Imagine two people through their love, caring, sharing, and grace, totally dedicated to your growth, development, and happiness. They nurture you through the vehicle of completely enfolding you in their gentle, yogic lifestyle. That was what the total, month-long experience turned out to be. This was the essence of my second Raw Shakti experience(my first was when they toured me through India for 12 days).

Having always been on yet another diet to lose the weight I had put on, I was used to eating diet food and was currently working hard doing heavy exercise in the form of walking six miles every day. Taialofa and Kevin taught me to take the yoga "middle path" with no extremes! I was skeptical as I embarked on thier diet and exercise retraining. Kevin walked with me nearly every day for only about two miles and Taialofa re-taught me how to eat healthfully and prepare quick, healthful meals by throwing out the cook books!

One day, after several weeks of retraining, as dinner time approached, Taialofa turned to me and said, "Ok, your turn to cook dinner!" I thought that I was going to get away with taking an active part in washing dishes, helping to clean the house, and hanging up laundry on the outside lines! I was really worried! "I don't know what to cook," I stammered. Taialofa smiled sweetly and said, "There's the refrigerator, there are the fresh fruits and vegetables, and there's the spice rack. Go for it!" I took a deep breath and plunged in. My reward was our pleasure of enjoying my first healthful, vegetarian meal that I cooked. Taialofa showed me that I could eat three hearty meals and two snacks a day and still move towards my optimum weight!  No more extreme dieting. I lost eight pounds during my month in Samoa!

The morning always began with meditation and yoga practice before breakfast. Though no alarm clocks were used, I soon joined Kevin and Taialofa in the habit of going to bed by nine at night and getting up between five and six in the morning. This was my own choice. No one ever came to my door to wake me up. I seldom began my practice before Kevin, no matter how early I got up. Watching the fluidity with which Kevin and Taialofa performed their asanas was inspiring. They told me that within five or ten years, I would be just as flexible and open as they were. I was inspired and not daunted by that thought! After all, no one wants to go out of this world drooling in a wheel chair! Up very early, Meditation, yoga asanas, and a healthy, hearty breakfast! What a way to start the day, refreshed and ready to go!

We went to Namua island. There is only one family on this island and a few fales for guests. We took gentle hikes on the beach and photo opportunities up the volcanic hill behind; went snorkeling, shell collecting and we meditated on a secluded and deserted beach surrounded by high cliffs and the sea; quiet, poignant, heartfelt talks while soaking in the sea; simple, vegetarian meals prepared by the extended family of the village, and your own private fale (house) to sleep in.

My last weekend in Samoa was on Savaii, Samoa's largest island, and the largest island in Polynesia outside of Hawaii and New Zealand.  No towns or cities, just small villages and an incredibly beautiful waterfall!

The trip to the waterfall, driving very slowly on a jungle path through beautiful palm trees, was breathtaking. The steep climb down to the twenty-foot deep pool in front of the beautiful waterfall heightened the sense of seclusion. It was, as Taialofa said, truly a sacred place.

Jumping off the twelve foot high ledges into the waterfall pool, watching the funny crayfish with the unusually long arms with mask and snorkel, trying to stay in place while being pounded and massaged by the fifty foot high waterfall, meditating while facing the waterfall, having more earnest, heartfelt talks or silently reflecting alone were all both physically and mentally cleansing experiences. A thoughtful and hearty lunch created by Kevin and Taialofa suddenly appeared as we all relaxed in the embrace of this beautiful, sacred place.  This island was where Taialofa was conceived and spent her first year of life. It was also where Kevin worked in the Peace Corps and where Kevin and Taialofa first met. Hearing the sequence of events that brought these two beautiful people together while actually seeing the beach where they met was truly magical. Cinderella never had it so good.

As the month continued, I soon became aware that, especially under Taialofa and Kevin's astute and special care, the total yoga experience not only opened up the physical body but the mind as well. Old issues came up; past buried or ignored thoughts began to assert themselves again. The old, inner, ignored, emotional, mental work began to require new attention for proper resolution. A month of healing; a month of growth, both mentally and physically; starting to clean out old, dark corners of my mind; these were some of the hallmarks of my month punctuated with wonderful, healthy meals, sage thoughts and ideas, total dedication to my needs, and Kevin and Taialofa's care for my ultimate wellbeing.

 It was no wonder that many friends commented to me when I returned to the US about how healthy, alive, and rested I looked. They saw an energized smile on my face and they seemed to sense new hope and resolve in my heart. I gave all thanks to two beautiful human beings, Kevin and Taialofa, who are totally dedicated to bringing peace to this earth one person at a time for me. It was an instant revelation, as they waved me goodbye, that made me think that I had just awakened from the most beautiful dream of my life. I can't wait to return to Samoa for my next Raw Shakti experience.  

At the end of my first day in Samoa, I said to my fabulous hosts (Taialofa and Kevin) and brother (Ari), "If I were forced to go home tomorrow, I'd be okay with that." That first day was so fabulous that I would've had memories to last a life time (it helps to be writing this during another blizzard here on the east coast of the U.S.). You see, I have known Kevin since we were in third grade together and so we finally got ourselves to visit him and to participate in their growing Raw Shakti vision. We woke our first morning to a beautiful breakfast and a lovely welcome-to-Samoa ceremony that Kevin and Taialofa perform. I won't ruin all the surprises by explaining it. I imagine, like all ceremony, ritual means different things to different people, and far be it for me to influence your interpretation. So, I'll just encourage you to visit if only to experience the ceremony yourself.

