Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Laos
Sorry these posts are so few and far between. Surprisingly, things got quite busy for a while. There were mid-term papers, followed by our amazing trip to Laos, then final exams, a whirl-wind trip to the States, the return to Thailand, and the start of the new semester. (This semester started like the first semester, with about 6 hours of class a day. Fortunately, that schedule only lasted 3 weeks, but it was an all-consuming three weeks)
We went to meet Genla's dear, dear student David, his wife Jan, and their wonderful friend Maggi as they journeyed through South East Asia. We stayed in charming bungalows which overlooked a tributary of the Mekong, ate great food, saw beautiful temples and even found time for us all to get some work done. Genla and David worked several hours a day on a translation project, Kyle made headway in his own translation project, and I prepared for exams. When it was all said and done, we were very sad indeed to leave our idyllic life and the utterly charming Luang Phrabang. And I won't lie, I spent some time researching living in Luang Prabang once we got back to Thailand. Really though, we just want to live at the hotel where we stayed!
As a U.N. World Heritage City, Luang Prabang's French colonial architecture is well maintained. It has everything a Westerner would want: baguettes, hamburgers, yogurt, pancakes and CNN. Not to mention silk scarves, sticky rice, rich curries, and barbeque buffalo (which is amazingly tender and succulent) - and of course, the most elegant and beautiful temples we've seen thus far.
Here's some pictures:
Anyway, Luang Prabang, Laos . . .
As a U.N. World Heritage City, Luang Prabang's French colonial architecture is well maintained. It has everything a Westerner would want: baguettes, hamburgers, yogurt, pancakes and CNN. Not to mention silk scarves, sticky rice, rich curries, and barbeque buffalo (which is amazingly tender and succulent) - and of course, the most elegant and beautiful temples we've seen thus far.
Here's some pictures:
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| The fantastic Jan and David |
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| Our bungalows (this is what we wish our house in Thailand looked like, well manicured gardens and all!) |
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| Tributary of the Mekong |
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| Genla on the (completely frightening) foot bridge leading from the main part of town to our hotel |
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| Trip up the Mekong River to ancient Buddha Caves, accessible only by boat |
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| Inside the one of the Buddha Caves |
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| View from the steep hike up to one of the caves |
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| "Asaras" half goddess, half bird dieties that Kyle is particularly fond of - here painted on temples walls. As far as we know, they are unique to Thailand. |
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| Genla listening to monks chant Pāli Scriptures |
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Just for the record, because I know you can't tell from the pictures of my previous post, those cows are about 5 feet tall. And did you know that cows come when you call? (If you can stop them from eating the grass, that is).
Anyway, exciting news on the home front. Rica sent some Horse Chestnut tincture from the States, and sure enough, in just a couple of days, the chronic swelling of Genla's feet is greatly improved. There's a lot of natural things whose health proprieties Genla strongly believes in—guavas, turmeric, garlic, and ginger to name a few. In NYC, yogurt was high on that list. And yet Genla really struggled with phlegm. A few times I suggested that Genla experiment with taking a break from yogurt to see if the dairy was contributing to the problem. Needless to say, suggesting to a Tibetan that yogurt might be the cause of a problem didn't yield the desired result. However, here in Thailand, we have no yogurt. And he has almost no phlegm. Until someone gave us some yogurt, and we conducted an experiment. Yogurt yielded more phlegm. Now Genla is happy to go without. That's a long way of illustrating that if Genla doesn't already know about the health benefits, he's often pretty skeptical, especially of natural remedies. But if it works, it works. Sometimes its just hard to get him to try. He's quite pleased with his feet though. So hopefully he'll be open to trying a few more things that I had shipped from America for him. He doesn't like to be fussed over though, so it's a delicate balance.
As a yoga teacher, and even more so now that I'm venturing into healing, I've had one major surprise. Time and time again, what shocks me is how much discomfort and pain people are willing to live with. At the beginning of each session, I always ask my backcare students how their back is, specifically, is there any pain. The conversation often went something like this:
"Are you in pain now?"
"No."
"Have you been in pain this week?"
"No."
"Not at all?"
"No."
"You have not been in pain since the last time we met?"
