This past week, our group went on a yoga retreat just outside of Cusco at a place called Inbound Yoga. When we arrived, we were met by Chaitanya, our meditation and yoga instructor for the week. We were led to quaint volunteer stays made from only mud and straw. The retreat doubles as an ecofarm, with compost toilets and solar panels as the only source of electricity. The farm has a large river, and is surrounded on all sides by breathtaking mountains.
The farm included a large garden, containing many fruits and vegetables which were used in our meals. The food there was all vegetarian to not take part in animal cruelty and support healthy dietary practices. Our meals were consistently delicious, and kept us energized throughout a busy week of yoga and meditation.
We got to experience many different types of yoga, including acro-yoga (yoga with a partner) and dance yoga. Overall the group really enjoyed the yoga classes and found them to be challenging but rewarding. Our favorite type of yoga was acro because it was fun to work together as a group in a different way.
Each day, we learned a new type of yoga meditation and a new aspect of yoga practice. We learned various types of breathing techniques, and how to implement them in every day life. Pranayama (controlling your mind through breathing) was the main meditation practiced. We learned how breathing affects our seven chakras, and what each chakra represents. We also learned more about our personalities through vedic astrology, which differs greatly from western astrology. Some people´s signs changed, and we discovered that some people in our group had an attachment to their original.
Throughout the week, we also took part in seva, a daily practice of cleaning and helping on the ecofarm. KayDee and I worked in the kitchen helping prepare lunch, while others worked gardening and cleaning the rooms and bathrooms.
The schedule was busy and left us tired and in bed by noble silence at 9pm. The group really pushed itself throughout the week, and even those who didn´t have a strong interest in yoga enjoyed themselves. A lot of us plan to continue these practices at home or even on our latitudes semesters (KayDee and Maddy).
Tomorrow, we start our final week with trekking the Salkantay trail beginning at five in the morning. The group is motivated and excited but sad that this will be some of our final moments together. The next time you´ll be hearing from us, look to see who survived the trek.
Paxton & KayDee