Well I’m sure you’ve all heard the big news by now…yes we’ve had a military coup happening here in Thailand. Don’t worry folks, so far all is fine and really there are no signs of anything different here on Koh Samui, even though we are no under martial law and military rule until further notice. It doesn’t seem to be affecting tourists as of yet. The banks and public offices were closed yesterday following the coup which happened the night before in Bangkok, but today everything is open and back to normal. I’m impressed by the one email I received from an American friend because I actually did not see anything about it at all on the US news. They’re too busy worrying about the War on Terror I guess. For those of you non-American soiled folks who have heard the news, I can tell you from the ‘inside’ that all is well in Thailand, so as they say here, ‘Mai Pen Rai,’ or ‘Never mind!’
Onto other important goings-on down here – the real big news of the day is that I am happily EATING again after completing a very successful 28-day fast/health cleanse. It’s been 6 days now that I’ve been eating again and life is truly wonderful in the eating world! I have been enjoying lots of fresh tropical fruit, salads and juices and I feel so healthy and fit that it has all been very much worth the effort. I am also happy to report that everything is ‘moving along’ quite regularly, a real concern after not eating for 28 days, but no problems at all in that department! I’ve been walking 1.5 hours every day and running every evening too, and I really think that has helped make the adjustment to eating much easier as well.
It’s been absolutely great not having to worry about colemas and pills and detox drinks for the first time in 4 weeks, and I have been running around the island doing many errands that I did not have the motivation or energy to deal with before. Everyone says I look great and I cannot argue with them because I FEEL great too! I?ve made a lot of good friends in the last few weeks here, and I seem to have managed a good balance between meditation/reading time and socializing/relax time. How did I ever have time to work??? Oh never mind, I don’t want to think about that for now!
I’ve also been practicing my Reiki skills now that I have completed the Level 1 course; in fact I am off soon to practice on my Thai friend Chai. I hope to start with the Level 2 course soon, and if all goes well I’ll start getting more Chinese Cupping clients to help fund the depleting travel savings. I had another paying customer yesterday, and now that I am not fasting, I can really try to get more business.
I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted on any political changes or turmoil happening in the next few weeks, but for now I can assure you that all is well here, and if you were planning to come to Thailand at all in the near future, do not cancel your plans!!
I’ll leave you with this lovely passage from Bob Dylan…one I’m sure we’ve all heard before but it’s a nice one to reflect upon. I’ve done so much healing on many different levels in the last 3 months and I think this little excerpt sums it all up so well:
From Bob Dylan- Tambourine Man:
And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time
Far past the frozen leaves, the haunted frightened trees
Out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrows.
Yes to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea
Circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow…
September 21st, 2006
Don’t worry everyone; this is not going to be another fasting spiel! Truth be told, I am still not eating solid food yet, but I have finished the fasting bit for now and I’ve been juicing for the last few days. In the end, I wound up doing 21 days of the cleansing fast, the end of which culminated on the full moon last week. I didn’t plan for that, but when I realized it was a full moon I thought yes, this is the right day to finish. I’ve been on fresh fruit juice for the last 4 days since then and I feel really good. Juicing is a very effective cleansing tool as well, and after 21 days of no food I personally think it’s better to ease the body back into the idea of solids. I have so much energy and am walking one hour usually every day and never feel tired at all during the day. I sleep very soundly at night and am still getting between 7-9 hours of sleep every night. My mind is clear and focused on whatever I am doing at the moment. What more could you ask for?
In terms of weight loss, I definitely have lost a lot of weight, but by no means look emaciated believe me! I actually try not to weigh myself during the cleanse because you can actually appear to gain weight due all the psyllium drinks and from any colema water that was retained, and that can make you feel discouraged. If you do the cleansing for health reasons, you just focus on what a great thing you are doing for your body and the weight loss is just an added bonus!
What else have I been up to besides all this? Well you’d be surprised how much of your day is actually tied up when you’re fasting because you have a strict schedule of herb taking and drink making to follow and then 2 times every day when you’re putting 16 litres of water up your bum and of course with a few massages and herbal steam thrown in, your day is totally full!!
I have managed to do a few things though. For one, I completed my Reiki Level 1 Course with Jet Lei. It took about a week, doing 2 hours every day, and I really enjoyed it. I had no expectations really and now I am so glad I did it. Jet studied Reiki for 2 years in Tibet while living with Tibetan monks. The monk who taught him spoke no English and they somehow found a way to communicate using hand gestures, writing symbols or drawing in the dirt with a stick, and occasionally someone to translate bits of Tibetan to Chinese. So I’d say that what he teaches is as close to the traditional Tibetan style of Reiki as you can get. At the end of the week, I had to give a full 1-hour Reiki treatment to him, and I was honored that he was really impressed at the end. He kept saying, ‘I feel really good,’ and I thought wow, if I can make somehow as skilled as him feel good after a treatment then I must be doing ok. I’ve since practiced on one other person who never had Reiki before, knew nothing about it and is a bit of a doubter of healing treatments in general I think. After the treatment he said, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me – I feel so relaxed and tired I think I’m going to go home and lie down.’ It might take a few days for it to hit him, but I hope he realizes it was the Reiki that did it!
Other than that I have spent some time socializing a bit with other people at the Spa. I tend to stay away from the masses while cleansing but it’s always nice to have a few friends to chat with during the day. There is a girl from the UK who plans to be here for 6 months, Claudine. She’s lovely. She spends her days learning Thai boxing so it’s good to hear about something different than cleansing. There’s another girl here from the UK now living in Australia who plans to be here for at least another month and she’s really into the whole crystal healing and Tarot card thing, again something new and different for me. There’s a German guy here who eats all raw and mainly fruit at that, and he spends his time walking in the hills and mountains of the island. My ‘steam buddy’ is an English guy who’s been living on the island for 12 years and owns a motorbike rental shop. I don’t even know his name actually, I just see him in the steam when I’m there so we usually have a chat. I told him the story about the bees in Taman Negara National Park in Malaysia and he just couldn’t believe it! And there are many others. I’m lucky to have met some really genuine and very interesting people, and so I am in good company.
All in all, life is good on Koh Samui at the moment. To be honest, I didn’t even realize that it was the 11 September today until I picked up yesterday’s paper to read and saw that yesterday was the 10th. In a way it’s good I think because we’re not caught up in the hype here. I think many people like to do something in order to honor everyone and that’s really important. I will certainly follow the news today and tomorrow to see what’s been done all over the world to do that. All I can really do from here is say a small prayer for the victims, their families, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives. If you do nothing else, please at least do that as well.
September 11th, 2006