From 3 day yoga surf board riding adventures, to 10 day vispassna disconnects, retreats have become bespoke experiences where yoga is key but not central. It’s the time of the maya kosher makers.

You know about your physical body. Known as Annamaya kosha in yoga, (maya means “made of” and anna means “food” or “physical matter.”), it is one of the layers of being -the others are energetic, spiritual, mental, emotional.  Yoga unites these maya koshas, and in this coming together of all our layers, we experience Samadhi or bliss.

Yogis today are diverse, some wear funky lycra,  some have t-shirts saying ‘hot yogi’. But yoga has become an everyday activity for a lot of people. Others are more likely to be your doctor with that funny moustache, the person who serves you in a restaurant with the tattoos, a couple of your workmates who love a beer or two after work, that auntie who makes the best Christmas cake. Someone knows somebody who practices yoga.

These people are changing the way we design our yoga retreats.  They want retreats that give more than physical poses and a few breath work sessions. They want to experience yoga in connection with other meaningful worldly experiences.  They don’t put yoga on a semi religious pedestal. Yoga has been waiting a long time for this.

Globally, we are experiencing the renaissance of crafters and the artisan. People who are passionate about the work they do, passionate about the way it needs to connect meaningfully into people’s lives. They are active everywhere, in the field, in the workshop, in the ever evolving online sharing community. We are inextricably hooked into differences in ways once thought impossible.

It is happening in yoga, too.  I call them the maya kosha makers, people who know their yoga and are passionate about co-creating bespoke experiences where yoga is key but not always central to the retreat.

Yogis want to create their own maya kosha symphony when they go on retreat WYogiLee 

One yogini I know arranged a Tuscany retreat. In 10 days, the group of 12 visited Italian countryside, stayed in two gorgeous Tuscan villas, practiced yoga, ate in organic vineyards, met local opera singers. Opera singers singing your morning practice in. It was booked out in two weeks.

I guided a 4 day retreat into Angkor Wat – sunrise yoga, visited their famous circus and learnt a few acrobatic tips. Tasted some fabulous French and German wines for the price of a pumpernickel (no sales tax in Cambodia).  Stayed in a luxurious art deco hotel. We almost got arrested practicing yoga.  Another story.  The retreat booked out in 4 weeks.

Your choices are endless

In Singapore, my home away from home, you are close to amazing ancient Eastern cultures, places of significant energetic power.   Not to mention some splendid examples of nature – Japan, China, the Himalayas, India. In Australia, we share our beautiful land with one of the world’s oldest indigenous communities.   The USA has some of the wisest and most diverse First Nation peoples who are open to sharing their spiritual traditions.

I have just come back from Esalen, Big Sur, California, the world wide iconic retreat centre which focuses on humanistic alternative education.  I have been there twice – once for a 5 day vispassna.

Just about anyone who was anyone in the most significant global counter-culture movements has worked there or lead regular workshops, including Ansel Adams, Gia-Fu Feng, Timothy Leary, Allan Ginsberg, Aldhous Huxley, Fritz Perls, Carl Rogers, Virginia Satir. To name a few. Its innovative use of encounter groups, a focus on the mind-body connection, their ongoing experimentation in personal awareness has introduced many ideas into the transformational world we now consider mainstream. Perched on the side of a mountain, and overlooking the sea, hard to get to – no public transport. Their masseurs are known as the Esalen Angels. Their hot bath house is spectacular. Clothes are optional.

It’s my turn again to design a retreat that honours the idea of difference and spirit.  And so Cahaya was borne.  4 days and 4 nights of exploring contemporary and ancient energy healing modalities.  From the well known to the esoteric.  Because that’s what my maya koshas need, and I am fairly sure given where the world is right now, that yours might, too.