Keral, India Retreat

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Sri Lanka

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Khao Sok National Park Retreat, Thailand

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Reflections from my retreat into the jungle for 11 days in Khao Sok National Park, Thailand.
 

There is something beyond ones self.

 Belief and seeing are both often wrong.

 Be prepared to re examine your reasoning.

     -Robert Strange Mc Namara

Sitting in stillness we hear everything;  layers of sound beyond ourselves, internal voices that want to be heard. Every morning I would awaken to the sound of the jungle - the birds, the geckos, and the wildly loud monkeys. At 7:00am. I would walk sleepily to the yoga shalla for a group ritual meditation. I would move in silence and do nothing but focus on getting to my mediation cushion. There were no mirrors anywhere, no cell phone reception, no Internet. These are some of the many things I feel keep me wired and disconnected from the present moment.

In the West we are shut down from connection with ourselves.  This keeps us from feeling our full array of emotions. We can easily go on autopilot and become demented with the mania of sticking to a mindless routine day-in and day-out. When we move through life functioning from this place of simply following the routine, we may experience a feeling of being disconnected, and become both discontented, and fearful of stepping off  the familiar path. We become addicted to our behavior. Our habitual way of doing things makes it difficult for us to look at each experience as it unfolds; our habitual way of seeing, often limits our self understanding. The reality is that we cannot always trust our own perceptions.

When I am free from distraction and my mind is uncluttered, my whole world is different. I begin to notice everything, I feel everything. Within our daily practice of moving into meditation and then into a yoga practice, all in silence, I can feel my awareness opening to another level of connection. I begin to see a pattern of behavior that is fascinating to me.

For 3 months I have been traveling and studying, non-stop. I go from training to workshop, to whatever group activity I can find: Yoga, Thai Massage, Buddhism, Tantra, History. Regardless of the course topics of my studies, there are underlying threads that tie them all together, with wonderful similar spiritual teachings at their roots.

I love collective group energy and conscious awareness. It's the coming together as a community, a collective unit, and creating sacred group space that keeps drawing me to the trainings and retreats with excitement. When a group of people come together with  clear intention and openness, the energy rises. Each individual becomes an integral part of the whole. We are no longer single energy bodies. By creating a sacred container for the space being held within the group, transformational shifts can emerge. Rituals are created around time, presence and consciousness. We are no longer accountable just to ourselves. We must show up both for ourselves and for the group. By being a part of a sacred community or group of people, deep connections to self and others are formed. This builds inner confidence, consciousness and strength. Many of us feel alone, separated from each other and separated from ourselves, our bodies, minds and feelings. People who have grown up on their own without a solid family connection, can heal and be inspired  deeply by becoming part of  a collective group with good intentions.

Actions performed as sacred rituals, support our feelings. I have grown so much through the act of ritual. When we create rituals around coming together regularly, through the practice of meditation, movement, study, sport, even mealtime gatherings – (really, any activity that gives attention to the present moment), we begin to eliminate feelings of separation, loneliness and disconnection. We begin to feel supported, encouraged and loved.

It is this group energy that inspires me to teach yoga and fitness classes. Energy focused on the present moment is empowering for everybody.

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Retreat in Khao Sok National Park, Thailand

After a long journey from Phnom Penh in Cambodia, I made it to Bangkok on February 12, at 7:30pm. I spent the night there, near Khao San Rd. The next day I was planning to enbark on another sixteen hour bus ride to Surattani, Thailand. My previous ride from Cambodia had taken nineteen hours. I needed to be at the Surattani airport at 11:30am. the next morning. I wasn't having much faith in the whole bus thing.

I decided instead, to buy a plane ticket that would get me to Surattani in 1 hour. I spent the night at a guest house near the airport. This was a good choice, as I was still feeling nauseous from the last bus ride.

The next morning I took a taxi to the airport. I was a little anxious as I was preparing for this next phase of my journey, since I knew that once I left, I would have no contact with anyone for the next eleven or twelve days. I was going into the jungle where there would be no cell phone reception and no Internet. It would be a real lesson on letting go of attachments.

This is something which I am investigating on many levels. We become attached to everything: food, things, stuff, beliefs, routines. I feel that attachments and addictions are quite closely linked. My desire is to understand how to dissolve attachments that are not serving in a positive way.

I took a taxi to the airport and I was on my way. I met my crew of Jungle yogis at the airport.  There were eleven of us altogether. I was the only Canadian. Everyone else was European. We all piled into a van for an hour-long drive to the Khao Sok National Park. From there we traveled on a longtail boat for an additional hour. I was so wiped out that I fell asleep at the front of the boat in the sun. I woke up as we glided into the dock of this beautiful floating guest house.

The energy had shifted from the busyness of the city to the tranquility of nature. I took a deep breath,...

Our guest rooms were wonderful! Little floating huts on the lake. The participants all had private rooms. Our huts had  double beds with mosquito netting.  There was a little hammock hung on each balcony.  I could open my front door and jump right into the lake. It was quite a trek to reach the bathrooms, but a great way to get in some exercise. The bathrooms and showers were up at the top of a hill.

On the main platform was the restaurant. Next to it was the Jungle Yoga Studio.

This is where I would be spending the next 11 days.  Each days would start at 7:00am., with thirty minutes of meditation followed by seventy-five minutes of yoga. After breakfast, we would spend six hours doing Thai Massage. This is a beautiful place for learning and receiving. From the yoga space we could see monkeys playing in the distance.

After arriving we had a great Thai lunch and then some downtime, to settle in. In the evening we enjoyed a mellow yoga class to ease into our new space. My body was so happy to slow down after all the moving around. I brought way too much stuff when I left Canada. What we have, we must carry, I'm learning as I go.

I was eager to watch the rest of the film that was in my laptop. My friend had left me his DVD "The Fog Of War", a documentary feature on Robert S. McNamara, Former  US Secretary of Defense. I am interested in gaining an understanding our  volatile history. We often fight for our right to be different, rather than learning how we are similar. Humans are more similar than they are different, yet we don't seem to focus on that. We alienate each other, our races and our countries.

It was the first time in a long while, that I had been bathed in silence. As soon as I lay down to sleep on my first night, I was out like a light. I slept like a baby.

Thai Yoga Massage in The Middle of no Where! Thailand Slideshow: Ocean’s trip from Bangkok, Thailand to Surat Thani was created by TripAdvisor. See another Surat Thani slideshow. Create your own stunning free slideshow from your travel photos.

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My Bus Ride From Cambodia To Bangkok

 
Notice when your thoughts argue with “what is”. When “what is”,  is what you want, the mind will be perfectly clear.

It's 12am.,  and I’ve just boarded the night bus in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I'm will be traveling for 19 hours to return to Bangkok, Thailand. From there I will spend another 10 hours on a train,  to reach Surittani, Thailand. I have lots of time to reflect.

One of the positive things I'm learning while traveling, is that it’s a good idea to have low (or no) expectations for most things. Odds are that when you’re in a country where you don't speak the language, often you won't get what you asked for. I have come to accept whatever food shows up in front of me. When you pay $7 for a bus ticket, it means you will make many stops along the way.  Some of these stops will be at the homes of individual locals.

My new opinion of a luxury guesthouse, is a room with air conditioning and hot water, and without insects. The  bed in the dorm room, where I slept for three weeks in Southern Thailand, was covered with bugs every night. There was a leak in the ceiling above my bed, and when it rained, there would always be a puddle next to me on the floor. The toilet and shower were outside, and the shower released only freezing cold water. I nearly stepped on frogs several times while showering. I'm not complaining. I got used to it quickly. Now, staying in a room with hot water, rocks my world.

When I travel this way, I take nothing for granted, and hope for the best. It's all about letting go of how I think things should be, and just accepting “what is”. So, the choice seems to be:  accept what's happening or  become miserable. I've taken on the attitude that everything is meant to be an exciting adventure, no matter how challenging it may seem, (like trying to obtain a travel visa to India, from Cambodia). I'm still getting used to the whole “drive-all-over-the-road” thing, both here and in Thailand, or to seeing from three to five people riding on a single scooter, with no helmets.

