Some places in the world attract holistic, alternative or ‘new age’ communities. This includes practitioners of yoga, massage, various healing arts, meditation, Qigong and many others. Some of those places are in beautiful surroundings like Sedona, Arizona or Bali, Indonesia.
Others are in places with a long history of spirituality like Rishikesh, India. Some of them develop in beautiful beach areas like on the Big Island of Hawaii.
(Make sure to watch the video at the end of this article)
And some are in big cities that offer facilities for a large clientele of practitioners, healing arts students and health and wellness seekers in all kinds of holistic branches. Such a place is Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The city has over a million inhabitants, but at its core is the historic old town, surrounded by a moat and the old city gates. In this part of town you feel like time slowed down compared to the hustle and bustle outside of the old city.
There is not much traffic since there is a maze of small alleyways and passages. There are no high rise buildings or industrial developments.
Wherever you go, you find beautiful ornate Buddhist temples, traditional old style Thai teak houses, restaurants, massage shops, and a slow and relaxed pace of life that contrasts big city life.
Tens of thousands of visitors come to Chiang Mai every year. The city is home to dozens of Thai Massage schools and hundreds of massage shops, yoga centers, holistic spas, vegetarian restaurants and other conscious venues.
Many visitors come here to learn various healing arts at prices much lower than in western countries, and in beautiful exotic settings.
In the last few years there have been several major holistic events, like the Yoga Mala festival in a beautiful holistic spa near Chiang Mai.
It was a two day event with dozens of activities like seminars, music, sustainable agriculture, workshops, health food, massage, dance, panel discussions and many more. I caught a lot of it on camera and produced a video that highlights the spirit of the event.
The author, Shama Kern, is a long term resident of Thailand. He lives with his Thai wife in Chiang Mai. You can reach him at shama@shamakern.com
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Hey thanks so much for sharing this video. Im going to Thailand in a month from now in search for something exactly like this. I was going to head to Chiang Mai as I had a feeling this sort of holistic environment gravitated most around this area. Thanks again! 🙂
You are coming at a good time, at the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the festival season. You will like it here!
Hey Shama,
I am also planning to finally make the trip to Chiangmai next year for a training. I am probably doing the Thai acupressure medical course with Noam Troyler at Sunshine School. I do plan to look you up Shama.
Mark Wisdom
Longview, TX
Please do! It would be great to meet you in person in Chiang Mai.
I am here for the first time.
looking for holistic healing,.
Please advice.
Regards.
Obead
where is your location.
Regards
Obead
I am only writing about holistic events to provide information. I am not the owner of a holistic center. But if you google it, you will find lots of places in Chiang Mai which provide holistic healthcare.
There are massage shops on every block, there are Chinese holistic clinics, there are lots of other holistic healthcare providers. Chiang Mai is full of such places. I cannot give you a list of them – they are too many. But some google searches will give you this information easily.