A small farm.
Three people.
One practice.
Chann Jiva (chann · jīva — "knowledge of the soul") is an Iyengar yoga farm stay in Mahasarakham, northeast Thailand. It is run by its co-founders, Pom and Enrique Cayeiro, and it grew from land that Pom's father, Mr. Boonchuy Nuengwongsa, farmed his whole life.
Waraporn "Pom" Cayeiro
Pom is a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher at Level III. She trained originally in Miami, where she taught for eighteen years, and continues her study under senior teachers of the Iyengar tradition.
Her teaching is careful and precise. She works closely with students who come with long-standing tension, postural strain, or limited mobility, using Iyengar props and clear alignment to meet each body where it is. Her focus is the practice itself, adapted to the person; she does not offer medical assessment or treatment.
In 2025 Pom returned to Mahasarakham, her home province, to build Chann Jiva on family farmland. She teaches every daily class.
Enrique Cayeiro
Enrique is a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher at Level II, with a background in architecture. He carries that structural attention into every class — how a room holds a body, how a body holds a pose.
He teaches an inclusive, adaptive style: beginners and older students often start with him. He built much of the yoga hall and guesthouse woodwork himself.
With Pom, he leads the Level 1 Mentoring Program and shares the daily teaching.
Pom and Enrique founded CHANN JIVA Healing & Farm Stay with a shared vision of creating a peaceful retreat where nature, wellness, and mindful living come together.
Pom lovingly cares for the organic vegetable and herb gardens while sharing the warmth of traditional Thai hospitality. Enrique brings his passion for Iyengar Yoga, holistic wellness, and balanced living, inspiring guests to improve their health and well-being.
Together, they welcome visitors from around the world to experience physical and mental renewal, genuine relaxation, and the simple beauty of rural Thailand.
"Heal with Nature. Live with Purpose."
Mr. Boonchuy
Nuengwongsa
Mr. Boonchuy is the heart and inspiration behind the land that is now CHANN JIVA Healing & Farm Stay.
Born into a humble farming family in Ban Don Yom, Mahasarakham, he spent his childhood growing rice, caring for water buffalo, and walking long distances to school each day. Through determination and hard work, he excelled in his studies and fulfilled his dream of becoming a police officer. After many years of dedicated public service, he retired and returned to his roots as a farmer, finding joy in nature and the simple rhythms of rural life.
Now 88 years old, he has come through three heart attacks. Four years ago he moved onto the land that is now CHANN JIVA, and he has lived here since — fresh air, food from the garden, a walk most mornings, and family around him. It is his home, and his presence is part of what the place is.
Guests meet him. He is often somewhere on the paths in the early morning, and he holds the view — his own, and worth hearing — that a simple life close to the land is one of the greatest gifts a person can have.
"A life rooted in nature is a life filled with strength, gratitude, and peace."
How Chann Jiva came to be.
After eighteen years teaching Iyengar Yoga in Miami, Pom and Enrique wanted to build something at the scale of their own practice — not a studio in a city, but a place where the practice could be lived in. Where the day's rhythm could match the sun.
They chose land in Ban Donyom, a small village in Pom's home province of Mahasarakham. What was open rice paddy in 2024 is now a small farm: wooden guesthouses raised on stilts above the fields, a pavilion on the pool deck, an open-air yoga hall, a lap pool, and a working organic garden that feeds the kitchen.
The name is Sanskrit. Chann — from jñāna — means knowledge. Jīva means soul, or the living. Chann Jiva: knowledge of the soul.
It's a working farm and it's a yoga sanctuary. Both of those descriptions are true. Neither is the point. The point is the practice — done carefully, over time, in a place quiet enough to hear it.
Why choose CHANN JIVA
for your retreat.
Senior Iyengar teaching
A CIYT Level III and a CIYT Level II teacher lead every day of practice — small groups, individual observation, and thirty-odd years of combined teaching between them.
Time, air, and quiet
Clean air, food grown on the property, daily movement, walks through the paddies, and very little noise. It is a good setting in which to practise without hurrying.
Living on the farm
Four accommodations in total. You are not a guest at a resort — you live at the pace of a working farm, alongside the people who run it.
Real rural Thailand
Local temple visits, village bike tours, cooking classes, and Thai hospitality from a family who has farmed this land for generations.
Come study with us.
We keep the calendar small and inquiries personal. Pom answers.
See 2026 Retreats →