yoga retreat

I finally managed to go to a yoga retreat. It was touch and go since as you know Greg's been sick. However, yesterday he woke up quite well and we also needed to see how it goes to spend the whole day with daddy now my return to work is imminent and therefore I headed out of the house.

The retreat was held in Buskett in an oldish but sweet bungalow. I was told this place is used a lot for retreats and infact the place looked catered just for that with about 20 bunk beds, toilets & showers for ladies and gents, a kitchen and big sized dining area. I would have renovated the place a bit as its starting to look rundown, yet, I felt it was quite perfect. We started the day with a 2 hour asana practice in the back yard and as the sun wasn't showing much of itself and there was a fresh breeze it was perfect. I loved the quiet, with just the birds in the background singing and my breath working in unison with my body movements. The 2 hours seemed to pass in just a second and afterwards I felt so relaxed and stretched (after 3 days sitting on the sofa cradling my infant and not daring to move as it would cause a bout of crying, my body felt so light). We went inside for lunch as it was by now 1230pm and enjoyed a light yet filling vegetarian meal, while discussing everything and nothing in particular. We were only about 12 people and all quite different from each other, but we got along fine and felt at ease with each other. After some more talking, napping or whatever your heart desired to do we watched a bittersweet dvd. Its called the circle of life and basically showed the animal kingdom and the difficulties they go through and the ones we human beings are creating for them. I was smiling when I saw a polar bear popping its head out of the snow followed by 2 cubs but my heart cringed and I felt like crying when you see another dying for the simple reason that due to global warming the ice is melting quicker and so the bear had to swim a long way rather than walk to the hunting grounds and by the time he got there he was so exhausted he couldn't hunt..he tried but failed and he just sat down waiting to die....its so horrible! I wished to shout and scream and bang because that bear died and he died coz of our selfishness and nothing else! Also it was sweet seeing the elephants caring for their little pups but agonizing seeing the same pups lie down exhausted as they had been travelling for over 2 weeks without a drink. The matriarch pushing them and coaxing them as the water was near. But, the route they have to travel is becoming longer due to human intervention and one wonders if next time they will manage to get to the water in time or worse if the water would fail to be there due to more dryness coz of global warming. So so bitter and at the same time you see those wonders and just wish to immerse yourself just for that fleeting moment and live in harmony with the rest of the natural world. It made me quite nostalgic of my African and Amazonian trips and wish so much to go again and show all that beauty to my son and teach him to respect the world he lives in so that it can sustain him and future generations to come.

After our film, we did an hour or so of yoga nidra (conscious sleeping) and meditation. I never tried yoga nidra except the last 10 mins of each practice which is more relaxation really and never did meditation for a long time either. However, much to my pleasure, I saw that nowadays I could manage to control my mind more and started finally to visualize (something I couldn't do before. I can't do it a lot yet but just the fact that I do fir that split second is good enough for me). I drifted in that hour or so, feeling acutely, where my body touched the ground and yet so far away from myself that I wasn't aware of much else around me. The voice of our teacher droned on guiding us throughout; I heard it and yet it was like it wasn't there. When it was time to open our eyes and go back to reality I didn't want to...it was so peaceful . After that we read vedic poetry and had a short yoga philosophy explained and the day was suddenly over. I was at peace with myself, carefree and in love with life. I walked out to the setting sun and made my way home as fast as possible ( my boobs urgently needed some milk expressed---yeah I broke the romantic mood but it was a big necessity). I scooped up my son and kissed him a million times, I was now ready again to care for him with a clear mind :)

And for who is wondering how the day went for hubby, it went great and so we are both happy...