Lux Lake Life Recap
“Are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”
- Mary Oliver
Bryana and I always create retreat itineraries together. Over the years there have been many variations on this conversation:
Me: “Then, what if we had a 90s prom themed dance party?”
Bryana: “What?! No.”
Me: “What about a halloween dance party Saturday night?”
Bryana: (Incredulous look) “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Which is to say, I’ve been priming the pump for a long time now.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Bryana loves a theme party and she loves a dance party. We have danced the night away, with our very sub-par dancing skills, many a time. Enjoying theme parties and/or dancing are sort of prerequisites for being my friend.
Bryana just always has the best interest of our guests in mind and has often (correctly) assumed that adding a themed dance party into the mix of a restful retreat weekend probably wouldn’t be the best fit.
Bryana and I often disagree. We both have strong opinions and we really hash things out to arrive at a middle ground. We are always amicable and usually laugh at our disagreements, and we both agree that it’s a great thing because it brings us to a happy medium.
Last year at Madden’s we added the option to wear something special to dinner Saturday night. Bryana was resistant to this idea at first and wanted to make sure people knew they could also wear sweatpants. (-;
To our immense delight, everyone dressed up and it was surprisingly fun and rewarding to have an opportunity to “dress-up” with nowhere in particular to go. It was simply an evening celebrating a fine dining experience and the pleasure of one another’s company.
So this year, we agreed we wanted to include that option again. When Kari, our coordinator at Madden’s, asked us if we wanted to rent a dance floor for Saturday night, we both enthusiastically agreed, yes!
Finally it seemed the timing for this dance party was right. I started curating my playlist months ago.
This retreat was very different from any prior retreats because we welcomed 100 people rather than a more typical group of 25-50. Madden’s is the only location that can comfortably accommodate a large group. We were thrilled about this idea because it would allow us to run two retreats simultaneously, a vinyasa track and a hatha track.
I love energetic vinyasa yoga and Bryana loves grounded, restorative and hatha flows. For the first time, this retreat format allowed us to drill down into the style of yoga we enjoy best.
We were also nervous about trying something new, especially since we both have babies under four months (Eowyn is 8 weeks and Lucas is 4 months). This was out of our comfort zone in many ways- but everything good happens outside the comfort zone, right?
The retreat finally arrived. Unfortunately, one of our teachers was unable to join due to COVID. Luckily, our friend Colombe was able to join on a moment’s notice. THANK YOU COLOMBE!
Our first evening was lovely. The vinyasa group got a little sweaty with a very lively flow. Bryana told me afterward that our room definitely smelled like a sweaty yoga room, ha! (A highlight for me was when Randi’s watch declared, “active ring closed!” and we all laughed.) Bryana’s group enjoyed a grounding welcome to Madden’s. Both groups ended their sessions with soothing sound bowls in savasana.
We were also able to eat dinner on the Pavilion. It was breezy and cool, perfect weather to enjoy dinner and the fires outside. The food was SO DELICIOUS!
Saturday morning several yogis woke up early to greet the day in seated meditation led by Jessica. The tranquility of the lake, loons calling, and eagles swooping overhead made for a great start to the day.
Following meditation, half the group joined me for a yoga session on the beach. The weather was perfect- cool but not cold, sunny but not hot. Marlene got the vinyasa group moving indoors.
We then enjoyed a scrumptious brunch featuring seafood crepes, which sounded very weird but tasted lovely!
The pontoons departed at 1pm. Three of the pontoons met at the dock by Ernie’s for a quick swim and consult. Two of the pontoons would go to the sandbar and the other would stay at Ernie’s. The fourth pontoon was nowhere to be found.
Those of us at the sandbar had a lovely time. All the while I was worrying about the fourth pontoon. I worried that there might be people on the boat who didn’t want to go to Ernie’s but wound up there without the option of the sandbar.
We arrived back at Madden’s and after we had all disembarked, the fourth pontoon pulled in. Let’s just say they were doing just fine. Lol. They had a dance party, walked the “catwalk”, with lots of laughter and cheering. They were all in very high spirits.
*Side note: if you were on the pontoon with Erin, one of Minnesota’s premiere tick experts, perhaps like me, you are now even more scared of this “perfect predator.” Lol.
Some yogis joined Marlene for a class instead of the pontoon. Her theme was very creative, “Stay or Play” with options to stay in a pose, or add fun variations in a playful manner.
At 4:30 some of us napped (me!), some joined Jessica for gentle yoga and sound bowls, and some joined Colombe for restorative yoga and yoga nidra.
Finally, we put on our finest duds and headed to the Town Hall for dinner and dancing. Everyone looked so beautiful!
As women, we are often so hard on ourselves.
We don’t like the way we look. We think we’d be happier if we were X pounds lighter. We are hyper critical of anything that sags or droops.
Seeing everyone dressed up was a good reminder for me that when I looked around the room I only saw the beauty! I thought everyone looked fabulous.
I never once thought, “wow that would look better if she were ten years younger.” Think about how ridiculous that thought is! I need to a better job reminding myself of this.
Other people see our radiance, our smile, our joy.
They do not look at us and think, “oh wow, her belly is bloated” or “look at all those wrinkles.”
Saturday night, as I walked back to my room alone, I felt full to the brim with contentment.
I felt so joyful to have seen so much joy in others, to have shared in music and dancing. To have set our reservations and insecurities aside in the name of fun.
As the years pass and the retreats come and go, more and more of our guests are both familiar to us and to each other.
Undeniably, friendships and community continue to grow- something that surprises me every retreat. This is something I never anticipated and continues to surprise me. We’ve created fun memories with many incredible women, and there is nothing better than seeing two groups of friends who had a great time together at a retreat years ago, reconnect at a retreat. You wouldn’t necessarily think it’s possible to have meaningful friendships with women you only see once a year, with little to no contact between retreats, but it is.
Heading into the retreat I was thinking a lot about the tendency to overlook contentment. It seems we tend to live in busyness, in anxiety, in the rush. My world is full of disturbances. I want to live in a way that is still enough to receive it, to witness those disturbances in a constructive way.
This is not to say life is easy or that there won’t be hard things. I am learning to be with the breath, to be with the moment. This is a project for a lifetime.
I am working on sitting with contentment. I want to live in the space just beyond a deep, full breath. This feels like a more peaceful and present way to live.
I am still dwelling in the space beyond the retreat. I’m enjoying the contentment. I’m thinking of the dance party and smiling to myself. This is the beauty of retreat- it brings me back to center, back to myself, so that I can greet the disturbances with stillness.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS INCREDIBLE RETREAT HAPPEN!
These three lovelies: Colombe Anderson, Marlene Weikle, and Jessica Baumhofer. Ya’ll are rockstars. Friendly, inviting, professional, creative, motivated, and fun. We are so grateful to work with an incredible team of yoga teachers such as yourselves!
SHAWNA VINE - YOU ARE AMAZING!
Shawna, oh Shawna!! She makes ya feel like a million bucks before, during, and after with her photography skills. Shawna you are an A+++ photographer and human. Thank you so much for joining us on this retreat!!
Check her out at shawnavine.com! Shawna is an absolute gem to work with!
Until we meet again- thank you my friends.
Amanda
