For as long as I've been practicing yoga, I have been wanting to attend a yoga retreat. Something about the word "retreat" has a wonderfully intriguing and raw feel to me. I've researched retreats all over the world in exotic and beautiful places like Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Bali...
...and as much as I'd love to fly away to some remote destination in another country during my spring break, I ended up choosing a yoga retreat near my hometown just outside of San Luis Obispo, Ca. (It's called Sagrada Wellness and I can't wait to tell you how it is!) It's a bit ironic that in seeking a moment to run away from all the stressors in my current every day life, and desperately hoping for a chance to reconnect with myself and the world, that I chose the city with which I am most familiar - the one place I still call home. I won't even need a map to get there.
Take a minute to think about the last twelve months that you've had, or maybe even just focus on the last six. Something has changed, right? Maybe you've moved, or started dating someone new... maybe you've accepted a new position somewhere or gone back to school... maybe you've just found out you're having a baby, or perhaps you celebrated another milestone in your child's life. Or maybe you've even dealt with loss. Whatever it is, you've had change. Me too.
Things that I once was passionate about no longer excite me and I've spent the better half of the last year making decisions that will completely uproot and change my life moving forward. During the past twelve months, I've been blessed with gifts of opportunity, challenge, new friendships, and love.
I know none of us wake up with the power to see into the future and sometimes that is what makes life scary (even though we tell ourselves it's what makes life fun). But in the scariness of it all, I believe that making positive choices for ourselves regardless of our uncertain situations is what will lead us to a calm place of knowing that everything comes to you in just the right moment. We just have to be patient.
That brings me to this retreat. Work has slowed down after we just finished our biggest event of the year and I have finally been able to "let go" of the tight grip the event had on my mind. I've finally been able to take myself off autopilot and get back to doing the things that bring me joy like cooking, hiking, reading, and dare I say it - writing again! There's room now for enjoyment of life's greatest treasures.
In reflecting on this post, it dawns on me that this is the kind of consideration one usually engages in right before the New Year. But setting meaningful intentions, reachable goals, and creating purpose for yourself and your life can happen in any moment or any month or any minute where you have created space and allowed yourself to engage with - yep, you guessed it - yourself.
As powerful as those moments are, even they can be scary too. Choosing to become a better version of yourself means that you have to face your imperfections while consciously choosing to adjust, grow, and develop. I've recently become addicted to SoulCycle not just for the sweat dripping workout I get, but because I always leave class with a compelling thought - one that really engages me. Shout out to Julia at the Culver City SoulCycle for leaving me with this last time:
Staying is always easier, but it doesn't mean happiness is on the other side. Choose to make that difficult decision.
I know it's impracticable to never encounter any stress in our daily lives because things do change and things happen. Stress can motivate us and it can help us reach our goals. (For more about how to make stress your superpower by the way, check out Stress Monkee - amazing community and great tips to help you manage your stress!) But for me at least, the amount of stress I was feeling led me to be a flighty friend, sister, daughter. It completely consumed my life and my thoughts and I had no room to do the things that I wanted to do, the things that made me happy, and at the end of the day, I had nothing left to give to anyone else, especially those I love very much. I was emotionally depleted. I never want to feel that mountain of stress again.
This yoga retreat isn't some raging, exciting plan for my spring break, and it won't end with the stories like the ones from trips to Mexico I've had in the past (forgive me, mom!). I don't want to force myself to think about anything and I don't want to create expectations for myself because I truly don't know what to expect (other than some yoga classes and some hiking trails). I do want to let each moment happen as it does and I want to focus on being present in each of those moments. Any thinking beyond those moments serves no purpose, as life cannot be read in the way in which we read a novel from beginning to end - it must be lived.
Looking forward to sharing my experiences when I get back!
xo,
T
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