Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Trinity Retreat Highlights

I'm resting after possibly our last Escot Yoga retreat on the Trinity river this weekend.  Once again, we had a wonderful group of Immersion yogis blended with retreatants, including our favorite yoga family, Jennifer, Devlin, and now their two adorable daughters.  Jennifer has come to my Summer retreats for the last 10 or more years- pre and now post kids, and I always enjoy her and her family.

It was such a wonderful group of people gathering to explore practice and have some serious fun.  I'm always impressed with the way people we don't even know can join into the group and feel totally welcomed and integrated. Last time it was a man from Atlanta, Georgia.  This time, it was a man from Sebastapol.  I wondered who and how he would be before he arrived, and thankfully, he was super open and totally willing to jump into the fun with us.  In fact, he was the repeat winner of our Slack Jaw dance competition during talent night!
Another treat was having many returning students from past Immersion groups, including Jennifer from 2005, Laurie from 2007, Susan from 2008, and Jaime from 2010!

Some of the highlights:
-Teaching outside under the big oak tree with the sky, birds and fresh air
-Sharing a full weekend with people where we can relax, slow down, and get into the rhythm of nature
-Rafting with Laurie from Broken Bridge to Escot
-Playing with 5-yr old Kailani in the river
-Getting to know everyone better over fabulous meals, fun river time, and sweet evening gatherings
-Having long morning and evening classes where we can take the practice to the next level
-The outrageous catered and pot-luck dinners!
-The amazing talent and ridiculous silliness of the talent night and the Slack Jaw game
-The group cooperation around cleaning up and preparing meals
- Karen Harris' poignant teachings and getting to riff off her themes in the asana classes
- Everyone's shining faces full of gratitude for the experience
- The fun new closing activities we did for the retreat
- The sweet closing appreciation circle for the Immersion group

Escot may not be open to future retreats, but we are so grateful for all the years we were able to use their gorgeous property - 8! -and we look forward to discovering a new space for next years retreat.