ABOUT RETREAT VS. JOURNEY? THE SPACE IN-BETWEEN

“The journey is never ending. There's always gonna be growth, improvement, adversity; you just gotta take it all in and do what's right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment.”

SOME OF US HAVE EXPERIENCED ALREADY THE MAGIC OF A RETREAT - SOME OF US ARE ABOUT TO DO IT.

However, during the retreat I hosted, “Cultivating Space”, in southern Spain, I realized that it actually didn't feel like a retreat, but more like a journey.

This led me to compare these two terms and explore the true meaning from my personal perspective of RETREAT and JOURNEY.

When I checked a dictionary, RETREAT means "to go to a place of privacy or safety." In my words and from a yoga teacher's perspective, it means: to create a safe space for wonderful people who feel the need to reconnect with themselves.

Journey means instead, "journey or transition from one place to another or/and the journey from youth to maturity, a journey through time.". It is a travel-journey between what you have experienced already and what your are supposed to experience; Mixing Moments.

Reading both descriptions, I felt more connected to the term JOURNEY because what I was experiencing as a teacher at that moment was a journey of growth, connection and inspiration.

EXPERIENCING YOGA AWAY FROM HOME

But before deepen this thought:

If we talk generally about a Yoga Retreat; what is meant by a yoga retreat is a withdrawal to focus on the practice of yoga. A retreat can be solitary and/or local, but often involves a trip to a location that offers group yoga activities. In the western world, yoga retreats tend to resemble vacations at luxury resorts, but the eastern concept of retreats are more humble in nature, leaning toward more affordable getaways.

The purpose of a retreat is to allow yogis to deepen their practice without the distractions of life. Yoga retreats are temporary breaks from the daily routine that typically last from weekend to a week or more.

RETREAT VS. JOURNEY

That's something that's still part of it, even though we call it Journey.

You'll have experiences away from home and deepen your yoga practice, but the space in between is what makes it special.

The space between focusing on yourself and having inspiring conversations with others - personally, that's what makes it a Journey.

Maybe it also has something to do with how I perceive my purpose as a yoga teacher: Sharing knowledge and connecting people.

We create a space between us whenever we begin to perceive things.

It is a process that is often not consciously perceived by ourselves.

The more present we perceive these voices, the more mindful we will be with ourselves and the people around us.

This is where yoga begins: one of the most difficult learning effects we experience in yoga is being alone on our mat.

The yoga teacher tells us to observe our breathing. Everything is very still. Suddenly the thoughts are circling and you stop observing the breath. You feel alone and don't understand the motivation you had to go to yoga an hour ago.

When we allow the Space In-Between, we allow us to get a little closer to ourselves.

There is much to learn in this space. The space between doing and not doing. Some of us can camp there for long periods of time, while others have not yet experienced this space for various reasons. When we do nothing, many things can be very obvious, and some of us may not be ready or equipped to deal with that raw truth. Or we may not even know that we have permission to exist in that space, based on our own upbringing and family or societal conditioning.

A HOLISTIC APPROACH - A HONEY JOURNEY

The thing about the space in between is that when you are in it - and present - there are always opportunities to learn, if you are willing. It requires finding comfort in discomfort. And the ability to distinguish and filter which voices are allowed to settle in your head.

It is a Journey that never ends.

The concept of retreat have received a new term from my perspective and in my work. I will call it Journey -

a journey to unfold.

Mucho Love,

Estefania

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