With the wealth of information that I gained in ten days, I figured I wouldn't have any issues writing about it. Actually, I have absolutely no idea where to start or what to say. Information overload!
I guess I could talk about the food. It was SO good!! I was pretty nervous about it, but I found that I was going back for seconds or wishing I could go back for seconds no matter how full I was. We had all sorts of soups, eggplant parmesan (without the parmesan), stir fry, tofu scrambles, hummus/veggie sandwiches, sourdough waffles AND cake. So good.
 |
| WAFFLES |
Okay! Maybe I'll pick with a story and just ramble from there. It'll turn out okay. Or something.
In the last three weeks I have been chased by more geese than in the entire rest of my life. They wake up and start quacking obscenely early in the morning, before the roosters even. They walk around in this little herd like they own the place. Get even remotely in their bubble and they are charging at you wings flapping. Well, on about day eight of the retreat I was hanging my laundry out to dry when the goose pack decided to occupy the trail I wanted to use to walk back to my bungalow. The first attempt to walk past them quickly turned into a hasty retreat back to my dripping laundry. Then I decided to turn and face my bullies. Walking back up to them, as the bulliest bully put his head down to charge me, I flapped my arms/wings and took an aggressive step towards them. Brave move right? Turns out that's exactly what to do. They backed off immediately, and I returned to my bungalow proudly.
 |
| Bullies |
Anyways, the retread consisted of sixteen guests all with varying levels of yoga experience learning from a group of super awesome teachers from all over the world. Each day we would wake up at 630am for a 7-9am practice that included asanas, breathing practice, chanting and thirty minutes of meditation. This was followed by breakfast. Various activities were planned out for us during the day including different types of yoga practice and a body language workshop. We would meditate before dinner and we watched a couple documentaries after dinner. If you've never seen Searching for Sugarman, I recommend you do that right meow.
 |
| We went to do yoga at one of the Angkor temples near this lily pond |
One of the main things that I learned is that traditionally, yoga does not refer specifically to the physical postures like it generally does in the United States. In a broad sense, yoga refers to any actions that we take in our lives to make us more interconnected with the world around us. This means it involves not just the body, but the mind and the heart as well. The postures are called asanas, and they are done to prepare the body to sit in meditation for a long time. During the time, it was made very clear that its not a competition to be the stretchiest or prettiest. It's not about being the best at yoga, and every posture will look different with every body. They provided all sorts of modifications so I think pretty much everyone was able to find a level they were comfortable with.
 |
| One of the variations I will probably never achieve. |
There are all types of yoga and we got to try a couple I had never heard of before. Karma yoga is an active yoga and it is about selflessness. We spent karma yoga time cleaning the retreat center and taking care of the dinner dishes. Yoga nidra is where one lies in Shavasana (on your back) and try to reach a very deep state of relaxation without falling asleep.
 |
| View from the treehouse |
I also read about half of the Dalai Lama's second book called The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World. Branching off of the first book (about personal happiness and how to cultivate it), this book looked more at groups and why people as a whole are unhappy. Combining the knowledge in this book with some of the conversations that we had at the retread and I really have a lot to think over about the way I want to go about living my life. Cheesy I know, but I found it interesting.
 |
| Cake cake cake |
I'll start with what the Dalai Lama discusses in his book. He has been all over the world in many different communities and cultures. He observes that it seems that many modern societies are losing any sense of community whatsoever and this in many ways is one of the main contributors to peoples unhappiness. This doesn't mean that every single person is an island. Even a very close loving family can feel lonely if they do not feel connected to any sort of larger community. How many of you reading this know your neighbors and feel a community around where you live? A community can be based on culture, common interests, physical location and a variety of other things. He cited a survey in the US a few years ago that 20% of American's don't feel they have any close friends to confide in for serious matters. That's 1 in 5 people!!! He talks a lot about how western cultures promote a sense of identity, independence and individuality while many eastern cultures emphasize the good of the collective group much more. It's about finding a balance of 'Me' versus 'We.'
So the secret to happiness is to get involved in something you like then? Find a group that's similar! Then it's 'Me' and 'We.' Cool beans.
Well this brings up a while different set of things the Dalai Lama goes on to discuss. I'll try to condense it here, but if this peaks your interest this book is really a great read. Human brains are evolutionary programmed to band together into groups to protect our interests. The problem then arises that if you're not in the group, you become a 'Them' not an 'Us.' Our brains are especially good at seeing differences and this leads to 'Us' vs. 'Them.' To balance this, its important to have good relationships within our groups but also to have strong relationships that bridge to other groups, remembering that we are all human and share almost exactly the same genetic material.
 |
| Yoga hall |
The Dalai Lama believes that humans are inherently good, but enters into a discussion about the factors that contribute to the evil and violent acts that humans commit. This is about where I had to stop reading, so the book review is over. I found it really interesting to read simply because it seems like if we could act just a little bit like the Dalai Lama discusses, it could really help with a lot of the major issues that we are seeing right now in our world. If we could all take a step back, remember that we are all humans dealing with our own complex sets of circumstances that others usually don't understand fully.
A quote I heard that has really stuck with me and is definitely not the way I have ever stopped to look at the world: "Everything is perfect, except perhaps the thought that it isn't."
.JPG) |
| Meet Joel from PA. The founder of the center. |
I find it so easy to go exactly the opposite way (especially when I read something like the news or about politics) with thoughts like 'People suck,' 'I hate people,' and 'Ugh, we are so screwed.' It's nice to think that there's a way to view the world that goes beyond the cynicism that I feel when I try to be aware whats going on in the world.
Haha. That took a turn for the weird.
One last thought. If you say something is yours, it implies possession. It doesn't define you. If I say that's my pen it means it belongs to me. I control it. It doesn't mean I am a pen. So if you talk about your body or your mind or your heart, it's something you posses but it's not really you. Whaaaaaaaaat.
Ok now I'm really done.
Apparently this is what happens Laurel has a lot of free time. She finds odd things to mull over and then write back out for all you lucky people.
 |
| Technology deprived ladies catching up on the world. |
Back to real life. The retreat was great. I feel so much healthier, although I don't think maintaining a vegan diet is for me. I'd much rather continue to eat whatever feels healthy for the my body, and make a serious attempt at eating it ethically. Happy chickens, happy eggs people! The yoga and meditation are much more up my alley right now. And I really need to make an effort to separate myself more from technology and facebook more. Ten days no Facebook was wonderful. People are so much more engaged in the conversation.
Here's to all the funny looks I will get doing yoga while traveling.
Q. Why did the yogi refuse anesthesia when having his wisdom teeth removed?
A. He wanted to transcend-dental-medication!