Saturday morning, and picked up a few more rafters along the way: Two American ex-pats living in Vietnam, an Italian and his Thai companion, and a college age dude from North Carolina. And yes, if you are wondering about the term "companion" you probably have the right idea. Thailand is crawling with middle aged white men who travel with young Thai women for a few weeks. The Thai women benefit because they get free food, accommodation, and activities, while the white men benefit because they get a young Thai woman. Yup, it sounds awful and IS awful. I wince everytime I see a Thai lady with a farang man many years her senior.

Anyway, back on track to the rafting. Saturday we checked out the rapids on foot before running them. The river is fairly low right now, with lots of rocks and some pretty serious technical spots -- class three and four rapids, if that means anything to you! We then lunched at the jungle lodge, located in a tiny little community in the middle of a remote rainforest valley. In many ways it reminded me of Costa Rica: lots of mixed agriculture (banana, papaya, etc) and small houses in the valley, with primary and secondary forest covering the hills.

After lunch we got suited up to run the river. I joined the Italian and Thai woman on the raft, while the rest of our travel companions took whitewater kayaks. Then we were off! Our guide, Nope, is a young Thai man who speaks very little English except the necessary paddle commands (forward! backward! stop! etc...) We had a great time navigating the rapids, swimming in the river, enjoying the ridiculously warm rain, and splashing each other for no reason at all. The raft got stuck on rocks numerous times, but never flipped because the water was so low.

In the evening we had a very chill night, with some Thai food (not spicy enough...I think my spice tolerance has gone up since I arrived here) and beer. Because of the lack of spice in the Thai food I asked for some fresh peppers to add to my stir-fry, and proceeded to chop them up using my fingernails. The food was perfectly spiced, but the space under my fingernails burnt for the next 24 hours. Which begs the question: if it hurts so bad outside, why does it taste so good to put spice into my tummy? One of the mysteries of life, I guess.

The next morning we were on the river by 9 am. This time I took the "ducky", a big blue inflatable kayak manufactured in Moscow Idaho, down the river. Apparently inflatable kayaks are like training wheels, preparing new kayakers for the real thing. I had a blast with this thing! Although I couldn't roll my boat, it was very forgiving and almost impossible to tip over, so I paddled happily down the rapids without many worries. I *did* have to switch into the raft for the really big rapids. Maybe next weekend I will try a hard kayak.

In other news, I am in my third week of massage school and loving it. We've been learning how to treat specific problems such as back pain, headaches, and shoulder pain, which should come in handy. But more on that later...right now I must go find some din-din!