Global Journey :: life is a pilgrimage!: koh phangon

My 2nd visit to Thailand January to July 2009.

I'm here this time on a mission mainly to study at the Agama Yoga school on Koh Phangon (tropical island in south), do their 3 month yoga teachers training intensive, stick around the island another 2 months (total of 5 on the island) studying the complete 8 limbs of Yoga (the original Yoga, before being turned into gymnastics by Westerners consists of Yama, Niyama, Asanas, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Concentration, Meditation, Samadhi). So, there's lots to learn & focusing on learning this from probably one of the best schools in the world, bringing back the ancient true forms of the complete Hatha Yoga system. They also teach health, healing, tao, tantric sexuality, diet, cleansings, Tibetan studies, lucid dreaming, mantras, & more. Not getting bored here, as each class is a new lecture, video & pamphlet. This school offers 5+ years of the above mentioned system of kundalini tantric based Hatha Yoga. After 9 months in India & checking out many schools there, not to mention back home, & seeking online, i'm grateful for finding this school in Rishikesh, studying some in Vancouver, and now coming to the source of the action, their main school here in Thailand where a great community of over 100 yogi's in training gather, share food, have dance parties, potlucks, meditation retreats, workshops on everything you can imagine, and yes....do Yoga together! Really feels like a 2nd home here!

So, I havnt written much lately as I was offline for most of the teachers training. Was actually very nice to be online only 1 hour a week or so. More time to enjoy LIFE before the internet. Getting to know new friends, snorkeling the coral reef zones near my bungalow & hanging out with the colorful fishees, reading good books & sitting in hammocks for many hours! I even invented a new yoga asana , "Hammockasana" ...the pose of the hammock! Enlightenment gauranteed!

The teachers training was incredibly life-changing experience! I mean really, can you imagine going to daily practice & lectures for 4 hours morning & another 4 hours+ in the evening for yoga 2-3 hours each class (including pranayama, meditation) and lectures, plus other meetings, videos, etc...6 DAYS A WEEK! Our life in between was a hustle to do errands, eat & study. No free-time for other stuff really. But WOWSERS...what a journey! This type of yoga intensive is well known for not only purifying & strengthening the physical body, but activating the prana (what chinese call 'chi', japanese 'ki'...the life-force), stabilizing the mind to deep states of peace & equanimity, and harmonizing & healing the emotional body. A pledge we signed for no alcohol or drugs this time for cleansing the bodies completely. All of us ate yogi diets (vegetarian, some vegan, lots of raw food, thai curry vegetable tofus, etc.). Apparently there are before & after photos of each of us 20 in the TTC on Jason Milne's Facebook page (our main teacher) and you can really see the difference! Growth in the right direction! Health & Happiness.

By the 2nd month some of us were so ready for some NON-YOGA things...like dance parties! Although I swore I would not DJ while doing TTC to totally absorb myself into yoga immersion, I could not resist the offers. They needed me! It was apparent the 2nd week, when they had an Indian themed performance art piece & dance party...with no music for it! So, i hopped on the Agama Yoga dj bandwagon & found myself doing 1-2 parties a month, playing my style of "Beats Without Borders" global electronica mostly. We did have a few smaller beach hut parties , one a Funk party, the other a Gypsy/Balkan Beats party where i played those styles. What fun people to dance & party with!

After the TTC, a few of us started teaching at Agama. I was feeling like waiting until June to teach Agama (as its very challenging style & need to integrate more), so I taught a very small class of 1-8 people , 6 mornings at Monte Vista Healing Center. A gentle Hatha Yoga class that was my first 'real' teaching of yoga. I liked it much more than teaching English (just cant do that anymore, unless its with smiling Buddha Tibetan young adults like in Dharamsala, India).
There was an extracurricalar Tantra 1 workshop I went to April 1-5th. It was very very informative about how to enhance your sex life 10x. 100x. 1000x. The ancient art of tantric love-making explained in 30-40 hours in detail. Wow. Didnt know it could be that good. Another new spiritual path to study & practice! Really, it makes sex a spiritual path, with goal of actually raising Kundalini in methodical manner to reach towards Enlightenment/Nirvana/Samadhi/Enrapture & deeper states of daily bliss, ecstasy & real happiness, healing the self & even sending out healing energy to others. much more but come do for yourself if interested. The books out there these days have too many errors & misinterpretations of THE WAY. Our main yoga school founder, Swami Vivekananda really knows what he is teaching as he's practiced 'fanatically' since he was 19 or so (25+ years). I have decided to bring Swami to host this workshop in Maui next October 13-18th. I hope it will be successful & people can really get inspired from this too.