After applying a nice thick layer of sunscreen Ari, Kevin and I set of for some childhood fun re-enactment -- water sport! Just outside Apia, the only city in Samoa, are amazing lava flows fed by natural springs that make the ideal water slide (never again will I find satisfaction from visiting a 'water park'). We hiked down through my first rain forest (the buttress roots took my breath away). Once there we slid and climbed, feasted and giggled. The cold water was super refreshing and rejuvenating. Instead of feeling jetlagged, I felt super invigorated and best yet, managed not to get sunburned. You see now why I was content enough at the end of my first day in paradise to exclaim that I could go home happy. Lucky for me, I wasn't forced to go anywhere.

After a morning of hiking in the rain in a rainforest, I went with Taialofa to her all women's yoga class (if you're lucky enough to have more X chromosomes than Y),  that she's teaching in a women's center, a giant fale in the middle of Apia (be sure to check out the really beautiful shell murals along the balcony's edge). My brother and I had gotten to hear about Kev and Taialofa's goals in Samoa during those first 2 days (we had incorrectly sort of assumed that their lives in the South Pacific were all relaxed, all the time), so seeing Taialofa at the front of this group of women, doing what she set out to accomplish, less than a year into trying, was really a nice sight.

I'd tried yoga once or twice before, at a Y, or following some magazine directives. But never had I enjoyed it, or really been intrigued by it. Because so many of my friends do it and love it I thought I must have been missing something. At the end of that first session I got it. I breathed happily through the final rest (shavasana) thinking for the first time ever about anything exercise related, "now this is something I could really get into." I felt wonderful during (I'd never felt that at the gym!) and after it. 

Through the next two weeks of my time in Samoa, I did yoga with Taialofa at each of her outdoor classes (as you probably know, she also teaches at this beautiful resort on the south side of Upolu), and did yoga under Kevin's tutelage on Savai'i at the beach fale we stayed at.

I think about the trip all the time (I've only been back a little over a week and dream I'm there still), I wonder what my time in Samoa would've been like without the yoga, without the delicious food and special mealtimes (you've all heard of the slow food movement, I'm sure). It would've been spectacular -- there're no bones about that -- Samoa is an amazing, untouched pure country. I admired the culture so much, family is an important value, money is not, and everyone we met was so warm and welcoming. It's the perfect place to escape American society if you need that, however my introduction to Kevin and Taialofa's goals, and learning about their vision for Raw Shakti was ultimately the best part of my vacation. 

When I got back to NY, I was catching up with a friend from Boston, who'd just been to Boulder (I couldn't help but interrupt, "that's where Kev went to grad school, you know."). She was feeling excited to get back to the gym and the grocery store, back to non-vacation living. I suppose that's the way most people feel when returning from vacation, ready to get back to 'the real world.' I'm pleased to report that's not at all the way I've felt since returning from Samoa. I hope all y'all get to experience that, too. And when you do, I look forward to reading about your journey.

YOGA AND SCUBA DIVING   by Peter Ketcham

The world's first Yoga and Scuba Retreat. As a professional diver, I was most interested to try out this experience. There were six participants and the home base for the retreat was at Coconuts Beach Resort where Taialofa teaches yoga to the guests. The diving was highlighted with incredible shapes of hard corals, several close encounters with green or hawksbill sea turtles, schools of small colorful fish, schools of bigger fish, and occasional visits by Moorish idols, oriental sweet lips, bat fish, trumpet fish, emperor angel fish, long nose butterfly fish, as well as blue striped grunts, snappers, and assorted types of clown fish protected by their sea anemone partners.

This was beginner diving at its best! Warm, eighty five degree water, virtually no current or surge, and visibility between sixty and one hundred feet all contributed to make the dives memorable. Several of the divers were not even certified to be divers yet and they participated under the direct supervision of the dive masters through the gentle, PADI, Discover Scuba program. With one dive in the morning, the afternoon was dedicated to the yoga part of the retreat. At the beginning of the retreat we were all given custom- embroidered journals to write in as well as a syllabus of our five-day yoga journey. Sometimes challenging, sometimes gentle, we were all introduced to new yoga asanas and we were encouraged to gently explore our physical and emotional edges.

Each day was different: Perhaps an extended period of yoga asanas, meditation, asana practice by and swimming in a waterfall, chanting a personal, walking mantra while walking on the beach on the way to a river, making up our own asanas while sitting in the river, very tasty meals at the resort, an evening lesson on the history of yoga and the history of scuba diving, an evening feast followed by the fiafia, or fire dance, were all very memorable parts of the retreat. At the fiafia, children as young as four twirled the fiery batons to a heavy drumbeat! The skill with which these youngsters twirled their batons was jaw-droppingly awesome! Kevin later informed us that Samoa had just won the international fire dancing contest. Some of the older children twirled as many as two of their fiery batons so fast and with such precision, all over their bodies, that the batons became a fiery blur! It was an incredibly powerful event!

A unique part of the retreat which all of the participants experienced was Taialofa's graciousness in dedicating many hours to discuss privately each participant's reawakened issues. All of my revelations were treated with the utmost intuition, care, understanding, grace and love. I am sure that all of the yoga retreat participants and I sensed that being with Taialofa was a very emotionally safe place to be if such memories or thoughts came up as they naturally seemed to do. It was a wonderful retreat and the combination of yoga and scuba in Samoa is one that I hope many of you will choose to experience!  They will have this retreat again in January of 2006!