Notes from Southeast Asia ~ October 7, 2023
Like a good movie that needed no editing,
there was not a day I would have wanted to miss.
We are having an amazing adventure, first in Bali, then Vietnam and now Cambodia.
Some highlights:
- Bali as a spiritual pilgrimage, doing water purification rituals, visiting night temples on Hindu holy days
- Balinese Women’s Center, in the mountains, providing a healing place for women and children.
- Motorcycle ride around the city of Saigon with sweet Vietnamese women
- Visit to the War Memorial in Vietnam, seeing photos and hearing stories of that time
- Visit to Killing Fields in Cambodia
- Cruise along the Mekong, noticing the juxtaposition of the old and the new, with daily meditation and yoga
Because we are practicing Mindfulness, in addition to morning yoga and meditation, we have used our practice as we have experienced the War Memorial in Vietnam and the Killing Fields in Cambodia.
This is what strikes me…
Whether you think about it in terms of humanity, nations, communities or individuals…
There is no time for anything less
Than truly appreciating the brief
Interaction we have with one another.
And
We’re not going to survive unless we walk
Gently on this earth together,
Until we touch something in others that
Feels just like the shards of our own pain,
The fluttering warmth of our own joy,
Until we sew their wounds into our hearts
And seal it with our own skin
These experiences are what, for me, links mindfulness with travel.
We are opening our hearts to what is and has been, the hurt and the healing, and have met so many beautiful people, making the world better, one breath at a time.
~~~~~~
Kate is leading the Southeast Asia Immersion Retreat and Tour.
More photos are available on Instagram/
