Reflecting on the Retreat!

For the past week I was high in the central highlands at the Sivananda Yoga retreat. This was an experience which I knew would challenge me. All that was ‘normal’ would be changed – from the food I ate, to the structure of the day, to the chanting and sitting on the floor, being out of my own control and being ‘directed’ by others as to what I could do and when I had to do it. Each day started at 6 with an hour and a half of meditation, chanting and a ‘lesson’, followed by a bowl of rice soup or porridge. Yoga followed for two hours, then ‘brunch’ – veggies, tofu, soup, water. No coffee or tea. No sweet things. Then we have an hour of ‘karma yoga’ where we are assigned a task to do to help keep the Asram clean -Lu and I were assigned to keep the main yoga hall and chanting area clean. We had a bit of spare time then before some fruit, then a two hour ‘workshop’ on the core principles of yoga and meditation before a two hour yoga-fest. Evening meal was at 6 then the final hour and a half of meditation and chanting, lights out by 10:30. This was our routine for the 5 days. I rode to centre through an incredibly beautiful winding mountain road which curled around a lake. After the initial ‘shock’ of the transition to a ‘monastic’ life it was incredible how you get in to the rhythm of this life of silence, chanting, reflecting, and listening. Yes, it was a long day but it was immensely rewarding and personally challenging. I loved the chanting- I have always lived Gregorian chanting and this sounded similar. I didn’t do so well in the yoga 🧘‍♂️- for a beginner group getting us to stand on our heads on day one was a bit much. I bailed on the yoga half way as it was just too painful with my back and shoulder injuries. I started to ‘get’ the meditation after the second day and loved having moments of ‘thought-less-ness’- simply calming a noisy mind and not thinking or engaging in thoughts, just being still, quiet and undistracted. What I loved most was not having my phone on! I also liked how the core yoga teaching has so much resonance to IFS work I’ve been engaged in.

After the week of rest then a week of retreat, it was time to hit the road on Sunday. It was a shock to the system! I had a 121k ride which I had seen on the profile was predominately downhill. And a tailwind! The road I took to Da Lat was the first part of the ride but alas…..the mountain road had been ‘resurfaced’ in the two weeks since I rode up and it was in effect gravel! Aaarrgghh! I had a great ride on the main road – downhill and tailwind for 25k….effortless 😊. I stopped for an ice coffee as already the temperature was rising rapidly. I then turned off the road to a route towards the coast. Straight away the road disintegrated and I was really worried that I had 68k of this but after about 5k the surface improved. There was an inordinate amount of stiff climbing made more challenging by the intermittent road disintegration. Then …I crested a climb and boom,….the most amazing vista of the mountains gliding down to the sea, with lakes and forest as far as the eye could see. The descent was ….in theory… one of the best anywhere….but it was made very challenging by the road surface simply disintegrating, meandering cattle round every corner, the odd vehicle crash, and crazy head winds as it bounced off the sides of the mountains. But….that aside, it was simply amazing! I was however utterly smashed by the time I got to Luong Son. But a great recommencement of riding in Vietnam….especially not having too much traffic to fight with!

Tomorrow I’ll follow a very small track/road along the coast towards Vung Tau.