What up, guys.
Hello from Siargao in the Philippines.
I was just caught in a rainstorm, so that's why things are looking a little wet around
here.
I am finally talking today about my travel tattoos.
It's been a long time coming, I think.
A lot of you guys have been asking for quite some time what my ink is about and for me
to go into a little bit more detail about it.
It's interesting because each of my tattoos I got somewhere different, and it's all been
part of the journey that I embarked on five-and-a-half years ago.
I've got tattoos from, let's see, two different continents and four different countries.
So, they definitely tell quite the story of my evolution, I think, as a person, but also
where I've been on this journey, not just around the world, but kind of through my spiritual
journey as well.
Hi.
You're muddy because it was raining.
Yeah, this little guy lives with me in this Airbnb, and it is the best thing ever.
You are the cutest.
You are just the cutest.
Yeah, I was just talking about my travel tattoos, yeah.
So, yeah, without further ado, I will talk about them in consecutive order.
My first tattoo is the sacred five lines on my shoulder here, and I got this in Thailand
about five years ago now.
I've made appointments to get tattoos twice before in my life, and I canceled them both
times.
I have to tell you I am so glad I did that, because both of those tattoos are not things
I would have wanted anymore, so I'm glad that I waited for something a bit more meaningful.
But this first tattoo is super meaningful to me, because it's very non-traditional the
way that it's done...or, actually, it's very traditional.
Basically, I woke up at, I think, 4:30, or to be honest I didn't even sleep that night
because I was just so nervous and excited about the tattoo, and got in a bus in Bangkok,
headed to this area like 50 Ks outside of Bangkok, got on a motorbike, and then headed
to a temple called Wat Bang Phra.
And this is where I met with this monk named Luang Pi Nunn, and he basically is the most
famous monk in Thailand for doing these tattoos.
They're called Sak Yant tattoos.
It's really crazy, you make an offering of 150 baht, which is like three dollars and
some change, and in exchange you get some incense, flowers, and a pack of cigarettes,
and then you bring this offering in exchange for the tattoo.
That's not the crazy part, though.
The crazy part is that you don't actually talk to the monk.
You don't actually know what you're gonna get.
You just sort of lean over a triangular pillow, and he puts on a stamp and traces it and gives
you a tattoo.
He just bases it on what he wants to give you, what he thinks that you need.
I've heard it described as sort of based on your aura.
Basically, Sak Yants are protective blessings, and each line of the sacred five lines is
a different protection, and each monk has his own set of the lines that he puts on you.
It's all about, for me, the story and the way that it looks, obviously.
I got it because I think it looks really cool.
Anyone who tells you anything differently with regards to their tattoo is a liar.
Yeah, I got it because I like it, and that's true of all the tattoos I have.
I got them because, first and foremost, I just like them.
I loved the idea of getting a sacred tattoo from a monk, and he does it with this long
bamboo stick with a blade at the end, and he dips it in ink made from charcoal, snake
venom, and a bunch of other stuff.
And then he taps it and gives you a tattoo like this.
Now, the monk isn't allowed to touch women, so he has a piece of cloth between him and
me, and then there are two people on either side sort of stretching my skin for him to
do his work.
After he did the tattoo, he blew on it and said a prayer and basically breathed magic
into it, and I had a new tattoo.
Now, generally if you've never had a Sak Yant before, you're gonna get one of three...or,
really, one of two different designs.
There are over 80, I believe, but there's a standard three that people usually start
with, and it's traditionally on the shoulder here.
So if you see it elsewhere on people, maybe they went to a tattoo artist, or maybe they
just didn't have any room on their back anymore.
One thing about this that bears mentioning is they don't use new equipment on each person.
So, they do sterilize the needle in between, but they don't use a new one, and that is
something I would probably not risk again.
I actually was lucky enough to be the very first person to go that day.
If you want a tattoo like this, you could go to a tattoo artist.
There are a lot of very talented ones in Thailand who can do it for you.
You can also visit an Ajahn, which is not a monk but someone who also has a very sacred
role in Buddhism, and you can have some discussion about the tattoo that you want or need that
maybe suits your life a little bit more.
So you don't have only this option of going to Wat Bang Phra.
It's the most traditional method, but again, I don't know if I would risk it twice.
I also have a Sak Yant in the middle of my back.
That one's called the Yao Gord.
It's also a protective blessing, so I doubled down.
And you've got the spires that are reaching up towards the heavens, and there's little
Buddhas on each level of the tattoo as well.
And for this one, I did go to a tattoo artist.
