Time off

On the Road to Anidri
Lunch & Dinner @ Anidri Taverna

Girls jus wanna have fun (Tina, Adriane, Lena, Kathy & I)

Boys playing goofs Yohann & David, Me with Xavier, David & Kaline dancing

Kaline & I with Terry, Irish musician silat kungfu fighter moonlighting as busker at Anidri

Celebrating Rachel's bday

me on James, Fanny, Corinne & Panos

At this gruelling circus, we only get 1 ½ days off a week. Wednesday afternoon and Saturdays. But heh, who really needs to have a day off from doing yoga and getting massaged all day!

Anyway, we were going to trek Samaria Gorge on Saturday but we partied too hard on Friday night and I didn’t think I could do a 6hr walk with a hang-over. So, we took a boat to a nearby beach instead. OK, I know what you are thinking…… PARTYING? What kind of yoga retreat am I at? Well, to be honest, it is quite strange to be with yogis that drink coffee & alcohol, smoke cigarettes and eat meat. Very refreshing, if a little disconcerting!

Quite a number of people were leaving the circus this week so we had a little party at the Anidri Tavern then headed down to Paleochero to boogie…. And boogie it was, to Madonna and other 80s wonders!
At Elafonissi.

Stella carrying Valentine to the island because the dog does not know how to swim!

Elafonisi is a beautiful little island separated from the mainland by shallow water. We took a 1hr ferry then waded across the water to get from the port to the beach. The beaches are pink (Ya, but I just noticed that I didn’t get any photos of the pink sand.) It was an awfully hot day and all the ang mohs were out sun-bathing. I was covered from head to toe in SPF60 sunblock, long sleeve shirt and pants so that mum doesn’t tell me off again for turning black!


Since I am not much a beach person, we pretended that we were at the gorge and spent the day walking instead. It was gorgeous. We found a chapel in the mountains, an execution ground where 600 women & children were killed by Turks, a lighthouse.....

This photo was actually supposed to have a beautiful naked body floating in it. But alas, I was stopped by the Photo Police. aka Mr Kodak Moment Annihilator Yohann. Something about it not being proper to take photos of naked people. Anyway, it would have shown up as a little speck! Oh, did I mention that most people are naked on Greek beaches. I felt kindda odd 1st time I went to the beach (I was clothed from head to toe), but I did not know where to look. Everywhere I turned, I saw ugly naked bodies. Eeks.

Girls do girl things! Tina & Kathy getting ready before an evening out @ Anidri Taverna

Fontini & I raided the kitchen and made ourselves gorgeous face packs with Yoghurt, cucumber & honey. We did a Facial Meditation after and it was amazing to feel the pores open and the moisture entering the face and just be really focused on the tingling sensations in the face. I will definitely do this again. Tina explained the Manicure Meditation and I think I will give it a try too. I guess anything can be a great meditation if one does it mindfully!

Massage anytime, any place....

Kaline giving Yohann a massage on the ferry, Fontini giving me a head-rub on the boat, Stella & Adriana giving Panos a massage at the beach, Jayne, Fanny, Panos and Harris doing the massage circle @ Scala..........

At the beach with Greek buddies Harris & Fortini

Sitting @ Scala

Having a non-Anidri dinner with Jayne, Adriane & Lena

The Circle

This poem (my first ever) is dedicated to my teachers at the circus.
Arnaud – The Ringmaster
Kaline – The flying acrobatic dancer
David – The Lion Tamer, who is really more a Lion than a Tamer… But I thought I'd try to refrain from calling him an animal lest there be repurcussions in class tomorrow!
Itzhak – The philosopher-thinker, but since they do not any of those at the circus, he can be the tight-rope artiste (cos he looks so earnest)
Anasthasi Babaji – The contortionist yogi pretzel
Takis – I couldn’t decide between clown or flame-thrower, so he can be flame-throwing clown
And the visiting teachers Biff, Terry & Jonas.
But most of all, my fellow circus-mates because learning is mainly done on the mat through practise.


