My first week at the Yoga Teacher Training in Goa

the way to Ashiyana

Reception Ashiyana

Mandrem Beach

beautiful house by our river

  

On my way to India I had a one-night stop over in Singapore. I was really excited as I was able to see Nicole and Dennis again :) The time flew by so but at least we had some time to catch up on things. Had to get up at 5.30am to catch my flight to Chennai so.

Flying out from Singapore airport, the Indian guy who checked me in was really friendly. However they were not able to check my luggage through to Goa even flying with the same airline “Air India”. Oh well, might be a good thing I though, at least I can pick up my luggage and make sure it is checked in to Goa :) Boarding the aircraft to Chennai I realized that we were only 2 Western people on the entire airplane and I was the only Western woman. The plan was 40% full, so I was lucky to have a whole row for myself and I was able to sleep a bit.

The first impressions when I saw India from looking down of the airplane:

Wow the houses are so colourful, the red dirty sandy roads look like in Vietnam and some of the scenery too ;) A lot of palm trees everywhere and stunning green fields!

However Chennai airport is just being rebuild and it is a mess :) Have you known, that you are not allowed to stay at the airport in India longer then 3 hours before you departure? That means if you have a layover of 6 hours at any airport in India you need to go outside and then ask for permission to enter the airport again as a visitor, where you are allowed to be in a specific area just with a few chairs, mosquitoes and nothing else really. So was waiting there for 3 hours until I was allowed to go back into the airport building before my departure to Goa. However I met an Indian man, who actually was waiting for the same connection flight, so we got chatting a bit and talked about different cultures and countries and the time flew by ;)

Arriving in Goa, I got my luggage and a driver from Ashiyana was waiting for me at the airport to bring me to the Yoga Centre, which was a 1.5 hours drive. As I arrived around 5.30pm it was a perfect time to watch the sunset in the car!!! The drive was beautiful, through small sleepy towns, just a few shops, no tourists at all, but a lot of cars and some motorbikes, which all drove a way too fast for these small roads. On highways (so called one’s) it is compulsory to wear helmets in India, but on any other smaller road it isn’t. Does that make sense? I doubt it, but 98% drive without helmets! Scary I think! Living in Vietnam and knowing what accidents can happen… :(

For the first two nights I shared a room outside the Yoga Centre with a Canadian girl. We got on pretty well and so we spent some time exploring the nearby village, going for a swim and a run in the morning. It is so nice, calm and relaxing here, I love it. The scenery is stunning and the beach is unreal! So wide and long, perfect for running in the morning!

What beautiful sunrises they have here in Goa! If you think it looks like on a postcard, I can only assure you it does!!!! Fascinating gorgeous!

On our first Saturday night we went to a nearby night market and I can tell you this one was huge! We had 2 hours, but that was not enough! So many stalls and it was so interesting :) I'm sure we will go back. 

A lot of people arrived over the last two days until Sunday evening. We found out that we are 36 people in total for our Yoga Teacher Training! Wow!!! So Sunday evening we had a ceremony to clean our minds before we started on Monday. 

The most difficult thing will be to be in silence from 8pm – 11am!!! No communication at all – not personally or on the Internet. Oh well Kerstin that will be a challenge indeed!

It’s the 3^rd day of the training and it feels like I’m already here for weeks! There was so much going on really, that time is flying by! Beside all the Training Schedule I decided to get up at 6am every morning to go for a run before our Asana practise starts at 7.30am.

Yoga Shala

in the Yoga Shala

The beach is gorgeous, long and wide and the sand it pretty hard, which is just perfect for a run. The nights here in Goa are pretty cool (20degrees) and the sun rises quiet late (6.45am). So I usually run in the dawn, but by the time I finish the sun is up. So I am very fortunate to watch the sunrise during my run every morning surrounded by beautiful scenery! The only downside is wild dogs along the beach which are pretty scary and don’t like runners really.