For the past three days, I've been sitting in my guesthouse room, watching films about conflict and suffering in Asia.  After visiting the Killing Fields and the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, I felt compelled to gain more understanding about the history of my surroundings.  I was inspired to watch pieces by John Pilger, who has devoted his career to creating documentaries, exposing the atrocities of war and genocide. His stories on Vietnam and East Timor were just mind-boggling.

Watching these films has inspired me to learn more about the people and the land. I  wish that I had more time now, to go to Vietnam. Living so far away from these countries, renders the impact of  news stories far less profound than actually standing on the soil where  these events have occurred. I guess its something about my personality that makes me want to see and feel things to the fullest, (whether I perceive them to be good or bad), rather than just to read about them, or to watch them on TV.

After almost three months traveling, I have experienced so much, seen so much, felt so much.  I have been introduced to aspects of humanity, that I may not have even have acknowledged before. It has been said that the people who appear in our lives are mirrors of ourselves. I have seen many aspects of myself, reflected in the different people I have met. Sometimes a profound culture shift is exactly what is needed to introduce the concept  of relating differently. We can begin to see outside of our personal and societal bubbles.

I was in love with Thailand as soon as I arrived. The level of human connection, appreciation and friendliness is outstanding there. People look you in the eyes and they smile. They place their hands together in Namaste and bow their heads. I think about how, in the West, we often spend more energy trying to ignore each other than we do in the process of connecting with each other. Consider people standing in an elevator, or sitting on a bus, staring at the wall or the floor so they won't have to make contact with anyone. Here, people engage with each other.

The Buddhist beliefs and culture inspire the deepest parts of me. Buddhists do not believe that Buddha was God. They see him as a human being, just like them. They believe he was important because he gained Enlightenment, and because he chose to teach other people how to gain it too.


What is Enlightenment and Nirvana?

The Buddhists believe that there is a cycle of life, death and rebirth. They believe that unless someone gains Enlightenment, they will be reborn after they die. If a person can gain Enlightenment, then they can break this cycle.

 Breaking out of the cycle is called Nirvana, (peace, free from suffering).

The Three Jewels:

There are three central Buddhist beliefs. These are known as the three jewels because they are felt to be so precious.

1. Belief in Buddha
 2. Dharma: The teaching of Buddha.
 3. The Sangha: The Buddhist community, made up of ordinary people as well as Monks and Nuns. The purpose to is to help others and by doing so, cease to become selfish and thus move forward on the way towards Enlightenment.

My feeling is that we can have moments of Enlightenment every day. To me, Enlightenment is not a final destination.  It’s those AHA moments, even if they are fleeting, when we become more conscious, when we feel fully present.

It is 6pm the following day.  Sixteen hours later, I am still on the bus heading to Bangkok. I've transferred buses three times, waited at the Cambodian border side for an hour, and on the Thai side for two and a half hours more. I've eaten all the Ichiban noodles I can handle, and I would love to have a shower. Cambodia was a great experience but I feel happy to be back in Thailand. Something feels different here.

A Truck Full Of Pigs

This was hard to see as I crossed the border.

Vitality!!!

Here is a recent article I wrote in Fresh Vancouver Magazine. I always enjoy hearing your comments and feedback. 

My Travels To Cambodia

My  Journey "Moving Me Physically, Emotionally & Spiritually"

I've spent the last 2 and half months in Thailand moving from the North to the

South.  My travels have deeply opened my heart and my mind. I have been doing many trainings and workshops as well as taking in as much history as I can. I have also come to enjoy living out of my bag believe it or not. In this new world I am in the "less you have, the better". I am enjoying the simplicity this brings. Each new guesthouse becomes home for either a night or 20. I have moved from guesthouses with my own room and toilet to dorm rooms that hold 12 people with a bathroom outside. I really love the experience. I know this is definitely not the way some people could travel but it's working for me.

