Plum Village France

Continuing my mindfulness journey, I decided to go to the south of France near Boudreaux to the Plum Village Summer Retreat.

Somehow magically my flight from Bangkok to France, bus, train and taxi connections all worked out perfectly except for the final leg where we had to get of the train because it didn’t run and wait for another one, extending an already very long journey. I finally figured out why everyone was standing around the train station… they wait for the track posting shortly before the train departs. Love the high speed trains!!

The Plum Village Monastery was founded by Thích Nhất Hạnh, a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist. Thich Nhat Hanh would be giving the Dharma talks in both English and French. His teachings are amazing and he has written over 100 books. Born October 11, 1926 he went to Princeton University and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. At 87, soon to be 88, he did mindful walking with us every day.

Breathing in and out, concentrating on every step, kissing the Earth with your feet has a grounding and calming effect, I now happily walk to school every day "mindfully."
After each mindful walk we would sit in quiet meditation surrounded by the awesome beauty of nature.

Plum Village has several hamlets, or housing areas for monastics. Upper Hamlet and Lower Hamlet as the monks and nuns live separately.

I stayed at New Hamlet in a quaint hillside house, totally French chateau like. Amazingly I shared a small room and tiny bathroom with four other incredible women and yes, at the end of the week we were still smiling!

 It was a fantastic week and the vegan food was wonderful, even rising at 4:30 am for yoga and meditation was exhilarating.

As we looked at the beautiful lotus flowers we were reminded of the lesson that it cannot grow, bud and bloom into its full radiance without the mud... so similar to our life. Many Blessings and a candle-light Lotus for You!

Coup d'état Thailand

Millions of Thai citizens seem to be happy with the coup d'etat

After over 6 months of peaceful non-violent citizen anti-government protests held mostly in Bangkok, the situation slowly began to esculate toward violence. As the political gap widened between the two sides, something needed to be done to avoid more killing and splitting the country.  So the Military took over control of Thailand with martial law, ready with tanks and guns if necessary. It also rescinded the constitution to avoid further violence as the two political parties were at a standoff and neither would budge. This is not a new thing to Thailand as the country has had 12 military “coups". The only thing I noticed was the day after the coup, all schools were closed for one day while all the protesters were dispersed and told to go home and a curfew was put into place. Now less than one month later there has been no violence and Thailand has begun the slow process of resolution and avoided a revolution.

On Friday, July 14th Thailand's military government has fully lifted a night curfew it imposed nationwide after seizing power last month, May 22nd. Now the "Thai Happiness" campaign begins. One of the first things the takeover did was to pay the rice farmers what they had been promised by a corrupt government who said it didn't have the money to pay them.

Singing at the Bangkok Airport, "nothings going to change my love for you"

"The overall situation has been resolved and there is no tendency toward possible violence. Therefore, in order to relieve and mitigate the impact on people's daily lives, and to boost tourism by Thais and foreigners, the curfew order is being canceled in the rest of the country," the junta said in a statement issued over all domestic TV stations.

Coup d'état Thailand -- Is it safe to come here?

YES. Very safe! To date the coup has been completely peaceful, so come and enjoy Thailand with the caveat that the driving can be crazy and normal crime never goes away. But on the balance, it is as safe to come here as it is to go to Florida. (Much safer than some parts of Florida or the US.)

With a Thai "Wi" a greeting of honour and respect with hands held in a lotus flower position, a peaceful Thailand welcomes one and all. Blessings!

Full Moon and Wi Kru

Friday, June 13th evening offered a great viewing opportunity of the "strawberry"or "honey moon" of June. Astronomers say on average, this event occurs once about every 14.3 years.  Interestingly I was married on June 13th in 1963, but the moon wasn't full and the marriage ended after 25 years.  Friday the 13th hasn't fallen on the same day as a full Moon since Oct. 13, 2000 (I was sixty), and it won't happen again until Aug. 13, 2049, and I will be 109 years old then! Just not sure where I will be viewing it...
One of the nicest holidays that we have in Thailand is "Wi-Kru day" (kru is the Thai word for Teacher and wi is the greeting done with hands in a prayer position). It is a day of honoring TEACHERS! Imagine that???
This year we had an entire school of over 800 students present flowers on their knees and bow to show respect and gratitude to their teachers, a very moving ceremony and one of the reasons I LOVE teaching in Thailand.
Culturally the order of respect and importance in the country is; #1 the King, #2 the Monks and #3 the Teachers, with elders, parents and family following in that order. So young people grow up honoring teachers and their elders, what a concept!

 The floral presentations are exquisite works of art. The arrangement with the candle is presented by the boys, the one without, given by the girls.

Enjoying Wi-Kru and Full Moon with my Thai friends

Buddha Blessings from Thailand and Many Happy Full Moons

Mothers Day in May

 There is something very special about celebrating Mothers day with your only child and seeing your daughter as a mother also. I have been doubly blessed with two incredible grandsons.  We enjoyed a fantastic brunch and our time together.

