MY FIRST
Yoga Retreat Experience What I Learned About Myself + Tips for Other Newbies
I
heard a fellow yogi say retreats aren’t a privilege, nor a luxury. They’re a necessity. I get that. I feel it in my core. And, I’m making it a mantra. Here’s why. Momming, emailing, driving, cooking, laundry and dishes, walking the dog, all of the loving tasks that make up life — I can happily say I did zero of those things in Costa Rica. And when I returned at the end of January from a week-long retreat with Minturn, Colorado-based Anahata Yoga, I fell back into step with brighter-eyed gratitude. I’d been craving a retreat for years, and I’d placated that hunger with a steady feed of mountain town yoga classes, energy work, women’s circles and epically rewarding journaling workshops I’d recently started leading. I am fortunate to have a malleable, freelancer’s work-from-anywhere schedule, able to pop into a noon vinyasa class, a
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weekend meditation circle or a Thursday night sound healing. That’s non-negotiable me-time, and I prioritize it. But, the full immersion was missing. I have a son who’s now 7 and, for his first five years, I was the main person in his every day. The thought of leaving him for a week and breaking that bond of stability — him knowing I’d be there, dropping him off and picking him up from school, packing his snacks, tucking him in at night and sewing legs back on his favorite lovie when the dog chewed one off again — was hard to embrace. My husband’s high-demand administrative role keeps him away 60 to 70 hours a week; he pitches in every minute he can, but logistically for me to leave for a week, back-up troops would need to be called in. So, that’s what we did. Nana came to live with my husband and son for a week,
and I grabbed a direct flight to Liberia, Costa Rica to take a pause from the race to be productive. What I expected was a lot more do and go. What I got was glorious free time to roam and rest and reconnect with myself. Encantada (literal translation: enchanting) brought the pura vida pace of life to 18 of us retreating souls. The beach cottage destination had everything we needed: hammocks, a pool, an open-air yoga shala, a full-service restaurant serving three locally sourced, healthy meals a day, cruiser bikes, miles of sandy beach to walk, surf lessons and massage offerings. A daily itinerary wasn’t sent out pre-travel. The retreat organizer and Anahata studio owner Chelsea Winters planned each of the seven days out with a beautiful blend of mindful precision and flowing free time. I loved that. I knew that morning yoga would begin at 7:30 a.m. next to the warm, salty ocean and that rich Costa Rican coffee and fresh plucked bananas would be waiting in the open-air restaurant where the house cats lounged and occasionally lifted their heads to watch tiny lizards flick by. I knew that after a breakfast of fresh juice (passion fruit and mango was a crowd pleaser), chia, eggs, gallo pinto and sticky sweet grilled plantains, I could read a book (I finished three books that week! Unheard of at home) or take a barefoot beach walk, lounge on an oceanside bed or doze off by the pool and sneak in a nap (also unheard of). I knew that we’d reconvene late afternoon for an intentional shala workshop on meditation, mantras, cacao or mala-making and that I’d learn something new from a sun-kissed retreater that night over our woodfire-grilled
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Photos courtesy of Lisa Blake
YOGA + FITNESS / Trainings + Retreats
