Greetings!
Here I am, waiting to drive to Philadelphia to attend a weekend seminar by the famous Lonnie Jarrett on treating trauma with Chinese medicine sponsored by the Association of Professional Acupuncture. Last week, I watched Taoist priest Jeffrey Yuen’s seminar on Geriatrics on live streaming. (I had studied Pediatrics with him in Columbia, MD last year. I will attend his seminar on Trauma Care at the New England School of Acupuncture early next year.) It’s a good way to celebrate one’s 74th birthday (75th in Chinese reckoning).
Seems like as I get older, it is getting more and more difficult to recover from jet lag. I was away from July 25 to October 2. Part of the time was spent in the Philippines (the islands and Manila) and part of it was spent in Bali (2 weeks) and Myanmar (8 days). I taught a seminar on Jade Mountain CNT and INAM TaoRen Terapi in Homonhon, one of the islands devastated by the Typhoon Haiyan (called Yolanda in the Philippines), then taught a seminar in Bali, flew back to Manila and taught 6 seminars, spent 8 days in Myanmar, returned to Manila and taught a short seminar and finally came back to Easton, PA. Thanks sincerely to those who made donations to help make these seminars possible.
I am posting several items on my website. [Updates daily over the next week.] There is a blog report with photos on the healing mission to Homonhon Island in late July. There are photos from my 2 weeks in Bali, some of them featuring processions – one was for the goddess, the other was during the week of cremations. And there are photos of Myanmar. (It was quite an experience
and perversely exciting to fly on Malaysian Airlines from Manila to Yangon via Kuala Lumpur and back.) I also have poems written in Bali last January. There’s as well a prose poem from an earlier trip. And a special essay on getting older: It took me almost 3 years to finish it; but in a real sense, it is still unfinished. I do not think there’s anything final about these reflections; after all, one’s perspective may change over time.
Last year, in October there were also trips to Argentina (Buenos Aires) and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and the magical waterfalls they share, Iguazu. There was also a short visit to Iceland in September. I’ll share the Argentina and Brazil photos later.
No other trip is planned this year. But in early January 2015 there’s a wedding to attend in Cebu, one of the islands south of Manila.There’s an invitation to teach Jade Mountain CNT organs massage at the medical college in Bicol south of Manila. Details are being discussed. Next year there’s a plan for an extended visit to the Philippines sometime in September and October. I hope I could teach a few seminars at the time.
Cheers!
Rene