So, I need to get back...

Okay, so I look lazy, but in truth I am overwhelmed! I’ve now had 3 people tell me to get off my ass and get back to my blog L I have so much to write about, but I didn’t keep up… so it got away from me. There was the 3 day Bikram Women’s Yoga retreat, then the 2008 Michigan yoga expo, and my random musings. Let’s start with the 2nd annual women’s yoga retreat. It was truly amazing. Unfortunately it’s one of those life events that are hard to relate. I was really lucky that I went into the weekend with no expectations, as this left me open to new experiences. For the record, I still don’t care for flying alone and traversing airports alone ;) I think airports are related to hospitals in the way the faceless masses huddle to themselves. I flew out of Detroit Friday morning (that would be 7 November – yes I know… I suck). Got to Minneapolis without incident. Actually had a nice seat and had a brief chat to a gent flying to South Dakota to go hunting with his dad (guys in the Midwest do seem to like the hunting thing). It was snowing in Minneapolis when I got in for my 2 hr layover. The best kind of snow, it was the big soft flakes that drift down as if you’re inside a snow globe. While waiting for our teeny tiny plane I got chatting to Jill, another yogi from California. Jill is a Bikram yoga instructor (as is her husband), so we were talking about that a fair bit. The plane flight itself was very short (maybe 30min?) and we arrived in the very tiny Brainerd airport where we shared a taxi to the lodge. Traveling alone bites, but you can make it not suck entirely by making the most of it. The food at the lodge was good all weekend. The retreat provided 2 meals a day (after each class) and these were buffet style. As it turned out I shared a cabin with 4 other women. Big cabin mind you; big as in pool table, full kitchen, fireplace, foosball, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms big.

For me the retreat really began with the Native American sweat lodge. Do not pre-judge the black tarpaulin covered branches making a low dome in the dirt =). So a whole bunch of us go in and the flap is lowered. It is pitch black in there. Ooookay. On goes the water. Place fills up with steam. Not pleasant steam, like a steam room mind you. Cloying. So the one woman who had be raised Lakota does the chanting and the initial blessings. Very nice. She did a great job. I’m wondering when the steam will subside so I can slip out (no exiting till such occurs). Then I find out what sweat lodge is really about as we are asked to offer up thanks or prayers. The words in the darkness are deep and profound. A prayer for a loved one diagnosed with cancer. Thanks for a healthy baby. A prayer for self-acceptance. So it went. For me that set the tone for the weekend. No facades, no drama; only warmth, caring and sharing. I felt connected. These prayers and thanks did not belong to one individual; they belonged to all of us. We were created together from the earth and we all share in all the world’s pain, suffering and joy.

As you can see, right from the get-go there was a lot to deal with mentally and emotionally. I think everyone at the retreat got what they needed when they opened themselves up to it. I went looking for answers I hadn’t even asked. Prior to the retreat I kept vacillating between “I have to do this” and “no, this is nonsense, I don’t have the time or money!” I have to grow to TT. Yes, I meant to say grow and not go. I have to go. It may or may not be in the spring, but I have to go. My yoga practice sure could benefit from it ;) but the truth is I think I need it even more. I’ve always told people you take your emotional baggage into your yoga class with you. While that is true, you don’t have to deal with all of it at once. Everyone I have spoken to has confirmed that at TT ever nasty habit, bit of luggage, and scrap of self-loathing comes forth. There is no place to hide. Good.

I did confirm at the retreat that TT was being moved to California and would no longer be in Acapulco. Since then Bikram's website has been updated with the new dates and location :)

2009 Training ScheduleSpring Session: begins on April 26 to June 28, 2009
The Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort and Spa