S I M P L I C I T Y

A quote from a character in Shantaram, a book i'm re-reading after being in India(great book!), says this.....

"a persons happiness is inversely proportional to the size of their house".

A simpler life I think is the best way to go.  I'm sure alot of people who have a big house and lots of things will try to disagree but I think its something to think about.  

I have been thinking alot about simplifying my life as im thinking about coming back home and having lived out of a pretty small backpack with a small amount of material belongings for the past 4 months, its pretty possible to live with alot less than we think is "necessary".  So just think about it, what are the things that we think are essential to our life and our happiness..... keep those things around, and let go of others, things/people who are occupying our time and space.

Ive recently come across a great website that seems to be something that I was looking for without really looking.  Its called mnmlist.com.  You should check it out.

here is one of his posts....

mnmlist: simplicity is the path

‘There is no path to peace. Peace is the path.’ ~ Mahatma Gandhi, “Non-Violence in Peace and War”

Simplicity, many people think,
is an end in itself
But they’re getting it backwards
Simplicity is the path, the means
It’s not a far off destination,
somewhere in the future
It’s right here, right now
It’s taking things one at a time
It’s asking simple questions
It’s taking simple actions
It’s doing it slowly
It’s considering and being conscious,
with everything
When you find yourself becoming overwhelmed
on the path to simplicity
Taking a complicated, frenzied path
to get there
Stop, consider, and choose
the simpler path
And take it slowly
And easily
And lovely

India Photos

So I love taking photos but the uploading and sorting is a pain.....and fun at the same time!

here is the link to facebook where i posted some of them...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2231108&id=25900783&l=a01b9251ad

Coming down from India....

Its amazing and wonderful all of the memories and thoughts that you have when you are traveling, but it is so hard at the same time because the people who weren't there with you in those moments will never even begin to know what you went through.  I am so thankful to have had Megan to share all of these experiences with and to be able to say how are you feeling about this or what do you think about that....  As im reflecting back on my time spent in India its so hard to even begin to wrap my mind around what happened and what I/we learned during our experience there.  When people ask how was India is so hard to say because if I say that it was wonderful and horrible at the same time noone gets it.  But when we were there and living our days there were multiple times a day that we would say either I hate India so much or I love India so much.  It is a place of so many drastic contrasts the people we meet would be so generous and giving and wanted to share with us and we also met some horrible people and they just wanted to cheat us and were so mean. for all of the beauty and the women in their colorful saris and bangles and wonderful things there is so much of the opposite, dirty and garbage everywhere all over the streets.  for all of the faith that people have and the amazing rituals and way they live their life and pray and believe so much and yet the government and the systems are so corrupt.  how does it work??  for all of the wisdom and knowledge and ancient beliefs  there are so many people who are uneducated.  its so sad.  i think that is why people love it so much though, for some reason.  it is so challenging and every day there is something new that comes up or something that you see that makes you think and tests you.  there were moments when we would just be walking down the street and i would almost burst into tears because i would be so sad seeing all of these people in horrible shape, women whos backs are so hunched over because of who knows what, people with deformed limbs who are scooting along on a skateboard or babies that look so hungry and i would just get so sad but than i would have to say to myself, brooke just pull yourself together, these people are so sad but they are not crying even though they may want to, they are just living and doing what they need to do.  so if you start crying it isint going to do anything or change anything.  but it would be so hard to see so many people living on the street and than talking to people and seeing how hard it is to get out of the slums or out of poverty and to get ahead a little bit.  our friend that we met in mumbai, rahul who sold maps, we had tea with him a few times and we were just talking to him and trying to think of business ideas and he was just explaining to us how hard it is because he cant even get a job at a resturant because he was never able to go to school because of his parents and so he dosent even know how to write or read and so he cant take orders at the resturant.  so it seems like even the simplest jobs he cant do because he has no education.  he was telling us he wants to become a shoe repair man but he needs to learn and get the supplys/tools but it was impossible because he cant pay because he has no money.  he lives in a slum outside of mumbai and takes the train in to sell the maps.  later when we were talking we pieced together that he was a male prostitute and there would be these rich foreigners, men, who he would take around and tour around the city and that they would invite him back to their rooms and they would pay him.  so we found out later that is how he makes his money and is able to live. its so sad! 

i think that many people go to india to learn yoga or meditation or the ancient knowledge but what ive learned is that what you think you may be looking for might not be what you need at that time and what you need is what you find along the way, on your way to the "goal".  i thought that i was ready to do a yoga training course and that was why i was going to india but maybe it just wasent time for me and that what i learned along the way and through the challenges and everything that we went through was a better teacher than any i would have at an ashram or something like that.  i learned so much about patience and just keeping a positive outlook and that your attitude and openness towards life will determine what your life is like.

