I’ve never considered myself a fan of yoga. Or constructively self reflective.
It’s probably pretty easy to imagine my reaction upon learning that I would need to participate in the Looking Inward Retreat in order to fulfill my Cura Personalis 2 requirement. Sure, there were other options such as the book club (which would span across the entirety of the semester) or the Loyola Retreat that costs the equivalent of an arm and a leg. If there’s anything I’m less comfortable with than yoga, it’s analyzing my religious beliefs.
Looking Inward Retreat it is, then.
As far as I was concerned the only upside to this mandated yoga trip was that it would be taking place in the Sierra de Guadarrama, the mountain range that surrounds the city of Madrid. You can take the girl out of Colorado, but you can’t take the Colorado out of the girl!
As the sun began to peek out from the horizon at seven something on an early October Saturday morning, my bed grew more and more comfortable by the minute. It’s almost as if it was begging me to sleep in. Reluctantly, I dressed myself in my newly thrifted sweater and leggings, a cardinal fashion sin in Madrid. I headed out the door at roughly 8:15 in the morning to make the 8:45 a.m. call time, triple checking that my keys were in my bag even though I placed them there two minutes before checking.
T-minus 10 hours until I could lay in my bed again.
As students slowly made their way to the Padre Rubio entrance, I had to be my own biggest hype girl.
“What a fantastic problem to have, complaining about a yoga trip to graduate college,” I thought. Not even my friends back stateside have the opportunity to do something like this as a requirement. “I get to go on a yoga trip. Not have to,” I repeated.
T-minus nine hours, 45 minutes.
After a sleepy 45 minute bus ride to our destination, all 32 students in attendance were instructed to sit in a large field of grass to start our first activity of the day. The sunlight was peeking through the trees, bringing warmth to the cold and dew covered grass.
What do you mean I have to rank on a scale of one to ten how important friendships, romantic relationships, and my career are to my life? Is this going to be the same kind of “what should I do with my life” quiz I’ve done 1000 times over with no satisfying answer?
T-minus eight hours, 30 minutes.
After splitting up into groups of four, we shared our answers with one another while collaborating on another similar activity. What kinds of values does society, our family, friends deem most important?
I was not the only student that day who was a little afraid of sounding goofy. All of us were likely in the same boat as one another, so might as well embrace it.
After an hour of vulnerable, honest conversation and giggles, it was time to move onto the hour long yoga class. My stomach started doing somersaults. As it turns out, having multiple anxiety disorders since your youth tends to make it difficult to tune out your surroundings. However, I spent 45€ to be here, so I might as well try my best.
T-minus seven hours.
That hour was one of the fastest hours in my life. One minute I was stressing about whether I would even be flexible enough to touch my toes, and the next I was laying on my mat with a cool breeze drifting across my face. I could do this all day!
My mind was the quietest it’s been in years. I was no longer overwhelmed with the noise of the birds squawking or the chills running down my body. In fact, I loved it; the world came to a standstill in the best way possible. I couldn’t even be bothered to check my phone.
T-minus I don’t know how many hours. I wasn’t keeping track anymore. For all I knew, I no longer wanted to leave the Sierra de Guadarrama.
What was once my biggest first-world problem in the form of a mandated yoga trip became one of the best problems I could have experienced. Maybe now I’ll have to check out Decathlon to buy a yoga mat of my own.