Women’s Retreat – Nurturing Spirit, Mind, and Body

No. I can’t stand on my head. I have no aspirations of doing so. And I still gaze in awe at my instructor when she twists herself into a pretzel. But after a year of attending yoga classes on a fairly regular basis two to three times a week, my stamina, flexibility, and sense of balance have all improved.

Since getting hooked on yoga, I’ve thought a couple of times about going on a women’s yoga retreat. Recently, one of my favorite yoga instructors, Chris Leffler, announced that she would be co-leading a Women’s Retreat for a weekend in the Santa Cruz mountains, just a half hour’s driving distance from my house. The retreat site was nestled on a lush green hilltop with a lake, trees, and forest trails. A weekend getaway was easy to fit into my schedule. And this one, which was sponsored by the Palo Alto YMCA, was also very affordable.

The other instructor for this retreat was Sharon Allen, a Stress Reduction Specialist and teacher of Mindfulness Meditation. I had never head of “mindfulness meditation,” but I was pleased that the retreat would include guided meditation sessions. There is some meditation included with the yoga classes that I attend. However, the last time that I had engaged in really concentrated doses of meditation was long, long ago. It was back when I was a very young diva and Transcendental Meditation was sweeping the planet.

I received my own personalized mantra, a secret sound whispered to me in a candlelit ceremony. My mantra is one secret that I’ve managed to keep throughout these many years. I’ve never told a single soul. Clearly, the experience made quite an impression on me. Yet, I didn’t manage to keep practicing Transcendental Meditation for more than a few months. Why not? Although I recognized the beneficial effects that meditation had on me, I couldn’t adhere to the strict schedule of practice that was required—starting with at least twenty minutes of meditation on an empty stomach every morning. My ability to follow that rigid schedule fell apart as soon as I got married.