The Circle
A meeting of East and West
Where science and art become one
Dancing to the rhythms of Shiva and Shakti
The Sun and the Moon
Itha and Pingkhala
Yin and Yang
Coming together to find that gentle balance
that brings us just a little closer to God
Searching yet without strife
Surrendering to the sweet embrace of mother earth

This is our Sangha
Playing and praying
Singing and dancing
We feast on the scrumptious buffet of fascia latas and koshas
Crying out the names of Krishna, Jesus and Buddha
In unison
We are one
Like lotus flowers
We rise up above the murky depths to lie above the water
Basking in the glorious rays of God’s sun

In mindful meditation
We play with each other’s bodies
Prana flows to the music of the massage
and the melody of the dance
Vibrations ripple through the body
The triumphant symphony awakens
Giver and Receiver are one
The gentle imprint of each embrace marks the body and touches the soul

Alas, it will soon be time to say our Good-byes
But Good-bye it will be not
For when the church bell rings and the temple gongs sound
We will stop and pause
Inhale, grateful for the moment
Exhale, sending love to one another
And until we meet again
In this life or another
I pray brothers and sisters that
The blessing of God be upon us
Flow through us
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Thai Yoga Massage Circus in Greece

Everyone looked at me rather strangely when I told tem I was joining a circus in Greece. Well, this is no everyday circus: There are no clowns; well, there are, but none with red noses and painted faces; no acrobats, but we do fly and practise acro-yoga; no tents, except for the tents of the brave souls that decided to be one with nature and rain instead of staying in a room); no animals, other than Valentine, Stella’s dog who manipulates all our mats and the mountain goats……

The “Circus” comes from the Greek word Kiklos which actually translates into Circle. The circus is actually a sangha, a community of yoga teachers, massage therapists, energy healers and what some might call “New Age Hippies”, who have gathered together to practise with each other, learn from each other, sing, dance and just have fun!

It was started by the disciples of Asokanda, A German monk that brought Thai Massage to the west by marrying this ancient practise with modern day methods and techniques. Asokanda did not teach massage as mere bodywork, but as a holistic practise using the pillars of yoga and meditation.

So, here I am, in an eco-lodge in the mountains of Crete with 19 other circus members and 6 senior teachers. The knowledge of all these people put together is extraordinary; Osteopaths, physiotherapists, yoga teachers, martial arts experts, zero-balancing therapists…….. And we also get visiting friends and teachers that come and share their practise.

Me with teacher Itzhak!

The practise is quite intense. We start the day at 6am with Vipassana meditation followed by yoga at 7am. There is a short break for breakfast after yoga then we do massage from 10.30am till lunch break at 1.30pm. Siesta is till 4pm then we re-start with yoga and massage till dinner break at 8pm. Some evenings there is meditation or chanting from 9pm to 10pm. In any case, we are supposed to observe the “Noble Silence” from 10pm till 8.30am. I guess it should not be too difficult to do since it is sleep time, but I have been rather naughty…. Chatting to my room-mate, Kathy, till wee hours of the night. Ya, it’s late when we sleep at 11pm.

Well, that’s all about the circus for now!

28 again...

We already did a joint bday do with Daniel & Cynthia last week and a family bday @ my favourite restaurant, Akashi, on the day I left, but when THE day arrived, I surprisingly felt quite home-sick and sad about being so far away from home . :(

Fontini, Jane & I with my bday present!

My new friends in Crete had a little party for me though and it was great! Birthday cake, ice-cream, balloons.... all very nice (and thanks to Jane)!

Best yet, they almost believed that I was 28..... but alas, some smart alec did the math when I told him my son Nic was 11!! haha.

Sept bday babies (Daniel, Cyn, TeckYen & I); Bday lunch @ Akashi with the family

Paleochero and Anidri

We had the afternoon off yesterday. I was going stay in and work on ID Band but decided to visit the town instead. Paleochero is 3.5km and we set off at 3.30pm in the blazing sun! It wasn't so bad cos the road was covered in certain areas since we were in the mountain.







