The Spa Resort Chiang Mai Yoga Retreat

I must say, this is a once-in-a-lifetime feeling for me, to experience this level of serenity, calm, and peace for this extended amount of time. To be away from my family, my kids, and my loved ones is difficult, but I do know my reasons for coming here have a lot to do with them.

Chiang Mai, Thailand is a wondrous place, especially the resort we're staying at. Lush greenery, a wonderful Raw Vegan/Vegetarian restaurant, a Yoga Shala atop a mountainside, farms chalk full of fresh fruits and herbs, a Spa where massages are so affordable and yet so skillfully crafted you'd want several per day, beautiful architecture and residences nestled alongside the resort premises, and a tolerable climate which changes slightly throughout the day.

The sunrises and sunsets frame our Yoga and Meditation practices, and our teacher is simply amazing. She is from Thailand, hence my desire to join, and she brings such a centered nature to her classes and practice, that it permeates us all. My retreat-mates are some of the nicest, most down-to-earth, humble, respectful, and just plain "good" people you've ever met. We're all so different, yet we all get along so well, tied together by Yoga and our quest for self realization and improvement. I know I'll be in touch with them in some form or another when I get back home.

The several days of practice have been similar. We get up very early in the morning and trek up the mountainside to the Yoga Shala, a massive open structure on the hillside, overlooking the valley. You can hear birds signing, crickets chirping, and music playing from the temples. You can smell the fresh fruit trees, and sometimes the smoke of excess harvest. And you see the subtle and radiant colors of the sunrise, sunset, and landscape, as you go morning and afternoon. In the morning, we start off with meditation, a deep form of prayer where we go inside and find stillness and peace, often searching for answers to difficult questions, or simply staying silent and still, letting the body and mind come together at rest. We have different themes each day, going over each of the "Chakras" or energy centers or wheels of the body. And we meditate on each one. After that, we have a journal where our teacher asks us a few simple, yet deep questions about ourselves and how they relate to the Chakra we're studying. And we write down our answers in our journals to reflect further on them. One, in particular, was haunting to me. The questions were "What do you like and dislike about yourself?" So I wrote down a few things for each. Then, she mentioned that those things can be attachments or rejections, and in order to free yourself from them, you need to learn to love them both. Well, that begs the question, "How do you love something you don't like?" I mean, to love an attachment is easy, I suppose, but the message there is that you love it, without having an attachment to it, which is more subtle. But, the other side, was tough for me. I almost cried out loud when it hit, because I've heard this before many times, but not in this way. "To love something you don't like, is what God does."

Okay ... deep moment there, let me take a breath.

After meditation, we practice our morning Yoga, usually a vigorous "Yang" practice, which brings heat to the body, pushes you a bit to your edge, and stretches your body to make it strong and supple. It's great, and the morning is the perfect time to do so. And my teacher is so skilled and detailed, and cares so much about the practice, it's never the same moves twice, and always put together with much thought and love.

Then we eat! Breakfast here is glorious. Always healthy, always nutritious and whole. We have fresh fruit, fresh whole-grain breads, a porridge to die-for made of oats, grains, apples, and non-dairy milk, usually a scrambled egg/tofu dish, some cooked veggies, and some red rice that's out of this world.

After breakfast, we have a few hours of downtime before we have a daily massage at the spa. Glorious! I know, it's a tough life. We choose either a basic oil or thai massage, or upgrade to one of the premium ones. Man, it's so affordable you can literally get a massage a day for a whole week, and it'll set you back less that $70. I tip 100 Baht per massage, which is high, but I don't care, it's totally worth it. My favorite premium massages were the "Abiyanga" massage, an Ayurvedic massage where two therapists coordinate to give a scripted massage, and it makes you feel like it's one person. And a "Head, Shoulders, and Stomach" massage which is just ridiculously delicious, probably one of the best massages I've ever had. This one therapist nicknamed "Tam" is the guru of the group, and she gave me this massage, where she presses into my stomach to massage my internal organs. Good thing I practice this weekly in my other Yoga class, because it was hardcore. But, without any spoken words, Tam and I had perfect coordination and she pressed and followed my breath and rhythm to a tee. I felt amazing after that.

I almost forgot to mention something very important. I've heard the theory that we store our deepest and strongest emotions in our tissues, and they are often the cause of tightness, stress, or disease. I've heard this, but was very skeptical and really in my heart and mind, didn't really believe it. But, during my massage with "Tam," when she was working my neck and shoulder, I had a moment. I called it "The Dragon". It was a deep, scary emotion or event. I can't put it into words very well, but let's just say I wanted to get up and run as fast as I could and get away from it. That's when I remembered out teacher telling us to love that which you dislike or reject, so that's what I kept telling myself to calm down. And then, all of a sudden ... it was gone. The Dragon had left. And my natural mind came about, in all of it's peaceful, playful, and splendid glory. So, maybe it is true. Some of our deep, strong emotions are held in our bodies, and a combination of factors led to it releasing and going away. Whew!

Okay, after massage, we have lunch (yummy, same style of food, very healthy and wholesome) and then some downtime. I usually choose to go back to my room and rest, reflect, read, or just watch tv and take it easy.

Then, we're off to our afternoon class, which is a "Yin/Restorative" Yoga class. "Yin" can be tough, especially for me. It's a class of yoga where you learn to relax your muscles completely, hold poses for a long time, and allow the connective non-muscular tissue to open up. Restorative is probably my favorite style of yoga, where you use props to support your body in very cool and loving poses, held for a long time. It's like sleeping on pillows, but with an active and purposeful tilt.

And after that, it's dinner time! Yummy, same good food as breakfast and lunch.

And this repeats for 6 days. On the 7th, we rested, took in a festival and spent the day celebrating a wonderful retreat. I will look back at all of this, this experience, the friends I've met, the moments I'll cherish, with fondness and joy. It'll be wonderful if I could make it back here again someday.