the things he carried
'oh, you carry too much!' this is my greeting as i finish my climb to the top of the cliff in haad rin, ko phan gan thailand. it's hot, and she's right, my bags somehow weigh too much. still, i've arrived at sun smile resort, a beautiful if vertiginous perch on a cliff overlooking the thai gulf. my room, clean fan bungalow with bath and uninterrupted 180 degree view of the bay and gulf costs 300 bhat - $9.
preparing for these trips is always arduous. you don't want any more than you can cary, but always, there are things you need that you wish you didn't - like the cold weather clothes for new york and tokyo that take up a significant amount of room in my bag - maybe 1/3. more important this time was how to prepare for the challenge. what would i need to take my yoga practice half way around the world, to be completed anytime, any place?
Suann gave me some great advice on what to bring to maximize my knowledge base while still fitting in with my technological constraints. i have no computer and no dvd player, so we settled instead on the basic and intermediate level OM Yoga in A Box series. I burned the cd's to mp3 and loaded up on my ipod, placed the cards in a small electronices bag, and even brought a belt and the incense (yay!). i also brought a mat, which i go back and forth about. maybe the right thing, but it takes up a lot of room. it does beat working out on the wood floor of my bungalow however, which is deply uneven.
i also brought along Cyndi Lee's Yoga Body, Buddha Mind which has been sitting on my bedside table which had been waiting to be read as soon as i got through all those back issues of the new yorker... i decided this book would give me additional insights not only into yoga, but into buddhism as well.
Each day here on ko phan gan, i wake up at 5:30 or 6, drink some water, and do my yoga practice looking out at the water. time is the one thing i have plenty of, so i have been savoring these hours of practice. when i finish, i hike down to the rocks by the bay and go swimming. it's lovely to be up this early, yoga complete, nice swim and then breakfast ahead. later in the day, i settle into my hammock and read from Cyndi's book. right now, i keep coming back to maitri breath... using it to calm myself on the plane, when i can't sleep, and i've even tried while floating in the ocean (this is a little hard... but it can be done as long as you're careful where you're drifting!)
sadly, today i had to leave my clifftop perch. the all night music from the beach below has not been restful enough. i've come, however, to a beautiful beach on the north side of the island called Haad Yao, which means long beach. so far it's lovely. tomorrow, i'm off scuba diving and i'm very curious how my yoga practice will interact with my diving activities. there are whale sharks in the area, so wish me luck!
preparing for these trips is always arduous. you don't want any more than you can cary, but always, there are things you need that you wish you didn't - like the cold weather clothes for new york and tokyo that take up a significant amount of room in my bag - maybe 1/3. more important this time was how to prepare for the challenge. what would i need to take my yoga practice half way around the world, to be completed anytime, any place?
Suann gave me some great advice on what to bring to maximize my knowledge base while still fitting in with my technological constraints. i have no computer and no dvd player, so we settled instead on the basic and intermediate level OM Yoga in A Box series. I burned the cd's to mp3 and loaded up on my ipod, placed the cards in a small electronices bag, and even brought a belt and the incense (yay!). i also brought a mat, which i go back and forth about. maybe the right thing, but it takes up a lot of room. it does beat working out on the wood floor of my bungalow however, which is deply uneven.
i also brought along Cyndi Lee's Yoga Body, Buddha Mind which has been sitting on my bedside table which had been waiting to be read as soon as i got through all those back issues of the new yorker... i decided this book would give me additional insights not only into yoga, but into buddhism as well.
Each day here on ko phan gan, i wake up at 5:30 or 6, drink some water, and do my yoga practice looking out at the water. time is the one thing i have plenty of, so i have been savoring these hours of practice. when i finish, i hike down to the rocks by the bay and go swimming. it's lovely to be up this early, yoga complete, nice swim and then breakfast ahead. later in the day, i settle into my hammock and read from Cyndi's book. right now, i keep coming back to maitri breath... using it to calm myself on the plane, when i can't sleep, and i've even tried while floating in the ocean (this is a little hard... but it can be done as long as you're careful where you're drifting!)
sadly, today i had to leave my clifftop perch. the all night music from the beach below has not been restful enough. i've come, however, to a beautiful beach on the north side of the island called Haad Yao, which means long beach. so far it's lovely. tomorrow, i'm off scuba diving and i'm very curious how my yoga practice will interact with my diving activities. there are whale sharks in the area, so wish me luck!
posted by brett at 6:53 PM
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