How to build your at-home yoga retreat
Feeling a little off-balance? Ashleigh Sergeant, head of yoga content for Gaia.com and certified Anusara yoga instructor is here to help.
According to Sergeant, yoga is more than just an “on-the-mat” experience.
“The masters who brought yoga to the masses meant for the practice to enrich your entire life with mindfulness and conscious connection, not hurried schleps to a sweaty studio,” Sergeant said. “Yoga is, at its essence, the practice of self-inquiry as a pathway toward self-realization.”
Find yourself through yoga and become more in-tune with your body.
“When your practice feels like it is missing something, it is often the rest of yoga you have been leaving out, whether that’s the deeper philosophical practices of yoga or the general idea of ‘yoking’ (uniting) with something more,” she adds. “A purposeful ‘staycation’ in the form of a DIY yoga retreat nurtures your whole health and wellbeing with loving self-inquiry and care, because you get to design it with yourself in mind.”
That being said, it’s time to build your at-home yoga retreat.
“When you step beyond the studio, you allow yourself the time and space to truly be with and learn about yourself so you may become the most authentic and empowered version of you,” Sergeant added. “A yoga retreat offers a holistic experience, a total shift from the demands of daily life into a sacred space in which you set aside the cares of a busy daily life and gift yourself a deeper yoga practice, a mindful living, healthy eating, self-care, and selfstudy.”
Don’t just practice yoga, but also integrate it into your daily life.
“The idea appeals to practitioners of all levels and styles for reasons of comfort, lack of competition, and the sweetness of privately deepening your practice,” she said. “Plus it takes the money out of the equation! It’s about desire and discipline, effort and acceptance. This is an opportunity to connect with yourself and ritualize new ways to cleanse, nourish, and rejuvenate as part of your yoga practice. Diving into a deep and disciplined practice may feel like a bit much for many modern practitioners, so these little tips were designed to help you step into ritualized selfcare and self-love, practically, for a transformative yoga retreat in your new at-home sanctuary.”
Here are some tips on how to do incorporate yoga in your daily life.
ACTUALLY TAKE A VACATION
Pick a duration, clear your calendar, and communicate. You are available to nobody but you. Build this retreat as if you were leaving to an exotic, inaccessible place. Observe your life beforehand for a week, and know what distractions must be eliminated during your retreat.
Make sure familial responsibilities have been tended to, the bills are paid, and the general tasks of daily life are complete.
SCHEDULE A MINDFUL SELF-CARE RITUAL
Create a schedule for yourself that infuses a ritual into each step. For example, wake up and start your day with a glass of warm lemon water, meditate, journal, do a morning yoga practice, eat a healthy meal, make time for reading, or take a walk. Plan time for yourself to take a bath, use aromatherapy, or even get a massage.
Be gentle, and if you need to skip something in order to nurture yourself as this practice opens you up, listen to your needs. Remember, yoga isn’t about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the journey to the ground.
DISCONNECT TO CONNECT
Yoga asks practitioners to consider what we consume, take on, and take in. Consumption of information and technology, and constant connection to the dramas of the world can disconnect us from both ourselves as well as those soothing, reassuring, deeper meanings behind our very existence.
Consider a social media, news and computer “fast” to help purify and check in with your mind and thoughts. Replace this time with time in nature, journaling or just sitting with yourself. See how you’ve been numbing or over-stimulating yourself and decide whether that serves the life you wish to live.
STOCK YOUR FRIDGE
Hunt up your favorite and most nourishing snacks and ingredients before beginning your retreat. This beats airport and travel food by a mile, and you’ll feel infinitely better about treating your digestive tract to clean living during your retreat.
Consider eliminating animal products, alcohol, and anything that might disconnect you from peaceful living and conscious self-care during your retreat. These items can take a lot of energy for the body and mind to process, instead of strengthening your well-being.
STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Yoga, be it asana or meditation, releases us from our stories to live free and loving lives. Bringing your attention to yourself can, and likely will, bring up new thoughts on old patterns of fear, violence of thought or action, diseased habits that no longer serve you, and so on.
When you feel this edginess arise, sit in the discomfort without judgment. Love who you were, are, and who you hope to be. Write, speak, sing or sit with these new discoveries in silence. This is the true power of retreat.