ever since i went to kalani last year i have been practicing being in the moment and i think that traveling makes you be more present than ever because every moment there is something new and a new problem or something to deal with and so there is no time to think about the past or the future because the moment you are in is so important and you need to be fully there.  i think ive also learned to listen to my heart and follow what i feel is right rather than what i think is the right thing to do.  this goes from just daily things to big decisions also. 

i didnt have a return ticket to seattle, so instead i found myself buying a ticket to south africa to come and see someone that i met when i was in thailand.  we only knew each other for a few days but it just felt like we needed to see each other again.  instead of thinking this was a crazy idea and that it was bad i just decided to follow my heart and just go there and figure out the next step after that. i dont ever want to be someone who thinks later in life, i wonder if i would have gone to south africa, what would my life have been like?  dont ever let yourself have those what if's...... its a beautiful thing and im happy to be here.

forgot so much....

i forgot to tell you guys so much last time :)

at the kumbh mela festival in haridwar we spent like 3 hours sitting with the babas (the holy men) and they made us tea and we just talked and stared at each other alot.  they live off of donations from the people and do blessings and go to all of the festivals and travel around, its the life.  they also showed us this special passport that they have where they can go anywhere in the world.  crazy.  most of them had crazy dreadlocks and they LOVED megans, they called her lady baba the whole time. it was so cute.  one of the guys took his down and they were all the way to his feet!!! he has only cut his hair 4 times in his life.  so crazy!!!  it was quite the experience.

also i wanted to talk a little bit about the roads here......try to imagine all of this going on while you are driving down the street, keep in mind that passing and driving in the other lane is totally acceptable for long periods of time, so basically it feels like everyone is headed for a head on collision and just swerving out of the way all the time.  meanwhile there are many other factors: trucks with loads tied to them that are 2 times the size of the truck itself, many cows goats dogs and other animals, people crossing, motorcycles with whole families of 4 or 5 on them, auto-rickshaws with 30 people overflowing out of them, horse drawn carriages, tractors, carts pulled by water buffalo with loads of various things such as a huge pile of bricks, oh also there are tons of people on bicycles that look like they were build in the 1800's.  oh yeah and i forgot that many of the trucks and cars breakdown (can you imagine?) in the middle of the road and so you would be going really fast and than have to stop all of a sudden because of a truck blocking the entire road.  makes for interesting travel i guess :)

another interesting thing thats been going on in my life......i have not been feeling well the past 4/5 days and we've been staying at the ashram.  thankfully our yoga guru also happens to be a natural healing master and so to cure my diarrhea he told me to lay down on this bench outside and he pressed on my stomach to feel my pulse in there,  he said that i had a dislocation of some part of my stomach.  so he pulled on my right leg 3 times, than massaged my stomach in a circle and than felt for the pulse again, he said it was coming back to the center.  than i flipped over and he assisted me in doing floor bow yoga pose and than something else and than checked again. he said its getting better and to come back in the morning at 8 with an apple.  so i said ok. i went back and laid on the same bench, outside the ashram looking over the ganga.  he felt the pulse and said that it was still problem.  so he put this mud pie made from the ganga on my stomach and than a clay pack on my eyes.  i layed there for a long time than he came and did the massage and the exercises again.  crazy!!!  he seems to be so knowledgeable and it makes me really interested to learn in natural medicine.....first i will test it out and see if i feel better before i start studying :) 

the yoga is good here, different but it is good.  our yoga guru does the craziest poses and he just smiles when we try because he knows he is so flexible and advanced.  he is sweet and he just says slowly slowly it will come. 

pictures coming soon, internet is crazy here!

Wow, not really sure where to start.  Now we are up in northern India in a town called Rishikesh.  We love it here so far and we think we will stay for the last 10 days or so of our trip before we head our separate ways.  We are staying at Shri Sant Sewa Ashram and it is right on the Ganges river.  People are always bathing and cleansing themselves in the river and every evening there is chanting and mantras being sang over a loud speaker with drums and everything.  Its pretty amazing.  Its hard sometimes to appreciate what you have when you are in the moment of it, but when you step back and think about whats going on its pretty amazing.

Last time I wrote I think we were in Mumbai.  It was a great city and really fun to see.  Very busy and crowded though!  We were getting ready to leave and we had bought our train ticket to agra to see the taj mahal.  The night before we left we got hooked up with our “Indian family”, an Indian man, sid, who works in my dads office put us in touch with his family that live in Mumbai.  We ended up calling them and going over for dinner to their house in a really nice neighborhood.  It was so fun to see how their life is and get a real family experience.  They made us eat so much and thankfully they were great cooks and the food was amazing.  They also made us try all of their crazy Indian breath “fresheners” which could be anything from sweet, salty, bitter, and nasty. 

