OK, you've been practicing yoga for a while, you have gotten pretty comfortable with the asanas you have been practicing for some time, you have attended some yoga events, and you are feeling pretty self satisfied with your progress.

You are feeling pretty healthy and pleased at departing from the old, creaky overweight you that began your yoga practice three years ago. Wallowing in all that self satisfaction, it gets easier and easier to skip a morning or weekly yoga practice, let the diet slide, but keeps the memory of all your yoga successes that are slowly slip-sliding away. What to do? It's time for:

YOGA BOOT CAMP!

I left for Samoa for a 28 day intensive yoga experience with Kevin and Taialofa.

Arriving in Samoa after three flights and 16 hours in the air, I was greeted with open arms and their beautiful, new-arrival ritual. What a pleasure to be back with Kevin and Taialofa again! They had only moved into their new quarters a few days before. In spite of the intense timetable, their new home was welcoming, neat, and looked like they had been there forever. Their new landlord is a gardener and the month was highlighted with many delicious delicacies form their copious garden.

Almost immediately, we went out to see the future sight of the Raw Shakti Yoga Spa. This consisted of a seven acre cube of jungle about 1700 feet up the side of a mountain overlooking the Pacific! What a beautiful sight!

The month I spent with Kevin and Taialofa was custom planned for my interests and needs. There were days spent touring beautiful sites around the island of Upolu, days helping to clear jungle boundaries of their planned yoga center as well as clear a place to build their first building on the property, several beautiful rituals, days at the ocean, cooking lessons, fabulous meals, massages, evening meditation, daily study of the yoga sutras, lots of walking, shopping trips to town, oh, and did I mention? Lots of yoga! Stay tuned for the details of all of these adventures! There is far too much to tell in just one article!

Pete Ketcham

Eggplant Sautee                            

Serves 4, Vegan

Ingredients:

• 6 small eggplants
  
• 1/2 cup of coconut cream
  
• 3 limes
• 4 tablespoons of Coconut oil
• 1 large red onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
  
• 2 tablespoons of cumin
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 2 red peppers (capsium)
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
  

Directions:

Start by slicing the eggplant lengthwise, as thin as you can, and then soak them in salted water for 30 minutes.(use a tablespoon of sea salt in the water and help it to dissolve by stirring it around) After 30 minutes of soaking the eggplants, drain the water and you will see the dark color that is removed. This helps to keep the eggplant tasting sweet rather than sour. On low temperature place the coconut oil in frying pan. Add garlic and onion, chopped into small pieces. Cook for 3 minutes stirring the onions and garlic around. Add eggplant and stir often. Then add coconut cream and cumin. After a few minutes add the red pepper (sliced into long strips) and baby spinach. Stir for a minute or so. Squeeze limes (remove seeds first) over the mixture and then sautee all together for about 5 minutes. Place this Eggplant Sauté over wild rice or any type of grain that you enjoy. Cook 3 cups of grain and this meal will feed 4 people.

Note: Coconut oil has Lauric Acid in it which is the same as in mother's milk. In the book called Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife, there are many benefits described as to why this oil is supremely healthy for you.

Nikki lives in Australia with her husband, who is an officer in the Australian Navy, and their 2 children. During the last 10 years they have lived in Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin, Samoa, and Canberra. She has a degree in Nuclear Medicine along with an MBA. She is a speaker at Australian professional conferences and guest speaker at international conferences. She is Editor-in-Chief for the development of a text book for the Bone Mineral Density profession and she has conducted research in this field. She often takes her yoga out into her garden as she has a passion for native Australian flora. The picture above is of a flower called Pig Face. This picture was taken by Nikki near her home. While living in Samoa, yoga was a part of her life as she held classes in her home. This is when she started to learn more about yoga. Her cheerfully intellectual personality woke up to enjoying the benefits of yoga in nature while on a retreat to Namua Island in Samoa with Josephine. When she was not on the yoga mat, you would find her enjoying the underwater world with her mask and snorkel on. Her life is evolving in integrative ways, as she incorporates yoga practice, gardening, raising her kids and her professional work. Look for and perhaps even meet Nikki soon, as she will be the in country guide for the first Raw Shakti Yoga tour of Australia, happening in 2009!   

Pete Ketcham

Pete continues to have yearly retreats with Raw Shakti. This year it was to celebrate his 60th birthday so he treated himself to a 28 day yoga boot camp to get himself healthy for the new decade ahead. His evolution on the yoga mat is inspiring to many in that he has come so far! On his most recent journey a few people commented on how happy he looked. Music to his ears he would say. He lives in Keene, NH and enjoys walking, biking, nature, scuba diving, barbershop singing and time with friends. He is the President of the Barbershop group in Keene. Membership has increased thanks to his positive outlook and ability to compliment people's strengths as they learn to sing. His own voice is growing as well, as he learns to Om in order to connect with his center.