Thailand 2012 part 3

Stray animals
If you are very emotional and feel a deep connection with animals, Thailand is a tough place to go to. There are stray animals all over, most of them very starved and sick. It hurt everytime I looked at them, well knowing I couldn't do much but feed them here and now. At some points it was worse than others. This one day I found a flock of tiny puppies and their starving mom. There were about 5 puppies and the poor mom had to feed them all. She was so skinny and everytime a puppy came over to get some milk, she pushed them away, without a doubt caused by hunger. So I went out to try and find some raw meat for her, but it was late at night and almost everything was closed. Luckely I found a market that had chickensticks and I bought some for her. Some other tourists also felt the same dispair as I, and went out on the search for food for her in order for her to be able to stay alive and also feed her puppies.
It all culminated one of the last days, during the yoga retreat. I went to town to stock up on fruits and near the fruitmarket I saw this very skinny black little kitten. I tried to give it some water and banana and it took a little. I took it in my arms to give it some affection and its huge brown eyes staired directly into mine. At that moment all thinking seized and every cell in my body said that I should do everything in my power to help that poor kitten. I made sure it was no ones kitten and then I took on the cap. Throughout the capride, the kitten was pretty scared because of the noisy ingiene and bumpy ride in the mountains. So when I arrived at the retreat I was all teared up, feeling like I carried all the emotional weight the kitten had. One of the guys, Neil, at the retreat saw this and came to my rescue. He was so kind to let the kitten stay at his house for a little while until we found a home for it. Without Neil I had no idea what else to do. I had really not thought it through, I had just gone with my emotions.
We found out that the island luckely had a AnimalCareCenter for stray animals! A place where it could get fed and healthy. But even better than that, one of the yogastudents took the cat to her home.

The worst part was that the cat thought I was its mother. It had probably been abadoned by a hungry mother and left on its own. It always seeked me and looked for nipples under my legs, whenever I sat down. It broke my heart knowing that I had to abandon it too. I am praying with all my heart that it is in safe hands now and brings someone joy.
People told me: "it is just a cat, a lot of animals suffer, it is nature, why do you care so much about it??". I can see that perspective, but my heart cannot. And those stray animals do not suffer because of nature, they suffer because of humans. We brought them there. We seized to take care of them. Dogs and cats are mostly animals that we humans bring with us.

The daily yogapractice sent me through some intense inner and outer detox. My skin got real bad and emotionally it was a rollercoaster ride. One day I felt like the happiest person on earth, next day I was held down by old negative thought patterns. All the teatchers told me that this was very normal and that the very best things was to dettacht from every single emotion.

As mentioned the yoga retreat was really the highlight of this journey. I have never felt as stabile, harmonious and balanced as I felt there. The whole energy at the retreat was so good, so I was not amazed when I found out that this particular retreat was very famous amoung tourist on the island. The very important things I learned there can be summed up:

• I learned how important a daily astangapractice is for my wellbeing physically and mentally.
• I learned a lot from the wonderfull people, whom sorrounded me. A most important thing was not to take life so seriously, in  a joyfull, playfull way. Life is just a short experience. That it something I need to remind myself often since I very easily get caught up in emotions.
• I learned that heaven on earth is at a yoga retreat in koh Phangan ;) Or maybe just in my own head.

View from Yogaclass

Going home
When it was time to go home, every single cell in my body screamed "NO!! STAY!!". But I knew that I also had to learn to find paradise within myself and not only conditioned by my sorroundings, so I took the heartbreaking trip home.
It has been quite a setback to get home to DK and eat the importet fruits we have here. Luckily dates save the day, but it will never be the same.
The trip taught me so much and gave so many experiences and encounters with wonderfull people and I am so gratefull for it all. It also ensured me that I will not be able to survive another winter here in DK, so I am already planning my trip to India and Thailand again this winter. So many adventures ahead!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip. I will make some new posts soon with practical advice to stay 811 when young and just in general.