Yogataveller, Koh Samui, Thailand - 2nd August 2008 - By: Aubrey Lampkin

With Antigone (Tigs) Garner, (Dr. ) Sarah Lidstone and Clodagh Hartley.
I keep having to remind myself this is work. I mean I know it’s ‘work’ since I technically get paid to do it and all, but it certainly doesn’t feel like any work I’ve done in the past (thank God). Being employed to travel the world, teach and practice yoga, meet amazingly accomplished, spiritually-minded, interesting and tenacious people, all the while planning and participating in activities such as scuba diving, snorkeling, boat tours, beach trips, spa-outings and group dinners with my dear students AND writing about it? Now that’s what I call a job. Ok – I’ll stop the gloating now. Just needed to share that with you.
So just when I thought things couldn’t get any better with my work/life situation, Yogatraveller decided to open a new retreat location in Koh Samui, Thailand (a tropical island I’d been calling home since April of ‘08 after absconding from New York City where I’d formerly been an advertising executive with a penchant for yoga) and I was to be the teacher and host there! Needless to say I was thrilled. Especially when I met our first-ever Koh Samui group on 8/2/08 - three fiercely intelligent, gorgeous young women by the names of Sarah, Clodagh and Tigs. (Sarah is a doctor of neuroscience in Vancouver, Clodagh a top journalist in London and Tigs a tour leader in Vietnam – what a bunch of slackers, hey?) I had a hunch from the start we’d get along like a house on fire. And that we did.

Between morning yoga class (8am-10am) and sunset/evening yoga class (5:30pm-6:30pm) our first few days together on Koh Samui were passed lounging on our idyllic local beach (Bophut) and by the hotel pool, getting Thai massages, manicures/pedicures and eating our way around town. Towards the middle of the week we all decided to take a local Thai cooking class (wonderful, except we had too many left-overs to finish!). We learned how to make Thai Tom Yum soup, green curry and chicken with cashew nuts - all signature Thai dishes. Being more outdoorsy than domestic myself, I didn’t have much faith I’d retain all we learned in the kitchen that day. But the girls seemed to absorb it all in, even taking detailed notes. (I need to work on my domesticity, I guess.)

Another major highlight of the week: We all went scuba diving together off of Koh Tao (best dive site in Thailand) with the internationally renowned Bophut Dive School, headquartered just down the street from our resort. I’ve been on that dive boat countless times (since I’m taking my dive master course with them) and I’ve never had more fun than that day with the ladies. I’m really not sure which was more entertaining - laying out in the beautiful sun on the front deck of the boat with my posse (watching the male dive instructors ogle my eye-catching students) or the actual dives!

My fledgling Koh Samui yoga students did such an amazing job writing about it won’t do it justice. For relative beginner yoginis, they made tremendous progress during the week - both physically and spiritually. I have never felt so inspired and humbled by my students - not to mention the personal connections we all forged. I will never forget them; This week was a life landmark.

As the week came to a rapid close, we decided to have a nice last supper at Dr. Frogs Restaurant followed by a night out on the town in Chewang. We needed to let loose a little after all that yoga and mediation!

Actually, saying good-bye to my new friends was so difficult we decided to extend our time together after the retreat ended (fortunately they had all booked extra time in Thailand following). So, come Sunday, we all headed off to Koh Phangang together by boat to yet another yoga destination called, ‘The Sanctuary’. We couldn’t get enough of yoga and each other, I suppose. What happened at The Sanctuary would require a separate blog entry, so I’ll do you a favor and end this one here. I’ll finish by saying that just when we thought we couldn’t get any closer, a very large spider managed to seal our friendship forever.