We held our annual Yoga on the Beach Retreat at Little Renaissance this weekend. The forecast called for clouds, cool temperatures, and rain. However, the cooler temperatures of 65 degrees, free-of-forest-fire clean air, and the blend of sometimes cloudy and sometimes sun-drenched skies made for a perfect weekend, weather-wise.
We had yogis from Tucson, Arizona, Eugene, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. What a lovely yoga-filled weekend it was! Below you will see some photos as well as some of the readings participants shared on Saturday evening.
Here is a reading on healing, read by Paula, written by Rachel Remens:
Healing is not a work of perfection or expertise. We are all healers. We heal with our wholeness, our humanity, all of our life experience, even our wounds. Our own wounds make us gentle with the wounds of others and able to trust the mystery of healing, not as a theory but from lived experience. Our vulnerability connects us to the vulnerability in others in compassionate and loving ways.
Healing is actually a worldview, a cosmology…. For a healer, the world is not broken and in need of fixing… the world is hidden. Everything and everyone has in themselves a hidden wholeness, a potential for growth, a dream of themselves. A healer reminds people. A healer befriends dreams. A healer is a feeder of dreams.
I read the following by Danna Faulds:
It only takes a reminder to breathe,
a moment to be still, and just like that,
something in me settles, softens, makes
space for imperfection. The harsh voice
of judgment drops to a whisper and I
remember again that life isn’t a relay
race; that we will all cross the finish
line; that waking up to life is what we
were born for. As many times as I
forget, catch myself charging forward
without even knowing where I’m going,
that many times I can make the choice
to stop, to breathe, and be, and walk
slowly into the mystery.
Gene read the following, written by Emily Carson:
Make of your Life a Flame
Blaze the path that burns for you. Light it up with your intention, with your willingness, with your intensity. Don’t just flicker here—burn. You are not a light about to go out. You could be here resolutely, absolutely. You could burn every step you take. You tread too gingerly on this planet. Scorch the earth where you walk. Be the fire that lives in you. You try not to offend, not to disrupt, not to upset, but for what? So that you will look behind you one day and see no footsteps? Leave a trace here; the earth can take it. And your fellow humans, they can take it, too. They may be bruised and scratched a bit by your vitality at work, but we all get knocked around a little bit. It is still worth it. Make of your life a flame. It will destroy things, but only those that are ready to go. Make of your language a torch. Let it light as well as burn. And make of your footfalls a purposeful path, a real and intended way. Change all the places you walk by changing the way you walk. Change the people you see by the way you look at them, with your tongue and your words. Change the planet; it will only evolve. And I’m not saying you should intend this transformation; you should intend only your own intensity. Whatever happens then is right. Blaze your path. You are not living enough yet; your vitality is still squelched. Destroy everything in your way. Bless the earth that you scorch. Thank it for the chance to be alive, and leave it knowing it was there for you and you made the most of it.
And the following poem was read by Melissa, author unknown:
Today
Outside my window a new day I see, and only I can determine what kind of day it will be.
It can be busy and sunny, laughing and gay, or boring and cold, unhappy and gray.
My own state of mind is the determining key, for I’m only the person I’ll let myself be.
I can be thoughtful and do all I can to help, or be selfish and think just of myself.
I can enjoy what I do and make it seem fun, or gripe and complain and make it hard on someone.
I can be patient with those who may not understand or belittle and hurt them as much as I can.
But I have faith in myself, and believe what I say, and I personally intend to make the best of each day.
Lovely, resonant retreat of true retreating souls!