A Morning of Yoga

Morning asana practice in the Chala
Mysore Style Yoga (meaning we all do the poses in our own time and the teachers come around and adjust accordingly.
Student from Jackson Hole, WY with her coffee enima bag hanging in her closet, waiting for her morning colon coffee high.
A view of the ocean-front salt water pool and herbal steam room.  Yeah, I know, I'm roughing it.  

I thought I'd throw in some more pictures for you all.  I was hoping the asana practice photos would be more telling, but, alas, they're not. Ashtanga is traditionally done in a "mysore" style.  Mysore is the name of the place it originated in India, and it means doing the sequence of poses in the silence of our own breath in our own time.  It's a really powerful way to practice, moving with our own breath and the energy of the other students.  Four teachers float through the room giving guidance and adjustments where necessary.  I have learned more than I bargained for, and without getting heady about any of it, have traveled more internally than I ever could on foot.  A journey of a lifetime!

Yah for Photos!

My cozy nest at Yoga Thailand. Don't let me fool you, all thes saline vomit sessions, coffee enemas, nasal flossing, and candle gazing is ruining any sort of restful night sleep.

Welcome to the jungle!! I spy a Jared behind that leaf!

A coiled fern graces us in the jungle near Kiriwong village.

Kayaking in the Andaman Sea. A day off from climbing in Ton Sai.

A shadow puppet made from animal 

hide. Every bit of this is made by hand in Nahkon Sri Tammarat. The man that began this lost art performed a shadow puppet play behind a large white backlit screen.

One of the many poses of the Buddha, with the seven headed serpent who is said to have protected the Buddha during a great storm by forming a living shelter around his body.

A beautiful lotus flower. Holds much symbolism in the eastern world. Is referenced a lot during this yoga course. One form of symbolism is the place where the energy from the universe and the energy from the earth unites at our heart's center, the house of the lotus flower.

This post is severly disorganized and confusing. Not user friendly at all.

Koh Tao (Turtle Island)

We made it across some of the Gulf of Thailand to the island of Koh Toa on a big catamaran. There were 3-5 meter swells and the boat was being tossed around like a rubber ducky. Needless to say, 1/3 of the boat's passengers were throwing up. Jared turned shades of white and green, but held it together. I was not directly affected by the weak stomach syndrom but did manage to get thrown up on!! YUK!

Koh Toa is a mix of the middle of nowhere and Cancun. Lot's of tourists and tourist accomodations, motor bikes everywhere, and resorty style lodgings. We managed to find a cheap little bungalow and a rad little climbing business that hooked us up with info on climbing on the island. Beautiful, huge granite rock with great routes. It's great to get away from the noise of the main beach. The jungle is full of banana and palm trees, loads of hibiscus, and other plants I've not identifuied. Today was a bit of literal baking in the sun and snorkling. The ocean is beautiful. Apparently full of more life around here than the tourist destination of Ko Samui. Too much tourism has taken a tole on the surrounding ecosystem.

We doing well. Got a small case of the overseas insufficient digestion and spending more time on the toilet than normal. We did get snaked by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and got sold a crappy useless open-ended ticket that noone will honor. Supposedly the shop in Bangkok will reimburse. I'm not holding my breath!

All is well in this tropical paradise. Onward tomorrow night to Nhakon Sri Thammarat and then on to Krabi and Ton Sai Beach (I think those spellings are right) to do some more climbing.