Yoga Retreat in Peru

From Tiffany Schauer, August 2009

My yoga teacher, Monica Hornung, invited me to attend a yoga retreat in the Sacred Valley of Peru. I can’t imagine a more appropriate place to practice yoga than the magical mountains of the Andes. Indeed, it was a life-altering adventure. We arrived in Lima, Peru and connected via air to the town of Cusco followed by about an hour bus ride to the Willka T’ika Garden Guesthouse(www.willkatika.com) located in the town of Urubamba in the Sacred Valley.

Willka T’ika is the brainchild of Carol Cumes. Born in South Africa, Carol moved to Peru’s sacred valley in 1995 and built the Willka T’ika Guesthouse. Willka T’ika is an ecologically sensitive retreat open to groups interested in yoga, meditation, Andean spirituality, culture and history, archaeology, or a quest for a rare experience of nature. Carol has lived with the Quechua people and studied South American shamanism in the jungles, mountains, and deserts of Peru. She is reverent and fierce in her love and protectiveness of the Peruvian nature and culture. I believe Willka T’ika is a living tribute to Carol’s steadfast commitment to preserve and revere Peru.

The Willka T’ika resort is a metaphysical festival for seekers – spiritual or otherwise. The grounds of the resort are designed to invoke tranquility, peace, spirit and—if you are lucky—profound healing. The seven sacred gardens making up the resort grounds are extensive living cells representing the human chakras each focusing energies to enhance the observer’s awareness of their connection to nature. The gardens are alive with blooms, fruits, vegetables, butterflies, healing herbs, stones, fire, and ancient trees. The garden produces 100% of the resorts menu. We were served a bountiful organic vegetarian buffet breakfast each morning and a beautiful three course dinner every night from all from the vegetables, herbs and indigenous grains grown in the resort gardens. The meals were heaven to me.

The guest cottages are constructed from natural earth materials. The rooms have private baths and stand-alone heaters for cold mountain nights. A highlight was a nightly delivery of a personal hot water bottle pillow to keep you extra cozy. Sleeping is a blessed event given the amount of activity available while visiting Willka T’ika. There are beautiful state-of-the-art yoga facilities and endless opportunities for planned hikes, horse-back riding, sightseeing, and spiritual seeking. Operating as a home base camp, the resort has talented massage therapists, crystal healing beds, outdoor solar heated soaking baths, and a stargazing room for evening therapies to enhance your recuperation after any rigorous day adventure. Media of any kind is nonexistent here. You are meant to be transported to another realm – the magic of the sacred valley.

The Willka T’ika team arranged for us to visit various mountain towns and ruins in the sacred valley. Our first day trip was to the town of Pisaq to visit a major Inca site. The village of Pisaq is at about 10,000 feet and the hike is about a 1,000 feet vertical 2.5 mile climb. The value of chewing the sacred cocoa leaf during a 1,000 vertical stroll became supremely evident mid walk. The Pisaq sites are considered some of the great Inca ruins and they do not disappoint. They are splendid. Highlights include vast terraces, ritual sites, various forts, and epic mountains. Don’t miss this. Back down to the town of Pisaq is fun shopping and cool cafes. There are sightseers, spiritual seekers, hippies, and backpackers….all seemingly delighted to be on their own journey passing through Pisaq. There is an air of mystery permeating the atmosphere of these valley towns full of native art, sacred stones, stories, and music hinting at the hidden magical mountain spirits that reveal themselves to the human realm during all night healing ceremonies at secret locations.

As evening fell, my friend and I followed an ayawaskeros healer into the mountains. We walked back beyond the village into the mountains, up a creek and through a stone opening that lead to a thatched roofed house and giant thatched roof teepee structure. There, we met his wife and delightful 13 year-old son. The healer led us into the thatched teepee or yurt-type structure. The structure is about 40 feet high with two huge taxidermy condors hanging from the ceiling. The only light and heat was a fire in the middle of the cement floor. During the next eight hours of night, he led us through a ritualistic series of chants to the spirits of the Andean world accompanied by high frequency sounds from drums, rattles, bells, and sweeping condor feathers. He burned Incense, Andean wood, and tobacco while blowing a liquid mixture out of his mouth over our heads. The intent of the ritual is to move us beyond our socially conditioned perceptions that disconnect us from the earth and each other. It was intense and it did. And now we understood the mystery. For curious cats, please see www.takiwasi.com.

