Hoi An – Part I – Casey Space

Yoga Teacher Training

Ever since I started doing yoga in my early twenties, I have always wanted to do a long yoga retreat. Since I quit my job to move to Vietnam, It seemed like the time to hide away for a month and immerse myself in yoga practice, beliefs, and history.

I chose to do the retreat in Vietnam instead of India mostly because I wasn’t sure if I would have my permanent Visa by the time I was travelling and honestly, when I booked it, I was still a bit worn out from everything associated with moving halfway across the world.

I was interested in participating in a program that was a month long as kind of a way to hit the reset button on my life. It just so happens the program also gives a teaching certificate for yoga at the end, but that’s not really my goal here.

I am in a large nice house in Hoi An with another student, an occupational therapist from Zurich, Switzerland. Her name is Maya and she is fantastic. There is only one key to the house, so we have become beyond best friends very fast as we go absolutely everywhere together.

We are the only students for this session which is nice. There had been severe flooding in Hoi An just weeks ago, and the other students decided to postpone. Apparently Hoi An floods all the time and they clean it up fast and go on with their lives. That’s what everyone in Hanoi told me, and it seems to be true.

Our teacher is a mid-thirties guy from Rishikesh, India, a holy town for yoga and a devout Hindu. He is strict about getting Yoga correct, but has a sense of humor and is interested in making us happy.

This is our typical schedule:

6:00am: Walk

6:30am: Hatha Yoga Class (Focus on alignment, small movements)

7:50am: Pranayama Breathing (Various breathing exercises)

8:30am: Breakfast (Vegan Pho)

10:30am: Meditation (Lead by a fabulous Austrian woman who spent the 80’s and 90’s in the same town in Northern India that our teacher is from, though he had not been born yet when she got there. She became somewhat stranded in Hoi An when Covid hit as she was riding her bicycle from China to Argentina)

11:30am: Philosophy (Each day is a new topic, but also turns into a session where I can ask all the questions I’ve ever had about Hinduism, Buddhism, India, Yoga, etc.)

12:30pm: Lunch (Vegan Vietnamese dishes)

2:45pm: Chanting (This is my least favorite part as we are memorizing sanskrit mantras and there is nothing like being a white American lady butchering a song/prayer to the gods in front of a devout Hindu man)

Some weeks the Chanting session is replaced with Anatomy.

4:00pm: Ashtanga Yoga (Focus on strength)

5:30pm: Finish, but maybe some homework later.

There was going to be an in house cook, but she had a family emergency so our teacher set up a deal with the corner vegetarian restaurant instead. We eat 3 meals a day at this restaurant and it plays one Buddhist chant on repeat almost 24 hours a day.

My Son

Ba Na Hills

My new best friend Maya and I took an excursion to Ba Na Hills on our one day off. It was a challenging ride on the motorbike as I am still very new with driving with a passenger and it was the farthest I have ridden anywhere (40km).

Ba Na Hills is a new tourist attraction featuring a large Buddha statue, the Golden Bridge, a faux French village, and carnival rides.

To get to the attraction, there is a 20 minute gondola ride up the massive lush mountainside. The ticket includes all features in the park at the top. We were blessed with good weather and pretty clear views.

Golden Bridge

On the internet, the Golden Bridge looks like something that was made by monks in ancient times. I was very interested in seeing this tourist attraction. After some research, I realized it is only a few years old and part of a theme park. I still wanted to go. Whoever thought of this is brilliant. They also did a good job painting the moss on the fingers…

Theme Park & Religious Sites

Though the site did have hundred-year-old wine cellars and chateaus from the French occupation, the developers went crazy with an elaborate fake Euro complex complete with cathedral, castles, pattiserie, etc. It reminded my Swiss friend of home and it reminded me of Las Vegas in places like The Venitian and Paris casinos.

Inside and outside the stone buildings were carnival games, wax museum, bumper cars, swing ride, drop zone, and alpine rollercoasters.

Below and above the village were the religious sites featuring the Buddha, temples, pagoda, and many dragons.

Hoi An Night Market

Old town Hoi An is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is absolutely beautiful. At night, the shops stay open late and all the enchanting lanterns glimmer in the reflection of the river and dance in the wind.

There are lots of tourists here in the evening, and it is difficult to walk and talk as the gauntlet of menus and floating candles are held in front of you with offers to make your wishes come true.