Sri Lankan Yoga Retreat

Wowwy! It has been quite a while since I last blogged, and I thought what a better way to start than to share my beautiful experiences during my recent Sri Lankan yoga retreat.

I came across this yoga retreat while randomly Googling other things, and as soon as I read about it, I knew I would find myself on this trip. The yoga aspect, the price, the timing, everything felt right ! I was hesitant about vacationing alone; however, as it was an organized group trip, I thought it would the best type of trip to do solo. Good for the mind, body & soul !

On Thursday February 21st, after the work week was completed, I made my way to the airport to meet my fellow yogis. It was a night flight, but luckily the flight was empty so we got full rows to ourselves. We arrived in Sri Lanka early morning, and met three more people joining our group. Our yoga entourage was complete, so we embarked on a three hour bus journey down south & safely arrived to our villa - tired but excited to get on with our 5 day adventure.                                                                            

We participated in two yoga sessions per day - one at 7:30 am & one at 5:30 pm - and they lasted just over an hour each time including meditation.  Livia and Wendy took turns teaching our group & sharing their yoga wisdom. I liked the variation of the teaching varieties, but one thing especially stuck with me: To keep the heart open during yoga poses in order to ready us to be able to give and receive love.

The yoga aspect could have been a bit more intense - or longer, but as the days progressed, I felt the benefits in my mind & body. And, had the yoga been too intense, it wouldnt have left much energy for all the wonderful afternoon excursions. As a side note, for all those of you who havent tried yoga yet, Id highly recommend it !!

Each day was filled with new adventures ~

One day we headed out to a tea plantation as Sri Lanka is a major tea exporter; it was amazing to see all the different varieties of plants, and learn about their traditions. We then visited a 700 year old temple, a turtle hatchery, a local fruit & veggie market, had lunch at a beautiful seaside cabana restaurant, and swam in the ocean.

The beaches in Sri Lanka - or the ones I got to see - are gorgeous with big waves, a surfing paradise ! One nearby beach called Hikkaduwa was quite neat in that it was full of hippie foreigners looking to catch the next big wave. People were friendly, and it was a chill vibe.  

I especially liked that one morning when we arrived to the beach around 10 am, we discovered a beach party with house music! I couldnt believe it... some bumping techno beats on the beach. While most of the group went to find loungers away from the music, a few of us stayed at the party, danced for a good couple of hours, drinking beers, and laughing. Priceless.    

We were very fortunate to be in Sri Lanka during a full moon ~ every full moon they have public holidays! I think more countries should adopt this mentality :) During that evening, we went to two local temples to participate in the celebrations. We brought white flowers as offerings to the gods, while lighting coconut oil with good pure intentions. We then met and chatted with a Monk who had been at that temple for over 40 years - and he was kind enough to bless us by tying white string around our wrists, and chanting a few Sanskrit. Im not Buddhist myself, but the experience was extremely positive and one that Ill take with me for a long time.  

As the family that owned the guest villa was quite wealthy, they built a school to educate the local children. To this day, they continue to support that school by buying produce that is grown in their yard. We therefore decided to go visit this school and meet some of the children! It's so inspiring to see these children, who dont have much materialistically, but are so happy to be at school and to be learning. Their smiles could warm any heart :) It reminded me of another school I know called the Olympic Primary School in the slums of Africa... It was a beautiful reminder to be grateful and content with what we have, without getting caught up in what we dont have and what we think we "need". 

Another day, I treated myself to an Ayurvedic massage & relaxed a bit. Then in the afternoon, we toured around the Galle Fort, which was like a little European city.  It was gorgeous & filled with rich history and beautiful sights. We then had our last yoga session at a Zen Buddhist temple, which was situated on the side of a mountain overlooking the ocean as the sun was setting. The energy was inspiring & overpowering!  

During our stay, we stayed in a guest house called Villa de Zoysa (www.villadezoysa.com). The villa itself is a 100 year old house, and is gorgeous on beautiful property. Considering how old it is, it does need some fixing up here and there – with a few disclaimers on their website, but the food really made up for it ! As a whole, we were really welcomed & made the most of our stay.

The weather in Sri Lanka was not what I had expected ! While I knew it would about 33 degrees daily, I was a little surprised by the high level of humidity. Living in Dubai, you quickly forget that air conditioning is a novelty, and there was none in the places we went. So… it was HOT! Shade and fans were my friends.

The group dynamic was really special as well – everyone contributed to the group in their own way. Livia, Olivia, Wendy, Hilda, Zhila, Nadine, Bijan & Martin – they were wonderful people to share in this experience with. I’ll stay in touch with most people from the trip, and hopefully build friendships. It was a big risk going on this sort of vacation, but it really paid off & everyone got along well.

  

In line with people contributing, Hilda was kind enough to do crystal therapy with each of us – it was an amazing experience & I learnt a lot. Thank you everyone for making this trip memorable! 

Overall, I was happy to have gone on this trip! I saw beautiful reminders about my life everywhere I looked, and I needed time to reflect on that. It’s so easy to get caught up in everyday life and stresses that we forget to breathe, to take care of ourselves, and to be happy / grounded for the right reasons.

 xox <3 xox