The next day, we took the bus from Willka T’ika to the town of Ollantaytambo. This town is considered the best-preserved Inca village in Peru. The Inca temple and fortress above the town are significant. Stay up high and hike the mountain to avoid the feeling of a detached tourist. There is spirit and soul here – you just have to be quiet and feel it. Later, back at Willka T’ika, a native pakko (ritual specialist) named Benito came to perform a despacho, an Andean ceremony, practiced by the Quechuan people for thousands of years. Benito and two additional men from his village had walked three days to arrive at Willka T’ika to perform the ritual. The three men wore only simple worn rubber black sandals, light clothes, and ponchos. It was thirty degrees Fahrenheit at night. I was amazed and stared at their feet during the ceremony.

The despacho ceremony is an offering of gratitude to Pachamama, the Mother Earth. Benito, assisted by his two companions, assembled a textile square containing various offerings to the God Pachamama, Mother Earth. The offerings include cocoa leaves, sugar, incense, candy, silver and gold strings and small toy-like pieces. The offerings are wrapped up in the woven textile and reverently secured with a beaded string. Benito individually blessed us as participants in the ceremony. Later that night, Benito led us to an outdoor fire ring to burn the package in offering to Pachamama. As directed by tradition, we wait until the packet and fire were reduced to embers to ensure the blessing is finally dispatched to Pachamama.

Read about Schauer’s continued Peru trip, including her journey to Machu Picchu.

January 2011

January the month of new beginnings and cherished memories.

New beginnings are marked with change and letting go of the old. Change is sometimes challenging for us. Do we have the courage to do it? As I heard the predictions for the New Year about an economic depression that is slowly getting better, I couldn’t help but to think about Aparigraha (non possesiveness ), one of the 8 limbs of yoga. "The yogi feels that the collection or hoarding of things implies a lack of faith in God and oneself to provide for their future. Aparigraha implies that letting go of our attachment to things and circumstances, an understanding that impermanence and change are the only constant.” The fear in the mass consciosness reminded me of what an old friend once said, "Do you see the birds worrying about what they are going to eat tomorrow”? They just fly or do their work without expectations and find food every day”. Similar is the Christian prayer " Give us today our daily bread’, it doesn’t say give us food for tomorrow, or when we are old. Like anything, I think there is a balance between the extremes and yo do want to honor your work and be useful, but it is also a matter of choice… fear or faith.  I think practicing Aparigraha this year would make us notice how abundant we really are. Like when we clean our closets and get rid of what we don’t use. We are creating space for the new, or if anything for more space.

Thank God for our yoga practice,to help us accept changes in our lifes. Yoga is a tool that helps us connect to our spirit, because nothing lasts forever like the fire in our souls. The routine of a yoga practice can give us a sense of certainty and of being back home. Riding the waves of our breaths can be very calming for our minds. Just being aware of our breathing can give us that sense of stability we might be craving in this ever changing world. Being one with our breath and letting go of our thoughts over and over again as they come up in the yoga class teaches us about focus ( Abhyasa) and non-reaction ( Vairagya). The practice of focusing and non-attachment that are gained practicing yoga can be very practical in leading our everyday lives.

In a time lacking in truth and filled with anguish and despair, knowing what you love is a good starting place for living in 2011. I hope this year we can clearly distinguish this and be grateful for our lives and for being alive at this moment in time; so much so that we feel moved to help other less fortunate than us.
Like Elaine said at the last class of the year." Let’s perceive things happening for us, not to us.

 I wish you all peace, love and joy in this New Year and always. I pray that if there is a time when you don’t feel peaceful, full of joy, loved or loving, that you strive with all your spirit to get to that place again.
Know that it is your divine right…and if we see somebody else in despair, let us extend our love to help them cast away any doubts, fears, and sadness and regain their natural state of completeness.
Live in the present and embrace the New Year one moment at the time. Always remember that in the big picture, we are all perfect beings in God, completely loved and supported, RIGHT NOW!

 I want to leave you with an inspiring poem from Marianne Williamson that Nelson Mandela used later in one of his speeches.

Savasana

Savasana or Corpse position looks like the easiest pose, but it is actually the most challenging one . Why? Because we have to train our mind to focus on only one thing, our breath.  This is where yoga really begins.

