Following months of hectic days at work back in Sydney I reached the point of very obviously needing to afford myself some time off. But what to do and where to go this time? Exploring options and playing with ideas online, I stumbled upon a website offering exclusive yoga retreats. Having done quite a bit of yoga 10 years ago but not much since I stopped for a moment I thought: "Why not get back into health-promoting habits by going for a boot camp experience?" It felt right to me, but how to find the best retreat and location? Thailand, Bali, or the obvious choice India? Decisions, decisions, decisions.

In the end I emailed a couple of organizers and after exchanging a dozen or so emails went with Asian Yoga Holidays. I liked the "clean" feeling of their generic website, as well as the fact that very detailed information relating to the retreat itself was communicated by the teacher himself.

Arriving on Koh Samui and getting to the Tamarind Springs Forest Spa was a piece of cake. The tropical island of Samui has been on international tourist maps for decades, and while that certainly entails ease of access and convenience, the overdevelopment that came with the visiting masses is apparent to all who care to notice.

Tamarind Springs, however, is something else. Nestled in a hidden valley, surrounded by coconut groves and lush jungle, this is a true oasis of peace and tranquility. Looking back now and writing this article about my experience, I realize that the setting honestly could not have been topped - an extraordinarily beautiful spa filled with butterflies that follow you everywhere! Conceived, designed and built by a German architect, pretty much everything about Tamarind makes your jaw drop, from the herbal steam cave that is built into a huge granite boulder to the delicious organic slow-food cuisine. Also, I was given an unexpected upgrade to utterly exquisite Zen Garden Villa which somehow helped in calming even the most overactive mind!

On Sunday night, retreat leader, Julien Balmer, welcomed the group over a vegetarian gourmet dinner. The food was fantastic, the atmosphere casual and everybody quickly got to know each other. Like myself, most of the other participants had just arrived in Thailand, and given the 6.30am Monday meditation class, we all retired early that night.

Our daily routine began with 30 minutes of guided meditation, on some days silent breath awareness, on others music meditations, followed by a 90-minute Hatha class with the focus on energizing and moving energy. We then all shared a hearty breakfast after which we were all free to spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon as we pleased. Kicking back in a hammock, reading, walking, or - of course - indulging: Tamarind isn't just a lovely place, it's an outstanding spa too. As part of our yoga retreat package we had three massage treatments included. I really enjoyed the blend of relaxing spa treatments with solid yoga practice and teachings, it all seemed to be synergy at its best, everything coming together to contribute towards a more powerful transformative process.

We regrouped at 3.30pm with the practice of surya namaskar, the ancient Vedic practice of saluting the sun. This rather dynamic practice was then followed by another 90-minute Hatha session, this time more tailored towards stretching and relaxing. We finish off with a sublime final relaxation in the corpse pose, before Julien begins imparting some ancient yogic knowledge in the form of a daily talk. As mentioned earlier, I had done a fair bit of yoga back in the early 2000s, but never had I encountered a teacher and teaching that were able to touch me in quite the same way as this did. For the first time, yoga was not presented as some Indian mumbo jumbo aerobic-ike workout, but rather as a logical, rational, down-to-earth set of practices that very much make sense, once the hidden dimension of prana (energy) and chakras (energy centres, part of the subtle human anatomy) is understood. I thought Julien was very articulate and concise in his explanations, but what I appreciated even more was the fact that he invited questions and debate and was able to accommodate and relate to our life experiences. We'd often engage in lively Q&As and almost forget that dinner was waiting.

Dinner was followed by an inspirational movie on the big screen for those who still wanted more.

Two weeks have passed since the yoga retreat - I am back at work, and yes, it's as hectic as ever. Yet, I feel different. It's as if the reverberations of this magical week keep affecting me in positive ways. I do my best to keep up a minimal routine of daily practice and have started to look for a place to take regular classes near my home. It's a challenge, as most of what's on offer is so heavily and almost exclusively body-oriented, but how can I not trust the old yogic saying "when the student is ready, the teacher appears."