Living at Lahu Tribe Village - (Traditional Thai-Yoga Massage)

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...It has been about 6 weeks of living and learning traditional thai-yoga massage at Lahu tribe village (Bang Muang Noi) some 65 Km from Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. We were picked up in the city and taken in the back of some trucks to this little place...at first we were taken for a walk to get to know the surroundings, first thing that caught my attention was the multi-functional public shower with pure water coming from up the mountain and where everything related to it was possible: showering, brushing teeth, doing laundry, cleaning up dishes, etc....Most things are ok apparently except for showing off your knees...that's too sexy in this tribe, though women can shower in public topless and that's normal ;-) ...I dig it!!!...let's all get naked and just cover our knees hehehehe....

...At the beginning i got to live in a room for several people at the school itself, early January was a bit chilly specially after 4pm, the night was freezing for this tropical boy so i had to top up with tons of blankets and a sleeping bag, another friend lent me his winter jacket so i put the hoody on & wrapped myself up remaining very still in the mattress, i am sucha coward for cold weather hehehe....

...The morning would usually start at 6:30am with a wake up call from the rooster who would usually start his chanting at 4am, then the grunting of hungry pigs at 6am was enough to wake up, no need for an alarm clock in this village, between the chicken, pigs & the gang of dogs, they made sure i was up on time....after an energizing steep walk to the football field, we would practice Tai-Chi for 1 hour & 15 minutes with the sun rising from the mountains behind.....( for reference in case you have never seen Tai-Chi in action, this is a nice video: , we were taken through a very detailed sequence of movements, our teacher Andrea from Italy was a very knowledgeable man who paid lots of attention & corrected our posture & movements to get a nice beautiful flowing of energy after 11 days of practice...This was an incredible & energyzing practice, with soft moves and life energy flowing all over the body...

...then we would go for breakfast & break from 8am to 10am where we would meet up at the school's rustic platform for the first 3 hours of morning teaching & practice session. The breakfast was very simple, usually bananas, papaya, rice & pumpkin, when lucky we had honey & oats too and pineaple, also ginger tea was served daily at all times in a big pot, meals in general were all vegetarian, very simple & repetitive....imagination for a bit of "diversity" in the kitchen was definetely not on the menu...during lunch & dinner we would had sticky rice and white steam rice (whenever we had brown rice for lunch was a feast hehehe), with some vegetables mainly coliflower, sprout beans, pumpkin, lots of cabbage, sometimes broccoli, etc....although, this changed a lot during the last course i took, there was this Thai lady who is also a teacher at the sunshine school in Chiang Mai, she took the time to cook for us, i have to say that i had the best food ever since i put a foot on the village, i could definetely feel some Thai love in the cooking, but this was an blessed exception from heaven, of course ;-) ....I ended up hitch-hiking with her from the Village to Chiang Mai and having some laughs together....

...We would usually start the course with some Chanting & Metta meditation to cultivate some loving-kindness, we were taught by Andrea, our teacher, this well-known chant originally from the Tibetean Budhism which we repeated many times:

"OM MANI PADME HUM".....Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer), Om Mani Padme Hum, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion... When saying the first syllable Om it is blessed to help you achieve perfection in the practice of generosity, Ma helps perfect the practice of pure ethics, and Ni helps achieve perfection in the practice of tolerance and patience. Pä, helps to achieve perfection of perseverance, Me helps achieve perfection in the practice of concentration, and the final Hum helps achieve perfection in the practice of wisdom......so in this way recitation of the mantra helps achieve perfection in the six practices from generosity to wisdom....

....The morning followed with a demonstration of each section of exercises to practice for the day...the material was very detailed, the teacher & his assistant were very knowledgeable and willing to help as much as possible, it was nice to be part of a small group of 12 people, although that kept on changing on the following courses, which made it quite interesting...days went by very fast & the progress a bit exhausting, the changing of environment, touching and moving of the energy finally hit me so i spent about a week with a cold, unfortunately i couldn't take the final test which was to give a 2 hr massage to another fellow student :-( ....

...Lunch followed by a 2 hr break, at 3pm we would normally start again with a review and practice of all the exercises....At night we would meet again for a short Vipassana meditation, i had a little bit of experience with it already since i went to this 10 day retreat my first time in Thailand last September, still it didn't mean it was any easier for me, it was just as challenging as the first day i practiced it....

