How to get the Most out of Your First Yoga Retreat

How to get the Most out of Your First Yoga Retreat

I’ve just come back from my first yoga retreat. It was the Indian Summer Retreat with Sally-Anne Reynolds, hosted by &Sister at the very beautiful Poundon House in Oxfordshire.

And this is an article  will only ever be able to write once. Because you only get one chance to go on your first yoga retreat. Every other yoga retreat I get to go on from now on (and I plan to go on as many as I can!) will be different because of the experience I have already gained.

So this is not your typical review. All of those are already out there if you search for them. This is a list of ten tips on how to get the most out of your first yoga retreat, drawn very much from my own personal experience and from conversations I had throughout the weekend.

1. Choose your yoga retreat well

This is a question I get asked all the time because I work for Yogamatters: ‘How do I choose the right retreat for me?’ I have no clear cut answer. As we went around the circle when we all first arrived, we introduced ourselves and explained a little about why we were there. For some, it was as simple as location and date. They had a free weekend, didn’t want to travel too far, so googled…and came. Simple. For others, it was more planned. A reunion with a friend they hadn’t seen in a while. A final treat before returning to work after illness or maternity leave. For some, it was that sense of overwhelm and needing to get away. For me, it was something even less tangible. As soon as I read the words ‘Indian Summer’ and the description of the weekend, I was hooked.

Indian Summer Yoga Retreat – extend the summer with some inner sunshine

September is always a difficult time for me, leaving behind the summer and heading off into the darkness. Anything that could make me feel more positive about that was surely going to be a good thing. There was a sense of nurturing in the description that I warmed to, an enveloping in positivity and light – ‘immersive and uplifting’ with a yoga practice that’s ‘peaceful and deep, yet energetic and joyous’.  All carefully designed and planned to allow you to be ‘your vibrant best self’. Yes, that’s definitely what I want! I’m in!

So yes, by all means choose the right place and the right time, but also consider the right vibe. You have to connect with this, relate to it, desire what it is offering…Let your heart guide you.

2. Prepare yourself before your yoga retreat

We’re all super busy people. That’s why we need to take the time out to go on a yoga retreat. And if you’re an experienced retreat yogi, then maybe you can just rock up and hit the ground running. But if it’s your first yoga retreat, it’s good to arrive feeling prepared, knowing that you have brought everything you need. &Sister thought of that. They sent out a handy list of what to bring – from wellies through to a special item ‘to add on to the altar to charge up over the retreat’. There’s an inner preparation that needs to take place too, as Sally-Anne explains –

The lead up to a retreat is exciting for both teacher and student! As the date draws closer, I find myself diving deeper into my own practice, becoming re-inspired and reconnected to what yoga truly is to me, so that I feel connected to the well of knowledge that lies deep within us all.

I would encourage anyone who is attending an upcoming retreat to dive into themselves a little, before they come, so they have a sense of what they would like to get out of the retreat. The retreat is yours and you can put as much or as little into it, as you’d like to get out of it.  Sally-Anne Reynolds

3. Arrive at your yoga retreat with an open mind and an open heart

If it’s your first yoga retreat, you have so much to look forward to! Come with an open mind, and I am certain you will leave with an open heart.

A retreat is a perfect opportunity to curiously explore your body, mind and soul, so the only guidance I have is to make sure you’ve packed comfortable clothes for yoga, bring your curiosity and stay open to whatever may happen over the course of the weekend. It can often be quite transformative.  Sally-Anne Reynolds

We all come with preconceptions. It’s natural and human and we can’t help it. We imagine what everyone will look like, what their practice will be like, usually concluding that everyone else will be superior to ourselves in every way (or is that just me?). As the taxi pulled into the long drive leading to Poundon House, I did my usual ‘What the hell am I doing here? Get me out of here!’ Nerves were getting the better of me and I was willing the taxi to do a U turn and take me back to the station to catch a train home. As I approached the front door, I was scared.

But Alicia Roscoe, the retreat host, made me feel welcome the moment she opened the door. This was her family home, you see. She grew up here. She’d spent the day preparing for her guests, decorating the rooms with autumn produce from the garden. She urged me to make myself at home and made it easy for me to do so. And as we all met together that first evening and listened to each other’s stories, I saw that we were in fact all the same. I started to relax and open my heart and mind. This was going to be OK.

