By Vanessa Fleming, yoga teacher 

Intuition. It’s a powerful magic that lives within all of us. It’s also known as your “gut.” We often ignore our gut. We think that our higher brain can outsmart our bellies.

And that’s where my Thai Massage teacher will say to you, “Too much thinking! Headache!” and then pretend to bop you on the head.

It was intuition that lead me to this teacher, Pichest Boonthumme. In December, I was home for the holidays, resting and relaxing. I hadn’t purchased my return ticket to Morocco just yet. Something was holding me back. I talked to a friend about it.

“Why don’t you go back to Thailand and work on your Thai Massage?” he said.

And just like that, I knew what was the right thing to do. My friend made the absolute right suggestion. So I purchased my ticket to Thailand, and just a little over 3 weeks later, I landed in Chiang Mai.

And now I’m in the throes of my Thai Massage studies. I used to call it training, but I’ve quickly dropped that from my language, just as quickly as I was reminded that Thai Massage is a lifelong study and review. You can’t train for this. You have to learn to feel. You can learn the basic pressure points and energy lines, but you can’t do the same thing on every body…because every body is different.
And you must, must, must…feel. The intuition in this practice is the most important piece of the work.

Watching Pichest work is the pure embodiment of using this intuition to practice. I’ve heard him tell things to people about themselves that were confirmed to be true, even though he’s never spoken to this person before in his entire life. His harness of intuition is that strong.

Last week, I witnessed the rawness of emotion in the body through his simple touch and technique. A man came to class to receive healing. He was a heavy man, telling us he weighed 115kg (that’s around 260lbs). I’d guess him to be around 45 years old. Very crippled in his body. Especially in his hips, where he was so very tight. No mobility whatsoever.

So Pichest went right in. Immediately, the man winced. But Pichest didn’t let that deter him. He was gentle but firm. Confident but loving. He listened to everything this man’s body was saying. The changes came in almost immediately. Just a few minutes of work and compression and you could see the vast changes in this man’s body.

As Pichest continued to work, you could physically see the emotion running for a place to exit this man’s body. It was only about 10 minutes into the practice and work that this man was overtaken by emotion. The whole room could feel it. A collective gasp spread through each person. Such a huge release and it was only the beginning.

Witnessing this was so very intense. And fascinating. So very fascinating.

And it’s there where I sat and observed. I let that wave of emotion wash over me the whole day. I just absorbed what was happening around me.

Had I not followed my intuition, I would not have witnessed this. I would not have continued this path of studies and I would not have been living my truth. My truth is, I’m on this path to continue to witness the power of the spiritual body through yoga, energy, meditation, and contemplation. Thai Massage is another pathway on this adventure. The power of touch can bring so much into someone, or bring that trapped emotion out of someone.

So I continue this practice, this healing practice, and I continue to bear witness to the subtle or intense moments. I continue to listen to what my body feels when I work this practice on someone, and not rely on what I think I should be doing. It’s a headache, after all!

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By Milda Urban, Summersalt Yoga founder

Thai cooking! Do I have your attention yet? Those who follow us on social media may have noticed that our retreat team is spending some time in Southeast Asia. And we’re not just traveling or escaping winter, we’re also trying to get new ideas, inspiration and training for our own retreat and you – our lovely yogis.

Vanessa (our yoga teacher) is doing her Thai massage course in Chiang Mai and I (Milda – chef of the kitchen) took a Thai vegetarian cooking class as I’ve been dying to learn a few new tricks and add some new recipes to our retreat menu. Boy, was I right to take the class!

Even if it’s called vegetarian – all the recipes were actually vegan – which made it all even better!

Starting with a local market visit just across the street I got a chance to learn a little bit more about the Thai produce. Various herbs (local basic, kaffir, the special Thai ginger, coriander…), veggies (Thai aubergine for example looks completely different than the one in Europe), various types of tofu, delicious mangoes…

Don’t forget all the local grandmas selling all that stuff or cooking on the spot – if you’re willing you can just grab your fully cooked lunch here. It all looked and felt so alive and was just calling to be bought and eaten.

After the tour I got to the kitchen where my teacher Diana explained the most important elements of Thai cooking (you’ll have to take a class to find out what those are  ) and then… I finally got a knife and started chopping!

