Namaskar

I've finally been getting my long wished-for experience of meditation and yoga in Thailand. I had my first private yoga lesson with the new Italian Didi this morning in the upper Baba room. It was kind of embarrassing that a fifty some odd woman is more flexible than I am, but she says that I'm pretty flexible for a twenty-one year old. Cool. She thought perhaps I'd done yoga before--I told her, "not really," not deigning to admit that I've done a bit of "video yoga."

Luckily the yoga that the Didi's practice don't require TOO much flexibility--I never had to wrap my leg around my neck like a scarf. It was more like a really good stretching session with 5-10 minutes of relaxation at the end. I could DEFINITELY get used to starting everyday that way. I think it's the first time in my life that I've gone through a day without my eyebrows feeling furrowed.

I've also taken to doing meditation with the teenagers in the evenings on some days. It lasts for

about half an hour and comes in three stages. The first stage we all lift our arms toward the sky and sway back and forth while singing "Baba Nam Keba Lam"--which means something like Love is all around or Love is all there is. In the second stage we all sit cross legged on the floor focusing on our breathing--for probably about 10 minutes. The point is to be in the present moment and not worry about the past or the future. In the final stage we move to our knees and sit for another 10 minutes. Everyone but me chants some cool Buddhist sounding song, but I, for the life of me, can't figure out the words OR the tune. However, I DO enjoy listening to it while I continue in my silent meditation.

Yeah, I'm pretty much living the authentic oriental dream. Machima even asked me to be part of a Yoga photo shoot for her new business (See above photos). I'm on her pamphlet wearing Thai Pants and everything!

Jai Garu Deva....Om.....

(Not Triangle of David)

Namaskar