Meditation Class

Hello Everyone!!!!
Sooooo yesterday Khazna and I decided that while we are here we should take advantage of the culture in a way that doesn't involve shopping. She looked through her travel book for ideas of things to do and we decided to try something we couldn't do in the U.S. We decided to go to a meditation class in a buddist temple. I know all of you who know me are thinking....your gonna sit still and clear your mind .....right. I agree this seemed like an impossible feat but I figure...why not I'll try most anything once.
So we hopped on the boat and away we went. We're getting pretty good at the public transportation here. After asking for directions several times and a little aimless wandering we were finally pointed in the right direction and we soon arrived at the "Meditation Study and Retreat Center". Ok the school isn't actually in a temple come to find out but Monks live there and it's near several temples. We walked in and were greeted by an older gentleman who thankfully spoke good English (the book said they spoke English but you never know....). He sat on the other side of the desk and began talking to us about retreats coming up, and what classes consist of, and why do we think we need meditation, and what do we know about meditation, and then about what meditation is and the history and the goal and ...and ... suddenly we realized this was the class. We had hoped to join in a class or get a schedule as to when they are offered. We weren't expecting to walk in and have the first available person who spoke English to start a class just for us. But once again I figured...why not.
After our history and theory lesson we were taken into another room to learn two methods of meditation. We learned a walking meditation and a sitting meditation. We had been instructed that it would be difficult and wow he was right. We were taught to acknowledge thing brought to us by our senses, things we hear or see or feel but to let them go. We were told to acknowledge what our mind is wandering to but to then let it go and return our consentration to our breathing. That's the hard part, to let it go and go back to concentrating. We were told at the end of the lesson that we are welcome to come back anytime to practice or to ask questions, we were even given an email address in case we had questions and couldn't get back.
All in all it was an enjoyable experience, I'm really glad we went. I would definately reccomend givingit a try to anyone, especially if your here in Thailand anyway..... I hope to hear from you all soon!!!!!!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina