lannayoga.com

Crystals and Energy Work in Chiang Mai





Videos with original photos and music by Guy Harriman





Bansuri and Crystal Bowls

Yoshiko and Guy enjoy improvising together, so we decided to video us playing Bansuri flute and Crystal Singing Bowls together. Guy bought the Bansuri, a traditional Indian bamboo flute, directly from Nori-san, who is a master bamboo flute maker from Japan. He lives part of the year in Pai, near Chiang Mai, Thailand, and part of the year in Tiruvannamalai, near Chennai, India. He selects the best bamboo wood from Kerala to make his flutes. Guy received his Bansuri in February 2013. After a few months of practicing the flute we recorded this video in May 2013.









Mandalay Walking

I spent a week in Mandalay in early November 2012, taking photos as I went around the city. Mandalay is the second city of Burma, in the center of the country. It is like Chiang Mai must have been 30 years ago. I cycled around the city and after a few days I found some beautiful pagodas, including Maha Muni, which has the largest solid gold Buddha in the world. The Burmese call it the living image of Buddha. I also went one hour up the river by boat to a place where there is the largest temple bell in the world, weighing 90 tons. I bought a "crocophone" - a microtonal teak metallophone with sharp teeth and red eyes, carved in the shape of a crocodile. You can see me playing it at the start of the video. It is about 50 years old, and came from the Mon tribe who are in the north of Burma. It sounds beautiful in the Healing Center. I composed the music for the video after getting back to Chiang Mai. I felt some upbeat music would be good, as the energy n Mandalay is very positive. When I went to Burma in 2003 the people were depressed, now things are much more positive for them.





Akha Hill Waterfall

Akha Hill House is about one hour north of Chiang Rai, in the far north of Thailand. There are many hill tribe villages there, including Akha, Lahu, and Lisu. The Houy Keaw waterfall, a few minutes walk from Akha Hill House, is unspoilt - I was the only person there the two days I went to see it. Further along the road is a Chinese village, with a tea tree plantation. The people living there, mostly in simple bamboo walled houses, grow the tea. They came to Thailand as part of Chiang Kai Shek's nationalist army to escape Mao at the end of the 1940s, and have stayed there since. They brought the tea growing with them. The valley is very quiet and mostly natural forest.





Borobudur Walking

Borobudur is a ninth century AD Buddhist temple in the plain of Yogyakarta, on the island of Java, Indonesia. It was built in nine levels, representing the nine levels of consciousness in Buddhist philosophy. Each level has Buddha statues with a different posture and mudra (hand position). At the top, there are lattice-work chedis, some of which still have a Buddha statue in them. The temple is aligned to the cardinal points of the compass. The stone carvings are remarkable, made with great skill and individuality. They represent incidents from the Buddha's life as well as other characters such as royalty and common people. It is easy to connect with the time the temple was built and feel the presence of its creators. It was rediscovered in the 19th century and renovated in the early 20th century. I bought and wore a sarong to visit it, and I saw many Indonesians also wearing a sarong as a sign of respect. Although there are some similarities to Angkor Wat, in Cambodia, which was built around the same time, the two sites feel quite different. Borobudur is concentrated in the one main temple, while there are many temples in the Angkor Wat area, and the style of carving in each is distinct. I composed the music based on traditional Javanese Gamelan, but added Gaelic chants. The Celtic people migrated from India to Europe most likely around the time that the Buddha was alive or later, and I felt the energy and feeling of the words fitted in with the images.





Java Beach Walking

Parang Tritis is a beach one hour south of Yogyakarta, which is in the island of Java, I stayed in a hotel overlooking the beach, and found that the path to the left of the hotel lead into a very large national forest. I spent a couple of hours there filming and taking photos. At the end of the beach, up on the cliff, I found a resort called Queen of the South. I also took photos there, it is a very tastefully designed traditional Javanese resort. I composed the music in the trance-like Javanese Gamelan style, it is more relaxed than Balinese Gamelan.





Hue Walking

Hue is the ancient capital of Vietnam, half way between Hanoi and Saigon. The Nguyen emperors lived there until 1945. Although less rich culturally than Hanoi, it is quieter, and closer to nature. Most of the photos come from the Imperial Palace, next to the Perfume River. I found some beautiful pagodas and temples cycling around outside the city. The music uses African drums and vocals, with the traditional Chinese Er Hu instrument (like a violin).





