Posts In: Mexico

by Amy Caldwell

Dear Rancho la Puerta,

What a gift you are! When I opened the door to my room I literally squealed with glee. YAYYYYYY!

Like so many who visit, I truly needed a pause and reset in the dense forest of my life. A chance to re-acquaint with me. Three days in, I am enjoying my own company (:

While the fitness, insight, and learning opportunities are boundless, the leisurely choosing moment to moment has been just what I needed. The first two days I’ve eaten lunch and dinner alone, and ‘hermitted’ in the evenings reading in my room. Then I participated in a silent dinner–which seemed an appropriate segue. Together, but still quiet.

I see the schedule filling with things I want to do, so I affirm a vow to pause then choose. What do I want / need right now? To let go of hurrying. To prioritize caring for, nurturing, and loving myself. 

“We set the pace.
But this press of time —
take it as a little thing
next to what endures.

All this hurrying
soon will be over.
Only when we tarry
do we touch the holy.”

~ Rilke

At the Ranch, it is easier to receive and take in the goodness of small delights: a wandering black cat or small bird saying hello, Alex’s Oak steadfast on the mountaintop, the trees countless shades of green shimmying, a mint chocolate smoothie sample, a knowledgeable instructor, a magical pool (or 3 or 4), a sumptuous lemon posset with mango puree topping, the list goes on and on.

With space and time to really slow down, I experienced a feeling of shedding my skin. A letting go of what is no longer necessary, a letting go of expectation or judgement. A wandering along the many windy paths. A deep tissue massage. A sound bath. A deeper letting go than expected.

Then, yet another new day arrived–a spring in my step, a waking before the alarm, throwing open the curtains to greet the day. Many moments to pause and consider, what do I really enjoy? How shall I honor that in this day? Paired with a happy fatigue following nearly a week of yoga, pilates, circuit training, pickleball, dancing, soulful music performances, and more. 

As I leave the Ranch, I have a deep gratitude for the journey (and all the kind souls who make it possible). Paired with a bittersweet quality that it is over for now. What is one thing we can take with us into our daily life?  A new teaching? A recipe? A friendship? Or a remembrance of what it feels like to be our best selves, independent and together.

Do you remember your first yoga class ever? We’d love to hear about it!

“My first yoga class was in San Francisco, on the recommendation of an ex-boyfriend. In my mind, “yoga was for hippies” lol, but I went to a local YMCA and enrolled for a month. After my first class, I was in love.

“Before that, I had been working for my state’s Human Rights Commission. I was 21, fresh out of college, and I wasn’t ready to see the reality of my country, Mexico, first hand. I became extremely anxious, depressed and got into toxic behavior with myself. 

“But then a small miracle happened. As part of my job, I went to an orphanage where most of the kids had been taken away from their parents because of addiction or legal custody battles. I thought to myself, I can’t come in here looking like this. The kids need to see healthy people around them.

“I stopped drinking and smoking on the weekdays. It took me two or three months until I decided I needed to quit my job for the sake of my mental health. And I wanted to travel – which brought me to San Francisco. I went back to that YMCA for yoga every day for six months. Then everywhere I went, I enrolled in classes.

“I started to think seriously about taking a yoga teacher training. I realized I wasn’t interested anymore in trying to help the people around me with politics and social work. I wanted them to feel the way I did after every single class. So I looked for a good yoga teacher training in San Diego and the rest is history…

“It’s been almost seven years since I took my teacher training at Yoga One. Every day I go to work with so much happiness and fulfillment that I can’t put it into words. Thanks Yoga One!”

– Yoga One Teacher Training Graduate, Alejandra García Mac Naught

Do you take your yoga with you when you travel? 

Our Yoga One family has spread to all corners of the globe and we’re excited to share some of their adventures.

Heather Fenwick, Yoga One Teacher and World Traveler:

“I was in Mexico near Tulum at a 4 day concert to see my favorite band, My Morning Jacket. That little lagoon was so cool because it was warm, clear ocean water with fish swimming around – I jumped in right before our yoga class to keep cool!

Maya Chickpea Taco (formerly known as Bon Bon) is our canine model; she was rescued as a wee babe on the sandy shores of La Ventana in Baja, Mexico.  What you can’t see in this photo are her supermodel legs and eyelashes ;)”

No matter where you go, you can Keep OM Trucking with Yoga One! Visit Yoga One at 1150 7th Avenue to get your own hat and while you’re there, join us for class. 

 

It’s hard to believe, but we’re already past the midway point for the first month of 2012! Even though the new year is still so fresh, I know I’m not the only one day dreaming about a vacation. (I see you in the back, nodding your head, don’t be ashamed to admit it.) Not the midwinter vacation to visit family or the summertime road trip type of vacation, either. A true vacation getaway. Indulge me for a moment, if you will:

Picture yourself lying on the beach. Not the beach twenty minutes from your house where the distractions of errands and schedules can creep into your mind. A beach far away, a white expanse of sand before you and the sound of the surf in your ears. Beneath the warmth of the sun, buffeted by waves and salt you’ve come back to the primordial blank canvas. The elements batter you down into a more basic form of yourself. You let go of the way you used to define yourself at work, at home, to your friends and for a short period of time, you simply are. At one and the same time, you reconnect to the earth, to the greater community of life that surrounds you and to the life within, the true definition of who you are.

This May, let Yoga One take you away to Mexico on retreat. When you travel and transcend the physical locations of the everyday, the emotional and psychological dimensions start to blur and disappear as well. Yoga One’s Mexico retreat will allow you the opportunity to redefine or rediscover who you really are, with daily yoga led by your favorite instructors, Amy and Michael Caldwell and Paisley Close. For five days and nights, you could be relaxing on the beach, taking yoga classes overlooking the ocean, indulging in freshly prepared, healthy meals and staying in eco-chic accommodations at Xinalani, outside of Puerto Vallarta.

You could miss out and stay in San Diego this spring, which we all know is just this side of paradise. Or you could dream big, demand more and receive so much more. A retreat is not just a vacation, but a journey. A magical place where you encounter personal transformation, but also group transformation. People who go away together return different than they were, they build close relationships over days that would usually take years. Think it over. How much would you like to go to Mexico on a journey of self-discovery through yoga, supported by a community of love? When you say yes, give us a call.