So the local Indian guys taught me to carry a stick with me, which actually helps. Still scary so I have to say. Depending on how much time I have before my Asana practise I usually run around 40min every morning. It does me well, however after the 2 hours Yoga practise afterwards I am usually starving!

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day I have to say, fresh fruit salad (even with strawberries in it!!! After living in Vietnam you really appreciate this ;) and Yoghurt or a kind of Oat/Milk rice with cinnamon in it! So tasty, I love it! They even bake some fresh bread every morning, sometimes with Walnuts or Carrots in it. It is so tasty and it is served with homemade jam! We are spoiled for breakfast for sure :)

We already had a lot of Theory classes and I know we kind of need them. However it is a lot of information, millions of new words or Yoga jargon to get used to. Everything is really interesting so and I know I will enrich my life for sure! The silent time doesn’t feel too bad I have to say, thought it might be a lot worth. It feels actually quiet good for a few hours to be by yourself and that you don’t have to communicate or talk at all.

The timetable is packed:

  7.30 –   9.30: Asana practise

  9.30 – 10.30: Breakfast/Shower/Getting ready for Theory classes

10.30 – 14.10: Theory classes (Physiology, Anatomy, Philosophy etc.)

14.10 – 15.00: Lunch

15.00 – 16.30: Study time

16.30 – 19.00: Workshops or Theory classes

19.00 – 20.00: Dinner

20.00 – 21.30: Chanting, Music, Movie

It said on the website that Wednesdays are half days and Sundays are off. Today we discovered that Wednesday afternoons are actually only off and that mean 4hours in total. We still have to be here for dinner and the evening program at 8pm! Oh well, I guess we will survive or get used to it ;)

I forgot to mention that we actually started with 36 people, but after the first day one guy disappeared in the morning without telling anybody where he went. He just decided to not continue with the training. He actually flew all the way from the UK to India!!! Seems like it was not the right time in his life so to do that training.

I’m staying in a lovely so called “beach hut” which is more like a “river hut” as the Veranda is facing the river in a beautiful surrounding. 

It is pretty spacious with a double bed in it, a bamboo stick as your wardrobe and a small bedside table and a chest with a gorgeous mirror framed by a lot of different colourful stones. The bathroom is outside and shared with another person.

Lunch and Dinner is pretty much the same every day. Vegetarian food, mostly salad, vegetable soup, rice, some kind of curry and for dinner we have a dessert. Another highlight of the day as it usually contains chocolate or some kind of cake :) Yummy!

dining area

kitchen area

dining area

Bedtime is around 10pm as I am usually so tired, that my eyes just wanted to rest and my body is exhausted and needs to rest. Can only be healthy to sleep so early!

It’s the 7^th day of the training now and as it is Sunday it is our day off :) So we were advised to rest and not to do any Yoga practise at all. So for the first time I didn’t run as I decided to have a real rest day!

We’ll be walking to Arambol this afternoon, which is a 40 min walk on the beach to have some coffee and maybe some lovely cake. Apparently it is also a good place for some shopping so let’s wait and see. We plan to finish the day with a lovely dinner outside the centre before returning for our Evening event tonight.

I am excited how the next week will go :) Will keep you posted. Enjoy life :)

Tonsai Beach & Saying goodbye to my students

As the new Lunar New Year approached Vietnam and ELI actually closed for 10 days, I decided to travel to Krabi in Thailand.

Flights were already pretty expensive, so I tried the new Air Asia route from Danang to Kuala Lumpur :) All went well.

From there I took a train over to Hat Tai in Thailand, which took around 14hours. Wasn’t too bad, the train was actually as old as the Vietnamese ones, but I only had a basic seat as the sleeper compartment was booked out.

However, I was still able to sleep now and again and the person on the seat next to me kept changing all the time ;) We stopped at the border, had to get off the train, got our Visa’s really quickly, but then…unfortunately they had to get the train cleaned and shortened for our onwards trip to Hat Yai. It was supposed to take one hour – this time it took 3 ;) Oh well, that’s Asia!

