Pictures from my life in Thailand

The Cyclist and the Bangkok Cycling Challange

here's one of the funner stories from my travels as a touring Cyclist...enjoy!

">BKK Bilge Challenge


Let's just call today the Bangkok Addition of Survivor, Bangkok Cycling Challenge 2005.

Annie and friends, from the Cycling Hash (www.hashhouseharriersbangkok.com) decided it was time to school me on bike riding in BKK (Hereafter an acceptable abbreviation for Bangkok) and today was my first lesson. Basically you need to be insane which works really well for me, because I say a day without death defying adrenaline rush is a day not lived in Thailand!! After surviving being nearly crushed by taxis, busses, tuk-tuk, semi’s and lung collapsing pollution to the elevated walk/bike way 2 miles from my house we are off to a good start. Then it’s a series of on the bike, off the bike, heave it over my shoulder and huff up 3 flights of stairs every 30 feet for a mile. Urban cycle-cross.

Then it's the Bilge Challenge where we ride a cement catwalk over an open raw sewage pond for 2 miles, and if I don't puke or fall in I am golden, because no one will save me. Then through someone's overgrown back yard, under a fence, cross a freeway, opposite way down a one way street and finally make our dazed and confused way to the boat dock that will take us out of Bkk proper.


The colorful long boat pulls up and we angle our bikes in-between two wooden seats, enjoying the breezy 15-minute boat ride across the Chao Phraya River. I love it, 4 gringos (or “Farange” in Thai) clutching their thousand dollar mountain bikes on a Long boat in Thailand. Awesome!

We regain our cycling legs after the boat trip, then it's through the beautiful green countryside where we got "rad" on an over grown single track complete with snakes, lizards and feral dogs. The variety of green is such a cacophony that I stop, and open my eyes as wide as I can to take it all in.

The hardest part of the trip was the next 15 miles on the worst stretch of highway I've ever ridden. More trucks, taxis, semi's and tuk-tuks riding up our asses. There were sand traps, flooded road traps, and a tuk-tuk driver that slowed down to our 10 mile an hour pace, totally blocking traffic so he could practice his English. Meanwhile a symphony of semi horns was blaring. There were kids pouring juice on our heads as we passed the local bus. Thousands of motorbikes with whole families of 6 clinging off the back, feral children, ubiquitous 3rd world half dying dogs laying in the hiway as if they were safe as houses, push carts carrying everything from fruit to toilet plungers. The final straw, our cheerful but somewhat casual "guides" Annie and George who didn't really know the way but had a pretty good idea.

I was exhausted, when we finally end up on a Military base near the sea, miles from our intended destination. I soon forgot my fatigue because they had a lively restaurant for Thai families on a Sunday outing and I could smell fresh pad thai stir-frying in the woks.

We slid into our seats sweaty, road grimmey, ready to devour our beautiful Thai lunch. The place was filled with families and young military men. Then the oddest thing begins to happen. Every 10 minutes or so, a Samba beat would play over the speakers and a transvestite, or Lady Boy (“ka toy”) in a gaudy Thai version of Carnival costume would parade out, do a few hip twirls, then wave at a friend and trot over to them while the families carried on as if nothing unusual in the least was happening. We all looked around to see if we were hallucinating. It was utterly surreal especially at 1:00 in the afternoon on a MILITARY BASE!!

I love the strangeness of Thailand and the absolute tolerance of paradox.

We then made our way back to the boat via chicken bus, where they pack hundred’s of people on hanging off the sides and us and our bikes. It was hilarious!

I survived fixing a flat in the grime soaked, and cockroach infested street of the local market, transvestites, 50 miles of pollution, sunstroke, dehydration, jungle and finally putting my bike on the subway home (I did the last 8 miles thru the streets of BKK by myself without GPS locator) My reward was pulling up to the straw shanty shack of a beer stand near my house, impressing the Thai homies by skidding to a halt, and slugging a cold one.

