Seachi Yoga Retreat for Beginners (Day 2)

This is the continuation of the first post about my Seachi Yoga Retreat Day One. If you are just logging on to the blog now, you can click here to catch up to see what happened on Friday.

After a restful night’s sleep, we started day two of our retreat with morning yoga on the beach. I don’t normally practice yoga on the beach, so I was a bit hesitant about the sand getting on my precious mat, and maybe even in my eyes while we practiced. Luckily, Momo had mats for us to use, so I opted for borrowing a mat instead of using my Manduka PROLite. Turns out, I was just being the usual worry wart that I am known for, because after we laid our Lagu beach blanket down on the sand was not an issue.

Our teacher Yohanna suggested light snacks after practicing so that we don’t weigh ourselves down too much. I can totally see and understand the need for this, because even after my Bikram classes, I usually just have my buko juice and some fresh fruit. It just feels right to eat better.  There is probably some scientific (Ayurvedic) or medical explanation as to why it’s really better to eat this way after a yoga class, but in all honesty it’s just one of those things where I would say “It feels right” to eat this way because my body wants it to be so.

By now, all the participants of the retreat were getting to know each other and we had become friendly. You could see everyone’s personal interests in the choice of our morning activities. While some enjoyed paddle boarding, others relaxed in the warm water on the sand, and still others decided to go snorkeling.

I have learned to enjoy the beach more since having kids. Actually, after enjoying recent vacations with my sister where we spend the entire day by the beach, I have come to enjoy just sitting, listening to the water gently kiss the sand, and sometimes, if I’m lucky, I can even take a nap.

I guess this is another reason why I enjoyed this retreat so much. We had activities to look forward to that were interesting and fun, but we also had down time. Down time to do what we enjoy without feeling overwhelmed about the next scheduled activity. Plus, if you decided to take your kids on retreat with you so they could enjoy the resort as well, this is the perfect time to spend bonding with them.

After each meal was served, I tried to chat with Chef for a little bit about the dishes so that I could find inspiration in preparing similar dishes for my family at home. Because many of the dishes use simple and fresh ingredients, I began to think that it was even easier to pay attention to what my family eats in a simple way. Sometimes, when I’m cooking for my family, I fall into a rut of just preparing what is easy, instead of changing it up. I learned from this meal that “Sauce Vierge” is a way to prepare veggies by lightly poaching them in olive oil. It was like a light veggie salsa on top of the firm white flaky White Marlin, and it was delicious.

After lunch, Jen and I decided to cool off a little bit in the room. Some of the participants used this time to take advantage of the pool. We knew that we would have a cooking lesson later in the afternoon, so we took the time to just rest a little bit. I went back to my book, and Jen and I both rested in the room with the air conditioning to cool us off.

Later in the afternoon we attended a Healthy Boholano Cooking class taught by Chef Paeng. Both dishes that Chef taught us are healthy and easy to prepare. I totally see myself making both the Chicken Halang Halang and the Fish Sinanglay for my family in the future. Look for my future post on Fish Sinanglay. I will definitely blog about it after I write about the retreat/vacation in its entirety.

After our cooking lesson, a quick snack, and fresh apple celery juice, our teacher Yohanna took the time to chat with us as we were setting up for our practice. We converted the space from our cooking classroom to our open air yoga studio while she shared her plan for all of us to try an inversion at the end of our class. Headstand (Sirasana) takes an extreme amount of effort, concentration, and balance, so I was surprised when our teacher decided it was time for the beginners to try it out.

I really wanted to document our afternoon class, but I knew that it would be such a distraction to try and steal some shots of the participants and then get back on the mat in my own moving meditation.  So, I’m very thankful that Avery, from Momo was willing to use my phone to get some of these poses from our afternoon practice.

I asked Yohanna later why she insisted for all the beginners to come into this inversion that even I myself, had reserved for when I was quite comfortable in my practice, already. Her response was simple. “I wanted everyone to grow in their confidence for the practice. Imagine how good they all feel knowing that they can do a headstand.”  That being said…inversions are certainly not for everyone. You should be careful to talk to your teacher if you have any physical injuries AND if you have high blood pressure before entering into any asanas which bring your head lower than your heart. (Remember before you enter into any physical activity you should get clearance from your doctor and if you are going to be training or studying under a professional, you should disclose any and ALL medical history.)

Of course, after we finished our practice, we had to play on the sand again for more sunset pictures…

Dinner on Saturday night was probably my most favorite meal of the entire weekend! I devoured Chicken Kebabs that were seasoned and tenderized with a yogurt curry marinade, Seafood Kabobs, Market Salad, and Red Rice Pilaf with Almonds. It was kind of dark, so I couldn’t snap a pic of the buffet, but Lara was able to snap one of her dinner plate. My dinner plate pretty much looked the same, only I went up twice-so I ate twice as much food! 

 The Market Salad is probably my favorite side dish of the entire weekend. It reminded me of an “Everything but the Kitchen Sink” pizza they have back home in NY. Chef said-it’s just “everything from the market.” So it was a delightfully cool treat of lettuce, cauliflower, tomatoes, olives, kesong puti, cucumbers, and roasted almonds with an apple cider vinaigrette. (Now that’s definitely something I can make at home!)

Thanks Lara for allowing me to use your IG post! I wasn’t able to snap a pic of our dinner that night 🙁 BUT really…check out our evening set up for dinner-isn’t it lovely?

The beauty of Day 2 during my Seachi Yoga Retreat experience, was that it was ENTIRE day that I did exactly what I wanted to do and enjoyed it. I woke up to a morning practice, enjoyed the sun and the sand, indulged in healthy meals (that didn’t leave me feeling guilty because I ate so much), and learned how to prepare some Boholano dishes. My afternoon was complete with another yoga class which helped me see things from a different perspective, and finally, I finished my day at the Beach House with a relaxing massage.

The disappointing part of the Day 2 is that I knew I was leaving the Momo in the morning…*sigh*