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Hello wellness warriors. Well the new year and
its flurry of resolutions have no doubt tailed off a little so I’m guessing now
is a good time to lift the bar once again and remind you (gently and softly of
course) to stay on track with healthy & balanced living!
I have been very excited about writing this
article because I LOVE doing my own mini yoga/wellness retreats at home; they make me feel so good. For the little bit of effort and organisation required the
benefits are so great. What could be better; carving your time and space,
creating rituals and shrines and off you go into a wonderful state of peace, learning,
bliss and relaxation in 7 easy steps!
Why
do your own mini-home-yoga-retreat? Well here are many reasons.....
Whilst researching the subject of personal retreats and
silence, I came across Sara Maitland who is the author of an amazing book ‘A
Book of Silence’. Click HERE for details.
Over the past five years, she has spent periods of silence and retreat
on her own in the Sinai desert, the Australian bush, and a remote cottage on
the Isle of Skye. Her memoir of these experiences is interwoven with the
history of silence through fairy-tale and myth, Western and Eastern religious
traditions, the Enlightenment and psychoanalysis, up to the ambivalence towards
silence in contemporary society. Sara states,
“I became less
driven more reflective and a great deal less frenetic. And into that space
followed silence: I would go out into the garden at night or in the early
morning and just look and listen; there were starts, weather, seasons, growth
and repetition. For the first time in my life I noticed the graduation of colours
before sunrise – from indigo through apricot to a lapidary blueness.”
I too have experienced some interesting revelations
about myself and the world during times of retreat – it’s so important for us
to take stock of ourselves every now and again. It’s as if the world goes from
black and white into colour and layers upon layers of life are revealed to you,
manifesting a more rounded and deeper life experience. Suddenly out of the
silence pops a solution to a problem I have been pondering, or a brilliant
creative idea; because I have created the space for this to happen. Sara Maitland goes onto say:
“In our noise obsessed culture it is very easy to
forget just how many of the major physical forces on which we depend are silent
– gravity, electricity, light, tides, the unseen and unheard spinning of the
whole cosmos. Organic growth is silent too”.
This brings me neatly onto the subject of Mindfulness.
I was recently reading a very interesting article about this topic in Time magazine
(February 2014 edition); yes it seems that ‘new age’ concepts such as
meditation/yoga are making it into the mainstream and despite them being ‘repackaged’
with oodles of scientific empiricism to appease the masses I’m so very pleased
that it has.
Mindfulness programmes are being taken up all over the
world but particularly by high level executives and IT specialists currently.
Mindfulness techniques (which is a meditation technique similar to that of yogic
meditation) according-to-scientific-study (I sound like them!) help to make our
minds more focussed and elastic! What a fantastical idea I hear you say
wellness warriors! And it is. We should all want more elastic minds; the ability
to change the way that we think and adapt to new ideas; to literally rewire the
brain, be more creative, think outside the box, be more efficient, increase
memory capacity etc etc - neuroscientists
call it functional connectivity don’t you know. Buddhist Monks nuns or yogis in
the Himalayas who have clocked up more retreat and meditation hours than we
have had hot dinners come top of the class when it comes to having elastic
minds and good for them!
Yoga and meditation have also been found to lower cortisol
levels (which is the stress hormone), and lower blood pressure too. My blood
pressure has gone down-down-down since I have been meditating daily - yippee!
Enough said wellness warriors; I think I have made my
point. And I think it’s time we got onto the practical business of how to set
it all up!
How to
transform your home into a yoga retreat in 7 easy steps!
ONE - Carve your Space
Find somewhere quiet, warm and light in your
home with a good supply of fresh air. Choose somewhere that is close to nature perhaps.
Make your shrine/meditation space. You can use
anything! Just create a focal point – the process of doing this creates a
ritual commitment to the task. Above is a shrine that my husband and I have
made on a beach in Australia – the red heart shaped stone and shells etc are
placed in a wee hole in a tree by the beach – it’s beautiful. It’s been there for years and it’s our special
place.
Adorn your space with cushions/yoga mats/some
candles/incense etc – whatever makes you feel calm relaxed and at ease;
whatever makes you feel like ‘getting-your-Om-on’ (couldn’t resist that one)!
TWO - Carve your Time
Make a loose schedule for your retreat time;
what you will do and when.
Switch off the phone & wifi. Clear the
clutter.
Let your friends, family and partner know that you are unavailable for
the next few hours/days/weeks/months!
THREE - Eat Well
Fill your fridge with fresh fruit and vegetables.
Avoid anything processed or packaged. Avoid dairy alcohol sugar caffeine meat
gluten/wheat based food.
Enjoy creating and eating healthy salads healing soups
tasty vegetarian dishes and fresh juices.
Stay hydrated. Drink filtered water and nothing else
(apart from home made juices and herbal tea).
For a more detailed healthy eating plan please do
contact me. Click HERE.
FOUR – Detoxification of
Mind and Body
Use natural alternatives to chemical-laden beauty and
home cleaning products.
Do not smoke drink or take drugs.
Have an Epsom salt bath every other night for a week. Put 200-300g of
Epsom salts in a bath and then sink your whole body into the water for 20
lovely minutes. You should perspire between your brows.
Drink lots of water and home juice; lemon beetroot ginger
celery apple and carrot is great for detoxification and delicious too!
FIVE - Meditate
Meditate.
Make positive affirmations & mantras.
Be silent.
Perform gentle yoga postures and yoga nidra deep
relaxation.
Be by yourself – dig your own flow without any
pressures or expectations from outside.
Sleep and rest.
SIX – Visualise
Visualise your dreams into being – what you focus on
will materialise so sit and imagine in full colour exactly what it is that you
want in your life.
Visualise your whole body being surrounded by white
healing light.
Write your thoughts down without judgement – let go of
anything that does not serve you well.
SEVEN – Repeat
Repeat all of the above a few times a year
I do my own mini-home-retreat regularly and am
currently doing it in the Daintree rainforest Australia for 5 weeks. I always
feel lighter brighter and clearer for it. So give it a go wellness warriors! I’d love to
hear about your experiences so please do share!
Love Mounira
For tailor made home-retreat yoga meditation
visualisation healthy eating and detox packages please do contact me. I can
work face to face (depending on my location!) or remotely online. My details:
Click HERE and contact me!
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