The house was full, I think 8 people living there, the elders grandma and grandpa and than their 2 sons and wives and their babys.  The ladys stay home all day and cook and play with the babies and the men work.  All the marriages were arranged and it was so interesting to hear about that.  They made it seem like we have a problem by having the choice to decide who we want to be with and dating and everything.  They were like ohhhh you are 24 its time to be married…..

After dinner we spent like 3 hours in the grandmas room looking at all of her bangles, she has a whole briefcase full!  She gave us a huge bag of them to take home even though we insisted we couldn’t take them.  She also has a whole book full of bindis, she gave us a bunch too and we have been wearing them (and coordinating the color with our outfits like she taught us ) They loved sharing their stories and that we were so excited about everything that they were showing us.  Her closet was full of a rainbow of saris, so beautiful!

Megan gave 2 of the ladies haircuts, they wanted a new style so she gave the grandma some layers and she felt so great and pretty after.  I think they just always get it cut straight across and don’t learn to do anything with it.  One of the ladys Aarty had really curly hair and megan taught her what to do to make it less frizzy and I think she really appreciated it.  So cute! 

We left their house late that night and our train was the next day around 7pm so they invited us to come back the next day for lunch and to hang out with them, we were so excited!!  We had another great meal and than the grandma took us all around Mumbai.  The 2 sister in laws stayed at the house with the babies because it was too hot to bring them out.  The mom was soooooo excited to be out of the house, we walked all around and went to a million temples and had so much tikka powder on our faces by the end!  She made us stay out like 3 more hours than we would have on our own, we were so tired from walking around and it was SO hot!  She kept saying want to do this, want to go here….. she was so happy to be out of the house she stalled and did as much as possible.  She made us try a ton of different street food snacks that she loved and me and megan had to choke down, they just kept coming.  We liked one of them actually. J

When we went back to their house they dressed us in the saris and it was so fun to feel what it feels like, they are so beautiful!!!

Than we headed to the train to Agra, about a 25 hour train ride!  Can you just imagine the Darjeeling express, that was us.  We were wearing our Indian outfits and had temple powder all over the place and our bindis and bangles on.  We were pretty much as true Indian as we could be J  Our train car was nice, it had ac and each little area had 4 beds for for people.  We each had one and we could sleep.  Of course a family of 4 was sharing the other 2 beds and the baby was screaming all night, so we didn’t sleep toooo well.  Its all part of the experience right.  I think we were probably the only white people on the train and people really were interested in us and stared and came to look at us as much as possible.

We made it to Agra in the afternoon and were really frustrated and decided to stay at a fancy hotel, it was amazing.  Good Choice.

The Taj was closed on Fridays, the day we wanted to go so we ended up spending 2 nights there.  Agra is a horrible place except for the Taj.  We found a taxi guy who ended up being a bad guy and tried to screw us big time.  I guess that isint really anything new because everyone is trying to cheat us all the time.  Its kindof cool what they do there, they have declared the taj mahal a historic monument and so they don’t have any factorys or industry in agra, only handicrafts so they can stop the pollution of the Taj.  Agra seemed to be one of the most polluted cities though….maybe because it was so hot too.  We spent a few hours at a rug store and saw how they were made and everything and megan ended up buying a few.  They are so awesome!  The guy was trying to hard to get me to buy one too.  He made us lay down on the ones we liked for a few minutes in shavasana and meditate and if we got a “divine feeling” after we woke up it means we should get it.  I was laying down on the one I liked and almost fell asleep and he came next to me and said goodmorning and had a cup of tea.  It was really nice actually.  Still not convinced to buy the rug though. J

We spent sunrise at the Taj Mahal and it was so beautiful.  Not too hot or crowded yet and it was amazing!

After that we headed up north to Haridwar, an amazing pilgrimage town on the Ganges River.  We didn’t know much about it but we went there at a really auspicious time as the biggest religious gathering in the world was going on there.  50 million people come to this place for a festival called Kumbh Mela to cleanse their karma and their souls in the Ganga.  There are many holy men who come at this time to bless the river also.  The one being held in Haridwar was the last one of their 12 year cycle in the hindu calendar and it was a very important one.  It was magical.  We met a friend named Kim who we spend the whole day and night with.  She has been living in India for a year teaching so she could share some knowledge with us.  

