Between 18th and 24th of June took place the second spiritual retreat organized by Leonard’s Abheda Yoga course, attended by over thirty aspirants of the Yoga way. They bet on the chance to spend a few days in a wonderful setting, which seems to urge to wake up…
If last year’s trip, which lasted three days, was very good, the second edition exceeded any expectations, each managing to better understand himself and the others.
” I started, initially, with the aspiration to have a strict schedule, but I’m glad that not everything is done even “by the book”. I feel the life much more beautiful when I am more spontaneous, so this relaxed attitude is good.
Although it is the second time I have the opportunity to spend a few dream days, in an area that seems torn from fairy tales, I must admit that it is not exactly easy to write these lines. What could I start with, when I have so much to say? It is exactly as Eckhart Tolle said: “We try to describe in words things that cannot be described“, this being by far one of the biggest challenges. But I decided to accept the challenge, so without thinking I will write about the things that are impossible to describe.
In the morning I have the opportunity to practice yoga and asanas – definitely – are the best way to start my day. Even if it is not exactly easy to exercise at the first hour of the morning, once I start everything comes by itself. It’s like an unseen force guides me and eventually, I notice that I started resisting heroically and then I like it – ahhh… that I don’t even notice when time goes by. After that I have a special enthusiasm and I can’t wait to start my day.
After Hatha Yoga in the program is lunch and I would not have suspected that it could be as important to me as I feel it here.
All dishes are – as expected – vegetarian. I think that lacto-ovo-vegetarian food is ideal for everyone – but especially for those who practice yoga.
So, all we have to do is delve into the dishes specially prepared for us by the same skilled and gifted cook that we knew from last year. The meal is a good point in these camps.
Oh, something interesting is the documentaries and the conferences.
On this occasion I had the chance to discover new and extremely interesting things, for which I really am grateful.
Besides the spiritual activities, this time appeared the “touristic” side of the camp, so we visited two caves and many green places that helped us get closer to the essence of our soul. When you are present, in the middle of nature, miracles seem to happen more easily, and I have lived on my own skin this sublime feeling.
I was also in bears’ cave, where it is said that the writer placed the action of the novel “Cherry Trees”. Here I have not met bears, I think no bats, but I met a “bear” of fear of the unknown that I did not suspect that … it’s so big. Finally I found a solution… for now but I’m waiting for it the next time I’ll be more determined.
The last days of our withdrawal are with the busiest with activities. If on Friday afternoon we did Yoga of Spontaneous Joy – that is, we enjoyed the party organized especially for us, on Saturday we rewarded and we all prepared for the 8-hour relay meditation that took place throughout the night.
Here – wow…! – as ever, a large number of meditators have resisted until the end, and after that I see that we feel the camp in another way – taller, more refined and – the thing we have been waiting for long ago – with a greater sense of the presence of the sacred.
The pace at which things move in the camp is far from easy, but I see that the participants “resist” heroically, until the penultimate day, when I began to feel the intense effort made in the last days.
Of course it’s not all rosy, as one would say.
This kind of spiritual retreats are quite demanding for the average man, so after 5 days of being in the socket, fatigue and impatience have spoken their word. A few seek to rest and not a few are those who crave after a few hours off. Among them, I am.
Is that the moment of hiatus that Leonard talked to us about?
But is it so hard to overcome it?
I realize how my mind runs to the daily activities that are waiting for me at home and it seems like I still want to come back, to resume my banal existence that I have been used to for so long. Fortunately, the desire to overcome my current condition is greater than the thirst of the ego, which, as if, would like to snatch me at any cost from the hands of spirituality.
The last day is by far the most beautiful, but also the hardest. Only now I seem to realize what I have learned, in an extremely short time. How can I not appreciate such a chance, which was certainly given to me by the One from above… In such moments, I realized how much God loves me and how everything connects with each other. I’m sure everyone has this flash. At one point we felt that our souls were communicating with each other, above words.
According to the “tradition”, this year too, our teacher offers prizes to the participants who have best assimilated the mysteries of the yoga practice. Visibly excited, most of the “winners” are totally surprised, some of them can barely contain their tears. So do I, who watched “from the sidelines” – for now, the emotion being almost the same.
It all ends in rounds of applause, and one of the participants has a brilliant idea: Free Hugs! What ending could have been more appropriate? So, after we’ve all embraced, the emotion of separation is even greater…
Hardly, after almost a week of intense practice, we go home, with a heart a little tight…
Is that how life should always be?
It’s the question that resounds in my mind, more often than ever. Perhaps the secret lies in being integrated into the middle of life at any moment, not just when you are in the arms of mother nature.
Spirituality is a state, so you don’t have to be at Grandma’s House, far from civilization to be able to experience this experience. Yoga gives anyone the opportunity to be himself at any second. I believe that it is up to me to put these principles into practice, and when I am in the space of the heart, I feel that the whole existence becomes a divine, authentic act. DAA…!”
Mara, Camp Abheda Yoga in Life, Podu Dambovicioarei, June 2013