After arriving in Hat Yai around noon I met a couple which had to go to Krabi as well. After looking around and getting different prices we finally found a lovely woman who actually sold us a bus ticket for a decent price and she told us the bus will pick us up in 5 min. I didn’t believe a word, but it was actually true. So there we were, in a Minibus, squeezed in so there was only space left to breathe ;) Anyway, we all arrived in one piece in Krabi. From there I took a Songthaew to the peer of Ao Nang. Another small trip on a long tail boat and there I was on Tonsai Beach :)

How beautiful it was!!! Had been there with Nina in 2002, but had almost no recollection, at least not from specific places. Only the beautiful scenery was still the same for sure! Just stunning, these lime stones surrounded by the sea, the gorgeous beaches, palm trees. Like a little paradise :)

Well, as Tonsai is a hot spot for climbing, there were a lot of climbers there.

I met up with a friend of mine who is climbing since a long time. He was my climbing instructor for the week ;) Unbelievably patient and it was needed. If somebody thinks it is easy to climb up 30 meters on real rock - hehe, good luck ;)

First you need to trust your equipment and then you need to lose your fear. It is so difficult to move your feet up or bring them in the right position so you can relax your arms, hands and fingers. 

But I really liked Rock Climbing! Took me a few attempts to get into it, but then when you finally can feel that you get better, it is really enjoyable.

What gorgeous views you have when you are finally climbing and you have the guts to turn around ;)

I found my favourite climbing wall on Tonsai Beach, called Fire wall – The Groove Tube!

One morning we went for a run and saw a beautiful sunrise on Railey Beach, followed by a gorgeous little trek through the forest to come back to Tonsai.

Have you ever been practicing Yoga on a beach? I actually haven’t, but I did on Tonsai beach! What a stunning view and surrounding, while practising :) Loved it!

The food was cheap, tasty and if I was lucky without any chilli ;) What lovely fruit shakes they had – I loved them. My favourite place for food was “Chicken Mama” – a small little place, with lovely breakfast, lunch & dinner. The only thing you had to bring was time really ;)

Then we actually decided to spend some time in Ao Nang on the main land. There was a climbing wall as well and on top of that, we rented a motorbike, which I loved :)

Driving in Krabi and Ao Nang is pretty chilled out I have to say, compared to Vietnam. It was even fun to drive on the left side again – memories of times back in Ireland ;)

We found a bakery, which was actually baking a kind of wholemeal bread! I haven’t eaten any since I left Germany in August! Delicious with Nutella ;)

I didn’t really take many photographs as I was more focused on holding the rope properly while belaying other climbers.

So only a few more days left of teaching, which means I need to say goodbye to my classes at ELI.

Not so easy sometimes as you are getting attached to the students. Most of them are so cute and really nice to work with. Here are some pics from saying goodbye and our recent Karaoke visit.

Next Friday I am heading down south for one week – Saigon and Phu Quoc – to meet up with Jan and his two daughters and Huong, a Vietnamese friend of mine.

AND THEN… a new chapter and adventure begins:

I am already a bit nervous, excited and curious. My first time in India and a 4 week intensive Yoga Teacher training.

In GOA!

After that, I will be going up to Nepal beginning of April to meet Annette, which is coming over from London for 2.5 weeks to go trekking :)

So Goa is waiting with a beautiful beach, exercising all day, studying, healthy food, meditation, meeting new people, inspiration and I am sure lots more ;)

Can life be better?!

Merry Christmas, Chuc Mung Giang Sinh, Frohe Weihnachten & Joyeux Noel!

Jolly Christmas Greetings from Vietnam to everybody :)

I hope you all have a peaceful, joyful and happy Christmas.

Some pictures I wanted to share with you from our ELI Christmas Party yesterday :) We had a ball ;)

Vietnamese love to celebrate Christmas. They did all really well singing English Christmas songs, decorating classmates as Christmas Trees and just enjoying themselves.

The students were so proud, when they were awarded with prizes. That means we all can go for coffee soon :) Yippie!

All the best and have a healthy, joyful, fulfilling and happy 2012!

Talk soon