International Yoga Day - Yvette and John from Agama Healing Centre

In the run up to International Yoga Day we speak to the people involved.

This time it's Yvette and John from Agama Healing Centre...

Where do you teach and what do you teach?
We teach Therapeutic Yoga for health and wellbeing at Agama Healing Center, Sri Thanu. 

How did you get involved with this school and how did you end up on Koh Phangan?
We were in a Buddhist Monastery in Nepal doing a mind training course and a friend recommended we attend the Agama Level 1 intensive course. 

We were going to travel through Thailand anyway, so spending a month on a tropical island doing Yoga sounded like a pretty good deal. 

That was over three years ago and we are still here!

Tell us more of your Koh Phangan story...
We left a 'successful' corporate finance job, sold all our possessions, put a backpack on and started traveling through Southeast Asia in search for the meaning to life. 

We lived in Monasteries and Ashrams in Nepal and India before we arrived on Koh Phangan to study Yoga and the philosophy of Tantra for living a healthy, happy and harmonious life. 

We then completed a Teacher Training Course and Therapeutic Teacher Training Course and decided to live in paradise with a 'like-minded' community while integrating the teachings into our life completely.

What do you think can be achieved from International Yoga Day?
Bring awareness and an opportunity for people to experience how Yoga is a complete system for living with many different flavours.

And what uniqueness will you personally bring to this event?
The healing center is offering a one hour session of 'Yogi Siesta' - which is the practice of Yoga Nidra in the tropics. 

Also, we will have a stand demonstrating and experiencing a unique computer program that measures HRV - heart rate variability, an incredible tool that has been scientifically proven to predict everything from early death to how much willpower you have! Make sure to come and try it for yourself!

How has yoga changed your life?
We used to be stressed out, overweight corporates drinking drinking five double espressos a day and more than fifteen bottles of red wine a week!  Yoga saved our life. 

We discovered the intimate connection between the mind and body and how to integrate them for greater health, happiness and harmony. The power of this connection can be used in a very practical way to deal with daily life situations from aches and pains to managing emotions and the 'monkey mind'.

And why do you think practicing yoga in Koh Phangan is good for people?
There is something special about being closer to the elements of nature without the disruption of daily life.  Although practicing yoga in the west has its benefits - you don't really get to 'unplug'. 

Often people rush from work to go catch a class and then have to rush home and juggle the rest of life's demands.  On Phangan a person can choose to dedicate a block of time - one week or one month to focus on themselves and their health with no other responsibilities, we like to call it 'guilt-free me time'.

Why should people join you for IDY?
To experience HRV and receive immediate bio feedback on the level of stress in their system. 

Enjoy deep relaxation with Yogi Siesta and release physical, emotional and mental tension.

And leave us with your Yogi Philosophy...
There is no such thing as failure - only feedback. 

No matter what has happened to you, or where you are in life, it is never too late to do something about it. Yoga, backed by scientific research has a natural, long lasting answer to remove all the judgements we make of ourselves and develop a new perspective. 

This is the beginning of liberation.