Monks Procession, Yoga and Laos National Museum

by Pete Adams
(Luang Prabang, Laos)

Yoga in Luang Prabang

Thursday 20th December 2007

In living, be close to the land.
In meditation , go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling, be competent.
In daily life, be competent.
In action, be aware of the time and the season.

Lao Tzu

Yesterday
On the way from the bank to the travel agents yesterday morning, I spotted a sign offering free Yoga lessons between 8 and 9 in the mornings, so I set an alarm on my phone. A little later whilst I was standing outside the travel agents having a smoke (yes Mum, I know, I will give up soon - don't worry), a guy (Gerrard) came up to me & "bummed" a cigarette.

Gerrard

We chatted a little & he asked if I knew about the Yoga lessons. He also mentioned the Monks procession at 6am so I thought as I was getting up early I might as well make it a little earlier. Finally he asked if I'd been up "The Mound" yet. This is a big hill in the middle of Luang Prabang which overlooks the city. He recommended I take the long walk up the steps. So I did that yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately I left it a little late so it was getting dark when I took the pictures.


Steps leading up to The Mound


A view from the Top


Buddha Statues inside the Temple on top

Today

Buddhist Procession
So, today my morning was pretty much planned. Up at 5.30 and short walk to where the Monks Procession begins. Basically the Monks walk along a route to receive gifts of food from the locals. Whilst I was waiting a young girl took an interest in my phone / camera so I took a picture of her. She was smiling when I pressed the button!







Yoga
I arrived a little late as I'd forgotten exactly where it was, but was beckoned to join in. Despite being very close to a main road, the setting was beautiful and peaceful.



The Yoga itself was not easy for me as I'm not exactly flexible, but I'm getting better & with peactice I'm sure I'll improve and benefit in mind body and soul, which is what Yoga is all about. I noticed on the sign that the Yoga teacher was a Reiki Master, so after the lesson I talked with her about Reiki. She (Meena) was very encouraging to me to get me to properly complete my "21 days" which I should have done after being initiated into Reiki 1.


Meena

We spoke about Reiki and Yoga for a while and she asked me if I practiced the Reiki prayer. I was a bit confused by this so she asked me if I'd like to join her as she hadn't done hers yet today. Meena sang / chanted whilst we stood facing the sun and then harnessed the sun's energy directing it to our chakra's. It's a little difficult to describe but it was very moving and afterwards we gave each other a big hug.

If you are in Luang Prabang and would like to learn or practice yoga, or receive some Reiki healing, take a look at Meena's blog to see more information, pictures and contact details.

Meena's husband (who'd been taking pictures of the Yoga session earlier - hopefully he'll send me a picture or two - hint, hint :-) joined us for a cup of tea afterwards and we spoke a little about Turkey as they are thinking of visiting. It's my last day in Laos tomorrow so I'll be up early again for another Yoga lesson.

The National Museum
After Yoga I wandered back & went to the National Museum. We had to leave camera's and phones in a locker so I don't have any pictures of the inside. The museum was the former residence of the king & Queen. The pictures below are of the temple in the grounds.





Well, for today, That's All Folk's

Peace