My plan is to stay here on the island one more month taking it easy mostly. Reading lots of books, sitting in the ole hammock, swimming & watching movies from my new super-patio view home. Still doing month 7 of Agama Yoga lessons, but only 2x a week so lots of freetime. Just signed up for another type of yoga & massage 7 day intensive course which i'm real excited about...and its at Pyramid Yoga on the mountain i live on (5 minute walk)! only $200 for 7 days of learning Abdominal Chi Massage, Anasara Hatha Yoga (lots of partner poses, heart opening focus), and 14 vegetarian meals included! What a bargain!

At this moment I am on day 5 of a 7 day detox colon cleanse/fast. Holy smokes! I never thought i'd do this!!! Well, "maybe when i was older was my excuse." Or, "I've been a healthy vegetarian organic food eating guy since 1994, no need." But man...I talked to many many people here who thought the same. They did it anyway as the testimonials are abundant that it is a very positive healthy thing to do. So, i'm doing it! Yikes! My energy has been fluctuating like a roller coaster ride, up & down, highs & lows! Today, mostly lows. Havnt left the patio all day. Thats why i'm finally finishing these Blogs! All i can say is my highs have been really high. Feeling light at times & people remarking "your shining" several times that exact phrase. OK, when i'm done i hope to be shining more often! I have 'lightened up' a bit too much though in my opinion. Maybe 10 pounds so far & i was feeling totally healthy normal weight of 150lbs lean mean peaceful machine male weight before, but now 140 & looking a bit skinny. Oh well, I will gain it back, & have fun doing it! Food, Food, Food! Oh how I/We LOVE food huh?!? The ultimate attachment. I will be taking a Thai food cooking class at some point! Mmmm....
better not talk about it more right now! I'm drooling...
They say to think of it as "It's gonna be fun gaining back that weight, in a healthy way!"
And speaking of health "Cleansing the colon of wastes and accumutaled mucous and faecal matter is perhaps the single most positive thing a person could do for their health. The colon is the waste bucket of the body, and hence keeping it clean will help to ensure your body runs smoothly and efficiently."

But, if you want to know more about this kind of purification of the body temple done by colonics & how it can give great boosts in health, wellbeing, clarity, energy & deeper connection to the Self, check out the testimony of the man that started Orion Healing Center (where i'm doing it):
http://www.orionhealing.com/ourvision.html

But seriously, I was going to talk alot about personal experiences with this full system of Yoga, but I think i'll just say a few words & keep a low profile on the personal journey. Feel free to email me if you have any questions regarding Yoga & this school (www.AgamaYoga.com).

As for other things non-Yoga (which at this point me & most of us here are craving!)...i'd like to talk politics of all things. Things are heating up with the Thai redshirt protesters in Bangkok with 2 tanks being seized by them on April 12th (hey, my birthday, i should have been partying on those tanks with them)! Trying to oust the current prime-minister isnt easy! Besides that I am writing about other topics such as global changes/worldshift 2012 manifesto, obama nation & his speech to congress which sounds promising & other more philosophical ideas about life, progress, security & success. You can read that blog with link to video of the tank party & other real informative sites:

http://emptythemindnow.blogspot.com/

Trust me...you gotta read up on at least the WorldShift 2012 :: State of Global Emergency, and Obamas speech. Lots of hope & fear in the air! Choose HOPE!

Bless Bliss , Be Loved, Beloved & Enjoy The Universe,

Adrian ::

My 2nd visit to Thailand January to July 2009.

But let me back up to the first few days I spent in Bangkok. What an ancient Asian labrynth that place is!

