Pace, Growth and Evolution with Aldona from Agama Yoga

What brings you to Koh Phangan?
I came for the first time in 2013 and have been practising Yoga since 2007. My friend told me that she had been to Agama so I came to do the First Level Intensive Course for one month in November 2013.

I practised different styles and fell in love with the Agama style. I went back to the Netherlands to work and save up to come back and do the teacher training course at Agama in January 2015, this is five hundred hours and makes you an Agama teacher.

The course was amazing, I had a flight back but didn’t go. I started teaching right away and am still here.

I think something about the island is that everything here happens fast. The things I go through in just a week are so intense, something that I would go through in a few months back in Holland. The pace, growth and evolution are very quick here.

What do you like about being on Koh Phangan?
There’s so much nature around and always new places to discover even though it is relatively small.

I like that it’s simple and underdeveloped, you are surrounded by nature and I like that it’s easy going. Pretty much everyone I meet is nice.

The groups of people who come here are interesting, they come as a tourist and end up staying, either becoming a yogi or a diver. And the food of course, I love the food.

Agama is very well known, if not the most well known Yoga school, tell us about its core principles...
It’s an authentic form of Yoga in the sense that they focus on energy flow and chakras which I have not encountered elsewhere since I started practising. It’s tantric. They take elements from various Indian and Tibetan yogic traditions. They’re spiritual but not in a religious kind of way. People come being atheist, Jewish, Catholic etc but they can still practise Agama Yoga and take the spiritual practice without leaving their religion.

Also right now at this time there are huge changes happening, it’s really exciting, things haven’t changed like this ever before at Agama. The energy is changing, we’re building a new restaurant, there’s a big team there and a new sales and marketing director.

There are so many changes so it’s a really exciting time to be there, people are coming who have been away in India for example and saying ‘wow!’, people who have been here longer than me are really amazed!

What part do you play at Agama Yoga?
At Agama I’m a Yoga teacher and I also continue to take levels. You start with one month intensive then it goes to two times a week so I have the role of teacher and student at the same time.

I am also the social media coordinator so I manage all the social media channels like Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and I also write the monthly newsletter which goes to around seven thousand people. I support the marketing department in whatever is needed and also participate in all of the community events.

We have the Maha Shiva Ratri coming up which is the one time in the year where they have an all-night event in the school. It consists of meditation with performances of male archetypes of Shiva and a group of twenty one women who are preparing. This consists of one hour a day of Yoga practice; I am supporting the leading teacher. Moreover, every month we have a final ceremony for all of the people who graduate and I’m the MC for all of these events.

Tell us about your personal Yoga practice?
For me it’s physical and spiritual. It feels like it binds everything together and through Yoga I grow and evolve a lot quicker than if I didn’t do it. When I started I felt like the inside of my body was being oiled and massaged and after starting Agama yoga I discovered it was more and goes beyond just the physical.

It is energetic and makes you connected to something greater. I am learning mental concentration techniques that help me when I study or work, away from my mat. This helps me grow and evolve faster.

Some of the experiences you can have with Yoga are so strong, like an enhanced experience of reality, it makes your awareness more refined.

Do you think Agama is a main reason for Phangan being known for Yoga?
Absolutely, the first was in Denmark then it was opened in India and this school started more than ten years ago. It was the third and now Agama has centres all around the world, people really do know about it.

What other projects are you involved with?
At the moment I am in to crystal healing, I haven’t practised too much but just in my own time so I haven’t made a business of it but maybe in the future.

In March I’m going to start a ‘Nadi Healing Touch course’, it’s kind of like Thai massage but based more on energy work, touching acupuncture points etc. I will learn more once it starts and at the same time will be starting Thai massage in a Thai school in Sri Thanu, so I can compare and integrate the two.

What do you hope for yourself over the next five years?
Good question, I hope to still be doing what I do now and to have grown in it. I also hope to have played a role in Agama to help people find this type of Yoga and to have perfected my skills in social media. Maybe to have started my crystal healing business as well.

What is your life philosophy?
To not be afraid to be yourself and to show who you are to the world. To show up to life as you are. Even though in essence we are all the same, we’re manifested in different forms so it’s a shame not to be your unique self.