....I found this short explanation of what it means at the site where around-the-world retreats are available ....

This non-sectarian meditation technique aims for the total eradication of mental impurities and the resultant highest happiness of full liberation. healing of human suffering, is its purpose. Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind. It is this observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity, resulting in a balanced mind full of love and compassion. The scientific laws that operate one's thoughts, feelings, judgements and sensations become clear. Through direct experience Life becomes characterized by increased awareness, non-delusion, self-control and peace

...In the first course i was very blessed to meet my brother Miguel from Austria, what a great soul!!!, the more i got to know him the more i loved him, really special, loving & kind guy, we laughed about ourselves and life in general, it was very beautiful to take some steps together in life and KEEPING THE FREQUENCY!!!!!..... when the next course was about to start, we planned to come back to the village and practice together. I took many walks around the village which i didn't have time for during the first course, the temperature improved considerably so did my general happiness hehehe....walking up the mountains was priceless, admiring the beauty of life and its amazing creation....Also, I read a lot, practice poi with a guy from Sweden who was particularly amazing, he thought me some wicked start-up tricks and my passion for it only grew stronger, i have this strange feeling of freedom whenever i play it that makes me sooo happy ;-)....This second group was very different & diverse, there were a couple of teachers of Acro-Yoga, it was so beautiful to get all these stretches while being up in the air, i have never been so stretched in my life specially in the backward bending, it was really cool to play around whenever we had a chance...there was also Martina from Switzerland teaching how to make necklaces with hemp, couple of people playing the flute, the rest of us following with the drums, the didgeridoo or whatever there was available....I also hang out a lot with Didi from Belgium & his girlfriend, very nice people, we usually sat outside the hut at night and listened to some interesting trippy musical sounds, laughed a lot remembering the well-forgotten black comedy shows on Tv, and in general chilling out for the night....

...I was very much looking forward for the 3rd course which i was going to be part of, i had heard so many stories about the teacher "Laurino" & his meditation retreats when i was living at the Sunshine House in Greece, i was also ready to go back to full time massage & experience how different this time was going to be from the first course where i had clearly not idea of what i was doing....Unfortunately, i was not able to finish this course due to visa restrictions so i had to run down across the country from North to South to get to Malaysia, a long journey of 3 days between motorbikes, buses and trains....I have to say thou that this was my favorite time at the village, i felt so into it, the little experience i had before made me feel more secure about myself, self-doubt still came knocking on my door several times but this time i felt stronger and a lot more confident, my friendship with Miguel grew stronger, had great talks, lived together in a hut this time in the jungle away from the village, the chickens and the pigs hehehehe and spending a lot of quality time together....The group was big, about 28 people, very interesting from all paths of life, sadly, there were many people for sure i only crossed few words with, the 8 days i stayed at the course went very fast, this always happens when you are really having the time of your life....I felt lots of peace and love when leaving, i am getting better at saying good-bye, i don't avoid the situation anymore or leave without notice hehehehe....After 6 months in South East Asia, my journey to the courses came to an end just to open a new chapter in life....I travelled down to Malasya with all these good experiences and people on my heart....spending this time living & studying at this tribe village was a dream come true, meeting people that are taking similar steps in life and feeling this group energy vibrating all over was unforgettable....

....I am in Malaysia now, feeling a bit lost in this big pile of cement, nothing flows here only madness, it is being difficult to accept it for what it is, although i try hard to have a better understanding of my feelings and not to let myself be carried away for this temporary situation.....i also dropped off my documents at the Australian embassy for a tourist visa, they gave me no hope to get it but still i had to try, by this time of my journey when money is scarce, i have to take my chances....today i will be taking an overnight bus to Mersing on the east coast then hopefully a boat to Palau Tioman (Island) where i will bow down to the ocean and mother earth!!!!!!

...This was a little bit of what i lived on for the past month...there is many untold stories that my mind fails to remember at the time of writing and many feelings without description....anyways, i want to leave this blessing for my beloved friends until next time :-)

May your days be many and your troubles be few....
May all God's blessings descend upon you....
May peace be within you may your heart be strong...
May you find what you're seeking wherever you roam...

With love,
Andres

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