Sometimes I wonder if we are fated to meet certain people. Doesn’t it always seem that the people you meet during a certain phase of your life reflect the theme of that period?

Yesterday, I was swiping on Tinder out of curiosity and boredom, just to see who was around. One person and I had a mutual friend in common, a fairly successful musician and artist in NYC (successful enough to have exhibited at MoMa but not a household name). We started chatting.

His profile read:

“Traveling artist, healer and entrepreneur interested in meeting and sharing stories with inspiring high-vibe humans living their dreams.

I’m here in Thailand to connect to nature and make ambient meditation music with tropical plants. Open to hosting workshops and collaborating with other healers and entrepreneurs or just have fun.

Bonus points if you can read my aura.”

K…I was intrigued. And to my point earlier, maybe it’s not fate, but more of a willingness to open certain doors. I suppose a younger version of me would have thought this guy was completely nuts.

Sure enough, a few swipes to the right on his photos, and there was his gleaming aura.

Coincidentally, he happened to be in Srithanu as well, which is really not a common place to be hanging out here, and suggested two places I had already been for dinner.

“Let’s do Eat.co,” I said. “I think the food’s better. I’m going to yoga now. What time are you thinking?”

“How’s 6? Stuck in the rain near the waterfall. Also, ecstatic dance tonight at 8:30pm,” he responded.

How weird that I had already been planning to go to this obscure ecstatic dance party. K…

I was sitting barefoot and cross-legged atop a pillow at one of the low tables at Eat.co when he entered the restaurant. We greeted each other through the entrance and as he made his way around, we bobbed awkwardly, not knowing whether to go in for the hug. In the end, I hung back a bit and invited him into the pillowed area and fired off a few suggestions since I had been there myself before and was familiar with the menu.

We talked a bit about our travels. We were both sort of nomadic. He was from NYC and Philly. I mentioned that I would be in LA from January through March. He said he was going to be in LA the same dates as well. I said I would likely be in Venice…and that’s where he would be too. It seemed oddly cosmic. At that point, it just felt a bit too weird that it was all seeming so normal. So we turned the conversation to careers.

He is a sound designer with a record label called Data Garden that ended up getting big. He then invented a device that allows you to listen to plants play music, which got him some art exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and other places. He also works as a healer doing pranayama breathwork and collaborates with musicians and healers who want to incorporate listening to plants to tune into energy shifts in a room as they work with their patients. The domain plants.fm plays some of his plant music, apparently.

We talked about a lot of woowoo energy type topics, vipassana and the experience of doing a 10-day silent retreat, and some more prosaic conversational topics as well. I engaged and suspended some of my usual analytic orientation towards life and these types of conversations. The way this plant-listening device went over my head a bit. It was fascinating nonetheless, the way he was able to give notes to fluctuations in conductivity within plants. Apparently, the plants can also pick and play different instruments as well. My mind was sort of blown. It was also just fascinating to hear his story.

Once dinner was over, I hopped onto the back of his scooter. We drove to Samma Karuna and entered a small room for ecstatic dance. There were about 10 or so of us in there letting go for 2 hours and just dancing to the music as the lights changed colors over and around us. Some of us were timid at first and then we were loose, jumping across and around the room. A few people were writhing a bit on the floor, which seemed a little too loose in my opinion. There was one couple (but they weren’t actually a couple!) making out, which perplexed me. So from timid to ecstatic we went and in the end, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on the floor. As I fluttered my eyes open, I heard snoring going on not-so-faintly behind me, so I guess I wasn’t the only one.

I hugged my new friend goodbye and added him on Facebook. Who knows when our paths will cross again next? I won’t force it. I’m enjoying my alone time. There’s still NYC, LA, the world.