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Thursday, July 14, 2016

WTF - Yoga Treat or Yoga Re-Treat?

“What cha doin?” One of my children asks, walking into the room.

“I’m writing a piece about yoga retreats,” I reply trying to find my Zen after his interruption.

“Yoga treats? What is that? For the dog?” He makes a funny face.

“No, a yoga RE-treat,” I reply.

“What’s a RE-treat?” He asks, I can tell he really doesn’t want to know.

“Where you go away and practice yoga for a few days,” I say with a sigh, my mind picturing solitude.

“Sounds boring,” he mutters.

“I’m sure it does to you,” I mutter back.

My yoga Re-treat is definitely not boring, it is a way to Re-set my life, to Re-start on a new adventure. If I could only imagine the perfect Yoga Re-treat:

I see an empty bed, seriously it could be a cot I wouldn’t care, a bed with no dirty clothes on it, no dog sleeping at my head, no child coming in at 3am scaring the crap out of me asking, “Are you awake?”

I see unlimited classes of yoga available, taking my practice to the next level, not my current practice to reruns of cartoons in the background complete a child saying, “Why are you doing that?”

I see a quiet mountaintop retreat, open windows at night bringing in a cool breeze helping with those occasional hot flashes, not my quiet mountain retreat that includes crows starting at 6am barking at each other followed by children arguing.

This mountaintop retreat would be rustic in style, comfortable, with natural accents. Furniture would be free of Sharpie marks, of dog hair, and of course your occasional lolly pop stick. Furniture I don’t have to clean finding Christmas candy in May as I pull the cushions off.

I see eating consistently and healthy, not eating well for breakfast and lunch then finding that bag of Cheetos hidden in the pantry, then hiding myself in the pantry with it.  But if they want to keep a secret stash of good coffee, good chocolate and good wine, I’m not complaining. The best part of my Re-treat is someone else is doing the cooking, oh, the joy, someone else.

I see connecting with other like minded people, talking about our love of yoga, not always answering the question, “Why?” (make sure you say that with a Southern accent)

I see completely unplugging from reality for a much needed break, turning off the phone so I don’t get the text in the middle of my retreat, “I dropped my phone in the dog bowl.”

I see relaxing as the joy of non-responsibility, even if it is just for a little while, makes me smile, especially because I know the rest of the family is coping with my absence.
I see coming home Re-set, all that time in paradise finding out I actually did miss my mountaintop noisy, messy home.

Finally, I see gratitude, to myself for taking the time because I deserve it, to my family for smiling as I walk out the door, and to the organizers of the RE-treat because little do they know how much I need this.

That’s my idea of the perfect yoga Re-treat, a time to Re-train the mind into better habits, Re-turn to self, and RE-spect yourself because you are all you have.  If you are interested in signing up or creating your own yoga retreat, check out Eventbrite's RSVP page. I've created events for art projects at the Linville Winery and Eventbrite is a great way tracking participants and payments!

“See doesn’t that sound perfect?”

“Sounds pretty boring to me,” the youngest boy says before asking, “What did you do with my hidden box of Cheetos?”

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