Ashram Vacation

I had to use a jet blue credit that I had from buying a ticket to the wrong city (dope) for a conference, so I decided that it would be good to go on a December vacation because it's so dark now, and January is busy at work. Also, since I went this week I got to miss the holiday parties at work :) I went back and forth about where to go, and in the end decided that I really wanted something that was a short and easy flight, allowed me to do yoga, and wasn't horribly expensive for lodging. I've known about this ashram in the bahamas for a while, and decided that it would be a perfect time to go there - so that's what I did!

The place is on paradise island, which is really beautiful! Unfortunately, for most of my trip it was cloudy and windy, which was sad. But, the first day was perfect. I got there a little before noon, and since the forecast for the rest of the week wasn't that good, I spent the entire day outside, including a few hours on the beach. I was kind of laughing at myself because the water was 78 degrees, and I was all "it's a little chilly," but I guess it's all about what you are expecting. 

Their schedule is pretty much exactly the same every day, and I learned that it's exactly the same at all the ashrams, with yoga at 4 pm. And, the yoga class is exactly the same each time. Which was nice for the three days that I went, but I think I wouldn't love it if it was always exactly the same. Anyhow, on the first day we were able to do yoga on a platform right by the beach, and it was amazing - you could hear the water and the sun was a perfect temperature, and there were these beautiful pine trees swaying above me. It's a long class - about two hours, so towards the end the sun set and the sky was gorgeous. So perfect. After they had a pretty tasty veg dinner, and I ate with a couple of friendly people. I had gotten up at 4 am that day, so I was pretty exhausted after that, and sat in a hammock and read a book until bedtime.

When I woke up the next day the clouds were so thick in the sky, and you could hear the wind. The water was really wavy, and it didn't seem like swimming was a good idea. One thing about the ashram is that they don't have coffee (which I knew, and smuggled in some instant, and there was water to make coffee with). The first full day, though, I decided to walk up the beach to this resort that has a starbucks - such a bad yogi, but it was delicious. I brought my book with me, and sat outside enjoying my coffee and reading, and before I knew it I had missed breakfast at the ashram. So, I stayed at the resort and got lunch, and then walked around and looked at their dolphins and hammerhead sharks and went shopping and was a total tourist. I stayed for a good part of the day, and then went back for yoga, dinner, and the evening program.

In the morning and evening they have a 30 minute silent meditation followed by chanting and then a talk from different people. I actually kind of liked the meditation, it was a really cool feeling to sit in silence with so many other people. The leader suggested repeating "oom" on every out breath, and I tried to do that to keep my mind from wandering. Not 100% successfully, but not 100% unsuccessfully either. There was a program on designing the life you want which was pretty good - I've been thinking about retirement a lot lately (how did I get to be the age where I'm thinking about retirement??) and what I want to do for my encore career, and it was cool to spend some time with others in reflection. I've been thinking about food - growing it, cooking it, and helping people experiencing food insecurity. I don't know what that would look like, but it's definitely on my mind.

The second night I couldn't sleep - the bed was actually pretty uncomfortable and the sheets were old and thin and kind of wrinkly, and I finally wrapped myself up in my beach blanket and towel, and fell asleep around 4 am. The next day I slept in, snuck my coffee on the beach, had brunch at 10, finished my book, did the designing your life workshop, yoga, dinner, and more meditating and thinking about life. It was pretty chill and I felt refreshed and reenergized about life. But also like I wanted to go home to my cozy bed, cats, and life. Which I did the next morning. So, for me three days was the perfect visit length. 

Definitely not a luxury vacation, but I wasn't expecting it to be. Also, I did feel a little like I took it for granted - I've been lucky to be able to travel whenever I want lately, but maybe I need to take a little time off from traveling so I can appreciate it again? Or maybe not - it sounds like jet blue is going to be flying to Madrid soon, and I've been wanting to go back there, and then walk the camino. So, we'll see....