Yoga teacher training in Phuket begins a new chapter for Vikasa on November 27, when the very first guests move into the brand’s second location on Koh Lon, a small island off the coast of Rawai. This is not an established retreat opening a second date. It is a genuinely new property, and the guests who arrive that week will be the first to train, practice, and certify there.
A Second Home in the Andaman Sea
Vikasa has run its flagship yoga teacher trainings and retreats from Koh Samui, in the Gulf of Thailand, since 2011. The new Phuket location sits on the opposite coast, nestled into Koh Lon in the Andaman Sea, and was chosen specifically for its seclusion. Where Koh Samui has built a reputation around community and connection, the Phuket property is designed around deeper immersion and quiet, with modern architecture set against jungle and coastline. The two locations are meant to serve different moods rather than compete with each other. Samui remains home to Vikasa’s core yoga teacher training calendar and Vikations. Phuket is built for guests who want to fully unplug, supported by a team of experienced wellness professionals and Thai hospitality staff.
Phuket is also becoming home to some of Vikasa’s other signature programs. The brand’s Karma Burning retreat, built around releasing old patterns and conditioning, now runs from the Phuket property as well, giving the new location its own identity beyond teacher training alone.
Why an Inaugural Retreat is Different
There is something specific about being part of a first cohort anywhere, and it goes beyond an early bird discount. The guests who arrive on November 27 will be moving through spaces, schedules, and teaching rhythms that have never hosted a group before. Staff are learning the property alongside the students. Every class, meal, and excursion is being run for the first time in that exact setting. This kind of experience tends to create a different sense of ownership among guests. Later cohorts will benefit from a property that has already been tested and refined. The first group helps shape what that refinement looks like, often building relationships with the senior teaching team and each other that carry a different weight than a typical retreat week.
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What the Inaugural 200-Hour YTT Includes
The inaugural program is a full 200-hour Foundation Yoga Teacher Training, guided by Vikasa’s senior teaching team in the new beachfront setting. Guests move through the same signature curriculum that has certified over a thousand students at the Samui location, covering asana, philosophy, anatomy, and teaching methodology, but in a space purpose built to support wellbeing and reconnect guests with a slower, more natural rhythm. Vikasa describes the goal of the new property as bringing guests back to their natural state, immersing them in the rhythm of nature rather than the pace most people arrive with. For a first cohort learning to teach yoga, training somewhere genuinely quiet tends to support exactly the kind of internal work that a teacher training is meant to produce.