Webster’s primary definition of the gerund “retreating” is an “act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable.”
It’s a concept which is anathema to me, foreign to my nature, spirit and principles, which contravenes the whole of my upbringing and education, something which I’ve never consciously done in my life, not even once. It’s a thing that rushes head long into the terms of the life I’ve sought to conduct and the example I’ve sought to set for my progeny.
However; my use, herein, of the gerund “retreating” is in the vernacular sense of the word, meaning “spending time at a place which is or can properly be denominated as a retreat” such as a place like this one.
And I don’t recoil from that concept, not one bit, in fact, based on this albeit singular experience, I find it quite pleasant, dare to say I even like it.
But balance in life is important. So I think that when one is “on retreat” one needs to strike a balance between the time one spends at the retreat, “retreating” and the time one spends away from the retreat, “escaping.”
Retreating and escaping both are essential for the full “retreatment.” That is assuming you have a gate code so that “escaping” doesn’t require you to scale the barbed wire fencing securing the perimeter.
“Escaping” on your own on foot to the nearest town or hilltop monastery will serve you well especially if you enjoy your own company, as I do, but if you have a couple of good friends with whom you can be “escaping” so much the better.
The perfect time for escaping is after morning practice and before the afternoon workshop. And with the central location on the Island that this “retreat” enjoys, there are a number of great escapes in every direction.
On Monday, after practice Monica, Samuel and I escaped with my new and first Mallorcan friend Gabi to the northeast to the small quiet picturesque village of San Juan for lunch at a seaside cafe.
We then advanced to the stunning medieval town of Arta with where the 14th Century Santuari de Sant Salvador with its stone turrets and fortifications offers sweeping views of the rooftops of the town below and beyond.
The next day we escaped to the west to Palma, where Samuel stopped and shopped in every skateboarding and surfing equipment shop we passed, had a lovely lunch of tapas and gracias a Samuel had the best coffee in Palma.
Then yesterday we escaped to the east. I went to the Cuevas del Drac. It’s a total Disney experience, most touristy but fun. They have vending machines out front where you put in coins and get back change.
And then Samuel and Monica met me for lunch in Puerto Cristo a lovely quiet sea side village that coincidentally is the home of the young hikers I met my first morning on my walk up to the Monasterio.
So the end of the “retreat” is coming. We have one last workshop this afternoon and one last practice in the morning.
Gosh, I was so lazy today. Up until today I had been “advancing” every day of this “retreat.”
But I woke this morning feeling like my back and shoulders were sore, and my hips, and thighs and calfs. Sore, yes but more just tired, a general ennui that extended evenly and thoroughly throughout my musculature, not really uncomfortable, in a way satisfying like I had worked well and hard.
I felt lazy. But I don’t like laziness. And with only 2 days left of practice with Kino and Tim, I wasn’t about to give in to it.
I assured myself that after a few A’s and B’s the soreness would dissipate and that todays practice would be better than yesterday’s, which was better than the day before and that tomorrow’s practice with be the best of the week.
“Good, better, best . . . never let it rest . . . until your good is better . . . until your better’s best” is the aphorism that I learned in boyhood and to which I’d been steadfast.
I started strong, I did an extra A and 5 B’s, Kino smashed me into my forward bend and I was feeling great but somewhere between Janu and Mari everything suddenly changed.
“Of course you’re giving in” I heard myself telling myself, “this yoga stuff is hard, you’re ‘withdrawing from something difficult’ that’s what ‘retreating’ is all about, that’s Websters number one definition of the word,” the voice of a mischievous almost evil other self was chiding myself.
“But wait, that can’t be? The purpose and intent of this entire blog was to establish the opposite?”
It was suddenly just all too much to think about, best thing would be to just get to shavasana as quickly as I could.
Yeah that’s the ticket “just get to shavasana, and the sooner the better, you can think about it all in shavasana, tomorrow is another day.”