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As the boat pulled away from the beach, the sea looked like those magazine covers. So turquoise maybe someone played with the color saturation in the photo.

Koh Phangan, Thailand By Sonja Bjelland

I was heading from my studies at the Agama Center, to the other side of Koh Phangan to a placed called The Sanctuary.

Engulfed in jungle, the wellness resort sits on a secluded beach and happy hour was well underway by the time I arrived.

I had called earlier in the day to make sure they had dorm rooms available. Sometimes yoga retreats have them booked so visitors can only reserve them hours before arrival. But for 200 or 300 Bhat a night ($6-$10 US) it seems like a bargain.

Far from the high-end bungalows they offer, but the mattress were thick and has a mosquito net and towel for the cold shower. However, the mosquito net may have been more useful in the shower than over my bed.

Spark Circus performance at The Sanctuary By Sonja Bjelland

The resort winds through the island jungle in a mass of leafy green. I had to be careful not to step on frogs the size of my pinky nail and carried a flashlight at night.

The restaurant/bar/gathering place was great for people watching. An abundance of lower back tattoos on men and women and they could have held a Jack Sparrow look-alike contest.

My first night there, a human fire circus performed as a fundraiser. The Spark Circus brings play and lessons to orphans and refugees who are in Thailand from Myanmar. That night they raised about 60,000 Bhat or $2,000 US. It’s enough to run a school with 150 students for a year.

But that was just the start of the party. Every Friday night, a huge party starts up at a bar in the jungle and rages well into Saturday afternoon.

The music was still thumping during my 11:30 a.m. yoga class. Ben had us doing almost all of my favorite poses and the small class size allowed for personal attention. But the party challenged my savasana bliss.

After class, I wound up in a longtail boat with someone being taken from the party to a doctor after doing too many drugs. More yoga bliss floating away.

The location made my life a bit challenging but I managed to attend all three yoga classes they have during season: 8 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Just not all in one day. Each classes costs 300 Bhat or $10 US. They also have a Pilates class but I didn’t try it out. I also didn’t take advantage of the massages but one friend said it was the best he had ever had.

Yoga hall at The Sanctuary on Koh Phangan in Thailand By Sonja Bjelland

I stuck to the yoga and meditation and am still sore from the 8 a.m. flow class, and my hike afterward. But I enjoyed how the instructor, Peter, explained the stories behind some of the series of asanas. The movements were fluid, more like Tai Chi than sun salutations.

The 4:15 p.m. class with Dee brought in more of the inspirational side of yoga but not so much spiritual and a few Pilates moves. I needed the ab work though because Agama’s classes didn’t have any ab work.

At one point she recommended we pick a point in the jungle to focus for our balancing poses. I looked out at a red and yellow plant emerging from the green and found my spot. Amazing how long I can stand on one leg with my hands in the air here.

The serene but sometimes wet hall also held a free meditation class at 6 p.m. Teachers bring in different meditation techniques each night and those can include things such as dance.

The night I chose to go I got lucky. It was laughter meditation.

If you know me you know I like to laugh. Sometimes I can get to laughing pretty hard and forget to breath.

But no, I didn’t pass out.

We started the class practicing different kinds of laughter such as the belly laugh versus the nasal laugh. Then we did laughing exercises where we looked each other in the eye and had to laugh. It didn’t matter if the laugh was real or just an impersonation laugh. We just had to keep laughing.

In the end, supine on some cushions with our heads close together our “laughter facilitator” had us begin laughing.

I’d hear a laugh and just forced myself to laugh and pretty soon I was busting up. I had to bring my knees to my chest because my belly hurt. I’m laughing just thinking about it.

I’d hear the woman next to me laugh and that would start me laughing and my laugh got the woman next to me laughing. But it wasn’t all women. Plenty of guys enjoyed the laugh too.

Our teacher started telling us it was time to stop laughing and we lost it again. His serious tone just kept us rolling until after 20 minutes we started calming down.

That whole evening even a silly joke got a chuckle out of me.