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CELEBRATION OF EMBODIMENT 2023 WITH BO AND SHIRLEY!
A 7 Days 6 Nights Anusara® yoga NEW YEAR RETREAT in Chiang Mai, Thailand
30 Dec 2022 to 5 January 2023
Celebrate the New Year as we celebrate the gift of embodiment in the ancient city of Chiang Mai! For our retreat oasis we have chosen Kaomai Lanna, an award-winning retreat center perfectly situated 40 minutes outside of the Chiang Mai city, affording us the perfect balance between serenity and activity. From our oasis we can easefully pulse outward to celebrate the beauty of the old town and nature or partake in the diverse (and sometimes quirky) activities that abound.
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
– Rumi
Our intention for this “retreat” is to radically affirm that the highest reality exists both inside and outside of us. When we celebrate embodiment “in” the world, we affirm with each action that all is One—that the world is in us rather than we are “in” the world. In honoring the highest in the seemingly mundane, we integrate the darkness with our Light.
Practice includes: Anusara yoga workshop classes, where Bo will impart the theme for the day in each intensely playful session; meditation both on and off the cushion; and celebratory kirtan or ecstatic chanting of the Divine name (one of the most powerful practices in this age of Kali Yuga—age of darkness and ignorance of the Truth).
As with previous retreats, morning asana sessions will be dynamic and uplifting, while evening sessions, cooling and introspective.
In the spirit of celebration, we’ll play together like a school of brightly coloured fish with optional but hard to resist group activities. Of course you always have the choice to take your celebration inward to the stillness of the Heart.
Space is limited so please register early to save your spot and receive the early bird discount.
ABOUT THE DESTINATION - CHIANG MAI, THE ROSE OF THE NORTH
“Chiang Mai is the largest city in mountainous northern Thailand. Founded in 1296, it was capital of the independent Lanna Kingdom until 1558. Its Old City area still retains vestiges of walls and moats from its history as a cultural and religious centre. Chiang Mai is most famous for its beautiful ancient temples, though there is much more to see and do. The striking mountainous landscape around the city provides a lot of wonderful natural attractions and is home to two tribal villages.
- Amazing Thailand
KAOMAI LANNA HOTEL AND RESORT, CHIANG MAI
Kaomai Lanna Hotel And Resort is a unique boutique accommodation on the route from Chiang Mai to Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand.
Surrounded by a big, beautiful tropical garden in Chiang Mai, the resort features unique rooms converted from tobacco curing barns, decorated in contemporary Lanna style with colonial style teak wood antique furniture.
Kaomai Estate 1955 is an extension of Kaomai Lanna Resort in San Pa Tong district, Chiang Mai. Its original site was a sixty years old tobacco processing estate which housed fifty tobacco drying buildings surrounded by many multi decade aged trees.
The project was launched in 2016 with the transformation of the deserted area behind the resort. The work includes the renovation of two museum buildings from two tobacco drying barns, the conversion of a cafe from a rare twin barn, the creation of an amphitheater for outdoor recreational space and the rejuvenation of several historic lanes with an outdoor museum concept to educate the visitors about the architectural and natural heritage. The information about each tobacco drying barn types from the different time periods, the botanical identification signs attached on more than 100 species of plants and an expert survey finding of more than 50 species of birds found in the area would offer the visitors a heritage reminiscing experience. In 2018, the project was awarded the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation In New Design In Heritage Contexts.
RETREAT FEES
DOUBLE / TWIN-SHARING ACCOMMODATION
SUPERIOR ROOM [ Size: 35-38 Sqm2 ]
SGD 1,020 (before 25 Sept 2022)
SGD 1,170 (from 26 Sept 2022)
DELUXE ROOM [ Size: 38-42 Sqm2 ]
SGD 1,048 (before 25 Sept 2022)
SGD 1,198 (from 26 Sept 2022)
SINGLE ACCOMMODATION
SUPERIOR ROOM [ Size: 35-38 Sqm2 ]
SGD 1,260 (before 25 Sept 2022)
SGD 1,410 (from 26 Sept 2022)
DELUXE ROOM [ Size: 38-42 Sqm2 ]
SGD 1,320 (before 25 Sept 2022)
SGD 1,470 (from 26 Sept 2022)
NOTES
Please plan to arrive in Chiang Mai before 2.30 pm on 30 December 2022. Shirley will contact you upon registration regarding purchasing flight tickets
Please email Shirley with any questions
WHAT’S INCLUDED IN YOUR RETREAT
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Anusara yoga with Bo, Experienced Certified Anusara Teacher (ECAT), Yoga Alliance Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500), Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (CEP) and Teacher Trainer. Your practice will be assisted by Shirley Srey (Prajna Yoga Teacher, former licensed Anusara-Inspired yoga teacher). Together they have a combined experience of over 40 years as dedicated students and teachers of yoga and meditation
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Yogic practices in the newly renovated open-air yoga shala in lush tropical surrounds
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Clear intention for community and inclusion, Kula, one of the pillars of Anusara—both in class and on group excursions
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6 nights boutique accommodation at Kaomai Lanna Hotel and Resort. A UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award winner for Cultural Heritage Conservation In New Design In Heritage Contexts
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6 Breakfasts with Continental and Thai flavours
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5 Northern Thailand Cuisine Dinners inclusive of Hot/Cold Herbal drinks, Appetiser, 4 main courses and dessert
