Mount Madonna Retreat 2022
Yoga Bharati's yoga students and yoga participants experienced an actual "retreat" from April 8, 2022, to April 10, 2022, at Mount Madonna Center in the Bay Area, where the popular Hanuman temple is located. This was a breath of fresh air after the onslaught of COVID and its lockdowns. The retreat was held at the serene Mount Madonna Center in Watsonville, California. Situated only an hour from the South Bay Area(Silicon Valley), Mount Madonna Center is nestled amidst wondrous Redwood trees and houses the Sankat Mochan temple.
Camp Highlights:
Fun time with like-minded people, batchmates, yoga teachers, and volunteers.
Deep meditative experience with in-person meditation and pranayama sessions after the preparatory Yogasanas.
Hike in the redwoods, especially the silent hike in the forest trail — the thick deep forest with windy trails and serene views.
Satvik food, Hanuman Aarati, and prasad.
Arrival and Check-In
Friends and families of Yoga Bharati were meeting each other in person after long periods of online and video calls. The current YTT(Yoga Teacher Training) Winter 2022 batch were seeing each other for the first time after having initiated their study into Yoga in January. The Mount Madonna Center’s Kitchen welcomed the Yoga family with a simple yet fulfilling menu of kitchari, cabbage-kale fry, salad, and sides.
Post dinner, everyone gathered in the well-sized conference room to come together for a group welcome. A wonderful session of Jyoti trataka followed; keeping focus, intense focus, and defocus in mind. Being a silent retreat, the gathering was asked to observe silence after 9 PM until sleep. Everyone retired that night looking forward to a great next day which didn’t disappoint one bit!
Saturday AM - Yoga and Meditation
7 AM at the conference hall and all the participants were ready with their yoga mats and props. A beautiful session of Yoga with Bandhas was followed up by Pranayama and powerful Om meditation bringing out the core element of the retreat - connecting and staying with the breath. With this invigorating practice, everyone dispersed to shower and eat a warm brunch of polenta, asparagus-zucchini stir fry besides other energizing food.
Two more Meditative sessions took place over the rest of the day, sandwiched by an energizing walk into a small but intense Forest trail. Being in the space of nature in a less trodden path and observing silence amongst the giant trees was an immensely satisfying experience.
Saturday PM - Cultural Program
The fun part of the day was yet to come! After a satisfying dinner at 5:15 PM, folks gathered at the Sankat Mochan temple for the day’s arati and prasad. The day culminated in the performance of different groups in the conference hall - dance, skit and songs were sung, organized and performed by those in the gathering who had only an hour to choreograph, organize or practice. A fitting end to the day’s events was a Brahmari chanting at 9:30 PM. The high energy could only be best felt - words won't do justice to describe the coming together and the camaraderie built that day. Nidra(sleep) had to wait her turn that night!
Sunday - Yoga and Farewells!
Sunday AM session began at the conference hall and the energy continued. There was Yoga and a meditative session - this time the focus was on contemplation while continuing to be with the breath. Breakfast was served at 8:30 AM - simple kitchari and oatmeal - perfect to start the day! But all good things had to end and the group gathered for a photo session before breaking off for hikes or Bookstore visits.
After a well-spent weekend, this beautiful cohort slowly started dispersing back to their lives. The energy that was built up here in Mount Madonna Center wouldn’t end up simply being cherishable memories, forgotten in the sands of time. Those sparks and meditative moments of ‘touching the deep divine within’ will remain etched in experiences for a long time to come.