We took a holy dip in the ganga!!!!  Now we are cleansed of all our bad Karma and we are feeling great!  We weren’t going to dunk, we were just going to put our feet in but kim dunked so we were like well I guess we have to too.  So happy we did!  We created quite a scene, again being the only foreigners and we had a big circle audience and people wanting to take pictures with us in the ganga.  

The festival was so magical!  It starts in the evening time and everyone does a light ceremony with a candle floating down the river, we all did one together and sent it away, mother ganga takes your prayers and brings them to life.  It was so cool!!!!  The temples and everything are decorated with lights and it is the most amazing thing I think ive ever seen.

Enjoy the photos!  It is a nightmare to upload things in India so there are only a few 

guest writing appearance from megan...

Bangles, temples, bindis, saris, beggers, gawkers, lovers and haters.. India so far..
An entire day spent with our indian mother, whos name we never knew.  We left the comfort of our indian home and into the fancy streets of bombay.  Our mom stays home all day with her two daughter-in-laws cooking and playing with the children, she took us on a tour of her side of Bombay.  We spent the ENTIRE day going to temples and eating tons of food.  Best quality day for her and for us too!! Tired and branded with tikka powder, bangles, bindis and henna we did a quick sari wrapping/photo shoot and set off for the Punjab Mail Train to Agra.  Experience on a 30hr train ride; staring men, constant crying babies, staring men, worst food, staring men, and sleep.  Not any different from the rest of India other than the crying babies and worst food.. Agra begins...

india thus far...

indian dress :)

"Be easy about this. Be playful about it. Don't work so hard at it. Let your dominant intent to be to feel good, and if you don't feel good, then let your dominant intent be to feel relief. Feel your way through it. If you think your way through it, you can get off on all kinds of tangents. If you feel your way through it, you can come quickly to your Core Energy, and when you do that only good can then flow to you." -spirit of abraham

a great message from my wonderful uncle marc :)

things are still crazy here.  me and megan decided to buy indian outfits, punjabi suits so that we might fit in more.  it seems to be working. :)  getting more respect and one lady came up to us and told us that we looked lovely in our indian dress and we almost started crying because we were so happy.  she was so sweet.  we felt so akward but now we know it is a good thing.  its so funny. pictures coming soon (whenever i can find a computer that will handle it and not take 2 hours.....)

we had a horrible dinner last night, we met a friend on the street, a nice guy who sells maps, he took us around and showed us some of the city, jsut walking around.  we loved him and had chai with him and just talked. we had made plans to meet up with a guy we met on the airplane and he was a business man (he told us to call him if we had any problems when we were in india, so nice).  when he came up he came in his car.  we asked if our friend raul could come and he said it was ok (he thought we had known him before), come to find out when we get to the resturant that we are in an extremely akward situation where our business friend told us to watch out for this guy because he sells maps and is poor.  we ended up having dinner and the business man paid.  raul told us how uncomfortable he felt and how he was being judged.  really they were both judging each other and we were just in the middle and both of them were nice guys.  i know that the business man was looking out for us but we were just so sad that it was like that.  when we got home me and megan felt so sick because it just seems like this is how it is and what can we do about it.  both of them were nice guys why couldnt they just have a conversation and be friends?  not sure. 

we have been really careful and are very aware of what is going on, it sounds like we are just hanging out with these random guys but we arent.  actually we dont really like most of the men and we love the women.

weve been having some really good food and eating with our hands.  how fun!

we went to the crazy train station today and booked our tickets to agra (city of the taj mahal) on wednesday!  we are really excited!  its about a 22 hour journey, should be interesting to say the least.

lots of love to you all!!!

"maybe what you are looking for is in the journey"

not really sure where to start, maybe i will first describe where i am right at this moment.  i came to get on the internet at a place where they have phone booths inside and internet rooms.  kindof a wierd place.  they said that all the computers are full but they have some next door that are open, "this guy will take you there,follow him" (by next door they mean 2 doorways down, down a dark hallway and up a flight of stairs, than take a left and there is a small door with even stepper set of stairs leading to a small room about 8 feet by 10 feet with  10 computers and office chairs all in this space, also there is an attendant there to write down your information  and they must have your fully address and  everything, who knows why? but it takes forever and its really annoying. they wont let you say that you dont have an address right at this moment so  i use my parents,  haha) so here i am in this sweaty little box room.  a sign that reads "viweing of pornography strictly prohibited", isisnt that odvious? i guess not.

i am in mumbai  now, the "heart of india" as our friend that we sat next to on the plane from bangkok to mumbai said.  we are meeting him at leopolds cafe  (from shantaram) tonight at 9 for a drink or food, not sure.  he is really nice and he told us to call him if we had any problems when we were in india.  we told him we were headed to goa to  check out a yoga place but we were not sure about it.