Yoga Sala Blessing

We completed building the yoga sala in March 2012; we began construction in June 2011 with an animistic blessing using banana leaves and coconuts, and a simple wooden altar with flowers and incense set to the four points of the compass. At the end of building, it is usual to have monks come and bless the house to bring good spirits to be in the house. The spirit of the house is called the Pii Baan (Ghost of the House). String is used, like ethernet cable, to connect all the land and the buildings together. The monks hold the end of the string, just like a server connected to the internet. This is symbolic of the energy sent out by the monks covering the whole land. Ten monks and nuns came from the wat where I was ordained a monk in 2010, Wat Taam Tong (Golden Cave Temple), 80km south of Chiang Mai. The abbot is called Suchin, he is seated on the left of the monks.





Drum Circle Feb 2012

Daniel, Elodie, Sachie, Sumiko, Philipe, Tita and Guy playing together at the Healing Center, in Saraphi, Chiang Mai, Thailand. This was our first drumming circle, we had a lot of fun. Guy made the big gold and white "Banana Drum" just before the event, under the guidance of Daniel, who has built a lot of these kind of drums in Australia. It is based on a recycled industrial 44l plastic container, which used to hold a food additive smelling of bananas!





Penang Walking

The images are from the island of Penang, in the north of Malaysia, taken in December 2011. Although Penang is highly developed, and the coastline is full of high rise apartments, the traffic is heavy, and the roads are small, the natural beauty of the land still shines through. I spent a few hours walking around Penang Hill, after going on the train which climbs at 45 degrees straight up the hill. Although packed with tourists, almost no one was walking about at the top, so I could take the photos undisturbed. I saw some very large butterflies and moths, as well as a monkey, but they were too fast to photograph. Penang is dominated by its Chinese and Indian residents, so I composed the music to integrate these two styles. The drumming is Indian, and the lead instrument is the Chinese Er Hu, a stringed instrument equivalent to the violin.





Washington Walking

These images capture the elegance and beauty in Washington DC which caught my eye as I walked around the city on 13 October 2011. Most of the photos were taken in the American Indian Museum, and the Renwick Gallery.





Hanoi Walking

Photos taken by me during a nine days stay in Hanoi, April 2011. The locations were the lakes, pagodas, Temple of Literature (the 800 year old university site in Hanoi) and the Fine Arts museum. Also the Maison des Arts temple on the fourth floor, and the Water Puppets. As the traffic in Hanoi is so crowded and dangerous (even crossing a road at a pedestrian crossing is very tricky) I did nto want to ride a bike, so I got around (slowly!) by foot. I hope you enjoy the music I composed for the photos. I used a Vietnamese traditional instrument, the same as the Gu Zheng from China, as the lead in the ensemble.





Chi Gong and Crystal Workshop in Laos

Guy presented a workshop bringing awareness of energy work to the participants. We experienced giving and receiving energy on each other, and made a human mandala laying on the floor as a meditation. Filmed at Isabella's Healng Mudras Center in Vientiane, Laos on 26th March 2011. Music : Dohl Devas - composed by Guy Harriman. Many thanks to Isabella for hosting!





Crystal Dance Meditation Three

The third crystal dance meditation community event held at the lannayoga.com Healing Center in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on 25 January 2011. Free form dancing with Guy's big crystals. Original music, video recording and post production by Guy Harriman, and Nikon still photography and photoshop by Mark Meurs.





Fantuzzi - You're Beautiful

One of Fantuzzi's heartfelt songs which he wrote a long time ago and has played many many times. Recorded live at the lannayoga.com Healing Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand (on our front porch) Saturday 12 March 2011.





Fantuzzi - Wholy

Guitar and vocals by Fantuzzi, playing one of his favorite songs at the lannayoga.com Healing Center Chiang Mai, 12 March 2011.





Fantuzzi - Thank You For Being Alive

Guitar and vocals by Fantuzzi, playing one of his favorite songs at the lannayoga.com Healing Center Chiang Mai, 12 March 2011.





Gabor Legong Gamelan, Ubud, Bali

Ritual Balinese welcoming dance, or Panyembrahma, now used to start a Legong performance. The dance was originally an offering to the gods in the temple by a group of girl dancers. At the end of the dance, the dancers make a praying gesture and throw flowers as an offering.





Taj Mahal

Photos taken one afternoon during my trip to northern India. The color of the Taj changes during the day as the sun moves, it is beautiful to watch particularly in the late afternoon. There are plenty of other buildings to photograph nearby, where fewer people go. I composed some music influenced by classical northern India tradition to go with the video.





Peaceful Plants

Chiang Mai flowers from Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens and Orchid Farm, Mae Rim, Koh Chang Island, Mae Rim elephants, wats, and Chiang Mai Loy Krathong festival photos taken by Guy during 2005 and 2006.





Angkor Wat

Photos taken at Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Banteay Srei, part of the largest area of temple ruins in the world, at Seam Reap, Cambodia. Guy and Tamsin were there for three days in November 2004. The ruins are spectacular, and too large to see by foot or in one day.