4. Go with the flow during your yoga retreat

This was always going to be different. As women ( and we were all women), we get used to doing things a certain way – our way! But here, I was eating one of Tatu Beaucroft’s delicious healthy cookies with a fruit tea before a strong yoga and meditation session – and breakfast was not until after ten: not what I was used to at all. There was no coffee which affected some more than others and the food was all vegetarian, mainly raw, very different (but very tasty too) to the way most of us eat at home. There was time when much was required and other times when nothing was required.

It’s that open mind Sally-Anne was talking about. Much will be unfamiliar on your first yoga retreat. Just go with the flow and see what happens!

5. Do what’s right for you throughout your yoga retreat

This is a tough one. As women, we’re used to being there for everyone else. When you’re on retreat, it’s all about you. There are blocks of free time – not ten minutes snatched here or there, but blocks of several hours. How often do most of us have that amount of free time to do what we want? Some of us don’t even know what we want when we do have the time. One thing I loved in particular about the &Sister retreat was the freedom from expectation and judgement. You could go for an early morning walk – or not. You could have a treatment – or not. You could sit around the fire in the evening – or not. You could get a cup of tea or some fruit whenever you wanted. You could visit the kitchen for a bit of home from home when you needed to. I had two naps on the Saturday – two! I never nap! For the Soundbath on the the Saturday night, we were encouraged to get cosy in our pjs, bring our pillows, do whatever was right for us – the shala looked more like a sleepover than anything else. And afterwards, everyone barely spoke. No one felt under pressure to be the life and soul of the party. We listened to our bodies – and went to bed!

6. Be fully present during your yoga retreat

This is a tough ask if you’ve got a lot going on in your home life – and who hasn’t these days? For me, this one is pretty much all about my mobile phone. I tried to leave it in the bedroom as much as possible. I tried to not look at it too often. I didn’t want to know what was going on at home. I wasn’t going to look at my email. This weekend included a lot of meditation practice and I benefited from not filling my mind with what was going on in my kids’ lives. I gave my practice my full attention. I gave each conversation my full attention. I gave my food my full attention. We had all invested much to be there and we all intended to make the most of every moment.

7. Be yourself throughout your yoga retreat

This is hard, too, especially on your first yoga retreat (or maybe it never gets any easier). You’re with a bunch of people you’ve never met before. You want to create a good impression. Alicia and Sally-Anne were great at setting the tone for this. They’d met at university and knew each other well. They were relaxed around each other and with each of us. This picture encapsulates that freedom to be themselves so well. Striking a yoga pose while out on a walk in wellies with the family dog…having a laugh as they wobble and don’t care that as yoga teachers, their balance should really be…there was none of that…

And so I went for it. I spoke openly about my seasonal affective disorder and my issues at home. On the mat, I tried to let go of striving to please or impress the teacher. I tried not to compare myself for others and went with a practice that worked for me. I asked for help when I needed it.

8. Make the time to reflect after your yoga retreat

At the end of the retreat in the Closing Ceremony, we went round the circle again to speak about what we would take away from the weekend. I couldn’t find any words and so I admitted that I had nothing to say – which actually proved how accepted I felt with these people that I didn’t have to make something up! I wasn’t ready to talk about it. It took time to process. I think I’m still processing it. I believe my first yoga retreat changed me on the inside. There was a shift – a newfound confidence to be myself and walk my path my way. A newfound motivation to start out on a meditation journey too. I’ve not been great at finding the time to reflect after my first yoga retreat. But I will. It takes me a long time to be able to talk about something. Two weeks on and I’m only just beginning to tell my husband about how great the retreat actually was!

And so that’s it. I hope that helps. I can’t talk for any other yoga retreats, but I can recommend an &Sister retreat at Poundon House as a great place for you first yoga retreat. You will be accepted for who you are and well looked after.

At Poundon House, you become one of the family for the weekend.

And you leave as part of the &Sister family for life.

If you feel inspired and would like to attend an &Sister retreat for yourself, then visit http://andsister.co.uk/events/.

 

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