turns out that our intuitions about this place were true. we found a place called shri kali ashram, they do a 200 hour yoga teacher training program  and it is near the beach in goa.  sounded sweet.  we had a little bit of a wierd feeling when we didnt hear back from their emails for a few weeks, but we figured oh india is crazy, maybe they have a bad connection.  so we decided to check it out for ourselves because we alwyas would have wondered about it if we didnt.  we flew straight to goa from mumbai and took a taxi straight to the ashram.  actually it was a house that was really hard to find and the taxi had to ask a bunch of peopel where it was.  a little wierd that noone in the town knew it.    we talked to this guy whiteny who has been studying with bagavan the "teacher/guru" for 4 years, whiteny teaches the yoga and classes.  there are  meetings every other day with bagavan, his real name is sean.   he told us about the program and we asked him questions.    everyone eats whenever they feel like it, there is an indian family that cooks and just leaves the food out.  really akward.   but the food was awesome and really fresh and good.  we ate with our hands. so fun!

he showed us our room, it was at a random womans house down the street named syrilla, she was super nice but didnt know anything about shri kali, she just got money from them for the people who stayed there.  another wierd thing.

  so we got there in the morning and spent the whole day participating as if we were in te program already, went to the lecture and it was really intense, alot about philosophy and intense stuff but we couldnt tell if he really knew what he was talking about and was smart or if he was just blabbing and talking in circles.  the lecture started out with ,  "so what do you guys want to talk about"....... it was about 3 hours.    

than we went to the yoga practice, it was actually really nice and relaxing.  imagine this....we go into the kitchen and grab some mats that are there for peopel to use, they are extremely dirty and smelly, than we walk up the stairs to where we practice, it is the cement rooftop of the building, not even smooth, and so people put down a straw mat before the yoga mat to make it better. the other students helped us.  there were about  5 people there who had been there at least 5 weeks some about 4 months.  they are crazy.   the practice was interesting. we did a great thing called tantric smiling meditation, where whitney led us throughout our body and had us smile and relax from head to toe.  nice.

it was a good class but there was no learning or teaching involved.   it would be the same class and sequence every night.   a little boring.

 the next day there was a breathing and exercise near the beach.   the breathing was on this random platform down the road that we walked to.  we did a few interesting things.  yet again with no explanation of why or what we were doing.  we just followed the other students.

than  we did cartwheels and wheelbarrow and other exercies on the beach, really intense and hard. 

there were some books for the course, written by the bagavhan, sean, that we would have to read.  never got them.

we decided that this was a crazy place! in between all of these activities me and megan would discuss wheather we were crazy for not understanding why these people were liking this course or if they were the crazy ones.  we went back and forth throughout that whole day and night and  the vertict was that it was crazy and we would get out  of there as soon as possible.  it was not what we were looking for.  we were looking to learn and this place was not where it would happen for us.
we went to the internet in the town of agonda (which by the way was a ghost town because the "season" was over because it was so hot, another reason to get out of  there, who wants to stay in a dead abandoned town? not us.)  so we did a little research and decided to get to pune, another town that is supposed to have alot of yoga and things.  we made a plan and told the ashram we were leaving, no problem.

a guy who was in the internet place told us that maybe what we are looking for is not at a yoga place but on our journey to find one.  so we decided to take this up and travel around and if we find a yoga place than its a bonus, otherwise  we will enjoy the journey and let india take us in.  (she has :))

we took a crazy 10 hour bus ride to pune (its a few hours away from mumbai).   we almost got in a million car accidents, thankfully (or not....) our driver had the loudest most obnoxious horn known to man. so we managed to get there :)

we made friends with about 10 business men who were on a trip  there for a meeting.  we ended up having lunch with them and they bought us tea also when we stopped.  they were really interested in us and  really friendly.  we exhanged information and wil lprobably hear from them soon.  our "main friend" loved megan and he told her that her dreads were very stylish and beautiful.  everyone loves her dreads here.

we stand out like sore thumbs, blonde and red dreads. if you can even imagine how much they stare. 

pune was interesting, we did not really like it there, we got in late at night and felt a wierd vibe almost the whole time.  the best thing that happened was we found a autorickshaw/tuk tuk driver named sayeed and we ended up spending a whole day with him and he took us to a bunch of yoga places and called his friends and got a newspaper to look for yoga places for us.  none seemed to work out or have space and me and megan almost cried once.  but we got over it.  he took us to all of the main sites, bought us a lassi from his favorite place becase they have "great quality". and       we tried to take him to dinner with us but he only had a pepsi and than left and sai he would wait for us outside.  he was so great. he took us to the bus station this morning and told us he was so sad and to watch our bags and our cameras.  thanks. 

