🇹🇭 Suan Sati Yoga Retreat in Chiang Mai

A step closer to getting those elephant pants?

I’ve been wanting to do a yoga retreat for a little while, having enjoyed meditation retreats a lot. There’s one that interested me in Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand, called Suan Sati. It mostly appealed as it didn’t seem to cater for rich American new-age hippies, which many such centres in Asia seem to.

I timed my stay in Thailand to be able to make the retreat, as it was closed over the burning season. The burning season runs from January to April, and during it, farmers employ slash-and-burn methods to clear land for a new crop. The air pollution in Chiang Mai becomes the worst in the world during this time, which I didn’t fancy experiencing any more of after being in the North of Vietnam.

Chiang Mai in the burning season

Retreat Structure

The centre runs structured retreats in the winter, which usually sell out. In the summer, you can come to the centre when you like and stay for at least 3 nights. That means that people arrive and leave every day, which has some pros and cons. You get to meet a lot of cool people, but also every morning you’ve got to say some goodbyes.

The retreat followed a loose structure - every day we had 3 Vegan meals, a total of 3 hours and 30 minutes of yoga, and a workshop that differed daily. Otherwise, there was a lot of free time to do whatever you liked. The retreat was also pretty loose rule-wise, with there being a silent period until the end of Breakfast every morning, and no alcohol or drugs allowed.

I stayed in a dorm, but there were some private rooms available, too. The dorm was clean and comfy, and the centre was masterfully thought out - there were lots of hammocks dotted around, comfy huts to chill in, various Thai drinks in the fridge, and even a net above the rice paddies to stargaze in. It sort of felt like an all-inclusive resort for hippies.

The Yoga

In the mornings, we practised vinyasa yoga, which was a bit intense and great to wake up to. In the afternoons, we did yin yoga, which targets the connective tissue between muscles and tendons. I particularly liked the latter and holding poses for a few minutes; I could get some deep stretches, and it felt almost meditative.

The retreat had a hut (“shala”) set up perfectly for yoga. During the sessions, we had all we needed to do yoga well available. That included bricks, bolsters, and knee pads for my decrepit 26-year-old knees. While practising, we also had a fantastic view of the Thai countryside, which beats looking at the pipe-work of sweaty London gyms.

I did the most yoga I’ve ever done during my time here, and now my body feels different. It’s still riddled with knots and parts of my body click when they shouldn’t, but I get less tight in places, especially in my back.

I usually opt for the gym or climbing if I want to exercise, but after this retreat, I think I’ll be going for yoga more often. Doing it frequently seems to pay off, too, with many of the flows becoming intuitive and poses becoming easier.

The Workshops

We had a different workshop every day. One night, we had the sauna on (sadly, a wet one, which are popular in Southeast Asia) and a fireplace going, and a gong bath on another night. These felt pretty standard for a wellness establishment like this, and provided some variety in the programme.

The most interesting workshop was Satsang. I was made aware of it in India, and it can take on different forms. Usually, it entails spiritual or philosophical conversation, meditation, or singing devotional songs in a group. Here, we had a circle of everyone sharing their life stories and saying what brought them to Suan Sati, if they felt comfortable doing so.

People shared some very personal and vulnerable stories from their lives. I’ve never experienced people opening up so much after having just met them, and I massively commended their ability to be able to do so. Being at the retreat felt different afterwards, feeling like people knew each other on a deeper level.

Saying all this, I wish I opened up a bit more to see what that would have been like. I decided to skip my turn, because saying that I might have an avoidant attachment style felt a bit demeaning next to people saying how they nearly died from health issues or how they cancelled their wedding.

Everything Else

The food here was amazing. It was all fresh vegan Thai food, which I’ve been hunting for daily while in Thailand - except now I didn’t have to click through 5 restaurants on Google Maps checking if the menus cater to tourists or locals.

Everyone else attending the retreat was great, too. Most people were on holiday, but there were a few backpackers and locals too. Compared to meditation retreats I’ve done in the UK, the people felt a lot more down-to-earth as well. I ended up meeting up with a lot of people in the city after the retreat, and it felt good to get to know people a little better. I’ve not been able to do much of that in Thailand, with most travellers being younger backpackers who don’t have much desire to engage in local culture.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the lack of forced “hippiness”. I felt some initial aversion to holding hands before dinner, and Americanisms from the teachers like “give yourself permission to be here” or greetings like “happy 4 PM”, but I got over that. We’d also all publicly share one thing we felt grateful for before dinner, but that ended up creating a nice atmosphere in the evenings.

The centre was also very close to nature. We had to chase a huge frog out of the dorm one evening, lizards would often join me while I was reading in the huts, and I had to get used to the cicadas making a racket in the evening. It felt grounding to co-exist with the animals like that.

I’ll seek more retreats like this out in the future, although it might be difficult to do in Europe. I remember the yoga teacher at my gym advertising a weekend yoga retreat in a manor house for like £1000, catering to the West London yummy mummies. Maybe I have to get in with the cougars.