"I Love Myself When I Am Laughing... And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean and Impressive" -Zora Neale Hurston
First and foremost, I must give a major shout out to my Dear sister-friend and co-creator of "Self Care for Brown Girls" Satta Jallah, for inviting me to the Women of Color Yoga Retreat founded and hosted by Mama Maya Breuer who is the Godmother of Black Yogi Goddesses. I had this retreat on my mind, spirit, and heart since relocating back to New England five years ago and never took the time out to attend due to life happenings. Life always happens right! This year, I said to myself that I must attend this retreat regardless of what is going down because it was something that my FLY Holistic self-needed. Chile... this yoga retreat was and is everything!
When I arrived at Kripalu, which is in the beautiful Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, I had the calming and serene spirit come over me. Despite the ride being long and grueling due to being on the Mass Pike a few hours battling traffic, people's reckless driving, and many shortcuts later, I have made it to Kripalu. Kripalu is a holistic healing retreat facility that sits on top of this beautiful mountainous hill that is filled with nothing but green space, pastures, and picturesque scenery just like the brochure captured it. I am a huge fan of green space because it reminds me of studying abroad in Jamaica and the green space gives you that feel of slowing life down and being thankful for the simple things.
I was in awe because I was able to unwind and unplug because something I feel as though I am the Guru of Go and Guru of Problem-Solving so I had no problem with not using my phone, being in social media, answering emails or being productive. I had a chance to relax, take in the sacred space and get in tune with what my body needed and wanted. Let's talk about the non-GMO and organic food that was provided for dinner. Wo (man) listen, I am already in this lifestyle transition in which I a consuming more fruits, veggies, and yumminess without inducing meat and fish. I guess you can consider me a Flexitarian in which I totally made up this word or I have borrowed this word from somewhere. I enjoyed my dinner, but we still had an evening of the program to attend and enjoy.
Friday's night programming was filled with an unapologetic meet and greet of the attendees and presenters of the weekend. I looked around and was among all types of Black women from various parts of the US, various body types, curves, life experiences, and just overall Sistahs who were also in need of holistic healing and a break from what reality dishes out to Black women from day today. I truly enjoyed sitting in our sacred Sistah circle, I appreciate dancing to Janelle Monae's 'Tightrope" song in which we all dance in unison and had just been liberated to move our Black Beautiful Bodies the way we wanted to without heat and judgment. We worked up a great sweat until.... we had to go back to our rooms and get ready for Soul Yoga at 6am. Yes, 6am, ladies and gents and your girl is not a morning person, but I took a few for the team lol.
I truly appreciate Soul Yoga because we were able to tap into our "Black Star Power" in which I reference it. After all, it helps you to become mindful and present to breathe, releasing, and not being hard on self. We all were wiping the sleep from our eyes and sat in silence because we were like "Damn, I just went to bed a few hours ago and now I have to do movement" LOL! Gotta love it. Another intriguing part of this retreat happened to be during silent breakfast in which you must use non-verbal communication in silence lol. You also have the option of going outside and talk to your heart is satisfied. I choose option 2 because I just needed to release my Soul Yoga experience to someone in our retreat who wanted to share their experience as well. I met a fellow Brown Girl From Boston who shared her experience of being an exam school alumnae, fellow life coach, and a woman who just was overall FLY. She was very unapologetic about switching her careers from being this high power attorney to transition to being this sincere, nurturing and loving life coach who just got a life. We were dropping gems on one another, but I did more of the listening because she was my elder and I have a tendency of taking mental notes and using the knowledge later on in my life work.
After breakfast, we all shook our heads because we were in for an afternoon filled with self-reflection, self-awareness, and self-actualization. During the afternoon session, this weird and stagnant filled the room in which we didn't focus on Metaphysical and Holistic Healing. Maybe our bodies' collective said "Nah" and just rejected the teaching to the extreme that our presenter notices the energy and just shifted her lesson by kindly and judgment-free telling us to get our mats and lay corpse style for 25 minutes. Chile... 25 minutes felt like 25 hours because I have tapped into my "Black Star Power" and beyond through yoga Nidra, meditation, and just allowing my body to melt into my mat. I remember being snapped out of the meditation and looking at one of my new found sister-friends asked her about the Yoga Nidra experience. She looked at me and she too tapped into this unknown place that felt good for the body. You had to be there to experience it. Our presenter went ahead and continued to drop more knowledge after that 25-minute meditative experience. We also went into depth with grief and loss in which we had no other choice but to let our guard down and fully be present and vulnerable with our own loss and the grieving process. Losing someone, something, or being lost is something we don't reflect on because we don't want to re-experience the hurt, pain, shame, disappointment, or other sentiments that come across grieving and loss.
We had the opportunity to tap into our inner child and play because they knew we needed more play in our life. We just needed to blow bubbles, chew bubble gum, eat candy, and laugh because as women of color we are constantly on a tightrope and the folks waiting for us to fall off. Nah. I truly appreciate the playtime because we think it is childish and immature to play while our inner child is balled up into this ball waiting to be released and awaiting a fun time.
On Sunday, we created a holistic, self-care roadmap to bring back with us when times get tough. What I loved about creating a roadmap was the simplicity of how we can incorporate things we have learned at the retreat but break them down to something simple. We often complicate things by adding unnecessary things to our plate. To eat watermelon, you must cut and eat one piece at a time instead of the entire thing. Let's stop complicating our lives and suffering in silence because we want to accomplish everything in one day while wearing our full suit of armor. No, ma'am, take things one breath, one assignment, one activity at a time.
 |
| With the Sistahs after our walk around the Labyrinth |
I am glad that I was able to attend this beautiful retreat because I needed to unplug, tap into my Black Star Power, meditate long term, go into Yoga Nidra, challenge myself, meet beautiful women of color in which we are all interconnected and different while embracing it. It felt great to be in the mountains, overlooking the water, while eating organic, homegrown food and indulging in high-frequency conversations filled with substances and unlimited wealth of knowledge.
My favorite part of the retreat beside the yoga, dance, meditations was walking in the Labyrinth, which is the meditative walk surrounded by plants, flowers, and earth. This part of my retreat experience helped me to expand my experience because I love being surrounded by silence, beauty, and nature. I love doing this while the sun is kissing my skin and receiving the Vitamin D. I also enjoyed laying in the sun with my sistah-friend while discussing life, social justice, purpose, and passion. I don't take the time to really just intake and appreciate green spaces while having meaningful conversations with folks who are on the same frequency.
In conclusion, I believe all women of color should attend the Women of Color, Yoga Retreat. If you are shy, introverted, extroverted or whatever, please sign up for this retreat. It is such a sacred and non-judgmental experience in which we all need in this cold and cruel world. You don't need yoga experience because all levels are welcome and remember yoga is a non-judgmental, positive mindset that focuses on the breath, mental and physical health. No worries. No body shaming. No exercise shame. You will be guided by the best presenter and Sistahs! I will definitely attend this retreat again. Kripalu is such a beautiful and serene to get away and become grounded again. Western Massachusetts definitely possesses some hidden gems that people from all over the world have tapped into. I want to again thank all the presenters and Sistahs for sharing sacred space with me and everyone.
If you are a woman of color and you are interested in this retreat, please check out http://www.mayabreuer.com/ Maya Breuer's website and Kripalu's website: http://www.kripalu.org/
You will find information on the next women of a color yoga retreat and other things going on for women of color, yoga retreats, workshops and more.
Get ready to tap into your Brown/Black Star Power! If you have any further questions about my experience, the programming, or just want to drop a line if you participated in the Women of Color Yoga Retreat because of comment below. Please
No comments:
Post a Comment