our 2 hour bus ride turned into 4 hours like usual india time and dropped us at a completely random location in the middle of the street, luckily there was an indian woman who said follow me so we did and than we got a cab. no problem.

so now here we are in mumbai the heart of india.  not sure how long we will stay yet. it feels good to be here.  not really sure why, just have a good feeling.  we found a place to stay really quick after our cab dropped us off.   its called apollo guest house.  it smells a bit and we are sharing a bathroom but its not bad.  its in a good part of town, coloba. we will see how mumbai treats us. 

our plan is to just travel around and see the places we want to go and if a yoga place comes up, great, if not that is ok too. 

we are flexible.

i    am so thankful that i found megan at kalani and that she came with me!  if not i think i would have already been home by now after going to shri kali by myself and figuring out it was insane , i dont think traveling around india is such a good idea by yourself.  it is good to have someone with you who you can say "is this legit?" and   help to make decisions and stay safe.  we are great travel partners and are having a great time!

"Imagine there is a puddle. When it rains, the puddle is filled with water. When it doesn't, the puddle dries up. Now compare that to the ocean. The ocean is so deep, it doesn't matter if it rains above or it is dry weather. Your inner depth should be as much as the ocean, so you are not fazed by the external praise or criticism. For that, you must truly do work that is meaningful to you, have love in your heart for others and help people. And when you achieve inner depth, the external world's rewards won't matter to you as much."

- His Holiness Radhanath Swami

Here in bangkok with tanja,  just drank a few beers and feeling great!  we had a long journey all day today from koh samui where we spent 10 days doing yoga and hanging out on the beach.  we stayed at a great place called lucky mother bungalows.

hanging out for a few days and meeting some friends from hawaii than finilizing our plans for india and heading there on the 13th!  excited to settle down for a bit and learn alot about yoga.

i love you all!

Pictures

Hey there...

Rachel and Christine are home now and here is the link to Rach's Photos....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=160530&id=500182474&l=08b8ac8a2f

I love you all!

Me

Relax :)

ahhhh, i found it! 

After the craziness of phuket we decided to come back to koh phangan.  i had come here with thomas at the beginning and than met the girls and we didnt really have a plan, when we decided we had to get out of phuket because it was kind of like a mini vegas/mexico, really crowded, i knew we should  come back here so we could chill out and stay for a while, traveling back and forth to different places every few days is exhausting so we wanted to spend about 10 days somewhere.  Thong nai pan is the place.   I dont think i've ever been to a place that is more laid back in my whole life.  After a long day of a mini bus ride, regular bus ride, 3 hour boat ride and a bumpy truck ride we arrived.  It was worth it. :) We got dropped off at a place called bamboo bungalows.  Asked if they had a room and the guy brought us to it and opened the door, it was great, a shelf and a hammock and a toilet and shower, perfect we said.  We asked if he wanted us to give him our name or fill out any paperwork or anything, he said no problem.  We asked if we could stay for 10 days, he said no problem and told us how much it was per night.  about $5 a night each, sweet.  we will stay. 

we have had 7 amazing days of beach, friends, fun, and relaxing!  met some wonderful people when we went on a tour in phuket to pi pi island where they filmed the beach.  we only crossed paths for about 5 minutes and hit it off and than a few days later we see them on the small beach we are at :)  meant to be i guess.  we had alot of fun, rented scooters, i was one of the drivers, lucky i feel comfortable riding them, a few of the other drivers were a little scary (no names... haha).  me and tanja went to the half moon party in the jungle. what a crazy experience.  the fire dancers are amazing.  i am teaching myself and trying to find someone to teach me how to do it.  maybe i will light them up before i leave? who knows!

the fruit is amazing here, we have been drinking fresh coconuts and having the best mangos and pineapple!

ive been learning alot, i think even more than i know and ill find out when i get home.  live simply and follow your heart.

me and tanja are going to koh samui and we will spend 10 days at a place called health oasis doing yoga and possibly a detox treatment.  will be wonderful i think!  we leave here on the 30th and christine and rachel are heading home, sad :(

after that we will meet megan my friend from hawaii that is coming to india with me and darren in bangkok and we will see what happens..... fun!

i got an email from someone i met the other day and at the bottom it says......

