A New Year
- hkitchstewart
- Jun 25, 2019
- 4 min read
I had two weeks off from school for Christmas and New Years. While I had originally planned to take a trip with my friend Jovanna. She sadly didn't have any time off during Christmas. Of course, dates off and time finalized is really unknown until the week of. That’s Thailand.
I utilized the time in other ways. I booked a trip to Kao Yao Noi. This island is about 30 minutes off Phuket. I signed up for a 5 day yoga retreat. I wanted to get some serious beach time, deepen my practice and also relax. Kao Yao Noi, is exactly that. It’s a small island with really nothing. It’s also primarily muslim, which means no alcohol and no dogs! Owning dogs and allowing dogs to live within your household is uncommon in Islam. Apparently, the saliva can be seen as unclean according to my readings. However in several parts of the world muslims households do have dogs. Kao Yao Noi did not. So if you haven't already guessed, this was an island of CATS!
And not the half starved, feral cats that I typically see running away from me in Thailand. These cats were portly. They reminded me of my fat boy Pongo, back in the U.S.A. They were also everywhere, living their best lives. The yoga retreat had several cats and they would even come out and sit on the beach with me. I also saw no geckos with their tails still intact.
The yoga retreat was beautiful and only a few steps from the beach. Sunrise Tai Chi was offered at around 6:30 am everyday, the sunrise was breath taking. After Tai Chi you would cycle into a two hour yoga class, and then be served a community breakfast with the most delicious American pancakes. Then it was free time on the island until the 4:30 yoga class.
The beach near the yoga retreat curved into a long C and lead you into a pier. From the pier you could walk into a small village. The island really was a giant oval. Not very walkable because it was mostly jungle with scattered clusters of restaurants, farming, a few hotels and some small villages. Renting a bicycle or a motorbike was easy and hassle free. They didn't even want my passport and they guy joked about their being scratches on the bike after I returned it. Guess you can’t really steal a motor bike on the island, haha. I rented a bike for about 2 days and enjoyed driving around the island. I also met some really wonderful people at the yoga retreat. I spent my free time exploring some pristine beaches and gasping when I drove around corners and saw the giant monitor lizards. Imagine this lizard.. which really feels like a dinosaur that never became extinct at around 4-6 feet long. Yikes!
The yoga practiced at the retreat really put some things into perspective for me. I need to find a school that is vinyasa focused. The retreat was more Hatha and Yin focused. Hatha yoga is the basis of all yoga, and focuses on breathing and meditation. Yin focuses on holding poses for a longer amount of time, of course breathing and meditation. I want to focus on understand the primary basis of yoga and its traditional teaching but I am much more interested in the physical challenges of yoga as well as addicted to flow and sun salutations.
Before I return to the U.S, I’m planning on going to India to get yoga teacher certified. I’ve been searching for schools and chatting with anyone and everyone about India. Shout out to my graduate school buddy Kalyani, who is from New Delhi. She definitely eased my nerves about traveling solo to India (http://kalyanivani.jimbo.com/). As well as my fellow teaching buddy Rithi, and American and native Indian who just spent a few weeks in India. She also just started an awesome travel blog. Shameless shout out to her at (https://www.rawrithi.com).
The yoga retreat on Kao Yao Noi was nice, the teachers were well trained and very professional. I found the yoga to be a bit slow. Too much meditation and a little heavy on the chanting. Yes, I know... this is the basis of yoga. However, sitting for 2 hours isn't really my forte when I thought I was going to be getting an intense cardio workout. I wanted the yoga to be more vinyasa oriented. I had originally booked a yoga certification course in Goa, India. I cancelled it and booked a vinyasa school in Rishikesh, India. It’s more expensive than I originally wanted to spend, but I feel confident that this course more focused to my interests. I also will have a private bathroom and bedroom. I shared a bedroom in Kao Yao Noi with two wonderful women but I know that I will enjoy getting my personal space in Rishikesh. Before Rishikesh I am going to volunteer in Nepal, for maybe one or two weeks (still waiting for confirmation from my school here in Thailand about last days). In between Nepal and yoga certification I plan on taking a day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and I will also spend a night in New Delhi. Hello museums.
I’m dropping new photos under the snaps tab and new scribbles. Welcome to 2019.
With love,
Felicia.
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