It's been 7 years already since the first time here back in Feb/March 2002. Man...i forgot whata lovely place Thailand is! Kind people, beautiful temples & all things exotic & different from what us westerners are used to. Bangkok was again a fun mysterious flow of temples, riverboats, KohSan Road tourist trinkets & the oasis guesthouse, Shanti Lodge. Same Same as 2002, but different. Thats what they say here in their broken English, "Same, same - but different!" I did alot of the same things this time in Bangkok, but somehow it was like a totally new experience. This place continues to intrigue me.

typical smaller riverboat in Bangkok - a great way to get around for about 50cents a ride!

I arrived in Bangkok 6pm December 29th, 2008 after about 42 hours journey from Maui! That consisted of a plane leaving Maui late at midnight, spending the night sleeping on a cement bench (good thing i brought my yoga mat!) at an unusually quite & calm Honolulu Internaitional Airport (where I chained all of my bags up together & slept a decent 5 hours). I woke up & caught the 7am China Airlines long 12 hour flight to Taipei, with a quick transfer to another China Airlines 4 hour flight to Bangkok, arriving to the metropolis about 5pm. From the airport I caught the Airport Express shuttle (only $5, 150baht) one hour to Khoa San road, and then a local tuk tuk (motorcycle covered wagons - called rickshaws in India) to Shanti guesthouse in Thewet area.

me & Confuscious hanging out in Bangkok!

Shazaam! I was thouroughly pooped after that, but managed to have a full power first day checking out the many big temples nearby. The first thing I noticed about being back in Thailand is the spirit of these people. Very light-hearted, kind, gentle, smiling people. A people that are over 90% Buddhist - which means most pray daily for world peace/inner peace, with many meditating regularly, visiting temples for offerings of incense, flowers & prayers for their health, wealth, family & the world. When I changed money at the airport I saw the woman working there do a prayer with palms together (called a wai, same gesture as Namaste in India) & eyes closed before beginning work that morning. When I went to the bank to cash a US $100 bill the next day, a tear came to my eye as the bank teller woman did the "wai" bow to me & the glimmer in her eye shined bright with peace & happiness. The Asian Thai spirit is strong! It is so amazing to be in such a big city such as Bangkok (7.5 million people) and hardly anybody honking (unlike India, and America for that matter!!!). The people hardly even harassed me to purchase things as I experienced in many other countries ("hey friend, want to buy silk scarf"). There is great respect for personal space here. Well, except when you are in a dense over-filled market, filled with people shopping through dozens of baskets of food things you've never seen before, many unidentifiable such as seafood (mostly still alive!) and vegetables that may as well be from another planet! I never cease to be mesmerized by the exotic and sometimes downright yucky aromas of these food markets (well, its the huge piles of fish that gets to ya).

dont mess with the King! pics of him EVERYWHERE & you can get jail-time for talking bad about him! for realio!

The first morning, I took a riverboat down the Chao Phraya river. How fun! Many people get around by these boats for less than 50cents a ride. It was about a 15 minute ride from Thewet area of Shanti Guesthouse to the grand palace & main temple district. So, me, the farang (foreigner) I am, six feet 3 inches high, towered above the average Thai person, and Thai entrances! Ducking down carefully everywhere I go! I went to this one temple to meditate & ran into a happy-go-lucky tuk tuk driver who took me to about 4 different sites for free. Well, not exactly free - he received 300 baht for taking me to 3 different tourist traps (each only 2 minute stop - a custom suit shop, travel agent & jewelry shop). It really made his day...he was laughing & ecstatic for making an extra days wage (i think average day wage here is about $5). We went to Gold Mountain (incredible panaramic view of entire Bangkok), Marble temple (of course these are the western names for these unpronounceable Thai names) & Standing Buddha (100 foot high standing buddha that people prayed to). The Happy Buddha temple was closed. But I was still happy! Here you will see some photos of that adventure. Overwhelmed with beauty & respect for the intricate art that went into making these humongous temples! Deep respect for the people who are devoted to the path of peace & prayer in this Buddhist tradition.