"Dont Postpone Joy"

thoughts.....

what a wonderful quote, why would we do anything that will keep you from being joyful?  isint that what we all want in life?  Why would we stay in a job that dosent bring us joy?  for the money?  why do you wnat the money? to buy things that dont matter?  money wont bring us joy.  more important is to be around people that make you smile and happy inside. every moment we have a choice, why dont we choose the things that bring us a little closer to joy in our life?  if you are in love with someone and cant be with them for some reason, why dont you just make little choices to bring you closer together, visit? spend time together? get to know each other?  it is worth it.  why not take the time to nurture our souls?  isint that one of the most important things we can do for ourselves? what is more important......?  why dont we do this then?  being stresses, or busy?  bad excuses i think.  every moment we have a choice, choose the things that will bring you closer to joy in your life and away from the opposite.  it will be worth it.  :)

Relax.

wow now is a good time to take a deep breath........after just writing for about an hour about how relaxing and wonderful this place is, i lost the post.  so i will try again but im a little frustrated and hot so i think i need to get out of this internet place. 

we are back on thong nai pan, the beach i came to with thomas at first.  it is so amazing here.  we have been having a great time relaxing, riding mopeds, laying on the beach, reading, and meeting new friends.

here is a quote that i wanted to share with you guys....

"dont postpone joy"

this made me think alot and realize that every moment we have a choice, to choose to do things to bring us closer to joy and love.  why wouldnt we?  think about your choices every day and moment.

me and tanja are heading to a place called the health oasis on koh samui on the 30th to the 10th for some yoga and detox. should be amazing.   christine and rachel are going home :(


i have to go but will try to write again soon.  its hard

i love you!

One amazing week of many I think.

Here I am at the airport waiting to pick up the girls, I read the itinirary wrong and thought they arrived at 9:10 but really that is when their plane left Taipei, so they get here at 11:50. No problem.  I found a free computer at a tourist center so I thought I should use my time wisely and write. 

The food is amazing!  Great flavors and really similar to home at a thai resturant.  Maybe a little simpler here and you can add your spice and stuff.  Green Curry with vegetable is the number one so far.

I took an overnight bus from the Island of Koh Phanang to Bangkok.  Was supposed to get in at 630am but it was on thai time..so we got here at 830.  Thought I was going to be late so I came straight to the airport to get the girls.  Strange that I have all my bags and stuff with me to pick them up.  Oh well.  The bus was nice they gave us a blanket and I could sleep a little. 

Thomas is staying on the island for a few more days then continuing his trip onto Bali.  It was fun to spend a little time with him and it was wonderful that he took me to his favorite place in the world.  I met some of his good friends that he has made over the past 4 years going back there.  What a great place, maybe I will go back with the girls.

One of Thomas' friends is named Big.  He owns a shop called Big Magic Tattoo.  He does traditional thai style bamboo tattooing.  He really is a magical guy.  So talented.  We would just sit in his shop for hours and hang out and talk with him.  There are many people from all over the world who go back to him to get tattooed.  Many of them dont even know what they are going to get and they let him do whatever he feels.  Its alot about the respect of the artist and what he thinks is best.  Ive been thinking for a while of getting a lotus flower on my back, over my heart.  Beautiful symbol of hope and enlightenment as a beautiful flower grows from dark murky waters.  So I thought, why not, if I know I will get it sometime why not from Big?  The night before I was scheduled to get mine thomas says why dont we just stop by and see if anyone is getting one done so at least you know what to expect.  That is when we met kathryn getting a feather on her leg, reminder to be light.  Great!  We ended up staying for her whole tattoo and it was so fascinating to watch and be there while she was getting this done.  I was excited.  Me and big talked a bit about what I was thinking, a lotus with a compass is what i wanted, a reminder to follow your heart.  I showed him a few drawings i had and he said he knew what he was going to do.  :)

Ill give you the short version of the whole day..., talked, cooked eggs and rice for lunch in his kitchen and spent probably 10 hours there, drawing, talking, eating and tattooing.

The way they do the needle is amazing, He has a hard piece of bamboo, long and skinny and than he gets 8 or so just plain needles and makes them even and than wraps them around with plastic and burns it so it tightens really tight and sterilizes of course.

It hurt but not too bad, lots of breathing and trying to have and out of body experience pretending I was watching from above.  Worked a little.

I ended up with a beautiful piece of art on my body and a memory that will last as well, a little bigger than I thought, but i guess they guys name is big so what did i expect?

There are many meanings in the thai buddhist symbols he used, protection, health, good luck, and love. and also a lotus and compass. i feel very blessed and protected.

We head down to phuket tomorrow!  very excited to get out of the city again and back to the beach!

Thinking of you all and wish you were here!  I keep thinking I will see a friend walking down the road.  Maybe it is you in spirit :)

Lots of love!!!

