All of us keep chatting about how we are amazed at how quickly we are picking up the ability to teach yoga... it seemed so daunting when we first got here - I honestly couldn't fathom leading a class, but a bit less than 2 weeks into the course and we are totally getting it.
We are now all teaching part of every practice and are guiding ourselves through self-practice everyday, which is actually really awesome. While we are all practicing, there are 3 of us chosen to walk around and essentially be student teachers. This is a way for all of us to individually experience giving adjustments to students, and guiding a yoga practice before we actually have to do it for real. It is awesome. Each student teacher is paired with one of our yoga teachers to absorb as much of their techniques/tips/tricks as possible. My student teaching day isn't until the 20th - I can't wait :)
Today was our second day off since arriving (every Saturday we get a free day) and it was SO needed. All of our bodies are just shot from doing crazy amounts of yoga every day. Originally I had planned to hang out at the beach, maybe get a massage and just be totally lazy..... but, somehow I was talked into going hiking. This hike was billed as a "sort of difficult but not really" hike to the next town over... our friend, Bao, who lives here, offered to go with us and act as a guide. I thought, why not - I'm in a beautiful Thai jungle, why not see the sites.
Bao shows up this morning wearing skinny jeans and an flannel long sleeve shirt... it's 90* with 100% humidity.... so I thought, this can't be that bad of a hike, if Bao is wearing that, it must be a breeze. I couldn't have been more wrong. This hike was bonkers. We hiked for 2 hours in the jungle heat -over 2 mountains, climbing over rocks and fallen trees, avoiding bugs, lizards, pricker bushes and god knows what else. Bao was honestly like sprinting through the forest and when we finally caught up to him, he would be sitting on a rock or in a tree smoking a cigarette. He might be a superhero, or an alien or something.
The views were beautiful and in the end the hike was worth it but honestly, I've never been so happy to see a 7-11 when we finally made it out of the bush. It must have looked like a scene out of a horror movie when we emerged from the forest - sweating profusely, covered in dirt, bugs and leaches and just zombie walking for the AC and coconut water.
Post hike, we spent the day at the beach and shopping in Haad Rin. It was lovely and just the perfect lounge day that we needed... oh, and we took a boat back to our part of the island - there was zero chance any of us were hiking back. I honestly think we would have died.
I'm sure I'll hate myself for my insane hike tomorrow when I have to wake up for 7:30am yoga - thankfully, I picked up some more Tiger Balm at 7-11.... Tiger Balm & Ibuprofen... both should be the official sponsors of All Yoga Thailand :)
Note the sweat... we were just repulsive at this point
Just casually climbing through the jungle - trying not to die