21-Day 200-Hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training in Koh Samui, Thailand

The course runs for 21 days and follows the standard 200-hour Yoga Alliance curriculum, taught in the Hatha style. Mornings usually begin around 7am with pranayama and meditation, followed by a two-hour asana practice. After brunch there are technique sessions where you break down individual postures — how to get in and out, what the alignment points are, how to adjust someone, and what the common mistakes look like. You'll practise teaching in small groups most afternoons, getting feedback from Simona and from the other students.

Anatomy is a real part of this training, not an afterthought. Simona taught anatomy at a college in Ireland for an ITEC qualification and later trained Thai therapists in anatomy at spas in Hua Hin, so the sessions on bones, muscles and safe movement come from someone who has taught the subject formally rather than picked it up from a weekend module. Philosophy classes cover the traditional texts behind Hatha yoga — the yamas and niyamas, the koshas, the subtle body — usually in the late afternoon when it's cooler.

What sets this apart from the many other 200-hour trainings on Koh Samui is the teacher's background. Simona started meditating in Italy in 1990, took her first Thai massage course in northern Thailand in 1997, opened a Thai massage school and yoga centre in Dublin, then took an Ashtanga teacher training in Edinburgh before completing her Hatha training at the Sivananda Meenakshi Ashram in Tamil Nadu in 2005. She has since taught at Six Senses and Evason resorts, in the Maldives, at Spa Samui and at the Four Seasons in Koh Samui, and ran a rehab centre yoga programme. She holds 500 hours of teacher training across Hatha, Vinyasa and Ashtanga, plus 150 hours of Yin training.

Marga Yoga is a registered Yoga School and has been running trainings on Koh Samui and Koh Phangan since 2011, along with courses in Europe. The main venue is on the beachfront at Taling Ngam on the island's quiet southern coast, away from the busy strip around Chaweng. That means the environment is genuinely calm — you're not competing with beach clubs for space. Depending on the dates, some trainings run at the beachfront centre and others at partner locations on the island or on Koh Phangan; the exact venue is confirmed when you book.

Accommodation is included in the package price, with three options ranging from a shared hostel room to a private bungalow on the beach. Meals are vegan — brunch and dinner — and gluten-free diets can be catered for. The food is Mediterranean-influenced rather than strictly Thai, though you're on an island with excellent local restaurants if you want to eat out on your days off, which are built into the schedule roughly once a week.

Expect the work to be demanding. This is an intensive, and most people are tired by week two. But the group sizes are small (the upcoming January dates have between three and six spots left per room type, so the whole group is likely in the low teens), and the format means you get individual attention on your teaching practice. By the end you'll have taught multiple full classes under supervision.

What's included

- 21 days of 200-hour Hatha yoga teacher training - 2 vegan meals daily (brunch and dinner) - Accommodation in your chosen room type (shared hostel room, private en-suite room, or beach bungalow) - All course tuition, workshops and teaching practice - Yoga Alliance RYT-200 certification upon completion - Course materials and manuals

What's not included

- Flights - Visa costs - Personal travel insurance - Airport transfers (taxi can be arranged at 800 baht per trip) - Extra meals, drinks and snacks outside brunch and dinner - Personal expenses, massages and excursions