(Here's where things would often start to reveal themselves)
"Not more than usual"
...And so I'd keep delving. Once, after a similar dialogue, one of my students said, "Well, I did fly to California this week, and when I got off the plane, the pain was excruciating. I had to lie down in my hotel room for quite a while. I couldn't do anything it hurt so much. It often happens like that after a long flight. But then it passes. So it's fine. No problem."
Not only was I shocked, but this was the first time that I saw the big picture. To me it's simple. Reoccurring, immobilizing pain is a problem. Yet I regularly saw yoga students who had a very different relationship to pain than I do. Even truly disruptive or acute pain. One has to be skillful in helping people understand that they don't actually have to be in pain. And of course, not everyone can be pain free, but for many, many people, relief—albiet to varying degrees—is entirely possible.
There's many factors play into one's relationship to pain. I'm sure there' a lot written about it, but here are a few cursory thoughts. I have found that people become accustomed to pain. Very often they've tried many things, and nothing works. So they quite understandably become resigned to it. Additionally, people with chronic pain seem to lose perspective about it; they forget it's not normal. This often turns into a resistance to healing, because in their mind, nothing is wrong. Another factor that seems particularly prevalent in NYC, is that people feel they don't have enough time to address the issue, so they simply live in pain. Other people are distrusting of non-Western medicine, and so rather than try something else, they continue with something that only partially works or has ill side effects. Others are overly trusting of Western medicine. I've had plenty of people say, "The doctor said there's nothing I can do." Or, "Surgery is the only option." This is sometimes particularly strange when other forms of medicine/therapies have very common remedies for the same conditions. As such, it's rewarding to be able to help those people who have been told that they can't be helped.
At first (and it's still tough), the fact that some people seem dedicated to living in pain was purely mind boggling to me. Sometimes I would meet someone with a problem, and I would say, "Oh, that's a simple one. Try this." And for one reason or another, they'd prefer not to. To see that person again, and to find them still in unnecessary pain, is a challenge. But slowly I am learning not say anything, or at least not to push. And slowly, slowly, I'm learning how to be increasingly skillful with varying types of people. And I'm also learning to just drop it with others. It can be quite difficult. But it does encourage me to keep learning more about how to heal the human body, and the mind. The more I know about the body and various healing techniques, the more I can help, accurately and with precision. And the more I know about the mind, the more I can respond appropriately to people just where they are.
Anyway, exciting news on the home front. Rica sent some Horse Chestnut tincture from the States, and sure enough, in just a couple of days, the chronic swelling of Genla's feet is greatly improved. There's a lot of natural things whose health proprieties Genla strongly believes in—guavas, turmeric, garlic, and ginger to name a few. In NYC, yogurt was high on that list. And yet Genla really struggled with phlegm. A few times I suggested that Genla experiment with taking a break from yogurt to see if the dairy was contributing to the problem. Needless to say, suggesting to a Tibetan that yogurt might be the cause of a problem didn't yield the desired result. However, here in Thailand, we have no yogurt. And he has almost no phlegm. Until someone gave us some yogurt, and we conducted an experiment. Yogurt yielded more phlegm. Now Genla is happy to go without. That's a long way of illustrating that if Genla doesn't already know about the health benefits, he's often pretty skeptical, especially of natural remedies. But if it works, it works. Sometimes its just hard to get him to try. He's quite pleased with his feet though. So hopefully he'll be open to trying a few more things that I had shipped from America for him. He doesn't like to be fussed over though, so it's a delicate balance.
As a yoga teacher, and even more so now that I'm venturing into healing, I've had one major surprise. Time and time again, what shocks me is how much discomfort and pain people are willing to live with. At the beginning of each session, I always ask my backcare students how their back is, specifically, is there any pain. The conversation often went something like this:
"Are you in pain now?"
"No."
"Have you been in pain this week?"
"No."
"Not at all?"
"No."
"You have not been in pain since the last time we met?"
(Here's where things would often start to reveal themselves)
"Not more than usual"
...And so I'd keep delving. Once, after a similar dialogue, one of my students said, "Well, I did fly to California this week, and when I got off the plane, the pain was excruciating. I had to lie down in my hotel room for quite a while. I couldn't do anything it hurt so much. It often happens like that after a long flight. But then it passes. So it's fine. No problem."