I still did it in the traditional way with the bamboo and the tapping, so the two tattoos
on my upper back match, but I just wanted to do it with a clean needle this time around.
And because I did already have the sacred tattoo that the monk had blessed, I felt like,
okay, that's cool, it was a great experience to have, I love the story, but yeah, I wanted
to do it more safely the second time.
The next tattoo I got would have been Om, here on my ankle.
I went to a tattoo artist that someone recommended in Kathmandu, Nepal.
I really like this story, too, because at the time, I had spent a cumulative almost-three
months in and around the Himalayas, on the Chinese side and on the Nepalese side, and
I really connected with the people there.
A lot of them are Tibetan, and I just felt like they were so lovely and beautiful.
And the Himalayas is a very sacred place, and I could just feel that there.
I did a lot of hiking while I was there, so it was really my feet that carried me all
through those mountains.
So for me, it made sense to put this sacred symbol here.
If you're not familiar with Om, it's basically...it's a sacred sound that is very important to Tibetan
Buddhism and also Hinduism.
It's how you open a lot of mantras.
Maybe you've done it in a yoga class before, Om.
You really feel it, the sacred sound, all throughout your body when you do it, and that's
the point.
For a lot of times, when things get stressful or I just need a reminder to come back to
the present moment and what really matters, it's a good reminder to have.
I do kind of wish that I had gotten the Tibetan Om, actually.
It's a different style, and I just really like the way that one looks, but obviously
that's not what I did.
I still really like it.
I've considered doing the Tibetan Om on the other ankle, or maybe even on my wrist, but
for now I'm kind of good on the tattoos.
They are addictive, definitely, but we haven't gotten to this one yet, which basically takes
up half of my side.
Yeah, that brings me to the big piece that I have here on my leg.
I got this basically a few days after I first moved to Berlin.
It's a really cool marker for a time in my life of great change, as well as being the
first tattoo that I got outside of Asia.
People ask, "What is that tattoo on your leg?"
Honestly, I guess you could call it sacred geometry.
All of my tattoos have an element of sanctity.
This was done by an artist whose work I just really appreciate.
His studio is called Dots to Lines.
He's located in Berlin.
He has become quite famous now.
I think that his wait list is years long.
I waited a few months to see him, and I got this tattoo about three years ago now.
But basically, you make an appointment with this guy, his name's Chaim, because you want
something in his style that no one else on planet Earth is ever gonna to have.
And I just loved that idea, because the other tattoos I have, honestly, a lot of people
have, but this one is one-of-a-kind, and it was made to match my body.
So we have this geometric pattern, and it goes into a mandala here, and the mandala
is basically the universe.
I love it.
I think it's so original, and I think it's just so cool that I have something that nobody
else has and no one else will have.
It's a piece of art, and it's something that is meant to flow with my body.
It's always been about flow, and sort of trusting in the journey, and remembering, again, to,
like, come back here when things get a little bit hectic or when I just need to reconnect,
sort of, to the source.
And that is a beautiful energetic reminder, sort of, put into ink.
I don't know if that makes any sense, but it makes sense to me.
So, the original tattoo was just this leg and hip portion.
After a year and a half, I was like, "You know what?
That looks kind of lonely.
I think it looks like it could be more complete."
So I turned to Instagram to find my next artist.
It was scouring, scouring it, and just waiting until I found an artist who didn't appear
to ever make a mistake.
Finally, I found this guy.
He was located in Edinburgh, Scotland, and I waited four months for that appointment.
His name is Jason Corbett.
I got on a plane, I flew to Edinburgh, Scotland for the first time, booked myself into a little
Airbnb, and we spent about an hour designing what would be the rest of this tattoo.
I really wanted it to flow with my body like the bottom portion had, and I wanted it to
match but to also be mandalas.
I really love the way that it ended up.
I think that it is sensual and beautiful, really something that is a work of art, that
is just truly mine.
For now, I'm really happy with what I have, and maybe I'll stop here.
Maybe I'll get some more.
Yeah, it's a very personal thing to share, because people obviously have opinions about
tattoos, and I've been on the receiving end of mostly positive feedback from people, but
every now and then someone shares an opinion and I'm just like, "No one asked you."
But I guess that's why it's taken me so long to share this story or really show them off.
But I am proud of them.
I think that they're beautiful.
That's my tattoo story.
I hope you enjoyed it, and if you like videos like this, subscribe.
Let me know, and I would be happy to do more of this, sort of, personal style.
So leave a comment below, let me know what you think, and thank you so much for tuning in.
Bye.