Living out in the sticks as I do, the choices are few and far between for yoga instruction, so retreats offer me the face to face guidance and feedback, not to mention valuable adjustments that are just not possible in my own living room, regardless who I’ve got playing on my TV screen.
However, as much as I love the retreats, inevitably the physical is inextricably combined with the mental, a fact I am never quite fully prepared for. The yoga is often intense. The body is challenged, stretched, nudged and eased into deeper representations of the postures. But as the body opens, lengthens and surrenders… well, a whole lotta other stuff tends to emerge as well. Call me repressed… uptight, perhaps… even hung up. As a reserved Canadian, I’ll accept each of them, because the fact is, while I wasn’t yet prepared or ready to see my growth on the mat translate to growth in other areas of my life, most of the other attendees were eager and ready to let it happen.
In amongst the fresh insights and perspectives, there were also tears, sobs and outright wails. As one of only a few other repressed, uptight and hung up participants, I was without doubt, uncomfortable. But, it was a real eye opener to observe how yoga could prove itself such an effective facilitator in profound awareness and change.
Whether it’s a retreat, a program geared to target not only the physical aspects of a practice but also the mental and spiritual, or simply a class, folks are finding healing on the mat in its many forms. And, if you read on, you’ll find not surprisingly, that an entirely new brand of psychotherapy is finding legs because of it.
