Why create retreats in beautiful places like the Swiss Italian Alps? Why host yoga students from around the world in Soglio, Switzerland? Read on….
The boys hold hands and the girls walk arm in arm, bright shining faces and smiles aglow in the comfort of every step. Husbands and wives sit on benches, chatting and enjoying the evening sun, after a day tending fields, animals and gardens. There is radiance in the air, and it’s contagious.
Back home, I often think back to these images for inspiration and a life-lift. That’s how I decided to create adventures that would give students of life, a chance to feel their very, very best.
In yoga, we refer to this feeling of radiance and skip-in-the-step as prana. It’s the same ingredient that causes the spring flowers to bloom. Energy flows through, unblocked, causing you to feel in love with life. All your senses are improved – tastes are stronger, colors are more vibrant, smells are more evocative and you’re filled with a sense of belonging. Think of fresh lettuce – brightly colored and looking as if it’s standing to attention. It’s prana that artists try to capture when painting; the invisible life-force that propels your breath. Prana is the super-ingredient in every tradition that is genuinely nourishing.
There are five simple lifestyle choices that ignite and release prana:
1) The first is proper diet; eating foods that are organic, and so fresh that they are still filled with the energy from the sun and naturally rich nutrients from the earth.
2) The second is proper exercise, giving the physical body a good stretch and a cardio workout every day.
3) The third is proper relaxation, allowing all systems to slow down and switch gears. Activity, thinking and working — always followed by an equal amount of down time. This doesn’t mean watching tv or playing video games. It does mean spending time in nature – riding bikes, walking in the woods, playing tennis, having a good laugh.
4) The fourth is proper breath…really filling the lungs to capacity, elongating the inhalation and the exhalation. It feels so good. Try it sometime when you’re feeling tired. Count to 4 during the inhalation, (look to fill the back of your rib cage) and to 8 during the exhalation (look to squeeze every last drop of air out of your system). Notice how better you feel just after a few slow, drawn out breaths.
5) The fifth is positive thinking and meditation, observing your thought patterns and noticing what situations make you feel uplifted, and staying away from those that don’t. And, maybe the most key of all is spending time, each day, observing all there is to be thankful for, and allowing the mind to be silent – like a lake with not a single ripple.
During the yoga retreat in Soglio, we prioritize and balance these five simple lifestyle choices, in an environment that is rich in prana. The air is so very fresh, and the food is organic and locally grown. So much so, that by the second day, everyone begins to feel refreshed – a spring in every step, an unmistakable glow, a song to be sung, or a poem to be recited. Laughter, and the sense of extended family, settle in with a sensation of ease and comfort.
These prana-filled memories can never be taken away from you. Instantaneous benefits occur by bathing in their warm glow while in the office, at home, at the supermarket or waiting in a traffic jam.
A whole new reference for feeling good, alive and awake is in the cellular memory, and only a thought away. And, it is for that reason, that we so look forward to welcoming and watching the amazing transformation take place within the first day or two of our Yoga, Meditation and Chanting retreat in Soglio Switzerland. Come join us, and learn how to feel better than ever before!
Tags: hiking retreat
