One of the fellow Fulbrighters and I decided to find a meditation place that concentrated on lecturing to westerners or at least a place that conducted practices in English. We were lucky enough to find some place on the web by simply typing into Google “Bangkok, Meditations, English.” After this very non-specific search we stumbled upon a couple of blogs that directed us to this Vila were foreigners met and practiced meditation together.
When we arrived at this Vila it was like entering another world. We had just walked down a slightly dingy back alley off one of the main Highways sprinkled with a mix of upper scale hotels and lower class apartment building, and we turn into a gated yard with gorgeous manicured exotic plant and beautiful yard lanterns. Once entering the door we are greeted by a “meditation regular “who offers water and this Earthy purple juice. The juice tasted like some type of mineral with a similar taste to a watery potato but either way it felt healthy. A middle aged white monk wrapped in the bright orange traditional outfit sat in the corner talking to another possibly Spanish foreigner.
We had no idea what to do in the extremely beautiful, clean, slightly western house, so we took a seat of a dull navy day-bed decorated with bright Indian pillows, but after one of the other foreigners went upstairs we followed them into the third floor yoga room. The light brown wood ceiling met at a peak about 14 feet above our heads and arched down close to the floor where tiny window let in light. There was a statue of Buddha sitting high upon a tiered altar with flowers running down the tiers. Directly in front of the altar was a tiny Japanese yoga instructor signing people in.
We signed in on the “drop-in” page thinking the hour long yoga was free, we didn’t learn out till after the intense happy yoga class that in fact it was a pretty pricey hour long course ( And by pricy I mean 12 American dollars, but in Thailand that is a lot of money- about 10 meals to put it into perspective). The hour long course was filled with more props than I have ever seen in a yoga class: we had blocks to stretch our arms on, two thick pillows to help rest in awkward positions, some sort of rope to pull our legs, and some more flat pillows. I must say nothing was super unique about the yoga except for the fact that after putting you into your position the teacher would come around and pull at your neck or stretch out you back which almost felt like a deep tissue massage while stretching.
The best part about this whole experience was meeting the other foreigners who were there for meditation after we left our yoga class. When we came downstairs into the lobby we were greeted by this traveling community of mediators- all foreigners. For some this was there first time, like us, and for others they had been part of this community of people who go together to meditate and as a group send out good vibes and kindness to those who had been kind to the, to those who they felt indifferent to , and those who had wronged them.
We met this really cute couple from Canada who were just finishing their year in Thailand doing service work after graduation. They both wanted to try out meditation and get to know this community. They were young, talkative and beautiful- both looked like they could be JCPennys catalogue models. We met their friends who were also teaching in Bangkok: a young German man and an American Philippine from California. As a group they seemed lively and interested in what it meant to calm your brain and connect to your inner being or your soul: which ever you believe.
Overall I don’t know how much I know about Buddhism. So far it seems like it is not much of a doctrine of stories but really a way to live your life. I agree with what little I know- that you should be kind to others and that you should be happy in yourself rather than material goods: real inner happiness comes from connecting to within rather than grasping out for more material things.
During meditation could not quiet my mind, but actually all I could think about was how my back hurt for most of the time. Since I am not a practiced mediator I tried to gain something out of the 45 minutes of quiet. I tried to feel the positive energy of the others in the room and within myself and send that energy and well wishes to those who were kind to me in my life. I also tried to let go of those who I have felt I have wronged or who have wronged me. I couldn’t really spend the time separating my mind from my spirit and every time I tried to focus on my breathing and my inner being I would think more about spirituality. So I can say this experience was somewhat of a spiritual service. It is very similar to what I do right when I enter a catholic church. I guess what I really spent the hour doing was praying and talking to this collective good vibe we all have as a community of people. Talking to and enhancing my relationship with others in my life through a positive thought process.
I hope some of the people I thought about are able to have a better Monday in America because of my thoughts- even if this just means they get a doughnut for breakfast.
**Here are the blogs of the monk who led my session and a former fulbrighter who has lots of study in Buddhism .
http://littlebang.org/
http://vandralhuber.blogspot.com/
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