Though I’ve only had 5 full days at New Life, I’m already beginning to notice slight changes. We did this awesome breathing cleansing exercise one morning and an hour and a half later when I went running under my diaphragm it felt so much lighter and easier to breath (N.B I have only been running since getting here.) Then today, I ran 6kms (which I wasn’t even running at home) but I could get myself in these amazing zone by focusing attention on my breath and then when I ha said “okay I’ll stop up at this point” and minutes later I noticed I’d infant gone way past it and was in no need of stopping.

Here they say to think of meditation as like when you have a lass of muddy water that’s been stirred and then you leave it to sit, the mud will sink to the bottom and separate. This is the effect of mediation. I can’t seem to grasp it, so every class I either leave sleepy and/ or frustrated that after 2-3 breath my mind wanders. But running is something different!

Dance mandala; or dancing meditation (with your eyes closed!)

In the afternoons we finish our days with an hour meditation (which I still can’t grasp more than for 3 breaths) and an hour yoga class again outdoors and this place is perfectly positioned to see both the sun rising and the sun setting.

It’s not much but it’s absolutely perfect by me. I haven’t had a room to myself in 3 months! Or a bathroom for that matter. Most of the residence have jazzed up their rooms with lanterns and bed spreads and pictures and candles and quotes but right now this is heaven for me!

I’ve been running every morning when people are working and spending my time enjoying some much appreciated “me time” right here.

I’ve actually found that this part of the day is my favourite. Every morning a gong (though the first morning I slept through it) rings at 5:45 and by 6 the out door yoga hall (pictured below) is filled with sleepy souls. But by 6:30, when the sunrises and we begin out ‘sun salutations’ (a yoga sequence) as the sun is rising, I’ve never enjoyed being awake more! It really is the perfect time and place to practice!

From 9:30pm till 8am we practice “Nobel silence” which is actually surprisingly beautiful. This whole class is done in silence (bar the teacher) and we have an hour for breakfast, in silence too! So scattered outside in various nooks and places we are encouraged to eat breakfast slowly and appreciate every part of eating. These have been my favourite hours of the day!

So I’ve spent the last days since I left Jay (me crying like a baby at the airport again, I promise this will be the last airport goodbye!) at New Life Foundation retreat, and what an incredible experience it has been. Basically there is a famous monastery here in Thailand that addicts go to detox. 3 years ago, a millionaire coccain addict went to the monastery and after witnessing that 90% of people relapse after there month is up, purely because there isn’t enough support to follow and focus on their minds he bought the HUGE land and helped two previous addicts and men that attended the monastery set up this place as a retreat and follow up for people to go not only after the monastery but on their own accord as well as for various other conditions, depression, anxiety, ratting disorders etc.

As well as this the entire place’s aim is to be fully sustainable. So they grow there own fruits, vegetables (the mushrooms are amazing as are the papayas and I hated papaya before I came here), even rice, milk and duck eggs. So they welcome volunteers with open arms. All the guests and residents work for 3-4 hours a day during the week helping to keep this place sustainable and running. From gardening, milking cows, building mud bricks to build new buildings to composting.

So we be been eating 3 meals a day of almost all fully home grown meals, 90% of the choices are vegetarian (to lower their Eco-footprint) and some meals are eaten in complete silence! As a guest here I don’t have to work if I don’t want to and as I was put on weeding the first day (and weeding is definitely not my thing) I took the work time to go running on my own, exploring the area, reading and basking in the sun.

I came for relaxation to New life. But there are so many people here on all different journeys. The environment is so open and welcoming, but on top of this so inspiring. The stories I’ve heard and the people I’ve met, their progress and battles they have overcome and the general energy being surrounded by so many people wanting nothing more than to better themselves. This has truly been an awe inspiring and magical experience that I’m so grateful for.

The storm came and just in time as we arrived at “The Last Bar” and a minute after happy hour. So we spent the afternoon drinking strong $3.50 cocktails (it only took 2 to get Jay drunk) and playing pool, to which Jay got to witness my improved pool technique thanks to the English boys training and so I’m now almost able to beat him!

Long tail boats serving everything from pad Thai to lemonade to coconuts. One happy camper!