Day 10 - acupuncture and mindfulness

Hey travel journal,
So the typhoon was super anticlimactic. It was pretty much a regular brissy summer storm. Some strong winds and a heavy rain. Apart from the branches around the grounds of uni, you wouldn't even know it happened. Except for the poor girls on the other side of our dorm. Because there is no external glass on the windows of our dorm at either end (I'm assuming to allow for wind passage to reduce damage in typhoon season) the rain came straight through and hit that side of the buidling. When I got up and looked down the other end of the hall I saw water everywhere, which for sure would have gone under the doors and into the rooms. Our end of the building was completely uneffected. Actually, I slept through the whole thing. But good thing was, it passed really quickly so no classes where cancelled :) so, up early, got ready and headed over to a class room. It was like a normal lecture room with desks and chairs and a screen and projector at the front. Except the back and side of the room were lined with made hospital beds - clearly a nursing training room. We took our seats and settled in for our first 3 hr lecture (which I was honestly worried I wouldn't struggle through. 3 hrs is a long time). The lecturer is was a doctor who is an acupuncturist. She talked about what chi is, and how the body is made up of Maridions that run the length of the body and how everything is connected. The importance of the yin and yang balance and how the natural cycles of the body should be listened to. She spent time going through a few of the points - what they are, what they do, their anatomical location, and got us to find them on ourselves. She also came around and showed us, which was painful when you find a point with your fingers because of the amount of pressure that needs to be applied but super cool. Then she gave us all an alcohol swab and an acupuncture needle and we put it in our hands on the webbing between the thumb and forefinger)(position L14) to help with headaches and cold & flu symptoms. Which is quite fitting because the flu seems to be making the rounds through the Aussies. She was impressed with my positioning and I got the needle in first go, but she took over and twisted it further in for me, which is good because she put it deeper then I probably would have but it was definitely in the right place. Then I just sat and chatted for 25 mins with the needle in my hand. Then after what felt like 10mins of the class starting it had been over 3 hrs and we had an hr to organise some lunch. Sharni wasn't feeling the best so she headed back to the dorm while the rest of us went to what we have now effectionately named eat street or food street. Which is the local markets where all the food vendors are. We had originally planned on going to a dumpling restaurant for lunch but after walking over there we found it was closed. There are definitely more options on food street at night, but we still had loads to choose from. We ended up stopping at this place that did these meals that had rice, beef in gravey with onion and garlic, cabbage, sprouts, vegetables and a fried egg on top. It was super peppery, but super tasty. We got our food and I got a juice from the juice shop (wanted pineapple but think I got guava?? Meh still cold and refreshing - it was hit and muggy as shit today). We headed back to the classroom, picking up Sharni on the way and sat on the front porch (no food allowed in the rooms) and ate. Then we headed back in and the desks had been moved to line the room in a u shape. The afternoon lecture was on meditation and mindfulness. The lecturer was amazing. She is a oncologist at the local hospital (well on of the local hospitals), a Chinese medicine specialist and a monk. She was calm and realistic and tried to involve everyone and encouraged participation. She talked about what mindfullness is and how it integrates with today's modern society (not just completely bagging smartphones, etc). She also talked about acceptance and how life is a cycle and how once we learn that things and people never end they just change shape (for example, a cloud doesnt stop existing when you can't see it, it becomes rain, which becomes water, which can be used in tea or to grow crops, etc) then we can stop being afraid of the what if, and start living in the present. At various points throughout her presentation she got us to stop and meditate for 1 minute at a time. She talked about how meditation is different for everyone and it can be as simple as being completely present in yourself at that point in time. Whether you have your eyes closed or open, or sitting watching a river or what ever it may be. That personalising it is ok, but deep breathing and mindfulness should be incorporated. Her presentation was a lot longer then she actually presented which we should hopefully get a copy of from the buddies. She wanted to focus more on what she called games or exercises. One that we did was that we stood in teams, two lines of 6 across from each other. The person at the front held a bowl that was filled to the brim with water. They then had to stand on one foot and jump 5 times, while spilling as little water as possible. Then pass it to the next person who did the same and repeat. At the end of the first line, they had to fill a slightly smaller bowl with the water that was left over from the bigger bowl (ours still completely filled the little bowl) and the process started again. I was the 12th person in our group. We were the second group to finish. And when comparing the three groups final bowls to decide who had the most water left, we totally won - team 'compassion' for the win :) (at the beginning of class we all had to give ourselves team names, we had things like trust, tranquillity, Zen, etc). The second game was on a piece of paper we had to individually draw a labrenth. Mine was a circle and had four sections but was kinda like a yin yang. It had two exits and I named them faith and honesty. I made my start point right in the centre with Honesty being easier to get to then faith. I was meant to put myself on the labrenth somewhere but I couldn't quite decide on a spot. Everyone had such different shapes and mazes and names for the exits. It was really interesting. Then right at the end of class we did half an hr of Tai chi. Which was very cool. It's kind of like yoga, but you never really stop moving, it's like constant flowing motion. The time went so quick I can't believe how fast the 3hrs went. After class Sam was talking to her about learning natural medicine here in Taipei and she gave her the name of the institution I think she runs or is very involved with and her contact details and said once she has graduated back home, if she is still keen to contact her. Very cool. Then we headed back to the dorm, where I read for a bit and then hung out in Sam, Sara and Sharni"s room with the girls and Sophie. Sara isn't very well and had fallen asleep while we were chatting and then the rest of us headed out to dinner with salami, Andy, Toni and Jim. We went down to the sushi express and Sharni ate her. Weight in sushi. It was pretty fun. After dinner the group wanted to head into town to go to the night markets and I knew the party girls had headed out to girls night at a club somewhere, but I decided to have a night in. So they headed to the train station and I headed back to the dorm. When I got back I just sat outside and enjoyed the breeze and quite for a bit and then headed up to the dorm. I just hung around, watch Netflix, tidied, took the rubbish out, physio exercises, showered - you know typical, boring, night in - have the dorm to your self type stuff and climbed into bed. All and all it was an awesome day and I am glad it didn't get cancelled. Tomorrow is cupping and a Chinese pharmacy visit. So it should be another exciting one :) night xoRead more