A Brand New Life with Tyler from Agama

In the run up to International Yoga Day on June the 21st, we interview one of the main organisers Tyler, from Agama Yoga to hear about his amazing change of life and what we can expect on the day...

Hi Tyler so tell us your Koh Phangan story…
Hi! Wow, so I’m still not entirely sure how I arrived to Koh Phangan. Even up to a year ago, I didn’t really know anything of the island - other than the picture I made up in my mind as a result of what I had heard of full moon parties, and from watching that movie The Beach.

But really, my journey to the island began about a year ago when I decided to take a short break from my life in America, and invest in myself a bit on the spiritual level.

To make a long and somewhat interesting story short, a close, lifelong friend of mine back in Colorado has personal ties to Agama Yoga, whose main campus is here on the island. Last summer, after witnessing me slip into a rather fierce bout of self-sabotage, and knowing that I have practiced Yoga for sometime, he made the suggestion to me that I get out of Colorado and come study Yoga for a month at the school. I must admit that my first thought was, ‘Yes! Come to a tropical island in paradise, party, drink coconuts and do Yoga as a means for curing my hangover. Sounds great to me!’ However, knowing that it was probably not in my best interest at that time to come to Koh Phangan, my friend instead sold me on traveling to the Agama branch in Rishikesh, India.

Up until leaving the States last September, very rarely have I left Colorado. Over the last decade I have been involved in building and launching a number of business ventures. First as a restaurateur, which then led to creating a consulting business roughly eight years ago wherein I provided support for start-ups spanning a multitude of industries. And it’s in the last three years where things have gotten absolutely crazy.

I developed and launched a full-service digital media company within the fastest emerging market in Colorado. I worked in developing a large-scale event production company. At the time of my leaving to India, I was simultaneously contributing to develop a clothing brand, while at the same time structuring a large commercial land deal wherein we were going to build a back-country, cat skiing lodge.

Needless to say leaving Colorado long-term was not a part of the plan. However I knew something had to give. I was losing myself to drinking and knew that I needed to jam a stick in my spokes in a major way and hit the reset button. Especially in light of the land deal my partners and I were putting together. I was facing taking down a very large investment and decided that yeah, heading to India for a short time to reset first and practice Yoga seemed like a brilliant idea.

So I packed a bag, told my partners I was going to head out of town for a short time to reset, and that I would be back in roughly a month. That was now ten months ago.

Upon arriving in India, something inside began to change almost immediately. For the first time in, well, really ever I felt true calmness. Being in Rishikesh felt like being home. I would spend days sitting by the Ganga river and just absorbing her awesome power. I would take walks between Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula, stopping along the way to drink chais.

I was meeting other people from all over the world who were on a path, similar to mine. People who I could share with and would get it. I was practicing Yoga six hours a day, six days a week. I was learning about how energies moved inside of my body and how I could control them. I was realising that after a life of experiences and other things, that the practice and study of Yoga was starting to begin.

It did not take me long before I started to lend a bit of volunteer support to the Agama Rishikesh. I was hanging workshop posters in the streets, while in my spare time was creating a new website for the branch. All the while, I kept telling my partners that I would be back the next month. And then the next month. And then the next month. And at that time, that was indeed the plan. Until is was not anymore.

Through my efforts in volunteering with the school, I was offered a permanent role with the company. And I accepted as I could not imagine doing anything else. And ironically enough, I now live and work on the same Koh Phangan island that I initially thought would be the escape for the wrong reasons.

However now the rules in which I operate have completely changed. This island is now my home and I love it. And I still have not been back to the States.

And what got you started and interested in yoga?
I became interested in Yoga as a way of calming my mind and finding peace in stillness. Growing up in Colorado, I took full advantage of the amazing opportunities we have to be physically active. We have four distinct seasons, and all of the diversified terrain you could imagine to match.

My passions are snowboarding in the winter, and mountain biking in the summer. I feel I have always operated at a very full-on pace, and I remember when I discovered Yoga, I felt like I had found a means of balancing my sometimes very intense tendencies. I also found that through Yoga, I was able to rehabilitate my body and mind from sustaining injuries that came along with a lifetime of being very active.

How long have you been practising and where have you studied?
I have practiced Yoga entirely in Colorado, with the exception of my time in India and now here on Koh Phangan. I have been practicing Yoga, as often as possible for about ten years. However, as I mentioned, due to numerous snowboarding and mountain biking injuries and surgeries, I have regularly had to take (sometimes) very long breaks to allow my body to recover.

My practice now is a bit funny as my body has numerous bits of titanium scattered throughout. It definitely takes me a while to deepen into some asanas and body symmetry is not always me friend. However, the true magic is when through a consistent practice, body parts begin to again open up. One day you feel busted while trying to perform garudasana, then next day BAM, you can suddenly get full bind, these are the ‘ah-ha’ moments that make it all worth it.

What type of yoga do you do?
I practice different styles of Yoga to achieve different effects. I am a very fiery and active person by nature. So in this regard I love a full-on Ashtanga practice. This keeps my need to move satisfied.

Up until going to India, I knew little of Hatha Yoga. However when I went, I discovered something amazing. Agama teaches traditional Indian and Tibetan Hatha Yoga. In addition to moving beyond asanas and teaching the entire eight limb system of Yoga, i.e. yama, niyama, pranayama, etc,, the school goes very deep into explaining the body’s chakras and nadis, or energy centers and pathways.

