Realizations I gained from a yoga retreat ① – What is Purusha and what is Samadhi?

I went to Sri Lanka from December 3rd to 15th, 2024.

My goal is to participate in a yoga retreat and gain knowledge of Ayurveda.

During this retreat I had an incredible experience.

Rather than an experience, it might be better to call it an "awareness."

To get straight to the point, it was an experience that allowed me to be freed from the past trauma that had tormented me for a long time, a heavy, dark thing that would never go away, and it also gave me a new realization.

It's like I've been reborn, literally.

Although I wanted to write about this in my blog, I couldn't bring myself to sit down at the computer. That's because I didn't know how to put these feelings into words, and I felt that writing them would convey something completely different. Even if you read this, about "my" experiences, it would end up being something that doesn't concern you.

Still, I am writing this because I am convinced that it will be a guide not only for those involved in yoga, but for many people around the world suffering from traumatic experience in the past.

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I participated in the retreat for just 4 nights and 5 days, from the 10th to the 14th.

The reason was that there were no vacancies.

I stayed at the Welikande Yoga Retreat Center, located deep in the mountains in the Kandy area.

I signed up for the yoga retreat plan, which included two yoga sessions, morning and evening time.

This is not a group retreat specifically for yoga, so there are also regular tourists who do not do yoga, and people are free to take classes or not.

The yoga teacher was not a full-time employee here, but was hired on a short-term basis for just one month.

One of them was probably at the same level as me, and the other was a teacher who mainly taught Thai massage.

A "retreat" was originally a religious activity, in which one goes to a remote place to separate oneself from everyday life and society and engage in deep introspection.

What's different from traveling is the "isolation" and "introspection."

Nowadays, it is often expressed in a broader sense as an extension of a trip, such as "rest" or "reset."

This was a truly wonderful hotel, and exactly the kind of retreat I was looking for. It's located on a hill in the mountains, surrounded by nature. The view down from the mountain is magnificent, with beautiful mountains and lakes below, and the sounds of birds and other animals are always there. It's the kind of place where you can cleanse your soul without having to go anywhere or do anything.

It was truly the perfect retreat.

I would highly recommend this place to anyone considering a retreat in Sri Lanka.

In the next article, I will report on the yoga classes on the first and second days.