Last week I made a 12 hour journey from Bangkok to Cambodia. The border crossing was a little crazy and very slow. It seems something with oil in it had blown up near by. My intentions in coming to Cambodia were to renew my Thai visa, see the temples at Angkok Wat and go to an Indian Embassy to obtain a travel visa.  From the border my friend and I took a 3 hour taxi ride to Siem Reap. We found a nice clean guesthouse for $15 a night. I got over my culture shock of this new country pretty quickly. Although it was similar to Thailand in many ways I also found it to be very different. The suffering these people have endured is much more apparent on the surface. You can feel the heaviness in the energy here in Cambodia. We spent the next 5 days exploring every temple we could. Starting at 5am we would ride in a tuk tuk taxi to the temples (Angkor Wat) to watch the sunrise. It is such a profound feeling to sit on the stones of these ancient temples that have so much history in them. I was saddened to see so many of the Buddhas destroyed and beheaded from war. The thieves believed that when you take away the heads you take away the spirits.The temples almost seemed unreal, they blew my mind.  I imagine the world of Atlantis would have looked like these temples.

There is so much beauty and so much destruction, so much love and so much pain. I am really seeing the Yin & Yang in everything around me and inside. 

Another highlight in Siem Reap was our guest house called the "Golden Temple". The entrance way was covered with huge overgrown plants and Buddha sculptures, two hammocks hung underneath the patio trees. The room was only $15 a night, a 1 hour massage was $3, dinner $2 and they offered free coffee and bananas anytime. The best part was they actually had soft beds in the rooms, what a treat.

The Cambodian children fill my heart and touch my spirit with their beautiful faces and big smiles. I find  it difficult to watch them working so hard everyday, some of them are as young as 3 years old. I wanted to pick them up and hug them.

It turned out that there was no Indian Embassy in Siem Reap so we had to travel for another 7 hours by bus to Phnom Penh to apply for a visa there. Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia. This country has seen more suffering and destruction than I ever could have imagined. A trip to the S-21 prison and the Killing Fields left me speechless, with a pain in my gut. I have created this slide show to capture a glimpse of what I saw but nothing can compare to what it felt like to be there and feel the death, torture and barbaric cruelty these people endured during the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1979. Bones and clothing of the dead lay on the ground. I had goose bumps as I walked around the massive gravesites. This was worse than any horror movie I have ever seen. This was and is real. It’s amazing what us humans will do to each other. That night I watched a documentary by a man named John Pilger. This really helped tell the story of what happened here. It also made goose bumps rise on my arms as I looked out of my guest house window to the streets of Phnom Penh to see the same streets were not long ago barren of community and life.

Please watch this video...

The Killing Fields Of Cambodia Slideshow: Ocean’s trip from Ta Khmau, Cambodia to Phnom Penh was created by TripAdvisor. See another Phnom Penh slideshow. Create your own stunning free slideshow from your travel photos.

As I write this it is February 9 at 7:30pm my friend Tom and I are sitting in a café on the street in Phnom Penh reflecting on our universe. I will stay here until February 11 in the hopes that my India visa application is accepted. My plan is to go to Kerela, India on March 5-21, 2011 to study Kalari. Kalari is a "kaya sadhana" or embodied art form that is considered to be one of the oldest "martial art" forms in the world, as warrior training is part of this profound and beautiful fluid form. Practiced in a Kalari - a temple created on the raw earth - this form complements the sacred relationship to the body in yoga while giving expression to the embodied power of shakti that is received from the earth and liberated through movement flow,meditation and marma massage.

If all goes well and I get the visa I will head back to Thailand and head to Chewlan

Lake in Khao Sok National Park, Southern Thailand for an 11 day Thai Massage/Yoga Intensive; at the 500 Rai Floating Guesthouse on the lake.

Its an hour by car from Suratt Thani airport, another hour by longtail boat, a 20minute hike through the jungle, and then you’ve reached Chewlan lake, a stunning and incredibly peaceful lake in the midst of the most unspoiled and beautiful jungle. The wildlife includes many different species of monkeys and rare tropical birds, eagles and even elephants and tigers. We will be staying in simple but beautiful bamboo huts that are floating on the lake. The challenge will be getting used to having no electricity or contact with the rest of the world for 11 days. That means no facebook, Skype or phone. It's all part if the journey. I will have two days to get from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Surat Thani, Thailand. I have no idea how this will play out yet

This was an amazing day for me at the temples...