 

Thailand is Magic

I am here on Koh Phangan at an amazing beach.  It has been only a few days and I am already in love with Thailand!  The people, colors, sounds and scenery are so full of life.  Spent 2 nights in Bangkok and have been here for 2 nights so far.  We are staying at a great place called Pen's Bungalows. Reminds me a little bit of kalani and the magic and the people and how things seem to work out.

Heading to bangkok on the overnight bus to see tanja, rachel and christine! So excited for you guys to be here :)
It has been fun hanging out with my friend Thomas in one of his favorite places in the whole world.  Thanks for sharing this special place with me.

I feel very safe here and I found there are many solo women travelers.

Met a great woman named Christina from california who was into yoga and had been to india and free spirit.  we may see each other in india in may.

You meet so many people because everyone is so open to anything that connections happen quick.  Wonderful.

Until next time....I love you.

Phrase of the day...Mai Pen Rai. No Worries/No problem.

Brooke

Jess, Sarah, and Darren. Having fun on the beach and doing acroyoga and avocado beach scubs. :)

 

Living in the Moment

"Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you."-Eckhart Tolle

I am really happy that I decided to come back to Kalani,  I didnt know if I would come back after I left last time, I thought that there were so many other places to go and see and that I had already "done" Kalani and the Big Island.  But for some reason when I was thinking about my travels and what I was going to do I found myself buying a ticket to Hawaii and coming back to Volunteer for a month at Kalani again.  I know that it was for a reason.  New volunteers that I haden't even met yet were saying "welcome home".  ahhh what an amazing place.  There are many new faces and also some old friends that were here last year as well, how great to reconnect in this place.

Sarah came to visit for 10 days!  It was so fun to share my life here with her and she was able to have a great vacation (I hope).  We had alot of fun.  Went on an adventure into a lava tube that took us out to a cliff looking over the ocean, scary and awesome!  Went camping with Darren on the Kona side and we saw some great beaches.  Got to spend time with another friend Jessica over there.

Its amazing how things come together when you just let it go, when we were getting ready to go camping on the other side of the island, we got a car to rent the night before, on the morning we were leaving we were walking around Kalani searching for our camping supplies and within about 5 minutes we were offered a tent, sleeping bag, a bottle of wine and a few brownies. How perfect!

Another exciting thing that is happening.  I will have a set of paintings up for auction at the Urban Yoga Spa's 1st anniversary party/benefit for Boys and Girls Club.  They have some great things up for auction, I just looked at the list.  Check it out, should be a great event...

http://www.urbanyogaspa.com/urbancouture_rsvp.html

You can see the paintings that will be there on my painting blog...http://brooke-acreativesoul.blogspot.com  its called Karma.

Just trying to soak in every day and enjoy every moment as it is going by so fast.  I cannot believe I am leaving here March 8th!  Really excited for Thailand!

Also, a friend that I met here Megan is going to come with me to India and do the yoga training, it will be great to have a friend and travel partner! 

Me and Darren have been doing a little bit of AcroYoga, he took a workshop in Peru so hes been teaching me a little.....thats what we are doing in the pictures....

ALOHA!  Lots of Love!  Until next time....

Brooke

"Once you have made peace with the present moment, see what happens, what you can do or choose to do, or rather what life does through you. There are three words that convey the secret of the art of living, the secret of all success and happiness: One with Life. Being one with life is being one with Now. You then realize that you don't live your life, but life lives you."

Loving the Big Island!

I arrived safely on the Big Island!  It is so sunny and beautiful!  Spending time with my friend Jess that I met at Kalani last year.  Went to a wonderful beach today and saw some whales!  The humpbacks are migrating south for the winter and you will always see splashes of them breaching in the distance.  Today we could see the shape of the tail!  Amazing!

On the plane right here I sat next to a great lady named Starr.  She was from bellevue and a really spiritual and mystical woman.  She told me many stories.  We started chatting because she pulled out her knitting and I asked her to teach me, she told me she just goes with the flow and that its all about the colors (sounds familiar), she makes hats.  She said she asked her angels to sit next to someone interesting and it worked out.  She taught me alot and we are going to get together when I go back to Seattle.

Had the best Kona coffee this morning with coconut :)

Im heading over to Kalani on Friday and will start work shortly after.  Im really excited to see some of the people I will know from last year.  Also my friend Tyler is volunteering for a month too so it will be fun to spend time with him too.

And Sarah comes on Monday!  Cannot wait to share this magical place with you!!!

I love you all and wish I could have taken you from rainy Seattle with me!

Peace.

Vagabonding...

Itinerary: Hawaii 5 weeks, Thailand 5 weeks, India 5 weeks (at least).

I will use this space to share photos, thoughts and inspiration along the way….

Peace.