Agama Yoga in Thailand
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Update August 15, 2018: Agama Yoga is now undergoing an investigation, after being rocked by this article (update Oct 21, 2022, linking to archive.org version since it looks like it was taken down by Medium), which contains stories of sexual abuse of women by the founder and some of his top teachers. There’s also a website where you can find the latest information: https://www.agamajustice.com/
The original post below was written in December 2017.
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When I started my trip in India back in March 2017, one of the intentions I had was to find a yoga immersion course. The criteria in my head was:
- I don’t need a teacher-training course; I’m more interested in deepening my practice as a practitioner
- It shouldn’t be expensive (i.e. packaged for Westerners). I wanted an “authentic” Indian yoga course
- I should learn about philosophy of yoga, not just more asanas
- There should be course syllabus, so I know what I’ll learn in a certain period of time (4–6 weeks)
This pursuit took me first to Mysore in May, where I learned about Ashtanga yoga. Over the three weeks I spent there, I learned a lot about the asana practice, but not the philosophy. It was what Agama teachers call, “yoga gymnastics”. I’m glad that I know what Ashtanga yoga is though! My body definitely got more flexible during this time.
You can read about my Ashtanga Yoga post below:
Then in June, I went to Rishikesh. I spent 7 days at an ashram (Yog Niketan), learning classical Hatha yoga. It was weak, neither intellectual or focused on alignment, and I didn’t learn much. It was nice to have a routine, meditate, and hang with fellow yogis there (and monkeys too!). Since I was in Rishikesh during low-season, many good teachers were apparently out of town, so it was on the sleepy side. I left Rishikesh after spending a month there and not feeling much accomplishment in my yoga practice.
You can read about my time in Rishikesh:
After I left India in September, I felt defeated in my quest for finding my desired yoga course. I was prepared to do a yoga teacher training course and spend $1000-$1500. It seems that was the only way to get the knowledge I wanted.
During the two months I spent in Chiang Mai, I decided I would go back to Mysore, India, and do a YTT course there. While researching yoga courses online one late night, I stumbled on a Level 1 course at Agama Yoga, located in Southern Thailand. It had high reviews on TripAdvisor, authentic Hindu teachings, and an affordable, 4-week course ($400)! Whaaat? I initially thought it was a tantra school, and wasn’t sure if it was for me. However the Level 1 course is Hatha yoga (there is tantra taught at the school, but it is a separate course). I asked two friends who had been for advice about going there; I decided I’d give Agama a try.
Welcome to Koh Phang-nan
In early November, I arrived on the jungle island of Koh Phag-nan. Interestingly, Koh Phag-nan has a dichotomy: one side of the island is popular for the popular Full Moon party — apparently 10,000+ people come for a night of partying, alcohol, and other drug cocktails. Then there’s the part of the island I stayed on, Srithanu. This area is where the spiritual community is at, and where Agama is located.
I rented a bungalow for the month. Luckily I arrived as low season was ending, so I paid 9,000 baht ($275) for the month. A nice perk was having a kitchen, which I didn’t have in Chiang Mai.
I rented a scooter to get around (3500 baht/mo, ~$107). I was apprehensive about renting a scooter, because everyone would joke about the “Koh Phag-nan tattoo” — I saw many people with bandages on their arms or legs throughout the month, having had some kind of scooter accident. At first I thought that the roads were real dangerous around the island. Over the month I learned that many people arrive here with little/no scooter skills, and learn the hard way.
Tip: Just take it slow on turns — 30 km/h, especially because there’s sandy/dusty parts and you lose traction easily. Also drive defensively — as there are many newbie riders.
The Course
On my first day of class, I arrived on campus, greeted by a Hindu and Buddhist statues.
As I walked into Enlightenment hall, there were about 40 other students. In front of the class, sat the teacher on a platform; to the left, a statue of Nataraj (i.e. dancing Shiva), to the right, Buddha. I felt right at home.
I arrived on Day 5 of the 24-day course. The class started with a lecture. The format of the course is that we learn one new asana everyday, and the teacher would explain the meaning of the asana, and how it affected the body. On my first day, we did some warm-up exercises, followed by a few asanas. That’s right — over the two-hour morning class, we only did a few asanas! However, each asana was held for a longer period — for a few minutes. So for example, padahastasana (touching the ground while standing) was held for 3 minutes, and longer as the course progressed. I’ve never done yoga this way.
In the evening, we had class again from 4–6 pm. This was then followed by a lecture, from 6:15–8pm. We would go through various topics. For example, many of the lectures were focused on the first two limbs of yoga, the Yamas and Niyamas. There are five yamas, and five niyamas; combined they form ten rules to observe in the path to becoming a yogi. We would spend two hours on each yama/niyama over the course to fully understand them.
Side note: during the course I made visuals for each of the yamas and niyamas; at the end I put them together so I can print them out when I’m back home. Feel free to download for your purpose as well. Dropbox link
After my first day, I was sure that I came to the right place. I like that there’s focus on the Patanjali Sutras, that we hold poses for a long time to activate energy channels, focus on chakras, and other esoteric yoga practices. After a few classes, I felt that this was a good Yoga 101 course for anyone interested in learning yoga beyond the asanas. I wish I had found this when I first started doing yoga when I was 25! For many years I’ve been focused on perfecting the asanas, but there’s so much more.
There are other events during the course outside of the formal classes. One was a full moon meditation, which involved all of us standing in concentric circles, based on zodiac sign. We then listened to music, standing still for 45 minutes. It was surprisingly energizing.
Another weekly event was bhajans on Saturday night. Our talented yoga teacher, Yogita, could also sing and play the guitar.
Also the founder of the school, Swami Vivekananda, is a Romanian man, who studied electrical engineering. He spent many years learning Indian and Tibetan yoga. I only saw him twice during the course. My initial impression is that — he talks a lot! His lecture would go for 2–2.5 hours, which is a really long time to listen to someone talking non-stop. Also, he didn’t have the calm “swami aura” I was expecting.
Conclusion
Over the course of the month, I learned a great deal about asanas, energy, chakras, purification techniques, and so much more. I find it funny that while I sought out something like this in India, I found it in Thailand.
As a side note, I feel that I have more of a spiritual connection to Thailand than India. Every time I visit this country, I have deeper personal growth:
- in 2013, I came with Dev, and we both did our first silent 10-day retreat together (Vipassna)
- After Vipassana, I volunteered at New Life Foundation, and learned more about myself. And also that growing organic bananas are hard work!
- In 2015 I returned, and got my first tattoo, an Om, in Pai, via bamboo stick
- and currently, in 2017 I returned to scope out the digital nomad scene, and learned about how I feel about digital nomad life
- and now I’ve been given this gift of taking a course at Agama and fulfilling my thirst for knowledge about yoga
Immediately after completing the course, I left to India to volunteer for a month. I’ve lost interest in the YTT that I was thinking of doing in Mysore. Instead, I may return to Agama and do the Level 2 course to further my practice from Level 1. Level 2 helps reinforce self-practice, since there aren’t any Agama-style classes offered in yoga studios.
So I can recommend the Level 1 course to anyone learning more about the philosophy behind yoga. I’m curious if a yoga teacher training course from another yoga school would have provided similar knowledge — please let me know! At Agama, doing a TTC-200 overlaps with the Level 1 course itself for the first three weeks, so certified teachers learn the same fundamental knowledge as level 1 students.
Also, some words of wisdom: as with any spiritual practice, remember to question what you learn, practice discernment, and trust your intuition. Be careful about dogma. There are many paths to evolve spiritually.
