It started with a passing curiosity about yoga classes here in Chiang Mai, maybe a week after Topi joined me here. We searched around and found that there’s actually a huge yoga presence here. Tons of studios, individuals running classes from their homes, even a large transient group of farang that meets daily to do yoga and yoga-like things in a park downtown. And every variety of yoga in existence. I think. I don’t know much about the varieties of yoga, but Chiang Mai has a ton.
So we picked a place within walking distance of our Airbnb that had an open aerial yoga class that afternoon, called Satva Yoga.
Aerial Yoga
This the kind of yoga that involves a special stretchy hammock and you do things like this:
So we showed up for our class, all excited, but the gate was closed at what looked like a (very cool) residence/yoga studio. We were a little early, so we waited until 4pm. 4:05. 4:10. No one except a fluffy little pup that liked to peek at us under the gate.
Finally, a man comes out onto the upstairs balcony, see us, and yells to his wife that some people were there! She lets us in, explaining that her regular couple people cancelled, so I guess she figured there wouldn’t be a class. But she was still fine having it, just for the two of us!
She was a little… concerned maybe? that we hadn’t done much of this type of thing before. So we spent the first hour or so doing all sorts of warm up stretching and balance exercises with various props. We weren’t doing any flying or hanging yet but even this was super fun. Challenging too!
After I guess she was satisfied enough with our performance, she took us to the hammocks. And we actually did a few tricks! For me, the trickiest part was just trusting this very unnatural feeling action, because we definitely were capable of doing it. It was just difficult to relax and commit 100% to the moves, and not worry about the ground or the hammock or body orientation.
I think we would’ve gone to this class more than just the once if it hadn’t turned out to be really really expensive. This information wasn’t available on the website… But totally worth it for the experience that day!
Yoga balls
Some of the initial balance exercises we did at the aerial yoga class involved a yoga ball. One of these things:
So we couldn’t afford to keep going to the class, but within a few days, we were the proud owners of our own yoga balls. And since then (up until a couple weeks ago, when exhaustion caused a bit of a hiatus) we started getting up about 30 minutes earlier to do balance exercises before school each morning.
We’re getting pretty damn good at it too! We can sit on the ball, unassisted with no problem at all, go from legs down to cross-legged without touching the floor, do what looks like elephant circus tricks on the ball, and use it for tons of other strength and stretching exercises. It’s super fun, and the progress has been gratifying quick.
Acroyoga
I think spurred on by our success with the yoga balls, we decided to try acroyoga. This is basically partner yoga:
There’s a big ole group of hippie-types that meets daily in a park about a mile from our apartment. They do acroyoga, slack-lining, and other acrobatic/yoga things. They’re really, really good at handstands.
On one of the Chiang Mai-based Facebook groups that we’re a part of, someone mentioned running a free beginner workshop in acroyoga in the park one weekend, and we decided to go try. It was a great workshop. Super informal, a group of maybe 10 people and 2 instructors that have been traveling around the world doing yoga things. They taught us simple but impressive-seeming tricks. I was most surprised that with the right technique, I was able to be a base for Topi, and not just the other way around. (Upper-body strength is not my, well, strong point.)
After this workshop, we’ve gone to parks or grassy areas a few times to practice more on our own. It’s not a regular thing, but I do think we’ll keep doing it.
Operation Teacher Fitness
There really isn’t any transition between the previous yoga topics and this one, except that this is also yoga and also in Chiang Mai.
A couple weeks ago, one of the teachers comes to me (in an unprecedented show of actually informing me about some upcoming event before said event occurs (but that’s another story)) and she tells me that we’re doing yoga on Thursday afternoon.
Me: Who’s doing yoga?
Her: The teachers.
Me: All the teachers?
Her: All the teachers.
Me: Why?
Her: The government.
Me: We do yoga for the government?
Her: Yes. The government says for health.
Me: What about the students?
Her: They sit in classroom.
Me: They sit in the classrooms alone while we all do yoga?
Her: Yes. Bring yoga clothes.
Ok! So Yoga Thursday rolls around, I have my clothes, and all us teachers leave the students to their own devices so we can get healthy for the government. It’s actually seeming like a really good turn-out. Most of the teachers (who I’ve seen drive between the classroom building and the administration building to avoid unnecessary walking; I counted, it’s 150 extra steps) have actually changed into yoga clothes and seem excited. We do some stretching, led by the P.E. teacher, and then learn our 15-step yoga routine. Of course, by the time stretching has ended, about a third of the teachers are napping on their yoga mats.
Yoga is supposed to be from 2:45 to 3:45, but between Thai-time (starting at 4:05) and sleepy teachers, we’re done around 3:35. Still! It was actually a really nice half hour!
Now the next week Thursday, 2:45 hits and a teacher tells me it’s time for yoga! So I guess Yoga Thursday is a weekly thing! Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my yoga clothes, but it’s ok. I head over, and there is a, uh, less impressive turn-out. There is one person doing yoga, besides the instructor. A few are playing badminton, and a few are learning some dance steps. But most teachers, in their normal clothes, are sitting around talking and eating fried things…
