Jammin Internationally in Sri Lanka

Took a quick trip to Sri Lanka from Thailand . . . . or not so quick.

Jammin Lifestyle was invited to creatively collaborate with the founders and designers of Sanatha Suwaya in Peradeniya, Sri Lanka this past week.

What is Sanatha Suwaya?

"Sanatha Suwaya is a wellness and meditation center that is currently being constructed to provide an open forum for interested individuals of all backgrounds to study and practice meditative arts and holistic modalities.  They are striving to create an environment that provides an opportunity for individuals devoted to the belief in mind and body balance to explore and connect to their natural manifestation of this ideal.

Sanatha Suwaya is seated quietly atop a large hillside providing an expansive view of Sri Lanka's breathtaking tropical landscape. The grounds will contain a large meditation hall, an open air yoga studio on the top floor of the center, an organic restaurant, a functional rooftop for outdoor practice, a library, laundry room, private therapy rooms, and Ayurveda treatments.  In addition, the building is designed to comfortably house 12 guests and 6 long term residents with accommodation and hospitality. Community activism and contribution is a priority.

They plan to provide daily scheduled programming, workshops, open-to-the-public sessions, long term stay options, and access to services provided by skilled practitioners in various holistic and integrative wellness modalities. "

To learn more about Sanatha Suwaya please visit their website here. The founders, Bhante Sujatha & Michael Fronczak, are two of the kindest humans I have ever met. Sri Lanka, and the world as a whole, are so fortunate to have them.

As for my personal experience . . . . visiting Sri Lanka was rad!!! 

Being that I am in Thailand for the month of April, a jaunt to Sri Lanka seems like a quickie trek. Not so much.  From the island I am staying on in Thailand, Koh Phangan, it took 29 hours to get to Kandy Sri Lanka. Moped (from my town on Koh Phangan to the boat port, 30 mins), boat (from Koh Phanghan to Koh Samui island, and then to the mainland peninsula of Thailand, 3 hours), bus (from east coast town of Thailand, Surathani, to west coast town of Krabi, 4 hours), moped (from bus depot to Krabi airport, 30 mins), plane (from Krabi Thailand to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, 11 hour layover & 2 hour flight), plane (Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to Columbo Sri Lanka, few hour layover & 3 hour flight) and taxi (Columbo to Kandy, 3 hours) to get there, and the same in reverse. Yup.

In Sri Lanka I stayed in a home that was surrounded by coffee, mango, cashew, banana, and coconut trees. The kitchen was open to the outdoors. (It was trippy.) There were frogs, spiders, flies and mosquitoes that I had never seen before. (and that I would be okay with never seeing again. ;)  I traveled on a moped while I was there. The Asian New Year was being celebrated upon my arrival and I had the honor of partaking in the festivities at my friend's family home, where I was given a traditional Sri Lankan sarong to keep.  Traffic is TERRIFYING in Sri Lanka. I saw wild monkeys. There were stray dogs EVERYWHERE and they are completely taken care of by the community. There was Buddhist temple on every corner - fully equipped with a MASSIVE Buddha, bodhi tree and stupa. People lean down and kiss the feet of those they honor often throughout the day. I ate with my hands - they do not use utensils in Sri Lanka. My stay was in the city of Kandy. In Kandy I visited the botanical gardens - which were stunning (photos below) - and the famous Temple of the Tooth, Dalada Maligawa. I toured a local Ceylon tea factory, a sapphire gem showroom (fully equipped with mining education and onsite cutting of the stones) and also an elephant orphanage. (again, photos below . . .  oh, and many are needing to be rotated, haha - I wasn't able to rotate them from the computer I am using)

My driver's name was Kumara. He taught me how to say hello and thank you in Sinhalese.
Hello = Ayubowan (i-u-bow-on) & thank you = Sthuthiyi (stu-tee).
I said those two words all day for a week. :)

Current mood: Ever so grateful that I had the opportunity to visit and experience Sri Lanka and even more grateful that I was able to contribute to their community with Jammin Lifestyle. I look forward to our continued work together, and I will definitely keep you posted.