Peace Boat's 76th Voyage participants traveled three hours by bus from the port of Piraeus to the island of Evia in Greece to enjoy a day of health and relaxation at the Sunshine House. The group was met on the way by Athens born Anna Gordiou, who has been visiting the Sunshine House for the past four years to learn about Thai Massage and to share and grow in a simple community life that is anchored in deep spiritual practice. Anna informed everybody that the old traditional country house and grounds have been used for the past 10 years as a kind of sanctuary for exploring healing techniques of the East and West

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After participants were guided into the house and offered Spanish cheese pastries and a locally grown Greek herbal tea from the mountains, married couple Kerys Williams and Krishna Takis sat with everybody under a large shady tree to share how the Sunshine House had developed. For five generations, Krishna's family had passed down the property, and Krisha and his family became the latest successors. "After living in Asia, said Kerys, "we decided to bring yoga, Thai massage, meditation, nutrition and Chinese medicine into the house to share what we had learned with other people."

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Kerys and Krishna open their doors, offering a long-term space where many people can feel more connected with themselves and nourished on a deeper level. They have capacity to accommodate twenty people in beds and tents, offer retreats and a variety of healing courses throughout the year, and participate as hosts for the WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) program. They make their home accessible to everyone including groups, individuals, parents and children, and recently opened their sanctuary to a friend who gave birth there.

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"I like to live in a place with community," said Krishna, "and I think there's now a great need for people to come back together and open their hearts. We see people who live in very capitalistic countries, and they are not so happy but are violent and depressed, yet we don't actually need much to live happily." Kerys and Krishna both feel that the key to liberation is finding a feeling of connectedness from an early age, before all the conditioning starts through societal expectations.

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As children went off to play tree hugging and kissing games to music, or to bounce on the trampoline, the rest of the participants took cooking and yoga classes, and relaxed in a herbal steam bath. A tour of the grounds with an explanation of herbal and plant medicines and remedies was offered, and each person planted a tree in the garden patch. An array of mouth-watering Greek food from the cooking demonstrations, including hummos and tzatzili, was spread across a table for a delicious buffet lunch.

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A great musical exchange took place when participants sang a Japanese song, and then became involved in a fun, traditional Greek dance that was initiated by the people of Sunshine House. "It was so much fun, and I felt they treated us from the bottom of their heart," said one participant. "What remains strongly etched in my mind," said another, "is that the yoga teacher asked us to simply have smile on our face, which is kind of lacking for us as Japanese people." "When I go back to Japan," she continued, "I'm going to tell all of my friends this, and just smile, because it's very important."

For further information about the Sunshine House, visit www.thaimassage.gr