Yoga on the Secret Island

It’s our first time to host a yoga retreat on the island.

Sneak peek of the yoga sesh today. <3

Two people didn’t make it, so we only have 14 guests. They’re mostly from Russia, and they’re spending a week with the island all for themselves.

Food has been a bit of hell in the kitchen. But John the head chef kept getting better so quickly that every meal was like a come back from the few mishaps in the first two days.

Artem doing a back flip. He’s a recovering calisthenics junkie.

I’m supposed to have a weekend break, but I worked. Which sucks. >_< I should slow down a bit; I was producing my graphic design work too fast.

I guess I was too excited to finish them. I made a watercolor-themed catalogue of the activities and services on the island. :) I haven’t done graphic design since 2010, and it felt like a long-forgotten comfort zone.

I missed being an artist. I’m still an artist as a writer, but doing visual arts is an entirely different alternate reality.

Hand stand on the secluded beach.

On the second day, I showed the Russians a draft design of our offshore activities, which are island hopping and waterfall adventure.

Surprisingly, they booked both. They had so much fun doing the island hopping and feeding enormous turtles yesterday. They came back red and sunburnt and very hungry.

I haven’t seen the turtles yet, and the videos were incredible. :3 Martin, Philipe’s dad, said that the turtles weigh over 100kg each.

I wonder how old they are? What do they eat? Can I please pet them for a week? :3

Dmitri and his girlfriend at the hideout.

Today, I shared with our guests a great spot for sunset yoga — the secluded beach with the lovely cliff and shade.

We went by speedboat to the beach. It was so far away it took 45 seconds to get there.

I’ve been speaking with their retreat organizer and yoga teacher, Mark. He’s organizing so many retreats in exotic places in Asia and he’s only 21 years old. He showed me his sports cars and I was like, are you kidding me?! o_o

Mark doing a scorpion pose. #bucketlist

His life story was insane. I thought he was joking when he said he had anorexia two years ago, and that yoga changed his life.

He’s so tall, fit, and commanding, I wouldn’t ever think he was sick or that he was leading retreats in multiple locations in Asia.

Then he showed me his photo from two years ago. He was all skin and bones, and looked weak and malnourished.

I was testing the beach for yoga. The space was perfect. <3

His friend Dmitri kept butting in the story that I couldn’t understand Mark’s complex relationship with his mother, leading to the anorexia.

Actually there were three of them boys going back and forth translating the story from Russian into English just for me to understand. And I with all my honorable brain cells understood nothing.

More arm balances with Artem. He’s also 21.

But when Mark showed me his old photo, I understood everything. Damn right. :P

Not to mention, they were all over the floor of the clubhouse practicing their arm balances.

The view from the hideout.

I was telling Philipe today that we should have a yoga studio midway to the cliff. But he didn’t want his island to be associated with retreats, I’m not sure, but we’ll see.

When I turn Philipe into a yogi we’ll have 10 yoga studios on the island. :3

And their response to the food? “More, please.” <3

The sunset at the end of the day.

// 08 Jan 2024