So Many Ways To Retreat! (including Costa Rica:)

re·treat

/rəˈtrēt/

noun

  1. an act of moving back or withdrawing

 

When you read the word “retreat” what images come to mind? What do you feel in your body? Do you feel a pull in your heart or your belly? Do you hear a whisper in your ear?

 

The truth is, there are so many ways to retreat. And regardless of what form they take, they generally follow a few essential steps. 

 

  • Relax and Settle In

    This is where you remind yourself that you are safe and everything is going to be okay. You take some time to get grounded and draw your attention to your breath. This moves you out of your fight/flight response and into your relaxation response.

  • Listen

    Here you take stock, check in and gain perspective. You invite in mindfulness and notice your present moment experience. You tune into what’s happening in your body, mind and brain.

 

  • Respond

    Lastly you acknowledge the wants and needs of your body and actively respond. You send a message that you are listening, by acting on what you’ve received.

 

You can move through all of these steps by taking a pause in the middle of the day, treating yourself to a meditation or yoga class or even by going on a week-long retreat. All of these experiences or "forms" (as well as many others) create the space to relax, listen and respond.

 

And doing so is essential!

 

We need these pauses to stay grounded and relaxed and to shift out of fight or flight and into rest and digest. These pauses offer us the space to notice what’s happening in our lives and gain perspective around what we actually want and need. It’s only by “moving back or withdrawing” that we are able to truly listen and respond to the wisdom of our body/mind/brain.


And of course, the form matters. The mini-retreats I take throughout my day, keep my stress in check and help me respond to my moment to moment needs without getting lost in my thoughts and responsibilities. Where as, the 5 day meditation retreat I was immersed in last week, gave me a lot more space to quiet my mind and reflect in bigger ways on how my life feels and what I need to feel more present, engaged, and alive.

 

Ask yourself what you have time for. Better yet, ask yourself what you most want and then see if you can create the time for it.


If you’d like some "retreat" support, here are three options:

 

  1. Take mini-retreat with this 4-minute guided meditation.

  2. Join the Your Yoga Virtual Community for weekly yoga and meditation. (This is a $49 monthly, recurring membership with a free 7-day no commitment trial).

  3. Join our Costa Rica Retreat, June 13-19. Beck Shattles and I are trying our best to bring this to fruition but there are still a few details to work out in terms of Covid, vaccines, travel guidelines, etc. That said, it is looking more and more likely that it’s going to happen. In order to attend, you will need to be fully vaccinated by June 1. If you are interested, please let me know ASAP (no commitment - just needing to figure out if people are in an - ABSOLUTELY, get me out of here - kind of place or a - HELL NO, I'm not going anywhere kind of place. I am definitely in the first camp:)  Please reply to this email if you’re interested. We hope to make a decision in the next week or two but we need your input so please let us know!


Thanks as always for reading. If you have any questions or something to share, please reach out. I love hearing from you!

Hoping you find some time to "retreat" this week!

Rachel

Rachel Posner