Why It's Important To Retreat Into The Wilderness

Concrete foundations may feel stable and secure but they shield us from our true nature. I remember  Adnan Sarhan, a Sufi Master I used to study with wrote about the significance of how a blade of grass will breakthrough cement to find the sun.  I thought I had a real appreciation for his words back then.  However, I spent weeks on his land in New Mexico and when I came home I made a point to walk outside everyday. I was connecting to nature, so I didn't have the deeper understanding that I have today.

Thanks to Alice Franklin.  She not only got me meditating again five or six years ago, this past weekend she took a group of us on our first retreat into the mountains.  It was a big reminder that connecting with nature is key to our well-being. Most of my generation grew up outdoors.  My siblings and I were outside so long it was tough for my mom to get us inside for dinner.  

My favorite pastime was playing house in the roots of the magnolia trees.  I created elaborate houses and played uninterrupted by myself for hours on end. With leaves and sticks I made beds, acorn shells became bowls, other natural treasures made the rest of my playhouse... and rocks were my people. Yes, I had a store-bought doll house, but the one outside was much more magical.  

Alice brought that back for me in a way I will never forget. Just two hours away from Atlanta, my meditation family and I were able to escape into a breathtaking wonderland where we could unplug and reconnect with the sun and the rain, the rocks and the trees, the leaves and the moss, the streams and the    creatures that live in and around it; and of course the mountains that stand as a testament to the power of  it all.

I've committed so many years of study to yoga, now I have to question: How can we really understand the yoga asana, Tadasana without experiencing the power of a mountain?  How can we understand Vrksasana without experiencing the energetic flow of a tree? There are so many yoga poses named after animals.  How can we claim to practice yoga asana without understanding the animals these poses are mimicking? I believe my learning has to expand outside the studio, off my mat and onto the natural ground from which yoga developed. While writing this blog, I discovered an interesting article: Yoga and Archetypes you might enjoy reading.  

Get away for 20 minutes, an hour, or a weekend. Go to the mountains or the woods whenever you can.  I'm not saying anything you haven't heard before. Commune with nature….La le la kumbaya.  I know, I know.  I'd be rolling my eyes too. Except for the fact, I just came back from an amazing retreat with a lot of gratitude.  I feel like that blade of grass that broke through to see the sun.  Now I know I have been covered with cement far too long.

Thanks Alice.  What a great gift you are.