When Jane passed by in her super cool hippie van though, no one said "No" to getting a ride .....







Yohann & Thomas in Jane's hippie van!






Paleochero is a sleepy little town on the coast of Crete. It doesn't look like much happens here.













Anidri is an even sleepier town. We visited a beautiful village church with 14th century murials. I started taking pictures but was told off by Yohann for using the flash and damaging the paintings...... oops.

















Me chasing the mountain goats....

Jane & I










Yoga Massage Class.... Will write more about it later on the other blog. (Kids : It's Itzhak at the back of the class.... will get him to pose for a photo later on!)http://www.yogabodywork.blogspot.com/

Yoga Massage Circus in Greece

The 24hr journey to MetaCom at Anidri Village in Crete was nothing short of a nightmare!! The Singapore Airlines flight to Athens was a breeze but I had to wait 6 hrs at Athens Airport to catch a domesetic flight to Chania, then take a taxi from Chania airport to the bus station, then take the bus to Palechora before taking another taxi to Anidri..... And to top it off, the taxi driver refused to drive me up the slope to MetaCom because he was afraid that it would damage his car!!!

My 1st impressions of Greece were none too positive. 3rd world country charging 1st world prices comes into mind!! Things are old, dirty and smelly..... people smoke everywhere; including in the taxis and buses, toilets are KL standard, signs are in Greek, men on the streets are aggressive and the taxi drivers do not give you back your change!!!

Now that I am at Anidri though, everything is soooo beautiful! I have a beautiful little room with amazing views of the mountains, attached bathroom, delicious farm food..... So serene.

The classes have been full-on since I arrived. We finished at 10pm last night and were up at 6am! Loads of revalations. Will write more soon.

VIEW FROM MY TERRACE

THE VILLA

MY ROOM

Ironman Massage Seminar with Dr Myk Hungerford

I just attended a most amazing sports massage therapy and osteopathy course with Dr Myk. Hungerford. This 80yr old lady is not known as the Mother of Sports Massage for nothing. She was therapist at the white house and to the US Olympic team......... Talk about experience!!!

I was new to most of the techniques and found the idea of "No Pain" a little difficult to get used to. Dr Myk's philosophy is to work the body in a non-invasive manner thereby causing less trauma and stress to the system ("the patient is already in pain.... that is why he has come to see us, so don't inflict more pain!" )

1/ identify area of muscle soreness / tension / pain.

2/ bring the patient to the Point of Comfort (ie : the muscle is relaxed, loosened) then hold for 90seconds so that the brain gets the signal. It is somestimes quite complicated to get the POC (you need to understand how the muscle works, where it origins & inserts, how to adjust the body applying extensions, rotations, compressions, traction etc....), but the POC is the main gist of it! Don't get me wrong, some of the stuff was really quite difficult so I am not doing Dr Myk's work justice with a one-line summary, but the POC was the key take-away for me.

3/ we learnt to do compression work on the muscles to release adrenalin and histamines (mainly for pre-races), applied swedish style effleurage strokes to release tight muscles (great for post-race), thai massage stretching, vibrations, thalamotherapy (for insomnia), chest work to improve the respiratory system, counter-strain to release kinks in the muscle.......... A whole new bag of goody techniques!

Problem I have now is to integrate all this into my Yoga Massage work. I really enjoying giving Yoga Massages (and don't think Sports Massage will give me as much satisfaction), but it is amazing to see how her techniques actually work! Peng had a neck problem and I followed Dr Myk's counter-strain technique (put the neck into POC with extension, side bend, rotation & compression and hold for 90secs), and it worked! But the experience was not "shiok" (That is singlish for feel good......... You know how when you work on an area of tension, it generally hurts, but it is a nice releasing pain that kindda makes you go aaahhh........ well, you miss out on that with counter-strain!

I am off to spend the month in Greece with Arnaud & Itzhak, my yoga massage gurus, next week, so maybe I will come back with more ideas on how to marry all this into one practise!