About Me - Annelie Block

Born 1960.

Bachelor Degree in Business Administration with a specialization in service management and psychology at the University of Lund.

Many years of experience in various meditation techniques common in the West and many years of daily training in Vipassana by Vipassana master and Abbot Tan Adjan Sayan in the Vipassana center in the Saladan temple here on Koh Lanta. Practice Vipassana on a daily basis since the beginning of 2006 .

Participates each year in 10-days silent retreats in Thailand.

Has for a long time lived alone in the jungle, reduced all needs to an absolute minimum and used the nature for my practice. During that period came the realization, "true freedom is to need nothing".

Yoga training in Sweden and Denmark since 2000.

Am a dedicated scuba diver. Works with diving and meditation. Partly from dealing with fears that prevent people to dive and to provide tools for divers in order to reduce air consumption.

Has been teaching  Astanga yoga since 2005 and mindfulness meditation based on Theravada Buddhism Vipassna adapted for Westerners since 2006. I've also done mindfulness retreat in Sweden for many years.

Provides teaching for both group and private. Both drop-in and pre-booked. I've had many students that had various burnout symptoms which through doctors and psychiatrist's recommendation, the social insurance has approved retreats here in Thailand.

Can provide very good references from previous students.

To make your dreams come true

I'm an extremely lucky person who has the opportunity to practice what I preach at such a wonderful place as Ko Lanta, and I think that every day is a blessing ..

But I have not always felt like that.

Many years ago I lived in the West and did what we all are doing there, looking for satisfaction through external values in life through career and everything else that is expected to belong to our Western life style.

My longing for a deeper meaning in life was there all the time. Meditation courses, studies in Buddhism and other spiritual literature was for many years a very large part of my everyday life in west. The Astanga yoga opened a whole new world and it was also the gateway to a huge life change.

I left the life in west and moved to Thailand. Through my meditation, I knew what I would do here, but I lacked a tool to get there.
 
And this tool I found as soon as I came here. I was taught Vipassana by a monk in a temple here on Lanta. This Vipassana master gave me lessons every day at five o'clock in the morning for many years and all that he gave me, I am eternally grateful for. This knowledge changed my life and thanks to my past life in west and meditation experiences, I can now help others to change their lives, even if they live in the West or any other part of the world that is demanding.

I had knowledge of what life is like in the West and could therefore create a meditation technique based on one of the oldest forms of meditation there is, direct from the source, but adapted to a daily life in the West.
There was absolutely no sense to teach things that was not possible to implement in real life. And this technique was also an excellent way to prepare for a quiet temple retreat.

My life here is wonderful.
I do my own early practice well before dawn. I begin my working day with green tea and a large bowl mix, tropical fruit with our detox muesli with Goji berries in our beautiful garden at the retreat. And for many, divine hours of mindfulness practice in total concentration through teaching meditation and yoga.

Each day has a meaning, every day I see how people realize more and more about life, nature. Learn to see how thoughts, feelings and projections affects us and that we can change our whole lives by changing how we relate to life events. And thus also contribute to changing the world around us.
People come from all over the world to participate in the daily drop-in activities or take private or group retreat with yoga and meditation as its base. What motivates them is that they seek a deeper meaning in life or that they need help with their problems caused by many conditions, anxiety and stress.

Lucky you ... as my wonderful teachers in the Temple used to say, smiling. Yes, lucky me.