Over the course of six days, Margo’s skilled, loving & deeply nourishing Ayurvedic treatments brought renewal to my body , reawakened bliss in every cell & cleared away mind-fog. ( I count my sisters’ birthday treat of a nurturing massage with our Goddess friend Carlysle the day before coming to Maui as part of this experience, so I was able to address all 7 dhatus ? tissue layers- in the body with this retreat time.) Last evening Margo led me thru a restorative practice designed to support digestion & integration on every level. The accumulation of my surrender, & all procedures & therapies, has lifted the veil of confusion & restored great clarity to the mind. The luminous simplicity of insight will guide me in the days ahead as I readjust the emphasis of my yoga practice and work patterns to truly nourish myself at this cycle of life in accordance with my highest understanding. With all good intention, I have continued to choose a work pace & style of practice which has allowed vata to accumulate and exhaust me. I have had glimmerings of this over the past months & years and made little changes, but fears and the force of habit kept me doing basically the same stuff in the same old ways that worked as a younger woman and are simply not appropriate or desired by me anymore as I head into decade 7. I envision a life of vibrancy will continue to unfold that will include work & service and also be more internally focused, with lots more play, slower deeper yoga and meditative stillness, time in nature with those I love. Somehow I have been quite confused about how to create this shift, but not anymore. I guess I needed to take the vata edge off with oily nurturance ? snehana – and the embrace of Mother Maui in order to really see the road to change.! Though I don?t know all it will entail, the direction is sure?it feels like a strong current of intention & knowing flowing from within.
“?When you do things from the soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy??”
Rumi
Speaking of seeing with all eyes, ,every day along with full-body abhyanga, I received nasya & karma poorana, therapies designed to open and purify the senses of sight and hearing and to balance prana vata. Thorough head and facial massage, working with important marma points, prepare one for the reception of oil in the ears & nose. The 3rd eye is anointed, and Margo also placed special vision-enhancing drops in my physical eyes (which stung at first and then immediately shifted into a bright coolness.) This sense therapy, hrid basti (warm oil applied in a dough ring over the heart to calm & lighten and ? as I experienced- draw the overactive mind into the heart,), two shirodharas (a 20 min. stream of warm oil over the forehead & crown,) and her amazing work on my neck and back completed the incredible transformation I slowly experienced over the course of a week. It is impossible to fully describe the accumulated effect of these treatments on the body and mind. As I felt my self coming back to life, on the second to last night I asked myself, ?what happens, that I so lose track of the fullness of being which is possible for a human to experience?? I know myself again, in a grounded and calm way, and the worlds (inner & outer) feel vast & spacious.
I cannot overestimate the importance of the container for this experience: silence & solitude. It allowed such a deep receptivity to the full sensual experience of Maui, profound rest and Purvakarma. Also the Grace of many Teachers who appeared to challenge & inspire me ? a priceless gift I did not expect. My location just a short walk from the place of treatment fulfilled another need for my overstimulated organism: : ease of access and no driving. Of course, the dietary protocol also offered cleansing & grounding support. Next year when I do this, I will give myself an additional week to just be still and integrate the changes before heading back . I will have an interim few days in Phx. with Aurora this year before heading home. I am more convinced than ever of the need to bring these rejuvenation therapies into a wider understanding for the renewal of body-mind energies and the unfoldment of consciousness on the planet. They can really be incorporated as a lifestyle , into shorter programs and daily routines as we know. It simply requires understanding and discipline to reap rich rewards. And periodically, to withdraw for a time with the
intention of a thorough cleanse( PK), or primarily rejuvenation focus as I did. If one is thoroughly educated and prepared with a protocol, a self-administered retreat could curtail expense. But if one finds a trustworthy, nurturing practitioner and context, the aspect of surrender into the hands of such a therapist can allow a fuller release and rebirth. The optimal length, venue, & style of retreat chosen depends on one?s needs
& resources at the given time; this one just really worked for me in my current state. It surely reinforced the joy I feel receiving & offering such experiences in the midst of immense natural beauty & spiritually charged company.
As I think of returning home, I am looking forward to the challenge of
finding my balance and maintaining the silence of equanimity midst the routines of daily life. I like what Vipassana meditation teacher Sharon Salzburg has to say about balance: “there is an ease that comes that comes with realizing we stumble all the time, lose our balance & fall, and find that there is another tightrope waiting ? that mind based in equanimity has space enough to allow for a full range of emotions, and to see around them, or through them, so that everything becomes workable.”