Not only was I shocked, but this was the first time that I saw the big picture. To me it's simple. Reoccurring, immobilizing pain is a problem. Yet I regularly saw yoga students who had a very different relationship to pain than I do. Even truly disruptive or acute pain. One has to be skillful in helping people understand that they don't actually have to be in pain. And of course, not everyone can be pain free, but for many, many people, relief—albiet to varying degrees—is entirely possible.
There's many factors play into one's relationship to pain. I'm sure there' a lot written about it, but here are a few cursory thoughts. I have found that people become accustomed to pain. Very often they've tried many things, and nothing works. So they quite understandably become resigned to it. Additionally, people with chronic pain seem to lose perspective about it; they forget it's not normal. This often turns into a resistance to healing, because in their mind, nothing is wrong. Another factor that seems particularly prevalent in NYC, is that people feel they don't have enough time to address the issue, so they simply live in pain. Other people are distrusting of non-Western medicine, and so rather than try something else, they continue with something that only partially works or has ill side effects. Others are overly trusting of Western medicine. I've had plenty of people say, "The doctor said there's nothing I can do." Or, "Surgery is the only option." This is sometimes particularly strange when other forms of medicine/therapies have very common remedies for the same conditions. As such, it's rewarding to be able to help those people who have been told that they can't be helped.
At first (and it's still tough), the fact that some people seem dedicated to living in pain was purely mind boggling to me. Sometimes I would meet someone with a problem, and I would say, "Oh, that's a simple one. Try this." And for one reason or another, they'd prefer not to. To see that person again, and to find them still in unnecessary pain, is a challenge. But slowly I am learning not say anything, or at least not to push. And slowly, slowly, I'm learning how to be increasingly skillful with varying types of people. And I'm also learning to just drop it with others. It can be quite difficult. But it does encourage me to keep learning more about how to heal the human body, and the mind. The more I know about the body and various healing techniques, the more I can help, accurately and with precision. And the more I know about the mind, the more I can respond appropriately to people just where they are.
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| Medical Drawings from a temple wall in Bangkok |
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Apparently I Spoke Too Soon about Cutting the Grass
| Because by this afternoon, two GIANT local cows had taken care of it! |
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| Genla, "They are eating a lot!" |
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| Taking the good with the bad . . . |
. . .Not only did they mow our lawn,
but they also trampled our fledgling papaya tress
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Friday, September 7, 2012
Thai Tobtuan. English Comp 101, and Lots of Rain.
So much for writing more frequently. There's not much to report as the week roll by. All that's news worthy is that Kyle broke our refrigarator by "defrosting" it with an hammer and a chisel. We'll have it back and fixed. . . in one week. In the meantime, life somehow seems refreshingly simple despite the inconvenience. Our first morning without a fridge, Genla and I were rousing Kyle about the incident. "I think Kyle has some problem, never thinking before doing," Genla said with a long, loving laugh.
Actually, breakfast has turned into "Thai Tobtuan" (Thai language review). Each morning, Genla painstakingly goes through our Thai notebooks and quizes us. Both Kyle and I have to answer each and every question. It takes quite a while, but it's a lovely little ritual.
Now that we're half way through the semester, my papers are starting to be due. It's fun working on papers, much more so than going to class, which I have to say, leaves much to desired. Have I mentioned that each class is 3 hours long? And they're not seminar style. That's 3 hours - minus a tea break - of straight lecture. I've started teaching English to the MA students after Gen Jamspal's Monday class. I'm really enjoying it. Mostly we've been working on composition. Everyone here *really* wants to learn English. I watch some of the monks who goof-off during other classes listen with rapt attention during English class. I actually have a lot to say about English language and IBC's vision, so I'll save that for my next post.
The rains have started!
The rainy season, which runs from about July - October, was slow to get going this year, but it seems the rains have finally settled in, scattering showers much of the day. The overcast sky provides a nice break from the heat, and the rains bring strong breezes. But it's not overcast all the time. Every so often the sun unexpectedly bursts through, chasing away the clouds and exposing a brilliant blue sky, which then again clouds over, and gives way to the most tremolutous down-pours imaginable. They don't last long, nor are they to be underestimated.
