How to Slow Down: Finding Peace in India
Who has got the time for yoga? If pop culture is to believed we have to dedicate hours, weeks, or even months of our lives to yoga if we’re to be a ‘proper’ yogi. This is one of the many misconceptions about yoga that we need to break down. I’m a huge advocate for the 2 minute breathing exercise, 5 minute meditation, or 10 minute asana practice. I think if we can get more people to think in terms of minutes rather than hours, so many more people will give some yoga a go.
With all that said, it is an enormous privilege to be able to spend a decent amount of time on our yoga practice without the interruptions of daily life. This is where retreats come in handy. I’ve just been lucky enough to spend a week at Satsanga retreat in Goa, India, with the wonderful Hatha and Yin teacher Elles Theulen. I saw the week as a gift to myself, it was pretty expensive, it was pretty indulgent, and it was so, so, worth it.
The beautiful yoga shala at Satsanga Retreat in Goa, India
I learned a huge amount over the week and would love to share that here:
1.How to Slow Down
This lesson was not restricted to the yoga practice. My journey out to India was significantly delayed, and over and over again I had to recommit to patience and calm. In the end we missed the first day of the retreat thanks to a string of delays, which were dealt with by the AirIndia staff as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened (I suspect these delays were not at all out of the ordinary!). I kept reminding myself that if I let the frustration, anger and impatience take over, the only person who would suffer is me. So, I vowed to slow down, to let go of my schedule, my expectations, and trust that I would make it to Goa and it would all be worth it. It is remarkable how much more resilient I became to further set backs as a result. I think there is an important life lesson here, if we cannot control the situation, surrender to it and let our expectations go.
Once we finally arrived at the retreat, the more profound lesson in slowing down was still ahead of me, in the yoga shala. I am used to a fairly fast and flowing yoga practice. With a background in dance, I am drawn to Vinyasa yoga, Ashtanga, and other styles which bring a lot of movement to the practice. I think on some level I like to ‘dance’ my yoga. Elles’ practice is very different to this, and I hadn’t realised how much I needed her perspective. In her Hatha classes each morning we dove deep into a particular part of the body, taking several minutes either working up to or holding each pose. At first I found my attention wavering, I struggled to really focus into the minutiae of each pose, I found it really challenging to tune right into the details of what my body was doing. After a few days of this practice however I found myself understanding wonderful new things about what my body was doing in each pose, and why we might do these poses. I can still see the fantastic benefits of moving with the breath and finding a meditative flow, but this style of practice was really eye opening and it’s definitely an aspect that I will be bringing into my classes.
Devi, one of the retreat cats, reminding me to slow down
2. A new approach to Yin
I have been to many Yin yoga classes which I have loved. But I have to be honest they’ve all been very similar, and nothing has been quite like what we did last week. In a traditional Yin class (as I’ve experienced it at least) you move through a sequence of set poses, holding each one for 4-5 minutes and getting deeper into the stretch. What I loved about Elles’ approach is that she brings some movement to the class where there usually is none. Rather than jumping straight into the pose, she takes us through a repetitive movement which warms up the right part of the body (for example a roll across the floor which warms up the hip sockets and massages the surrounding muscles against the floor itself). This completely changed my experience of Yin yoga. By the time you reach the pose you’re going to hold for a few minutes you have really worked into the right area, bringing your attention to how the muscles, tendons, bones and fascia are connected. By the time you reach the pose you’re warmed up and hyper aware of what is going on. If the purpose of yoga is to build and maintain mind-body connection (which I believe it is) this approach to yin builds a far superior connection. I don’t teach Yin (yet!) but if ever I do I would absolutely take my inspiration from Elles.
3.Silence is powerful, and challenging
Each evening from about 9.30pm until the following morning after our morning yoga practice (10.30am) we kept ourselves in silence. This was really hard. I am not used to silence at all. When I am with people I will chat, when I’m alone I jump for a podcast or some music. Difficult though it was, this was one of my favourite aspects of the retreat. There is a lovely companionship that builds from sitting amongst people with a cup of tea, but just enjoying the sounds around us. This is one of the most important things I learned on the retreat, that just because we are not making any noise, it doesn’t mean there is pure silence. The retreat was in fact quite noisy, alive with the sounds of many birds most of the time. Each morning at 10 past 7, ten minutes into our ‘silent’ meditation, the three dogs who lived at the retreat would hare down to the end of the garden barking excitedly and loudly. The first morning this made us all jump, we were all distracted from our meditation and cross with the dogs. By the third morning we knew this was coming and were able to tune out of it and let it go past us. When we sat each morning in silence with our tea I was able to find more peace than in meditation practice even, because all expectations were dropped. I will definitely be bringing some more silence to my life at home, perhaps not filling a conversational gap so quickly, or not listening to a podcast or music every time I am walking somewhere alone. I hope I will find a bit more peace in my busy life as a result.