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60-Minute Traditional Thai Massage at Thagarn Spa
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Use of the swimming pool surrounded by greenery
ADDITIONAL COSTS
Your flight to Chiang Mai International Airport, Thailand (CNX)
Return 40-Minute transfers from Chiang Mai International Airport to Kaomai Lanna Hotel And Resort
Share the cost of transfer by van (THB 1,200 per van one-way for 4-6 persons ; THB 400 per person one-way if traveling with 1-3 persons), or opt for a transfer by private car for 1-2 persons (THB 1,000 per person per way)
Optional tours to Chiang Mai Old Town and the mountains of Northern Thailand
OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES DURING LEISURE TIME
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Explore Chiang Mai Old Town on New Year’s Eve (Dinner at Kaomai Lanna will be excluded on this day to allow for celebration in the Old Town)
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Explore Kaomai Estate 1955 and enjoy dining in pleasant surroundings with a forest-cooled, open-air relaxed atmosphere at Poliang Bistro, Tao Cha and Cafe Rong Bom
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Explore the heritage gardens with more than 100 species of plants and more than 50 species of birds and wildlife
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Restore and rejuvenate with traditional Lanna healing wisdom and the use of natural ingredients at Thagarn Spa
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Visit Doi Inthanon, Thailand's tallest mountain, home to some of the most spectacular waterfalls, landscapes and cultures in the entire country
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Easy hiking at the mountains of Maewang. Go bamboo rafting, have a dip in the waterfalls, visit Karen Village and see some elephants
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Cycling tour to visit the local village, paddy fields, Handmade Paper Handicraft Village, Doll Making Museum and Baan Tawai Wood Carving Village
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Sanpatong half-day tour. Visit Wiang Tha Kan, an ancient city built in the 18th Century Hariphunchai, Mon Kingdom. Visit Ganesha Museum, a Bee Farm, the Sunday local Weekend Market, and explore a Handmade Doll Making Factory and Doll Museum
ABOUT BO SREY
Originally from New York, Bo began his spiritual journey as a student in Paris where he began to question his beliefs about reality. Upon returning home, he dove deeply into Eastern philosophy, studying with renowned scholar Douglas Brooks at the University of Rochester.
His search eventually led him to his spiritual teacher, in whose presence, he experienced the awakening described by mystics of many traditions. Auspiciously and quite by surprise, he bumped into Professor Brooks at the same event where he met his spiritual teacher. He spent nearly 15 years studying with his spiritual teacher, living and serving at her meditation centers in New York, San Francisco and India. Through his teacher, he found Anusara yoga, the main style of hatha yoga that he now teaches. Anusara yoga is a method of hatha yoga known for its clear alignment principles and expansive nondual philosophy.
Bo began teaching hatha yoga in 2002, moving to San Francisco for much of his training. Continuing the journey westward (from NYC), he moved to Singapore in 2005 where he became the first certified Anusara teacher in Asia. In addition to countless hours with Anusara founder John Friend, he has also apprenticed and trained in San Francisco with Iyengar Yoga teacher Tony Briggs. He is a Yoga Alliance Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500) and Yoga Alliance Continuing Education provider. Now an Experienced Certified Anusara Teacher (ECAT), he is one of the few teachers able teach 300-hr teacher trainings with the Anusara School of Hatha Yoga.
Bo views teaching as service. His classes, whether flowing or more static, include clear alignment instructions. In Anusara yoga classes, he weaves themes with alignment to focus the intention for the practice, always linking the themes back to the highest: Awareness.
In addition to hatha yoga classes, he also teaches pranayama and meditation, having shared his love for these practices with students in private sessions, outdoor meetups, corporate leadership events and prisons. Since beginning the teaching journey in New York, Bo has taught at major studios in Berkeley, Singapore and Bangkok. In 2005, he moved to Singapore to join the first group of teachers at Pure Yoga. He joined Hom Yoga in 2016.
From 2008, he has had the great good fortune to be invited to travel and teach workshops, retreats, conferences and teacher trainings around the world with his wife, Shirley.
In his free time, he loves to immerse himself in nature: hiking, running, mountain biking and photographing wildlife. He also has a background in mixed martial arts, Qigong and Tai Chi.
Read more about Bo here www.spandananda.com
ABOUT SHIRLEY SREY
Shirley Srey is a former licensed Anusara-Inspired yoga teacher and a dedicated student of Anusara for more than 17 years. Her in-depth study includes more than 200 teacher training hours directly with the founder, John Friend, and hundreds of teacher training and immersion study hours assisting Bo.
Shirley is also a teacher of Prajna Yoga. She completed a comprehensive teacher training with Tias Little in 2006, at the Upaya Zen Center, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, and was also invited to assist Tias at a yoga conference in Hong Kong and at his Yoga Anatomy Teacher Training and Prajna Immersion in Singapore.
Currently, Shirley manages and creates events for Spandananda and travels with Bo to present deeper trainings at conferences, workshops, and retreats, sharing what their teachers have taught them to students around the world.
