It’s a special crowd that’s attracted to a yoga retreat that combines daily yoga practice, surfing, slacklining, AcroYoga, Thai Massage, climbing, Kirtan, Tai chi and dance parties. Looking back on that shopping list of activities I have no idea how we did it all and could still stand up (and dance) on the last day/night. Resembling an adult yoga summer camp, Redefining Balance lived up to it’s name once again exposing students to a variety of modalities of balance allowing them to take their yoga practice off the mat and all over a tropical paradise.
Held in Rincon, Puerto Rico this retreat was like a magnet for truly adventuresome, creative and lighthearted individuals who knew how to have a great time while pushing their own personal limits of balance. The sleepy surf town of Rincon graciously welcomed over 25 students who were willing to take their yoga practice onto surf boards, slacklines, each other’s feet, rock climbs and even onto the dance floor as we had our resident DJ Sinton Vignos spinning several house parties as well as a private late night dance party up at our friend’s local shop the uncharted studio.
Joined for the second year in a row by my dear friend, talented photographer and fellow AcroYoga co-teacher, Kadri Kurgun we assessed the strengths of the group and decided to start them out on the first day with more advanced AcroYoga poses which we then took into full on higher level acrobatics in the shallow waters of Jobos beach – ideal for splash friendly bail outs and fancy dismounts.
Slackline workshops tuned students in to their stealth ninja balancing skills through practicing yoga poses on 1” thick webbing set up in a range of lengths and heights between trees. With a foundation of slacklining, Acro and yoga, students were in good balancing shape to make the transition to surfing and climbing as we took the practice to new surfaces. Groups of 6-9 students would paddle out with our amazing surf instructors to learn the ways of the waves and what it’s like to apply the balance, flexibility and strength of a yoga practice to a moving surface gliding across the water. Similarly the transition to rock climbing brought the practice to a vertical dimension and helped many students conquer an initial fear of heights that was rewarded with an amazing view of the beach at sunset when they got to the top. We were super fortunate to have Danny anchored in at the top taking amazing pics of everyone climbing up and then posing with the setting sun as a back drop.
And as many of us were blessed with bruises, scrapes and entire body soreness from our days in the water, on the rock, flying, slacking and everything else we were balancing on, we were grateful for the down tempo vibe of the Thai Massage classes, Tai Chi and kirtan to help restore us and highlight the calmer side of finding balance. When the Bomba sunset session party gathered mid-week we were all excited to learn a bit more from the local instructors Leslie & Randy about the traditional dance and drumming form of Puerto Rico. Gathered at the lighthouse amongst a web of slacklines, people flying, musical instruments and food we all played up until sunset and then gathered to learn a bit of the dance steps and rhythms associated with Bomba. Once all of us started to let go of inhibitions and just move to the beats the result was a crazy fun dance & drumming party that kept us out for hours well into the dark.
It didn’t take long for friendships to form and I’m excited to see when and where we will all cross paths again. As this was only the second year doing this retreat we all feel the bar was set pretty high by the crew who came out this year. I look forward to offering the retreat again in 2013 as well as expanding it to new locations… stay tuned.
Special thanks to my dear friends Kadri Kurgun, Sinton Vignos and Ryan Martin for their beautiful images and helping hold it down in the water, on the land and in the air. For more information and to check out pictures from the retreat visit ‘Redefining Balance’ on Facebook.
Happy slacking/acroing/surfing/climbing and balancing in your own favorite ways…
~Adi Carter, Yogaslacker
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I tripped on marble steps in the Paris airport on the way here. When I did it, I didn’t even really think much of it, because how many times have I tripped and fallen in my life? I was more just embarrassed, probably catching my foot on the stairs because I was jet lagged and tired and not paying attention. I bruised my left knee when I slammed it into the ground. I didn’t even think about my almost-healed nerve impingement in my left arm, which had caught the brunt of the impact – not until a couple days later, when my radial nerve swelled up in its tunnel and cut off the signals from my brain to my hand (this is what’s most likely to have happened, anyhow) – far more dramatically than the initial injury ever had.
Climbing is an amazing whole-being experience, compelling me to draw upon all of my resources as a human being to achieve personal bests and successes in the moment. Climbing drives me to take chances and make spontaneous decisions mentally, instantly delivering them to my physical being to take action, pushing me to stay emotionally centered and focused while my physical body works at its limit. It’s a contrived survival-of-the-fittest exercise in its own way; I think this must be why so many of us get hooked. When we climb at our limits, we’re regularly pushed as total beings in a way intended by evolution or God or whatever you believe caused human beings to end up the way we are. Modern life splits us up into not-whole beings, encouraging us to perform mental work while our bodies sit still and to exercise on machines while we distract our minds with media. But when we climb, we can reconnect all of our various aspects of our being into one coherent whole, dwelling only in the present moment. This is a beautiful opportunity and experience to discover and to be able to repeat, over and over and over again, as I have throughout my adult life thus far.
Anyhow, I don’t want to get all preachy here; I just more wanted to share my still-somewhat-confused swirl of emotions and thoughts as I return to climbing again, in the hopes that they may help you or someone you know realize how incredible and amazing it is to just be able to rock climb, in and of itself, and to remember that the whole point – the only point – of rock climbing, for anyone really, is to have fun and to push their own human potential, regardless of what others can do. You only get one body, so you might as well appreciate it for what it is and can do when it’s whole and healthy and functioning, as well as nurturing it and protecting it from harm as best you can, and striving to heal yourself back to wholeness intelligently when you do experience injuries from playing hard.
The after party at the Ranch was a huge hit! Back at the Ranch Vanessa Compton was classing up the joint with an art show in the house. Her unique visions of Hueco and other pieces were available to purchase as well as Sam Davis’ photographs. Matt Segal and Emily Harrington entertained the crowd of around 350 people with their slideshows about their world travels including the various cultures and climbing they encountered. Party goers are still taking about Dave Graham’s slideshow, “amazing” and “hysterical” are what they are saying. People enjoyed Graham’s down to earth account of living the life of a climber growing up in the industry and some of his life shaping experiences; Graham theorized that if he were still in Maine he would be home shoveling snow.
Over the past few months I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on my life and address my feelings regarding my mother’s death. I still feel a great deal of sadness, and it will always be a battle to find peace and solace with the deep heartbreak that accompanied her death. While time is a great healer, my sorrow remains to this day. I used to sweep my feelings under a rug by being busy. Now, I’m learning to acknowledge my emotions. It’s okay to be sad sometimes.