We all come to yoga for different reasons; for a healthier or better looking body, to deepen our spiritual connection, improve concentration, or maybe just to relax and distress, but if you have been practicing yoga long enough you are probably starting to discover or feel that connection to something that is bigger than yourself.

When we are in corpse position or savasana with our palms up in the air into receiving mode, our body is absorbing information from the changes that occurred during the practice. It is then that we can receive that increase of prana or energy that the asanas created during the class. It is a time to be, not do. Somebody once said, we are human beings, not human doings… what a perfect time to be.

Depending on where you are on your journey or depending on the day, when practicing savasana you may start noticing you’re not as fidgety when lying down. You might be more connected to how you and your body feel. You can experience a feeling of union with yourself, with others, with the divine.  However, at the beginning you may experience nothing and feel frustrated because you can’t quiet your mind. Whatever you experience in Savasana just accept it without judgment. Before you go into it, release any expectations. The possibilities found in stillness are infinite, but practice is the only way to get there. Eventually you will start to feel a real sense of peace; an increased acceptance of what is. You may find this to be the main reason you keep coming back to the mat.

The practice of yoga was developed mainly to help stop the fluctuation of the mind during meditation. The postures or “asanas” were developed so our bodies are healthy and flexible, free of pain and distractions so we can focus on the breath when pursuing the more spiritual aspect of the practice.

Our breath is linked to our brain, and our brain is linked to our mind, so synchronizing each movement with each breath connects your body and mind. Moving with your breath focuses your mind on the present moment, the only time that really exists. Here and now is where you can experience the presence of your soul. God is now, and now, and now.

At the beginning you might become more aware of your thoughts and be tempted to quit, or get frustrated and think you’re are not doing it “right”. It is ok. Be patient. Being aware of our thoughts is the first step to self-discovery. Like you are reminded in class, if a thought should pop up, just let it go by like a cloud in the sky and bring your awareness back to your breath. Each time you notice another thought, just lovingly bring the attention back to the breath. Soon your mind will create a new pattern, and you will become the observer. Instead of your thoughts thinking you, you can start choosing your thoughts; always reaching for the highest, most positive thoughts, loving thoughts, higher vibration thoughts.  There are either fearful thoughts or loving thoughts…I suggest you  choose Love.  

Samskara means “scars” or impressions in Sanskrit. It is often referred to the mental scars we all have. The ways we are use to thinking, like thoughts that pop up first when we are stressed. For example: this is too hard, I can’t do this. When you are able to notice your thoughts with detachment you can start pivoting to more positive thoughts like: This is challenging, but in time I can do it, or I can do my own version of headstand. Samskara refers to these patterns of habitual thoughts, even those from before we are born, from past lifetimes. These habits of thoughts ultimately create our lives circumstances and the people we attract and we are attracted to.

 Deepak Chopra has mentioned that 99% of the thoughts we have today are the same thoughts we had yesterday; therefore corpse position is a perfect opportunity to rest our minds on our breaths; even if it’s for a few minutes. Sometimes we can get so attached to our thoughts. We keep analyzing things to death. Often we identify with our thoughts, thinking we are our thoughts. Detachment is another good tool to implement when practicing savasana. On the book, “New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle, he gives an example of how we can make changes by detaching from our thoughts. For example, instead of thinking I am sad, just notice, sadness is in me. Not attaching or claiming the emotion, but noticing it and letting it go. Emotions are energy in-motion. Yoga moves that energy and lets it flow, and then settles it into stillness in the final relaxation.

With progress more than perfection, we will start connecting more and more to that space between our thoughts where well-being is natural to us and where we can allow well-being to flow to us effortlessly. We become more in alignment with spirit where we become inspired, or In-spirit.

Our skepticism of a higher energy or God will start disappearing, not because we were preached to or somebody told us to believe with blind faith, but because we are starting to experience it ourselves from the inside. So, connecting more and more to our breath, the breath of our lives, we are connecting deeper and deeper to our spirits, and then we can see more the spirit in others. Yoga means Union, when becoming one with ourselves; body, mind and soul, we can then  become one with others.

In the end corpse position is a metaphor of our death. Where a part of us is always dying to give birth to something new. That is why we usually do fetus pose after corpse position. Therefore, we can welcome the death of our old self and old habits to create space for something new.

Namaste:  “I honor the place in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you, which is of love, of peace, of light, and of truth. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we become one.”

Hope you enjoy many more Savasanas with us at Moksha. Om - Shanty - Peace