CR reflections: Part 1 – why’d you go?

Published by Stephanie Creaturo on April 13th, 2010

Hey Mala peeps!

We’re back from the sun and the surf in Costa Rica — I asked the yogis who traveled south of the border of us a few questions about the retreat. As we do more retreats at Mala, it is nice to reflect on the experience, and demystify what a retreat is all about. I’ll be posting their answers over the next few days — as the editor, I’ve done my best to leave the essence of their thoughts on the experience untouched.

Without further ado …

Why did you decide to go on retreat with us?

Costa Rica has been on my list for years. Working with any combination of you, Christina and Angela was a strong factor in my decision.

Deepen my practice, take time for myself to really explore my practice without the intrusion of everyday life.

A year ago I took a vacation to Costa Rica. I was practicing yoga on a burnished wooden platform overlooking the Pacific, and I suddenly realized that I missed a particular one-room studio in Brooklyn. What I missed was not the street sounds, particularly, or the sidelong view of Court Street, but my teachers.

So when Mala announced the inversion retreat in Nosara, I was in. Even though I had never been on a yoga retreat before. Even though, while I had been practicing consistently, there were things I couldn’t do, like stand on my hands in the middle of the room, or sit comfortably in lotus. Even though I had never practiced for five hours a day.

I’m not sure what I was expecting of the retreat, but in the end, the experience felt a lot like… going to camp. In the best of possible ways.

I have never been and have been wanting to go on a retreat for some time. Even though I didn’t know who most of the others who signed up, there is always a good energy at Mala and have enjoyed people I have met and had a sense in addition to working on my practice I would meet some new friends.

I wanted to deepen my practice, by doing 4-5 hours of yoga a day, and I’ve always wanted to go to Costa Rica. I also have great faith in you and Christina as teachers, so it seemed like a wonderful opportunity all around.

We were in class about six months ago, and you made the announcement that Mala was going to CR in March. And that was it. You said “yoga” and “Costa Rica” and I knew it was a trip I would be on. No stress, no “I need time to think about it”. It was just something I was definitely going to be doing.

I wanted to find a way to get deeper into my yoga practice which I wasn’t getting from going to one class a week. On the retreat, it was incredibly immersive and enlightening– I learned a lot about my body, my limitations, and my strengths. I felt like I had the forum to ask every question I had about yoga, about what the specific challenges are for my body, and learning to work with my body to achieve my best version of each pose.

I had been kicking around the idea of going some place warm on vacation and when I saw the sign in the studio, the idea seemed too good to pass up. I’d get my tropical vacation, but I wouldn’t have to worry about what I was going to do and where I was going to stay. Plus I felt like it would be awesome to have built in vacation buddies. On top of that, it seemed like a way I could, temporarily, be back in the Mala community (mentally and emotionally I’m always there, but it’s not the same).