There is nothing I have found yet more refreshing than a cheep Singha beer after a death defying, sweaty day in Thailand.

If you are up for it, I challenge any cyclist to the BKK Bilge Challenge next summer.

I’ll buy the beer.

yoga pose of the month "Baddha Konasana"

Yoga Pose of the Month

Baddha Konasana

“Bound Angle Pose”

Spring is here! With all of it’s fickle weather that will have you smiling into the sun one minute, and running for cover from a hailstorm the next. Spring is such a tease, and it’s a time of wild transition that leaves most folks feeling a little spacey.

Time to get grounded!

At this time of year, most of us are trying to quickly shed our winter coats that may have settled around the mid section and the hips, creating some stiffness and discomfort. Baddha Konasana is one of the most perfect poses to gently stretch your inner thighs, groin and knees that will keep you flexible from your mid morning run or post winter soccer try outs. This pose is also soothing for menstrual pain and sciatica.

Here we go:

I suggest that you warm up with a few down dogs or vinyasa first to heat the large muscle groups of the body. Then, before you sit down on your mat, grab a blanket and fold it up like a burrito. Sit your sit bones on the edge of the “burrito” so your pelvic bone can tilt forward and give the knees, hips and inner thighs more room to stretch, especially if you have a tight low back. Once you are in position, bring the soles of the feet together, and draw your heels up as close to the groin as possible. From there, you can grab your feet, shimmy your sit bones back a touch, and round forward over your feet.

All together now.

Let’s put this pose together with a few others now for a little feel good sequence, that includes forward bending to kick in the relaxation response, and a mini back bend to fire up your nervous system and bring your forward bends into balance.

1. Sit on your “burrito” blanket in a cross-legged seat, for a seated twist. Bring the opposite hand to knee, and exhale on the twist.
2. Bring the soles of feet together for Baddha Konasana and sit in this pose for a minute.
3. Then, plant your feet on your mat about hip width, palms flat on the floor behind you, and lift your hips for Table Top pose. It is a half back bend.

Drop your hips back down on your “burrito” and extend your legs straightforward, bending at the hips for a forward bend.

Do this sequence 3x slowly after a run, or your workout, and you will feel amazing. Guaranteed.

P.S. great yoga pose resources are at www.yogajournal.com or at www.melinameza.com

Tonja Renee Hall

Yoga Instructor SAC downtown

Lionheart Yoga training

www.tonjareneehall.com

Yoga trainer for the Seattle SeaHawks and Sounders,fc.

Day in the life of a Yoga Trainer. Really rough job....

Hey, that's not a SeaHawk or Sounder...what the??? Nope, that's my friend and fellow Lululemon Ambassador, Troy Jackson, from Philly. We were hangin' for a day while he dropped in on my yoga scene, sharin' the L to the U to the V. Check him out at Philly Power Yoga next time you are in that great city.
So, no , I am working on permission to print photo's of the teams, but in the mean time I wanted to give you all an idea of height that we are working with here. So I'm no small fry at nearly 5' 10, and I'm no delicate flower, uh hem. But, standing next to Troy who is not an inch shorter than 6'6" and not a small fry himself, you get an idea of those SeaHawks. Except, add about 100 lbs to Troy and expand his shoulders, chest and thighs and you got it about right. Not that his need expanding, but, I'm just sayin'....
Now, everyone thinks i have a glamorous job as a yoga trainer, and believe me I'm not trading it. But, how 'bout my first day on the job at the Sounders, fc as there hot shot, yoga coach, and Coach tells me we are doing yoga in the men's locker room!! What the, men's locker room, I'm a yoga princess don't you know? So, with the sound of toilets flushing, guys spitting, showers running, the rest of the team and I pretended this was back ground noise of the ocean on some tropical beach. I know, you are thinking , 1-800-Whaa, Sounders locker room, I'd kill for that, but believe me, it smells just like the inside of any old running shoe anywhere. Not that I was complaining much, when the starting team is really focused on our yoga practice and thanking me for helping there flexibility at the end of practice.
Then the SeaHawks. Now, I had a very naive impression of what football players would be like, and look like. Probably because I've never been to a football game in my life, and have a very biased cyclist's view of what those men crushing into each other must be doing. Well, let me tell you that my ignorance was shattered, because instead of micheline man round stomach's and saggy jowles that I immagined....the guys were ripped. And to punctuate that point, they all took there shirts off half way through class because they were hot and glistening with sweat. I thought I was gonna faint. They were also as sweet as pecan pie, and were very polite, attentive and loved my yoga class. And I might add, totally adorable, when at the end of practice we were all sitting in meditation pose, these huge specimen's all had there eyes closed, palms in prayer, with the most sweet and blissful expressions on there faces. I couldn't help but peak one of my eyes open to witness that scene and get a huge grin on my face. Wow.
So, you know, poor me. Ha, Ha!!