Chinese Kung Fu (Martial Arts) is a traditional Chinese sport which has developed over a long historical period.  Aidan is working on his Black Belt as he already has his brown-black and Taylor has his green belt. They did a presentation at the School International Day celebration.

 
 June UPDATE… Aidan is now a Chinese Kung Fu Black Belt at age 9, having successfully completed his tests in Hong Kong, including breaking boards with kicks, elbows and hands. Way to go “A”!

The day and night city views from the 55th floor apartment in Hong Kong 

Peace and Blessings to all Mothers wherever you are...

Mindefullness-Plum Village Thailand

Just before school was to begin for the 2014-15 year I decided to do 10 days of mindfulness and meditation at Thai Plum Village located about 3 to 4 hours northeast of Bangkok. I wasn't quite sure  about the thought of 10 days of silence, but again it wasn't something I had experienced, soooo... Why Mindfulness?

In recent years, mindfulness has been increasingly recognized internationally as a powerful tool to address the everyday challenges at school for both teachers and students. Research by the medical and scientific communities has provided evidence of the effectiveness of mindfulness in reducing stress, anxiety and depression, and in increasing emotional resilience, happiness, positive social behavior, and cognitive skills, all of which I could use. 

Plum Village was founded by Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh. 

The practice at Plum Village helps weave mindfulness into all of our daily activities. In this way we practice silent meditation throughout the day, while eating, and working mindfully. Visitors participate in community activities such walking and sitting meditation as well as community work such as arranging the meditation halls, cleaning bathrooms, washing pots and other simple tasks as part of the daily practice of mindfulness. The monastery stay is to enjoy simple and peaceful living and thereby nurture your own inner growth by taking time to look deeply in order to transform oneself. Sensing a change in my life path, I am wondering, do I take the straight road or journey to the left or right?

Getting up at 4 am and beginning early morning walking meditation while it was still dark gave me lots of time to practice my silence... followed by sitting meditation. After 10 mindful movements to stretch and energise the body it was time to enjoy our vegan breakfast in silence. Then we had time to study, read and reflect before a incredible vegan lunch of fresh vegetables grown at the Practice Center. The rest of the day was spent with time for rest, mindful working and evening meditation before lights out for the night.

 May you be always mindful of every magical moment in life.

Blessings from Thailand

Songkran in Koh Samui

After my sister went back to America, I was back to my house in Ban Chang and I still had school vacation time left. We had just been as far north in Thailand as the Golden Triangle where Burma, Lao and Thailand meet in the middle of the Mekong River. That is where (in the past) most of the drug trading was done on boats and the surrounding land was used to grow Poppies. Now I felt like the islands of southern Thailand were calling … Another airport and another flight.

Utapao Airport (an old US Air base during the Vietnam war) is only 15 minutes away from my home in Ban Chang. A short one-hour flight made a weekend celebration of Songkran Festival, on Koh Samui a reality… Happy New Year Thailand!

Koh Samui, is an island off the east coast of Thailand. It is located close to the mainland town of Surat Thani.  Ko Samui is Thailand's second-largest island after  Phuket. Tourists enjoy the abundant natural resources, white sandy beaches, coral reefs and coconut trees that are present on the island.Samui also has many beautiful temples and we enjoyed our visit with a monk at Wat Lamai.

We stayed at Manathai Beach Resort, but the locals know it as “Buddys”

It had it own separate beach across the road with a large beach side swimming pool in addition to the hotel pool, Jacuzzi, and a fantastic spa. The resort had many different choices of restaurants and foods including an Irish Pub, an old-fashioned American hamburger/soda shop, Italian Pastas and Pizza and of course beach side Thai food. All yummy!

The Songkran festival from the Sanskrit word saṃkrānti, or literally "astrological passage") is celebrated annually as the Thai New Year from 13 to 15 of April. It is one of the most important festivals on the Buddhist calendar and coincides with the New Year of many calendars of South Asia.

Families prepare for the New Year by tidying their homes and paying alms to the monks and the poor. Water pistols and buckets are used to drench friends and tourists. The throwing of water is meant as a symbol of washing all of the bad away and is sometimes filled with fragrant herbs when used in the traditional manner. It is also the time of cleaning and washing the Temple Buddhas and it is done ceremoniously by pouring flower infused water on the statues.  Another time honored tradition is honoring the elders by the younger members of the family who knee when presenting flowers and pouring water on the hands of the respected elder.

 On the way to the airport to come back to Ban Chang, we visited Big Buddha Temple, Wat Phra Yai where the 12 meter high golden statue of Lord Buddha was built in 1972 and has become a main tourist attraction on the Island. As many tourists and locals were visiting for

Songkran, we also ceremonially poured water before climbing the great staircase to the top. Buddha Blessings for the New Year!