The grass is growing like wild-fire, and weather permitting, it will soon be time for us to ask our neighbor to cut our lawn, which he seems all to happy to do, with a sicle, for about $5. To cut the grass by hand is about an 8 hour job.
Actually, breakfast has turned into "Thai Tobtuan" (Thai language review). Each morning, Genla painstakingly goes through our Thai notebooks and quizes us. Both Kyle and I have to answer each and every question. It takes quite a while, but it's a lovely little ritual.Now that we're half way through the semester, my papers are starting to be due. It's fun working on papers, much more so than going to class, which I have to say, leaves much to desired. Have I mentioned that each class is 3 hours long? And they're not seminar style. That's 3 hours - minus a tea break - of straight lecture. I've started teaching English to the MA students after Gen Jamspal's Monday class. I'm really enjoying it. Mostly we've been working on composition. Everyone here *really* wants to learn English. I watch some of the monks who goof-off during other classes listen with rapt attention during English class. I actually have a lot to say about English language and IBC's vision, so I'll save that for my next post.
The rains have started!
The rainy season, which runs from about July - October, was slow to get going this year, but it seems the rains have finally settled in, scattering showers much of the day. The overcast sky provides a nice break from the heat, and the rains bring strong breezes. But it's not overcast all the time. Every so often the sun unexpectedly bursts through, chasing away the clouds and exposing a brilliant blue sky, which then again clouds over, and gives way to the most tremolutous down-pours imaginable. They don't last long, nor are they to be underestimated.
The grass is growing like wild-fire, and weather permitting, it will soon be time for us to ask our neighbor to cut our lawn, which he seems all to happy to do, with a sicle, for about $5. To cut the grass by hand is about an 8 hour job.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Life in Thailand Starts to Take Shape
Last week (ok, two weeks ago but it feels like just last week), we went to Malaysia and to IBC's southern campus. The founder of IBC, Venerable Wei Wu, is from Malaysia and his main (very impressive 6 story temple) is in Penang. IBC's convocation/graduation was held at the southern campus, and since all the professors would be down south for that, an academic seminar was organized at the temple in Penang, which is about a 3 hour drive from the southern campus. At Genla's request and by the school's generosity, Kyle and I were included, and so we joined the professors and all flew from Bangkok to Penang, and then a couple days later we drove from Pengang to Songkhla, Thailand.
The Than Hisang Temple is extraordinary because it encompasses a vegetarian canteen which feeds hundreds of local IT factory workers daily, a free clinic, a kindergarden with 300 children, a nursing home, dorms, seminar rooms, and a two temples. It was very inspiring to see so many people being helped. And I love the idea of having a kindergarten and a nursing home in the same building.
Penang itself is a nice island, although you can't swim in the water due to pollution. It was occupied by the British at one point, and so parts of it have a distinctly colonial feel (and I'm a total sucker for colonial in the tropics). We got out and about one night and went to Little India, which was a lot like real India, and lots of fun.
It's worth mentioning that the drive from Malaysia to Thailand was indeed beautiful, with mountains in the distance, and road that cuts through palm tree plantations and wide open fields.
While very nice, IBC's southern campus is truly in the middle of no-where, and we are very happy to be here (even if we are very far away from any beaches).
All in all, the he trip was nice (and it was good to see a bit of the country), but what's better is being back here with some time to settle into a rhythm. As soon as school started, I had one class that met Monday - Friday from 5-8pm. No sooner had that class ended than we jumped on a plane for Malaysia. So this really is the first time things are quieting down here.
That being said, we've started Thai language classes and are doing some English tutoring by request, so my personal schedule is a bit fuller than I'd like, but it's still manageable.
Here's some fun pictures, and now that things have settled a bit, I'll try to be more consistent with the blog posts.
From Malyasia:
Remember how I said Kyle went native? Well, I wasn't kidding... Check out the fried crickets that both he and Genla claim are delicious (yet I've noticed they haven't bought any since . . .)
Me - Sa Bai, Sa Bai (Thai for "taking it easy"), doing my morning yoga.
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