I am just returning from a wonderful yoga retreat down in Mexico. I haven’t been online or in touch with anyone outside of my other yogis for over seven days. The retreat center does not have electricity in any of the open air living spaces and recommends ‘disconnecting’ for the time you are there. Last year I went and packed as many batteries and power packs as possible for fear that I would need to get online, watch a show or call someone. I didn’t and it was great! This year my bags were lighter without all the extra power cells and once again I loved being disconnected.
Of course that also meant no blogging. So now I am back sitting in the airport on my way to an event in Calgary. I downloaded the mess of email that had collected over the week and I will eventually get back to all of that. But I wanted to blog before the ‘high’ from a week of healthy eating and lots of yoga wears off.
Some might be thinking that after a week of yoga I most really be loose, flexible and enlightened. However, that is not yet the case. I have made progress in my yoga but honestly I am likely never to be someone who looks or acts very ‘yoga’ like. I am too paranoid, direct and hyperactive for a total transformation. Still I am discovering some wonderful aspects of breathing and aligning through yoga.
Our group was quite the spectrum of people. Most of us were coming from Montana and following our yogi master, Jodi Petlin. We had beginner beginners, various injured folks, some immediate folks and some advanced beginners. We also had folks who had never gone a day without an expresso or a burger and the food at Harmara is glutten-free, meat free, mostly vegetarian and no sugar. We were not the typical group that came for a yoga week. Yet I loved the contrast, the ‘realness’ and the opportunity to watch a master (Jodi) deal with such a range and still manage to give each of us a path for advancing our own practice.
Of course I had my moments of trying too hard, forcing my body into poses without breath and forgetting this was suppose to be fun and relaxing. I also had some wonderful moments of doing something I did not think I could (a headstand and backbend); laughing through a mediation (a full body laugh that felt great!), making new friends with folks who are part of my community back home as well as connecting on a deeper level with friends who had joined us for the week.
The time was rich and yes I would love to linger in the mellowness that was a part of being disconnected and offline. But just like yoga is a practice that is designed to impact my day not just the one or two hours I am practicing. This past week shouldn’t really be about staying offline or out of the choas, it should be about being calmer and more relaxed diving right back in. I will let you know how it goes!! For now I will breath and go get on a plane!!