Ever have a tough time relaxing? Two weeks in Europe spent on museum scavenger hunts and pastry binges not doing it for you? Is the most R&R you can find sandwiched between your meager Friday happy hour and Saturday nap?
Me too.
I can’t disconnect when I travel – I’m always tweeting, taking pictures or checking People.com. And the idea of a staycation – a lazy term for a weekend getaway not far from home – was the last way I thought I would ever get my shoulders lower than my chin (in other words, chill out a bit). Even at a yoga retreat I was determined to Facebook-away 3 days and maybe do a few downward dogs in the process. WRONG. Take away my mobile signal and access to wine and replace it with sweaty yoga sessions and chunks of unscheduled time and what did I find? Relaxation.
living room, pool
At the Udaya Retreat Sanctuary, an eco-lover’s Barbie dream house set deep in the rolling Malibu canyon, it is possible to reconnect with yourself and thus feel the knots in your back slowly unravel. The home itself is like a breath of fresh air. Natural light spills through endless windows onto the acacia wood floors that are surprisingly soft under(-bare-)foot. 5 bedrooms spread around the property are furnished with comfortable beds, velvety ottomans-turned-nightstands and bright tiled bathrooms. And the kitchen – oh, the kitchen! A touch-screen espresso machine and coffeemaker, gleaming wood cabinetry, a marble-topped island and a long L-shaped bench for buffet setups and pre-yoga chats is somehow both modern and cozy. It is a melange of textures – knubby beanbag chairs, long soft couches, low metal and wood tables, stonework, glass stairwells and shelves topped with art books, wicker knickknacks and random figurines. It was a sensory experience before we even got to class. And surrounded by 8 acres of low brush, massive oaks and a few horses peeping over from neighboring ranches, Udaya indeed proved a true retreat from the trafficky din of LA.
the yurt!
We arrived Friday afternoon with just a couple of hours before our first yoga class. Stepping inside from the hot summer air was refreshing and jarring – here were 20 strange faces I was to share my weekend with. When we were settled and yoga time came, we hiked up a wood chip path to a large yurt overlooking the entire property – it had been sealed shut all week and so become essentially a giant sauna with a very nice wood floor. Even opening the flaps and the side doors and beginning with slow breathing exercises couldn’t help. A vigorous vinyasa flow class that coupled the unbearable heat with my lack of focus and an “off-day” for me yoga-wise was no easy task for a Friday night. Someone brought their DOG to class. And on top of it all, we were treated at the end to a crystal “sound bath” – something I had never experienced and would be happy not to again. A Tibetan singing bowl this was not. The thrumming vibrations from the large quartz bowls traveling deep into my ear were too much, and by the time we headed down the hill I was beginning to wonder if it might actually be possible to become more stressed at a place with the word “sanctuary” in the title.
pool camraderie
But soon things changed. People took me aside to tell me I had a beautiful yoga practice and graceful movements. No one asked me about my job, my personal life or where I came from. Juice shots – raw fruits and vegetables crushed and poured into shot glasses, with combinations like bok choy and grapes or cucumber, apple and parsley – appeared on the kitchen counters like clockwork, refreshing and rejuvenating. My vegetarian diet thrived on grilled portobello and zucchini tacos, raw sweet corn, avocado and cucumber soup, spinach with citrus dressing and juicy sliced black watermelon sprinkled with mint, all prepared by Udaya’s warm, friendly owner, Yariv. I slept deeply and without effort. I felt no need to “fit in,” make small talk or wonder if there were voicemails I should be answering.
grapes & bok choy...mmm
I spent Saturday (after a cooler and much more successful early morning yoga practice) curled up in the living room with coffee, water and a book. I napped in my room, journaled in the family room and lay in the warm breeze on a padded lounge chair by the shimmering salt water pool. There was nowhere to be, nothing to think about. I grazed on pasta shells, red quinoa, braised bok choy and a thousand more juice shots. And soon a creeping soreness in my stretched, worked muscles slowly began to win the battle against the accumulated knots in my upper back. At night under the stars, the heat of a bubbling jacuzzi eased the satisfactory aching from so much yoga.
the daily feasts
Saturday evening’s yoga class was coupled with a lecture on the “vayus,” or winds: the yoga energies that make up the life force. These forces pull you upward, downward, inward and out from the center. My focus during class shifted to the feeling in my body as I stretched skyward and pulled earthward. It felt beautiful, natural, strengthening.
3 enormous gold gongs had been placed in the room, and after class was over we listened to almost an hour of ringing melody as the giant cymbals were played like drums with soft-tipped mallets. We were transported to places beyond the yurt, beyond Udaya. Far from spiritual, for me it was just getting lost in the space, as I had gotten lost in my day of leisure.
Sunday morning’s class was toughest. My body was tired. But I didn’t mind…I didn’t try too hard, I let my body do what it could. I wasn’t very hungry so I hydrated instead, and munched on fruit. Nourishing the body as we had for almost 3 days also taught me to honor it. I was tired. We laid in the shade for hours, watching the dog splashing after a tennis ball and dipping our feet into the cool water of the pool. Our time to re-enter the real world was fast approaching, and yet I was ready.
I left with no life-changing epiphanies, no new, necessarily lasting friendships and not even a vastly improved yoga practice. What I learned instead was to let go and relax. It is possible in a weekend. And you don’t need yoga class or a professional raw food chef or a massive home. You can find it anywhere if you learn to take time for yourself. Learning to breathe – now THAT’S a vacation.
Namaste.
Udaya Retreat Sanctuary
The Udaya Retreat Sanctuary is located in the Santa Monica Mountains and is available for rent for retreats year-round. This post was not endorsed or sponsored by the owners, retreat leaders or any of the participants, BUT I highly recommend if you’re into this sort of thing :) Thanks to Yariv for all the delicious food, and Hanna Gilan of Yoga House Pasadena & Black Dog Yoga Sherman Oaks for leading an amazing weekend.
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