The Story of SUAN SOMPOUSince mid 2013, it has been our aspiration to introduce Health Retreats in the tradition of Plum Village to Thailand and Asia.
Health Retreats, promoting a holistic approach to health-focused spiritual practice have been conducted for almost 20 years, mainly in Plum Village and France and are becoming increasingly popular around the world. Inspired by classical pilgrimages such as Camino de Santiago and Shikoku Henro, Sangha Sompou together with Thây Pháp Lữ, senior Dharma teacher of Plum Village and founder of the Health Retreats, conducted the first ever Itinerant Health Retreat in 2015, walking from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son. Itinerant Health Retreats; walking on traditional paths from one village to another and staying at authentic homestay accommodations, provides the most conducive conditions for the practice of the present moment and openness. The current route of ‘In Search of the Song of the Gibbon’ retreat, starts and finishes in Mae Hong Son town, has been offered for the first time in 2016, and has been further refined over the years. This beautiful through-hike takes us through the old paths in various kind of mountainous virgin forests, peaking with the observation of daybreak at Doi Pui, the summit of Mae Hong Son province, has become very popular and will continue to be our definitive yearly Health Retreat. On the same route in 2018, we also conducted the first ever global Health Retreat for Young People called ‘Wake Up and Slim Down’, which will also continue to be a yearly program for young people all around Asia. After years of aspiring to develop something for novice hikers, we offered for the first time in Jan 2019, a residential health retreat named 'Walking in the Footsteps of the Elephants', on site at the recently completed Suan Sompou Practice Center and continue to offer this retreat annually. Continuing on the theme of health, we organized our first Fasting Retreat, aptly named (perhaps) ‘Fast like a Tiger‘ in January 2020 and due to the importance of fasting for our health, will let it become an annual event. Suan Sompou (Sompou Gardens), was built in 2020 not only with the aim to organize residential health retreats and like-minded events from other traditions but as well to provide a dedicated space for the daily practice of mindful living with special focus on Health & Ecology. This modest practice center is highly complementary to already established practice centers in the Plum Village tradition all over the world. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic prohibited the organizing of any events in the brand-new practice center during the winter season 2020-21 as well as 2021-22. "Sompou" means "Roselle" in local Shan language. Roselle is an important plant in Shan cuisine and highly popular as herbal tea in Thailand and Africa. |
Testimonials (English)
Retreaters Share Their Experiences!
NEW 2021
What was meant to be a relaxing year-end trip to Thailand turned out to be an unexpected hiking and health retreat.
In this article, our volunteer writer, Will takes us with him on a trip to the highlands of Northern Thailand, shares how the trip became a transformative experience and the lessons that he has since brought into his daily life.
Read the whole article here...
#calmcollectiveasia #mindful #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #mentalwellbeing
What was meant to be a relaxing year-end trip to Thailand turned out to be an unexpected hiking and health retreat.
In this article, our volunteer writer, Will takes us with him on a trip to the highlands of Northern Thailand, shares how the trip became a transformative experience and the lessons that he has since brought into his daily life.
Read the whole article here...
#calmcollectiveasia #mindful #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #mentalwellbeing
Facebook posts/diary of Tidarat (Da). A friend who inspired her to join did not clearly point out the degree of physical condition needed for the ‘Gibbon’ retreat. However, she responded to the challenges wonderfully well, with a positive attitude, concentration and mindfulness.
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Day 1 S.E.A.L https://www.facebook.com/Mathidah/posts/10214851662235504
Day 2 G.O.L.L.U.M https://www.facebook.com/Mathidah/posts/10214852410934221 Day 3 S.T.R.O.N.G https://www.facebook.com/Mathidah/posts/10214854069255678 Day 4, First part C.O.N.Q.U.E.R https://www.facebook.com/Mathidah/posts/10214859821799488 Day 4, Second part F.A.S.T.I.N.G https://www.facebook.com/Mathidah/posts/10214862746512604 Day 5 H.A.P.P.Y https://www.facebook.com/Mathidah/posts/10214869393678779 Her Facebook post a year after joining the Health Retreat: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217626320720232&set=a.1465515728280&type=3&theater |