Retreat to Ignite Your Light

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise so I am changing myself.”

Rumi, the 13th century Sufi poet reminds us that the only change really possible is the change from within. I like to think it as a starting point. When we can change ourselves, we have larger capacity to influence and shift others.

During my corporate days; my most favorite question to ask my employees and myself was, ‘Are you having fun today?’.

Rarely did anyone directly answer the question. I myself struggled to answer it at times. Especially, when we were all juggling and keeping so many balls in the air; sometimes forgetting why they were all up in the air at the same time. Where was the time for a pause? Have fun? Hell no, we were in a serious business.

I remember one time; during an intense phase of the product ship-cycle, where I was leading the QA team and we were in the testing phase of the product, I decided to run a small experiment. I tried to build a 20-min pause during the day to do some yoga/stretching/intentional breathing around 3pm. The first day; my entire stressed, over-worked and exhausted team was there. I could see all of us able relax and breathe even if slightly deeper than 20 mins before. There was camaraderie of doing this together. We sustained it for some time and saw the benefits right away. The fun was possible. Unfortunately, the work culture wasn’t that receptive to such experiments those days and time didn’t last as long. I was called into unscheduled meetings and the motivation in the team also dwindled quickly as didn’t seem like a priority. It is another topic for later discussion on why organizations need to make the pauses like this a priority for better employee health, business results, performance and productivity. For this article, I focus on individuals creating intentional pauses through retreats.

Once the ship-cycle for the above product ended, I went for a RESET retreat for three days in the nearby Bainbridge islands. There was something about sitting by the fire in a circle with other participants at night, looking at the stars on clear night, journaling, sharing stories, stretching, meditating, nature walking…This magical experience lifted the fog of my mind. There was clarity and expansiveness. My heart felt nurtured and my spirit revived.

Since then, retreats have become a part of my life; I usually end up with 3–4 retreats a year. They range from a day to 3 weeks and are sometimes local or overseas and then everywhere in-between. In the 2 years of pandemic, I did virtual retreats including a 5-day silent retreat. It is not the same as in-person ones, but I was grateful that the reset was still available, especially through this time. The other advantage with the retreats is that each one builds more resilience on top of the other and the effect is cumulative.

With my mission and vision of help individuals to explore their deepest potential and realize it; It was natural for me to offer this key magical instrument as a part of my offerings.

Here are three things you can expect to experience:

1. Victor Frankel says “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

You learn how to create that space for yourself. Longer retreats help us see our personality patterns, things that are sabotaging us. Shorter retreats give us tools to pause frequently, even if it is a minute at a time; to increase the space between the stimulus and the response.

2. You get time to nurture and nourish the self.

Without love and compassion for the self; it is not possible to extend it to others. This is an exclusive time for the self — to acknowledge the need for respite and recharge and create space for it.

3. You learn and embody techniques that will help build more resilience to live with freedom and joy. You will recognize what works for you and will be inspired to take it back. You will have practical way of bringing it in the routine like ‘just one minute’ activities that are easy to practice and need little time.

When I create workshops and retreats, I set intentions. These are intentions about what kinds of experiences do I want to create and what will it look like and feel like for you during and after the retreat/workshop.

Always, in my intentions, I see a common thread. It is that the experience you have shifts you in a way that brings new habits and makes you feel more aligned with your life journey.

Creating and running RETREATS is the biggest joy and most fulfilling of all my pursuits. It brings my corporate leadership experience; the yoga and functional medicine training, mindfulness teaching and facilitation and coaching; all together to create magic to touch your hearts and souls.

My next retreat is around the corner.

Ignited Your Light Retreats are these soulful experience of love, movement, mindfulness, mediation, laughter, connection, nourishing food and music.

Send me a message if you want to know more.