Winter Retreat Kripalu Style
It’s Day 2 of a deeply self-caring 4 day retreat I’m doing at Kripalu, a yoga retreat center in the Berkshires, a truly divine and inspired place on earth; literally, a source of inspiration, reminding its visitors to breathe; to pause, to feel. Check in for second, are you even breathing? Do you know what you’re feeling? I know half the time in my life, I’m holding my breath without even realizing it and have no idea THAT, let alone WHAT I’m feeling.
So, while proud of myself and grateful for taking this time off, I am also moved by the people, like my roommate here, who took her break from a household of 3 children, life partner, and 2 cats to focus on herself (it is possible!), and the kind of self-care which always brings us back to life with more joy, gratitude, clarity, patience, vitality and energy to give. If you haven’t done it yet, my aim is to inspire you to take YOUR time.
If getting away is not an option, there is always some way to create a deeply self-caring retreat. My urban version would include, a yoga class, a journaling session, a delicious vegetarian lunch and dinner, as long as it is cooked by someone else, a nap, relaxing to music, a cup of tea and an inspiring book, a stroll in the park, a steam at the gym, a massage, a good night’s sleep, and a babysitter if applicable. Doesn’t that sound amazing?! That is nourishment! I know it’s indulgent, but rather than feeling like an overstuffed plate of food, imagine it’s more like a power shake of superfoods, perfectly blended, full of all the omegas, antioxidants, proteins, greens and enzymes needed to live. It is winter. It’s approaching a new year, the perfect time to step back and inward, the only place from which true wisdom, vision, renewal, and contribution emerges.
If I can take you with me through the halls of Kripalu for a moment before my next nap, I’d love to share a few words and images that have inspired me here. First there is a quote from the Bhagavad Gita, “yoga is the practice of tolerating the consequences of being yourself.” Isn’t that amazing?! It is the call to honor all our feelings, wants and needs, whoever we are, and accept and stand for what is required to express that. It offers the permission and freedom and responsibility to feel and be exactly as we are. Breathe THAT in!
Then hanging in the lobby is the work of photographer, Tom Rosenthal, http://www.lightonashtangayoga.com/gallery/index.htm, reflecting varying images of people practicing mind-boggling poses set in natural settings and ruins in southern India. One brought me to tears, of a woman, perched between two columns backed by the ocean, propped up on 2 hands looking forward, one leg pointed straight above her, the other circled around touching the top of her head, like the tail of a scorpion. I know. What?! Impossible and that’s what I love about this image and yoga and the truth of life. It is possible; that today I can do the thing that yesterday felt impossible. If you look at your relationship with yourself, your body, your diet, your life and see yourself saying it’s impossible to change, know this is just an excuse. If you practice any small change today, tomorrow you will have something you didn’t today. I’ve been gratefully enjoying the practice of not eating at night, a spot of challenge for me (see my blog post, “no more hide and sneak” for more on that.) I’m tasting again what it feels like to eliminate it as an option. To feel the hunger, the anxiousness I feel before bed and ride through it, something that had begun to feel impossible not long ago.
So the message is simple…breathe, retreat, practice, be you, and find yoga in its broadest sense and in whatever form calls to you. Happy New Year!
