March 20-April 19, 2007
The next morning I shook off my aloneness with busying myself packing and getting a ride to the immigration office where I could extend my visa for another month. A long wait for a sawngthaw was explained by the traffic jam that caught us on our way to my destination. I was dropped off at the pier, realized had 45 minutes to get my visa extended before the boat back to Ko Pangan left, and hopped on the back of a moped and sped off to the immigration office. Waiting two hours for the visa, (or so it seemed; they were in much less of a hurry than I) I concluded my business and was back to the boat with five minutes to spare.
Travelling alone is a much different experience than travelling with another person. I had time to ponder this as I sat on the boat crossing back from Samui to Ko Pangan. Alone, you notice people more and in a different way. You are noticed in a different way. I was aware, now on my own again, of a self-consciousness I did not have travelling with Leslie. Recognizing this I chuckled to myself and relaxed. Being alone again would take a little while to get used to.
Once back on Ko Pangan I headed straight for the other side of the island to a beach called Haad Thien. I had a recommendation to visit this beach by a few people I had met at the Suan Mok ten day meditation retreat I had attended last November. These retreatants lived on the beach and said it was a marvellous place to come and reconnect mind-body-spirit. There was a British run health and wellness center on the beach called The Sanctuary. The beach is also known as Sanctuary Beach because of the center's popularity. After a rough and stormy longboat ride to the beach, I backpacked around to the different accommodation options and finally settled on a bungalow at the Haad Thien Resort. Dont be fooled by the name. Its a basic rustic wooden bungalow on the beach with an insect-ladden bathroom, but cozy enough for me. I laid low here for a few days adjusting to my new aloneness.
Finally, seeing my friend Shashi from the retreat, I was encouraged to join in on the four-day Shiatsu course beginning the next day. Weighing price against experience (as I always do) I agreed and spent the next four days learning the basics and foundations of the healing art of shiatsu massage. We learned of the meridian channels and of the flow of chi energy through the body and how to stimulate them into a healthy flow. An experienced practitioner can be very effective in helping one acknowledge the validity of chi and its presence in the body. Medical science has verified it as well and everyone's health and wellbeing would be enhanced by the awareness and attention to it. I had studied about chi before and had practiced techniques that improve its flow and quality. I was very happy to return to that awareness.
After the workshop I took another half-day workshop with Shashi on nutrition according to Chinese medicine, which was based on the same principles as the shiatsu. Basically, balance is the key to everything and if you want to be a whole person, eat whole foods instead of processed foods that rip away vital nutritional qualities. White flour and white sugar are right out, but that is common knowledge for health. Ice and cold beverages are hard on the body and can lead to stress and disease in the body's systems. The best foods to eat are the naturally sweet foods like brown rice, pumpkins, squash and the like. Green foods are wonderful for the liver. Vibrant colored fresh foods are full of chi and therefore good for the health. Different seasons call for different types of food to nourish your body's energy systems. The system is quite complex and it really becomes more of a lifestyle than a diet. The nutritional aspect is to be integrated with the exercises such as tai chi which help to keep the flow of chi healthy and moving. Stagnant chi leads to illness. Flowing chi leads to harmony and inner peace.
A few days later I had a session with the teacher of the shiatsu workshop. Many people were remarking about his abilities as a healer and I thought I should catch him before he left the next day. I was glad I did. Before leaving the states I had gone to the doctor to understand the pain and swelling that was constantly plaguing my right ankle, residual I believed from limping on my foot through Costa Rica . I had been taking pain killers for it but wanted to know how to cure it. The doctor looked at it. He took x-rays. He looked at it. Without even saying it was tendonitis, he looked at me, shrugged, and said, "Aches and pains. Take Advil." That was it. Thanks doc. I mention this because in one session with this Australian healer, through deep massage and energy work, he completely cured my ankle and told me, physiologically, why it was bothering me. He also balanced all my other energy pathways and I felt great.
Cleaning the ol'Gallbladder
Later, after eating mostly raw fruits and vegetables for three days, I went to the Sanctuary Wellness Center to begin the highly recommended Liver Cleanse. This cleanse lasts a day and a half and does more to clean out the gallbladder than the liver. Basically, we all have gallstones in our bile ducts, especially with our high fat diets in the west. These can sometimes grow to dangerous sizes and, to avoid death, our doctors do what they do best. They take a knife and slice you open. This barbaric procedure will indeed remove the gallstone, but will also leave you with a long recovery period and a souvenir scar to keep along with a bill for tens of thousands of dollars. I vent like this because there is absolutely no need for this except for a fiscal flow. Basically, the cleanse is a process of storing up the bile, softening the gallstones, and then opening the system up to let these stones flow out through your intestinal tract. I did the cleanse and on the second day was amazed to look into the catch-basket they provide to see the large handful of tan and green gravel that had been released. Most of it was fairly small(large aquarium rock size) but some of them were marble-sized rocks that I cringe to think were blocking my common bile duct. While in our bodies, these stones block and/or reduce the flow of bile into our digestive systems and reportedly even interfere with the amount of cholesterol the body can eliminate. I highly recommend it and will post the 'recipe' for those brave enough to take charge of their own health. Also, if you know someone with a gallstone, please do not let them get an operation without trying this first! There are many reports of people who have avoided an operation by using this process.
Over the next few weeks I continued eating light and healthy whole foods and focusing on meditational practices. It is nice to stay put in one location and not have to pack my bag and travel every few days. We have had unseasonable rain here but that has been a nice relief to the normal heat of this season. I have a bungalow on the beach with a hammock on my porch for $6/night and a nice choice of restaurants. Electricity is only from 6pm to 11pm and the rest of the time is just nature. Life is good here.
