Anahata Mystery School : Delving into the Heart's Mysteries in Pai

A poem about that time I went to do a one week retreat at the Anahata Mystery School in Pai, Northern Thailand

Have you ever been to a Mystery School? I have, and I wrote a poem about my stay there.

It was the year 2013, and I was on my 6 month inadvertent (totally unplanned) tour around temples, Buddhist monasteries, hedonist bougie beach communities and retreat centres, seeking an answer to that question: what is love?, after being summarily left (over email) by a man who I truly thought was “the one” at that time.

At the Sanctuary on Koh Phangan in Thailand - part beach hedonistic high on shroom hippie party paradise (I think that film ‘The Beach’ was inspired by this place), part guesthouse, part mystic ‘tea temple’ and part yoga retreat, part rich London expat hideaway, I found a book with the title of my search: What is Love : The Spiritual Purpose of Relationships by a man named Frank Vilaasa.

Finally, I thought - this will have the answer that I seek!!!

I bought the book from the Tea Temple bookshop, and I read it in a few hours. Turns out the answer was much more complicated than I had thought! :)

The Answer had to do with moving from a self dominated by the ego (what I want, what I need, how I want it to be, how I think it should be and how I think you should be) to a self that had developed enough to have compassion for other people while also holding onto compassion for itself. And of course, a balanced self. Because a self which is too self-less (thinking mainly about ‘the other's’ wants and needs) can become co-dependent, needing constant validation from the one it loves, finding identity in loving the one it loves and feeling empty when the loved one is not there. This was my situation. Maybe still is! And for this reason I remain single for the moment.

Though I highly recommend that you read this book, in the end I understood that true love is a question of maturity, and of being able to see all your patterns and those of your partner, be with them without punishment or blame of the other, and evolve together. True love, more than anything, needs us to be radically honest, and transparent. And it needs us also to be fearless. If we are too afraid to reveal ourselves fully, for fear that our beloved will be spooked by our shadows, we can’t really fully open to love.

Fascinated by the well documented answer to this eternal question, I turned over the last page to find out more about the author of this book, and, surprise, surprise, much to my delight, I saw that he lived in Northern Thailand (I was at this time still on Koh Phangan in the South of Thailand) in a small mountain village called Pai.

There, with his partner, he ran the Anahata (Heart) Mystery School. So I contacted him, asked if I could visit, and organised to stay there for a week. At the time I was running my online magazine, The Global Yogi, so I was able to organise to promote his School in exchange for my stay. (Thank you, Universe! And, Frank!).

During this 6 month tour, where sometimes I found myself totally out of cash, I learned that whatever the heart truly wants, from a pure place, the universe will find a way to organise that for you. As long as that desire is true and you wish for it with all your heart.

My drawing of Anahata Mystery School, Pai, Northern Thailand.

So, here is my poem about this beautiful week in my life.

Pai Mystery School

August 2013, Pai, Thailand

I came to Pai one rainy dawn
On the mini bus from Chiang Mai
I carried with me my worldy goods
And my heart balanced between my hands

Bound for Anahata Mystery School I was
I knew not for why or what

But I did know that there I must go, 
For my heart had made my plans

And there I found a land of clouds
In a valley oh so green

And a white house floating on a hill
Next to a monastery

And in that house upon the hill
Amongst the flowers and trees

Lived Frank and Sentha
Two beams of light
Two guides for alchemy

I spent five days 
Up there with them
Meditating up in the clouds

With braveheart Bonnie
And kundalini Kim
We breathed in the mystery

Each day we stretched 
And reached up high
Arms open to receive

And then we danced
Jumping up and down
Watching our blockages release

Starting from our base chakras
We journeyed up through our bodies

Feeling softly at each point
Our subtle energies

Now it is done 
Our inside trip
Time to go back to the town

And test out newfound understandings
To see what we have found

If you find yourself in Pai one day
And your heart will not be still

You would do well to pay a visit
To the white house on the hill.

---

Have you ever visited a Mystery School? I would love to hear about it in the comments!

Want to read the book: What is Love: The Spiritual Purpose of Relationships by Frank Vilaasa? I recommend that you look for it at your local bookshop, as I am firm believer in supporting brick and mortar bookshops, but failing that, you can also find it on Amazon.

If you’d like to visit the Anahata Mystery School, you can find Frank on Linkedin and Contact him there.

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