The school also teaches a very powerful, meditative pace. Asanas are held for a longer time as to allow the body to enter into full resonance with the activation of a specific chakra. Very different from what I was used to in the west, coming up through vinyasa studios. So, what I discovered while studying at Agama is that it provided me with a sense of awareness of what was actually going on inside of me while I was practicing. What I discovered was that when I went and dropped-in to Ashtanga classes in the Rishikesh area, my practice was enriched 10-fold. I could actually feel certain energies entering my body and working on specific areas.

I begin focusing on a complete merging and oneness, or samyama with my practice. My mind was blown. And it just made me want to go back to Agama and keep studying, discovering, and practicing more. I was hooked. Addicted. And I’m still here.

In terms of my daily practice, in the morning it involves a few rounds of sun salutations to get the blood moving and the spine flexing. Then I move into a handful of asanas that draw energy into the lower, root chakras. Then I work on energy sublimation - drawing these expanded energies up to the higher levels. Then pranayama techniques to steady my breath, mind and focus, and then finish with a bit of meditation.

What type of conscious activity are you part of and can you explain them…
Hmmm, not quite sure but for me, the term conscious activity touches on my sometimes unbearable desire to always be creating. I have built and launched numerous start-ups back home. I take great joy in coaching, promoting, and unifying a given community’s thought-leaders and start-up ventures.

I love helping people who choose to help and invest in themselves. Snowboarding is and always will be the top of that list too!

When I think of conscious activities, when I am doing these things, I feel I am closest to my true nature and in the natural flow of my role in the universe.

Tell us a bit about your role at Agama and what it entails…
In terms of a ‘title’, I am the Sales and Marketing Director for the company. It may sound cliche, but to me however, I feel as if I am merely in a role to serve as community support. This has manifested in numerous ways since officially starting with the company.

Supporting the vegan and vegetarian community by opening a new restaurant on the campus, Evolution Yogi Cafe. Supporting students by presenting a clear picture of what they can expect to gain from studying Yoga at Agama. Supporting the first time guest’s experience at Agama by creating a warm and inviting atmosphere when they arrive on the campus. Supporting the graduates of Agama’s various TTC programs by giving lectures on how to be successful as a Yoga Teacher. Providing personal support to students and teachers on how to create successful side-ventures as a means of being able to live a bit more comfortably on the island.

Now attempting to provide support to Koh Phangan’s business ecosystem by working to unify the community of Yoga, spiritual, and consciously-mindful businesses. Providing support to Agama’s future community by strengthening the brand and developing creative growth strategies and initiatives.

Supporting Agama’s international community by strengthening the network of international Agama branches and affiliates. So yeah, I would definitely say I feel as if I serve in a role of support.

What is your part in International Yoga Day?
Given my experience in event production, when I learned of International Yoga Day, it was very natural for me to apply what I know of the power that an event holds to bring together a community, to this opportunity. It is with pleasure that I decided to invite all of the other top Yoga centers on the island to the school and truly celebrate unity, or to join, which is infact the root of the sanskrit word Yoga.

I feel this event is of course much bigger than myself and am grateful to give it up to the greater whole! Up until the event, my job is to gather the ways that Agama can share the school’s magic to the world on that day, and to work with the other Yoga schools in them doing the same on behalf of their respective programs.

On the day of the event itself, I will of course be practicing lots, and lots of Yoga!

What makes Agama unique to other schools?
First and foremost, Agama is unique in that we have Swami Vivekananda Saraswati as the school’s founder and spiritual guru. He was the first person to establish Yoga on the island in 2003, and has been leading the Koh Phangan effort ever since. This makes Agama an extremely special and a typical Yoga school in that it is under the direct guidance of an individual who has reached states of samadhi.

To have a living, breathing guru at the school who continues to give weekly satsang, provides personal guidance, and continues to lecture within the Yoga halls is something extremely rare outside of India. Also, as I mentioned, Agama teaches the complete, real deal. We teach traditional Indian and Tibetan Hatha Yoga. In addition to other various workshops and retreats, we also teach authentic Tantra and Kundalini Yoga.

The beautiful thing about this Sri Thanu Yoga community, and the participating Yoga centers in the IYD event, is that all the centers provide a unique offering within the marketplace, and everyone is great at what they do. Samma Karuna teaches a great Vinyasa program. Gaia had developed and teaches a great Alignment Yoga program. Orion leads great Vinyasa, dynamic Yoga and detox programs.

The Agama Healing Center provides amazing Therapeutic Yoga programs and services. And this is why it makes sense for the island’s top centers to begin working together to promote the Sri Thanu area as a world-class collective of complimentary Yoga/spirituality centers, on-par with any other in the world. And my vision is that this IYD event can serve as a means to begin this effort. Koh Phangan is only going to continue growing, and I feel we can all coexist and continue to fill our Yoga halls.

What do you enjoy about the island in your free time?
I really enjoy getting on my scooter and just driving. Heading to Thong Nai Pan when I need to get away and treat myself. Heading to Than Sadet when I want to just chill out on the beach, eat a proper papaya salad, and swim with the fish.

Heading to Ban Tai on Sunday mornings to drink ristretto lattes and eat avocado toast. Heading to Chaloklum to swim with the plankton in the dark. But mostly, I really do love being around the Agama community. Given that I have now moved my entire life to this island, I consider the people I practice Yoga with my family.

The team I work with are extraordinary and I could do nothing without them. The students who travel from around the world to study Yoga at the school are amazing souls, and it is so inspiring to me to see people journeying through their own personal evolutions.

Again, I know it may sound cliche, but I am strange that in my free time, I actually truly like spending my time on the school’s campus and just observing.

And leave us with your life philosophy...
Always keep moving.