6 things I learned on a yoga retreat

When I signed up a for two days of yoga in the mountains with twenty strangers and early wake up calls, I thought I might get a little better at meditating and eat too much vegetarian food. But I didn't know I would come home feeling quite so wide open with joy.

Do the worst thing first.
Within the first 30 minutes of the first class on my first yoga retreat, I did a very advanced pose called Face Plant. I was in a handstand, my spotter went rogue, and the next thing I knew I was loudly crashing onto my head. Everyone stared, and my confidence plummeted. But you know what? When the thing you've always been most afraid of happens, it's kind of a relief. I put a band-aid on my pride, and when I was no longer so terrified of falling, there was room for other stuff, like courage and a sense of humor.

Tell a new story about yourself.
I went to this yoga retreat feeling quite sure of two truths: I do not like mushy eggplant or getting up at sunrise. The former truth held its veracity, the latter one, not so much. And it made me realize: Sometimes we hold tightly to ideas about ourselves, even when they're not true or don't serve us. What if we tried letting go of those stories we tell ourselves everyday: I'm shy, I don't look good in pencil skirts, I'm not ambitious--whatever. Open yourself up to something new, like meditation at dawn, and you might just be blown away by a new truth about yourself.

Let go of resistance, and there's more room for joy.
My mom says I've always been slow to accept change, even since I was a baby. I somehow expected this wouldn't be so on a trip I planned and paid for. But it was. I could feel my usual knot of resistance to all the newness, like a splinter on the soft underside of my foot. I couldn't embrace the experience--the new faces, the vegetarian food, the bunk beds--until the weekend was half-over. Once I did, it was a different ball game. My heart felt as wide open as a prairie sky, and people kept saying I was glowing. And I felt it.

Pause, reflect, and reprioritize. Repeat.
Before the weekend, our yoga teachers sent an email asking us to reflect a little before arriving. "What's unfolding within you this spring?" they asked. Isn't it funny how it so often takes an outside force to get us to turn in? We go from moment to moment in our lives, seamlessly moving from one thought, one action, one task to the next. At its best, life can move along smoothly like this, and at its worst, we can feel like automatons, going through the motions of our days without any heart or mindfulness.

It's easy to rush headlong from one day into the next without ever pausing to mark the moment, but it felt so good to be given the assignment to stop and observe what was happening in my life. What would it feel like to take your emotional temperature as you head into a new season, a new month, or a new week? What's important to you? What needs your cultivation and attention? How can you bring what you need into today?

Retreat is where you find it.
Okay, so it's a luxury to go on a yoga retreat or head to the spa for an afternoon. But retreating form the buzz of our lives isn't a luxury; it's an essential part of tuning into ourselves. And it doesn't have to happen at the top of a mountain. You might walk up to the park and sit on a bench in the sun for a full hour with your eyes closed, just feeling the sweet warmth. Or close the door to the bedroom, light a candle, and give yourself the space and time to sit and just be.

Seek play, not perfection.Yoga is kind of silly. I mean, where else do you get to invert, splay, twist, contort, and sit on the floor to listen to stories about monkeys? Adult life can be so serious: pay the bills on time, do a good job at work, strive to be the best versions of ourselves. But making room for play and delight is such an important part of life. What if we didn't take ourselves so seriously? What if we brought a light heart to our work? It wouldn't mean that we were any less meticulous, but it might mean that we distinctly look for play in the workday. It's there somewhere. Maybe the challenge in this tough world of ours is to find the fun. To not take ourselves, our lives, or work, or our yoga so damn seriously.

Sink into the present.
My yoga weekend ended with a very challenging pose for me, Hanumanasana, known in common parlance as the splits. Remember that resistant feeling I had earlier in the weekend? I had let go of it by now and was trying to approach this pose with openness. Sinking into the pose, inching down closer to the ground, hamstrings stretched to the limit, I tried to feel the difficulty as a playful challenge. It hurt, and I tried to smile.
Back at home the next weekend, I attended a funeral. I could feel myself sinking into the moment on that church pew, feeling all its pain and joy. The grief of loss, as well as the exuberance of a long, well-lived life. So often we're running to get through the day to our free evening and through the week to our leisurely weekends. But there is so much fullness--both pleasure and pain--in the right now.

Could you ever see yourself going on a yoga retreat? Do you try to create relaxing spaces at home (hello, bubble bath) to get the same feeling? And do you take time to tune in to yourself and reflect in the midst of your crazy life?




Related links:Yoga--what is it, exactly?
How yoga changed my life
Yoga poses you can do anytime, anywhere
Yoga for restful sleep