November 15, 2014
~ the plane home from Melaque, Mexico
Every year it seems, after a week of activities and meeting new friends, I get a notion to say something about the retreat I’ve attended. Every year is different and every year, it seems, different thoughts occur to me.
The Barb Crompton yoga retreat is a different kind of place. I don’t have to play the boss, the partner, the ‘something’, the ‘anything’. Here, I can be myself for a change. What is being oneself? It is a foreign concept to many, I’m sure, just as it was for me until I began my annual sojourn to Mexico where Barb Crompton holds her retreats. It’s the time before we ‘grew up’, the time when we didn’t have to put on a different face for the various people we meet and/or have relationships with. Whether it be our parents, our children, our bosses, our employees, our partners, etcetera, we change our behaviour. Here, at least a little bit, if not a lot of that seeming necessity dissipates, replaced with a feeling of freedom, contentment, and joy. To be fair, the kind of people that one would typically meet at a Yoga retreat are more than likely a different breed. Just that factor leads one to almost immediately feeling more comfortable to speak openly to everyone, make connections faster, and often make long lasting relationships. Upon leaving the retreat, one feels refreshed, stronger, and with a will to make positive changes to one’s life that one might have neglected in favour of the day in, day out routine of our daily lives. There is nothing more I look forward to in my calendar year than the yoga retreat.