The Killing Fields Of Cambodia

The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Vietnam War.
Analysis of 20,000 mass grave sites by the DC-Cam Mapping Program and Yale University indicate at least 1,386,734 victims.^[1][2] Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a population of around 8 million.^[3] In 1979, communist Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime.

The Killing Fields Of Cambodia Slideshow: Ocean’s trip from Ta Khmau, Cambodia to Phnom Penh was created by TripAdvisor. See another Phnom Penh slideshow. Create your own stunning slideshow with our free photo slideshow maker.

Children Of Cambodia

Children Of Cambodia Slideshow: Ocean’s trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia was created by TripAdvisor. See another Siem Reap slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

Bayon Temple, Cambodia 05 Feb 2011

My Travels To Cambodia

Angkor Wat, Cambodia Slideshow: Ocean’s trip from Bangkok, Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia was created by TripAdvisor. See another Siem Reap slideshow. Take your travel photos and make a slideshow for free.

Ayutthaya

Here are some shots from Ayutthaya. I'm now in Cambodia and looks like
I will be here a while : )

Cambodia

Hi,

After a 12 hour journey I finally arrived in Cambodia. Im ecstatic to have a hotel room with AC and Internet wow! Tomorrow I will go check out Angkor Wat. I came to Cambodia after a week in Bangkok where I was staying at a great guest house called the Shanti Lodge. It's very similar to The Sanctuary on Hadd Tien, Koh Phangan. I'm all about the guest houses but I sure would love a softer bed. The day before yesterday I was up at 6am to be ready to board a mini van to Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya is the second capital of Thailand. The ancient ruins there are so amazing. I was so happy to be there I had goose bumps. I was also pleased to get a full day tour and lunch for only $20. Now I'm tired and hungry so I'm off to find some food.

Ocean

My Trip To Ayutthaya

My Trip To Ayutthaya, Thailand Slideshow: Ocean’s trip to Ayutthaya, Thailand was created by TripAdvisor. See another Ayutthaya slideshow. Create your own stunning slideshow with our free photo slideshow maker.

Thai Massage At Wat Pho, Bangkok

Bangkok Buddhas

 I spent the last few days visiting temples in Bangkok.What an amazing feeling to sit in front of the Buddhas.I have been completely awestruck by the beauty and the energy I have seen and felt here in Thailand. I love the Thai people and the reflection I have gotten while being here.

Buddha Temples Slideshow: Ocean’s trip to Bangkok, Thailand was created by TripAdvisor. See another Bangkok slideshow. Create your own stunning free slideshow from your travel photos.

Phuket & Phi Phi Island, Thailand

Journey To The Beach Slideshow: Ocean’s trip from Phuket (near Ban Sa Dan, Thailand) to Phuket was created by TripAdvisor. See another Phuket slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

Thai Boxing Gym on Hadd Tien Beach in Thailand

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

 

I have been in Thailand for 2 ½ months now. I fell in love with Chiang Mai after only a few days so I ended up spending 5 weeks there. I was studying Advanced Thai Massage at the Sunshine Thai Massage school. Chiang Mai felt like home and I so look forward to going back again. Here are my favorite places in Chiang Mai If you are ever to visit.

Chiang Mai Hot Spots:

Sabai Garden Guest House Tel: +6605320891

www.juliesguesthouse.com Great place to meet people and cheap only $12 a night

www.wildroseyoga.org

www.yoga-chiangmai.com

www.herbalsteamhouse.com

www.namochiangmai.com

The Blue Diamond Cafe

Thai Massage Chiang Mai Journey Slideshow: Ocean’s trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand was created by TripAdvisor. See another Chiang Mai slideshow. Take your travel photos and make a slideshow for free.

Absolute Sanctuary Spa

On my way to a meditation class then some hot yoga at the Absolute Sanctaury Spa on Koh Samui. This is the perfect place for anyone to do a detox and amazing for athletes with picky appetites. They have the cleanest food I have ever seen at a resort.

www.absolutesanctuary.com

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