Radical Recap: stories + photos from our February yoga retreat!
My partner when I returned home: “So, how was the retreat?”
Me:: Shows him drone footage of 60 women wearing radical snow gear perform the Barbie dance in the middle of a 6,000+ acre forest. ::
Husband is speechless. Then finally finds the words: “Wow, this is like the Superbowl halftime show.”
Check out the video of our barbie dance on instagram with music here.
Yoga retreats. Yes, we do yoga, a LOT of yoga. We also do FUN, a LOT of FUN.
Our retreats offer a drama-free environment to cheer one another on, to shamelessly embrace our bodies and our silliest version of ourselves, to reclaim the parts of our personality that we may have left behind, hidden, or repressed.
In September, I tried to convince Bryana to teach us the Barbie dance. She declined.
But then she thought about it. She learned the dance in secret.
She pulled off an epic surprise when 11:00 am “snowga” on the carefully planned schedule was in fact, time to learn the Barbie dance.
Bryana, like many of us, grew up dancing. Dancing is one of those magical movements of the body that often connects us to unfiltered, raw, joy and energy.
Our theme for the weekend was built around the book The Fun Habit by Mike Rucker.
In the book, he reminds us that reminiscing is an important part of creating memories. His formula:
step one, look forward to something!
step two, be fully present, step outside the norm of your habitual experiences
step three- write about the experience while you are having it!
step four, reminisce!
“Fun needs to be woven into your identity. Fun isn’t “extra”, it’s a vital component of your well-being.”
Our blog, our journaling at the retreat, our photographs of the event, are all ways we help us refine our lovely experience into a lovely little gem. We always think we will remember everything that happens. In reality, our memories are like cheesecloth. So many precious moments slip right on through. When we journal at a retreat, even by making a bullet point list of sights, sounds, smells, sensations, experiences, and tastes, we are putting together the memory. We are actively working to add context to the experience. This helps us reminisce later! So here we go… let’s reminisce!
This retreat was filled with the desired goal: FUN. We kicked off our retreat with concepts from our book club read; The Fun Habit and also combined some wise concepts from Brene Brown.
“The opposite of play is not work—the opposite of play is depression.” - Brene Brown
Diving into the concept and importance of “Play” from Brene Brown’s “Wholehearted Living”.
“Play” has three elements:
It’s time spent without purpose.
It’s something you don’t want to end.
It leads to a loss of self-consciousness.
Play helps alleviate stress and generate joy as you allow yourself to get lost in an activity without stakes. Few adults willingly engage in play out of fear of being viewed as “childish.” However, a lack of play is directly related to increased levels of depression or aggression.
We tapped into our “rad” selves, let go of inhibitions and played and laughed all weekend. Our teaching team for the weekend fully understood the assignment. Stacy, Stephanie, Zoe, Amanda, and Bryana all got as radical as possible (in many stages from 1-3 level of rad) as they taught fun and feel-good yoga sessions. Thank you so much crew, you made the weekend extra EXTRA wonderful.
Zoe even planned a fun partner yoga class! Tapping into laughter yoga elements relieves stress and invites calming qualities.
When you are laughing about “adult airplane” as pictured, it’s hard to remember what you are stressed about. This is the type of fun that’s beneficial to be a participant OR an observer! I’m smiling just looking at how much fun they’re having.
On Saturday night we continued our weekend of ultimate, good, clean, healthy fun! Delightful Green Scene dinner followed by mocktails & crafting!
Jo & Bliss Designs, brought materials for guests to create Rock Family Portraits. This was beautiful to watch folks pick out their desired rocks to create their family: adults, kids, dogs, and/or rabbits and all.
At the same time as the rock workshop, Jami’s Just Juice Co. brought a fun and delicious Sip & Sparkle mocktail bar! This was a huge hit. Fresh pressed juice + adaptogens and healthy garnishes made for an entire sensory experience. We can’t wait to do this again in the future. Thank you Jami for creating this idea!
As always, a special recipe of outdoor time, yoga, intentional breathing, mindfulness, meditation, and creativity is SO GOOD for our overall health!
You can also check out a video of our morning tower hike in the fog here.
We ended our weekend, where we started. In a circle, and revisited our creation of a nature mandala that evolved with everyone’s contributions over the weekend, from start to finish.
The nature mandala exceeded any of our expectations. It was perfect in its wholeness, containing all our love and tending energy from the weekend.
As I whipped the sheet into the air (click to view), the colorful petals floated down to earth like colorful confetti. It was perfect.
“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”
The 8th year at Deep Portage
I come here so I can be
me, there.
I come here to remember
who me, is
Who she, is
So me/she can be the me I am
here, everywhere.
So my lungs are full of fresh air
And bits of twigs and leaves in my hair
So I remember to get lost, so I can find my way
To remember that wonder is never far away
To see snow softly fall
To hear the fire crackle in the Great Hall
To test out my wingspan or see the depth of Big Deep Lake
To steam in the sauna and see how many steps I can take
To sleep through the night, no children to tend
Time for my muscles, my heart, and spirit to mend
To fly with gravity down a winding hill
To lay on my mat and just be still
To remember to speak kindly to myself
To make some core memories to put on the shelf
To remember to worry less
More fun, less stress
To remember that I have enough
That I am enough
To remember that I am radiant and fun exactly as I am right now
I come here not only to have fun, but also to remember how.