Hope to see you all in class this week!!
SAC Monday: 9:30 gentle yoga, 12:00pm Vinyasa with Focus on Flexibility, and 6pm Power Vinyasa
SAC Tues.: 4:30pm Ashtanga style

xo, Tonja

Thank you all for a wonderful full b'day weekend!!

This year, all a girl wanted was to go horseback
riding, and celebrate with friends. I got both, and I feel so full of love and well wishes. I am truely blessed. Thank you all so much!

xo, Tonja

Tonja and the SeaHawks

Tonja and the Seattle SeaHawks

I am an artist by nature, and like to live just outside the box. Many of you know me as a Yoga instructor or possibly from the flower shop Young Flowers that is my home base when I'm not off having an adventure somewhere in this big world. One of the places my yoga career has taken me this year is I am now the Yoga coach for not only the Sounders, fc. but also the SeaHawks ( our pro soccer and american football teams here in Seattle, for those of you not from this continent) and I am pioneering yoga programs for both teams. Anyway. How did i get the jobs? Well, I've never lacked ambition, and I was right time, knew some folks that got my big toe wedged in the door, and I have a handful of wonderful friends that coach me and tell me never to give up. Oh, yeah, and I'm a pretty good Yoga instructor that has worked with a variety of elite athletes in the past.

So, this morning, I found myself at a Business Breakfast for Pete Carroll at the Fairmont Hotel in Seattle. Coach Carroll is the new SeaHawks head coach who is well known for his success as a coach and motivational speaker. There I was, little ole me with my "Lionheart Yoga Training" business badge grasping my lapel, trying to make my way in a packed room of fancy pants business men, to my seat near the stage. Now, mind you, I've never worn "business casual" in my life, let alone been around so many Armani suits and Dior ties. I'm an artist, mountain biker, and traveler, and all my friends are very down to earth, with a rather rough sense of humor. As breakfast was being served, Coach was making his way around the room saying "hi" to the business people he knew, and as he approached a table near mine, I stood up and introduced myself.
" Hi Coach, my name is Tonja, and I don't know if you know this, but I am your new Yoga coach for the SeaHawks!" He was surprised, but didn't miss a beat, and shook my hand telling me all about how wonderful it was that the Fitness trainers were bringing me on board, blah, blah..

I sat back down, and he began his speech followed by a Q&A session. One of the questions asked was, " How do you keep your players in balance and prevent burnout?" To which, Coach Carroll called out my name, " Tonja! were are you in the audience, please stand up!! Everyone, this is the SeaHawks new Yoga Coach, and we are proud to have her on board. This is one of the ways we are keeping our players in balance...."

Little ole me!! Standing up in that huge crowd of fancy business men being introduced by their hero, Coach Carroll!!!

One small step for yoga, and a big step for Big Men in tights!!!

enjoy....

xo, Tonja

My life in Thailand. Story

My life in Thailand. Pictures.