In a few hours I made what felt like a hundred dishes – green, red, massaman Thai curries (I personally am completely obsessed with the Thai curries…) , fresh rolls, dips, salads, sticky rice… And it all worked out perfectly! I am not bragging here – just pointing out that Thai cooking can really be so easy and quick and if you’re a fan you can very simply incorporate a few dishes in your meals.

Guys, the class has awaken my inner menu generator and I already know which of the dishes I will be offering to our guests and which ideas I can implement or adapt to our kitchen.

Bon apetit and namaste!

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By Milda Urban, Summersalt yoga founder

One of the best life lessons we get in life is the once learned traveling.

Packing bags to move on to a new destination – Hanoi to Bangkok to Siem Reap – it’s what’s on agenda this morning. It’s been more than a month on the road in Southeast Asia and 5 out of 6 countries are visited by now. Not enough time, not enough places seen, but regretting something on a journey like this would be crazy as it has already taught me so much! And if I had to describe what traveling is to me in 2 words it would be – living and learning.

Thailand so far is one of my favorite places here. My main goal for the time there was to just be and figure out the next steps personally and professionally – including how to make our retreats better, more interesting and a deeper experience for the guests. (Also – sunbathe, swim, eat Thai food and drink fresh coconut juice. Duuuh.). It’s what moves me forward: building on things, coming up with ways to make experiences better, and in the end feeling like everyone has gotten the most of them.

Well, but what happens when you travel and especially in a place like Thailand is that it draws you in and changes your well-crafted plans without you even noticing. Here’s what I’ve learned so far – my 3 life lessons traveling.

Life lesson no.1: LET THINGS HAPPEN

So, I did not sit in a cozy café (which Chiang Mai – one of the most amazing places I’ve seen – is full of) with my laptop and write down a plan or an outline. I did not spend a few hours daily discussing strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. And I definitely did not figure out my mission by scribbling endless key words in a notebook. My biggest conundrums were solved on a 4-hour trip back from Golden Triangle (where 3 countries – Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos – meet at the Mekong River). I wasn’t even forcing myself to contemplate, I was just sitting on the bus, and thoughts, ideas and solutions were flowing through me. I did not write down any of that at this point. (I did it on the 12-hour bus drive from Luang Prabang to Vientiane). It came to me, just because my mind was open and also shaken. Shaken by all the new things I’ve seen and maybe couldn’t put a finger at first. However, my brain took that new information, absorbed it, processed it, and included in the formula that was needed to solve my questions and dilemmas. To come up with the solutions I needed new information and new stimuli, something that my conscious mind could not describe, but the subconscious very well knew and I just had to let things happen.

Life lesson no.2: LET GO OF CONTROL – ACCEPT

My other plan for Chiang Mai was to go and sit and meditate in a temple. Cliché, I know, but that’s what I wanted. Well, it didn’t work out. I didn’t have time and the last day when I got to the temple in my neighborhood it was literally closing down for the night. You know what, usually I would be quite bummed out and disappointed, but after the bus experience I knew – I will find another chance, in another place. It’s okay. Sometimes I just have to let things happen without reacting to them, I need to accept them the way they are without trying to control the uncontrollable. That goes a lot against my nature (and to many of us I’m sure), but one of my small goals for this trip and generally life was to learn accept, let go of that imaginary control leash, see how it all pans out in the end and simply move on.

Life lesson no.3: SAY YES TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Opportunities in life come and go all the time. However, when you are in your comfort zone – in your hometown, surrounded by familiar places, faces and drills it is easy to become a little numb to new things, to not notice them at all, or feel just too comfortable with your current place in life. It’s different when traveling. Every little thing pops and seems to be new and exciting (or scary). And because you are already out of your comfort zone it is easier to grab those new things by the tail and just do it. So DO IT. I saw a cooking class – something I always wanted to do, but never got to – and I did it. It was one of the best things so far. Why didn’t I do it before you ask? I don’t know, but these moments are great reminders of how aware should we be about things happening around us, how mindful should we be about opportunities that sometimes hide in plain sight.

I am now starting my journey to Cambodia – I am sure it will meet me with new challenges, experiences, and emotions. I’m a little nervous, but it’s fine because nervous is good, it means it matters, I care and can’t wait to live and learn from it!

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