The increased pace at which a person lives today leaves him no chance of a good rest. Concerns overtake at the weekend, and the aggressive urban environment keeps in constant tension. Increasingly, adherents of a healthy lifestyle seek to change the environment in order to give rest not only to the body, but also to the mind. Therefore, in recent years, yoga in a retreat format has gained great popularity.
What is a retreat?
Retreat is a solitude, removal from a society with the purpose to plunge into any activity. Among yoga practitioners, there is growing interest in this type of relaxation. Retreat can be collective or individual, lasting from several days to several years, have an extensive theme or a narrow direction. A prerequisite for such an event is a clear boundary between the outside world and the space where the practice takes place. Therefore, as places for retreats choose a picturesque area away from civilization.
Trying to find out what retreat is, one can turn to the main world religions, where this phenomenon is described as hermitism, seclusion, dedication to prayer and compassion. Buddhism has an annual tradition of retreating for a three-month retreat during the rainy season. In the modern world, in a context free from religions and rituals, retreat is a way of restoring one's strength, relieving internal stress, and mental anxiety.
What does it give?
During a retreat, conditions are created under which a person stops, stops running, fusses. There is relaxation and emancipation of the body, calming the mind. In this state, it becomes possible to see yourself from the outside, to understand your desires, aspirations, goals. Revaluation of values, rational prioritization, and the ability to use all their resources as efficiently as possible.
What is a retreat? This is a distance from the usual environment. Such conditions do not allow attention to slip into the world of gadgets, the Internet, social networks, and a person directs all his efforts to work on himself. There is a meeting with those aspects of life that we strenuously hide from ourselves and other people. The atmosphere and atmosphere of practice teach us not only to live with these emotions, but also to own them so that they do not control us.
Retreat and personal freedom
We are used to doing many things automatically without realizing this. This is how the unconscious works. The ability to act is automatically generated through life experience. We have a number of patterns according to which we act, say, react in the usual circumstances. It brings a sense of stability, comfort and safety. But if the situation changes dramatically, ceases to conform to familiar patterns, we suffer, seek the guilty, blame ourselves.
The desire to make everything around you familiar and familiar is one of the strongest instincts that helped an ancient person survive. The world has changed, but we persistently continue to do everything new “the same”, this happens automatically. We hold on to the old, considering it familiar, familiar, safe. But we are not aware that this or that situation not only does not bring benefits, but also spoils life. Psychologists call this the "comfort zone." Moreover, uncomfortable situations are usually included in its framework, because they are familiar and familiar.
What is a retreat? This is the creation of conditions under which thinking learns to be plastic so that non-standard situations do not cause stress. The essence of the method is entering beyond the usual framework, changing everyday decorations. Then all mental and behavioral patterns are destroyed. The negative experiences of the past lose their influence, paving the way for more rational thinking and behavior. Thus, a new quality is acquired - freedom, the ability to independently give the right direction to the unconscious mind, which has tremendous power.
How are the changes?
All our feelings, emotions, behavior are determined by thinking. Constraints such as fears, doubts, insecurities exist only in the head. Changing thinking, we change our life.
The mechanism for triggering long-term changes is usually standard in all situations and includes the following steps:
- awareness of the problem;
- a view from a different perspective;
- creation and achievement of new goals.
Usually a strong attachment to one’s habits leads to the fact that changes occur only under extreme pressure. The appeal of retreat is that this process is much faster. Instead of several years, it can take several days.
What is included in the program?
Most of the retreat is practice - yoga and meditation, the smaller - theories and reasoning. This is what distinguishes this format from an on-site training or seminar. This pace allows you to quickly reach the state of "here and now", clear your head of erroneous concepts and ideas.
A high-quality retreat program assumes a healthy daily routine - early awakening, timely bedtime. During the day - yoga, meditation, body-oriented practices; there may be short lectures, conversations. As a rule, certain norms of behavior are established, the use of alcohol, drugs, and smoking is prohibited.
Meals during the retreat are agreed upon in advance. Usually it is a vegetarian food with a rich fruit and vegetable diet, but this is not always the case. It is necessary to stipulate your gastronomic preferences with the organizer in advance, especially if there are contraindications to certain products.
Why yoga?
To understand the full benefits of this type of physical activity, you should understand at the simplest level the structure and function of the brain.
Most of the brain activity is associated with a group of cells such as neurons. They constantly "talk" with each other, transmit information to each other about sensations, movement, emotions, thoughts and the formation of memory in the form of nerve impulses. When a connection is established between a chain of neurons, a habit is formed to transmit the same types of messages through it. This sets the biological basis for many repetitive actions, bad and healthy habits, phobias, fears.
The combination of static poses, inconvenient for the average person, leads to the restructuring of the neural structure of the brain. Some neural circuits are replaced by others in the process of repeated repetition, as a result of its negative experience can easily be replaced by positive experiences.
For whom is retreat suitable?
Retreat is called spiritual practice. Often this designation scares away people who consider themselves not sufficiently knowledgeable in theory. However, it is not necessary to re-read the mountains of specific spiritual literature in order to retreat. People’s reviews say that, on the contrary, theoretical knowledge can only prevent you from focusing on your bodily sensations.
The average duration of retreats is from 7-10 days or more. It should be understood that it may be difficult for someone to maintain such a pace. But practice shows that the more a person focuses on himself, the easier it is for him to manage even the most complex yoga asanas.
Since retreat is solitude, removal from society, you should not take to this event those members of your family who can bring home chores with them. There can be no talk of any immersion in oneself. It is best to go through the retreat on your own, alone, but there can be exceptions.
Retreat in Russia
For those who want to go through retreats in Moscow, there are special centers, for example:
- Sarasvati Place;
- Academy of Meditation Ilya Bondarenko;
- Buddhist center "Ripa";
- "SVami Club".
However, the most complete immersion in oneself takes place away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Therefore, residents of the capital prefer to retreat in the suburbs. In this regard, many retreat centers organize retreats on the basis of boarding houses, recreation centers, cottage villages located in secluded scenic spots.
Separately, it should be said about the centers of meditation "Dhamma Dullabha" (Moscow region, Orekhovo-Zuevsky district, p. Avsyunino), "Golden Hill" (Lodeynopolsky district of the Leningrad region). These are the only places in Russia where vipassana courses are held - the oldest technique of meditation.
Retreats Abroad
Retreats in India are especially popular in the homeland of a large number of spiritual practice teachers. The city of Rishikesh has the status of the world capital of yoga. Hundreds of pilgrims flock here from all over the world every year. Retreats here are held in ashrams - Buddhist monasteries built by monks in ancient times. In addition, Rishikesh is considered a unique place - it is located in the foothills of the Himalayas, from here begins the path to the sacred temple mountain villages of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.
Retreat has a beneficial effect on a person, regardless of time and place, religious preferences, physical fitness and other factors. But the decision made once to go this way changes life once and for all.