Monday, March 24, 2014
The very lovely and fun Teresa Doyle and I lead our first yoga and singing retreat in Mexico and we had a great trip. I loved it all.
I loved the town of PM. The small funky restaurants.. the colours.. the incredible food… the friendly people.. the pace of life.. the ocean.. the beach.. the breeze…the beer and margaritas…. I loved the heat and the swimming. I feel I must have had a past life as a Mexican.. I felt like I had gone home. And I just sunk into it and rested and moved slowly. Didn’t go far, read a lot and felt all the fatigue and tension leave my body. I felt so rested after being there for a couple of days. We were in bed asleep most nights by 10 and I was up walking the beach every morning … sometimes 5:30.. sometimes a little later like 6:30….. The water was warm and we could snorkel just off the shore and saw coral heads and lots of fish….. one day we hired a guide and went out further and saw so many fish…. It was incredible. There was a film festival happening on the beach…. It was carnival one weekend and so we watched Mexican dancers, musicians, artisans etc in the square under the full moon and it was magical. Madeline and I walked to town once or twice a day (5minute walk) and hung out in the town square and watched people and ate ice cream. Loved the long benches and the invitation to sit and hang and be. Found the local cultural building and made some connections for next year.. I’d like to do some classes for free or by donation for local folks and then our students could join in and we would meet more local people. Several women stopped me “are you the yoga lady on the beach, can I come to your class?”. We didn’t go anywhere and visit anything. We basically immersed ourselves in the community and just let ourselves be.
Working with Teresa was just so wonderful. We are natural together. We have the same philosophies… approach….ease… it was great. We looked after each other. I lead yoga on the beach every morning from 8-9… we did sand art around ourselves as we did postures….. we made bolsters out of sand…… I did the classes based on the 5 elements of earth,water, fire, air and ether… but I also re-emphasized what Teresa was teaching about building the singers body.. and opening the chamber for music to move through it and come out of it. I did gentle yoga and the week was really about having good posture to sing and live with power and joy. We sang daily from 11 – 1. We chanted. We had some individual coaching on getting the sounds to bounce of our diaphragm…. The singing and yoga were just so rejuvenating... it was wonderful to feel so healthy and relaxed every day. Our afternoons and evenings were free to swim, snorkel, read, relax, go to down for ice cream. The group rented a van one day and travelled to see the Mayan Ruins at Coba, and they loved that. Teresa performed one night a local restaurant on the beach. She played with 2 folks from Puerto Morelos and they were amazing. Wednesday was market day where we bought lots of fresh fruit and veggies, and a fruit truck drove through town every day. It was magnificent.
Our condo was beautiful. The nicest place on the beach I think. We could walk out the door in bare feet and be on the beach. We had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 4 balconies, kitchen/ dining room and living room over looking the ocean. A breeze blew in most of the time. It was bright and cheerful and clean. We had a lovely cleaning lady, Dorca, who came every other day to sweep the sand out! Her daughter Rosetta.. was so cute and Madeline played with her every time she came. Madeline had her first international babysitting job. She can tell you about it when she sees you!
I came home feeling really relaxed and refreshed... and that is a good feeling to have!
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