Third Trip to Ajarns Matthieu and Rung

My next trip to Hua Hin was to get Sak Yants on other areas of my body now that my sleeve had been completed. As stated in another post, the location of Sak Yants are very specific. For example, the head is seen in Buddhism as the most sacred part of the body so to have a Sak Yant on the head entails that a few other pre-required Yants have already been received. Some of these pre-required Yants must also be done above the waist and in a centre-line area of the back or torso. The more a Sak Yant position deviates from its preferred area the less power it is believed to have. Sak Yants placed below the waist are allowed but only very specific ones such as animal spirits or Yants used for romantic powers. Deities (if they are allowed to be tattooed at all, tattoos of Buddha are prohibited in Thailand) are generally only allowed above the waist but not in areas considered “unclean” such as below the armpits or close to the groin.

The other factor here was that my tattoos were now beginning to be very visible and could no longer be covered up. Having tattoos in areas such as the hands and neck requires serious introspection as they can be career limiting as well as a social stigma in certain parts of the world (Japan being a notable example, tattoos are still very much frowned upon there as they are associated with organised crime and many establishments especially gyms and public bathing areas prohibit the entry of anyone tattooed). My original intention was to only have tattoos in areas which I could easily cover up. I was not even planning on doing full sleeves. But after each session I would look at the empty skin in the mirror and I knew that at some point I would want to fill that up. I had been fortunate enough to be in a career which did not require me to be client facing so I was able to make the decision to use as much of my available skin as possible. My own personal restriction though is my face. Facial tattoos just do not appeal to me as I feel that it has too much of an effect on how your features are perceived. The sides of my head and sideburn area are still fair game though 😉