The last week in April marks the return of two wonderful yoga teachers — Susan Urquhart-Brown and Michelle Gilmore — who will be co-leading their second yoga retreat with us. If you’re looking for the chance to relax, renew, and rejuvenate, then this could be the perfect holiday for you.

Incorporating hatha, vinyasa, and restorative yoga classes along with daily meditation will give you the opportunity to dive deeply into your practice. Sharing delicious meals, the warm Baja sun, and the profound beauty of Pacific coastline will replenish your body and your spirit.

We asked them a few questions to help you get to know them better and to offer an idea of what a week on retreat would be like. We hope you enjoy it!

Prana del Mar: Can you describe your approach to teaching yoga and the areas where you place your focus?

Susan: Our approach to teaching yoga is to build a community for students to explore, practice the yoga they love, and try new things in a comfortable, encouraging and safe environment. We are both calm and nurturing as we offer an eclectic practice that is energizing and gentle. We believe in suggesting modifications and options for those who want less as well as those who want a bit more of a challenge.

Michelle: We draw from the Iyengar and vinyasa traditions, incorporating restorative aspects as well as teachings that focus on healthy aging. We emphasize a well-balanced active asana practice that also includes meditation, pranayama, and deeply relaxing restorative poses.

PdM: How did the two of you meet and what drew you together? How do your styles complement one another?

Michelle: Susan and I live in Oakland, CA and have known each other for 10 years. We met in the business world and quickly realized that we had a love for yoga and meditation in common. Susan had experience organizing and leading retreats, and I have attended many yoga and meditation retreats over the years. We decided we wanted to share our love of these two disciplines and hold retreats together.

Susan: Our first retreat was a celebration of Michelle’s 60th birthday and my first year in my own yoga studio: Anjori Yoga in Oakland, CA.

PdM: What is unique about the retreats you lead?

Michelle: The focus of our retreats is rejuvenation, relaxation, and celebrating life — there is no pressure to perform! We offer individual support for each student and encourage them to listen within to what is true for them in the moment.

PdM: Why did you choose Prana del Mar for your retreat?

Susan: We chose Prana del Mar for it’s remoteness and beauty — white sand beach, amazing sunsets and night sky, as well as the delicious food, spacious accommodations and friendly staff! Combined with yoga and meditation, one leaves feeling calm and relaxed — the goal of our retreat.

PdM: Can you give us an example of an experience – either yours or a student’s – from a past retreat that exemplifies the spirit or aim of what you try to provide on your retreat?

Michelle: As a retreat leader, it is essential that you are able to adapt to the circumstances at the moment, especially when something unexpected happens! I was teaching yoga on the roof one afternoon and we heard a horse whinny loudly very close by. Somehow the horse got through the gate into the courtyard and was running spiritedly as he tried to get out. So I asked the class to do horse pose as we watched the excitement as a staff member settled the horse and helped him out the gate. We laughed and continued class…

PdM: What have past retreats taught you?

Susan: In my experience, people want to connect with others in a deeper way than in their everyday lives. Being with a group of like-minded people develops camaraderie, friendship, fun and the chance to talk in-depth with each other. We have people returning each year to be with the friends they made at the last retreat!

Many thanks to Susan and Michelle for sharing a bit about their approach and the intention they bring to their retreats. This retreat has already passed, but if you’d like to see other retreat that we offer, please visit our Calendar of upcoming retreats.

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.
          – Robert Frost

We’re so touched by a poem shared with us by a returning guest, Jane White, who expressed in beautiful verse how she felt during her recent retreat with us. We hope that you’ll enjoy it as much as we have. Thank you, Jane!

There is an impossible place
where the ocean and the desert meet;
souls are called here
by deep rolling waves
whispering wisdom
to the twitching ears of jack rabbits
jumping quick to catch every word.

They come to shift through the sands of time stored here,
where each grain holds infinite knowledge
guarded by ancient Saguaro
always at attention.

They come searching for themselves
in the fresh eyes of friends not yet met
and in the smiles of old friends not forgotten.

Together the souls dwell here for a while,
communing with wise jack rabbits
questioning cacti
contemplating grains of sand
to the distant sound of cow bells
and learning how sea spray
is turned into stars
by the dusky twilight.

But they must leave this place,
this impossible place;
for its magic contains a mission
for those who find it
and are open to all it has to offer.

When it is time
and they have been kissed by the sun
and blue sky threaded with white hope
settles on their shoulders,
the souls leave
carrying in their hearts
the possibilities of the impossible
to share with the rest of the world.

          – Jane White, 2015

Why go on a yoga and writing retreat?

Because it is the perfect symbiosis. Both yoga and writing represent tools for self-discovery. They invite us to examine and feel what is deep beneath the layers of our being. They welcome us to observe what the eye cannot see, to explore what lives past the stories we tell ourselves and tell others about ourselves. They invite us to seek and explore who we are beyond our own limitations, doubts and fears. Together they represent an art of inquiry and exploration.

How does yoga support writing?

Halina Duraj, co-instructor and professor of literature and creative writing at University of San Diego, beautifully describes this:

The best writing is done by the body, not only the language-part of the brain. Your hand holds a pen, or your fingers touch keys, or you open your mouth and tell a story with your voice. Stories need the body to exist in a world larger than the storyteller’s own mind. Stories are born in our bodies—born in them and born by them, until we’re ready to tell or write them. Just as we carry our emotions in certain parts of our body (anxiety in our shoulders, fear in our butterfly stomachs), we hold our stories in certain parts of our bodies—our guts, our hearts. Many people think writing comes from our heads, our intellect, but that is only one of three tools we need to tell stories. As novelist Fae Ng, says, we must write first from instinct (our gut), then from imagination, then from intellect.

Most of us who have explored yoga know that we have the power to access and explore our deepest emotions when we practice asana and meditation. Sometimes it is a conscious choice. We seek to learn more, and we seek to perceive more of what’s beyond the veil. Other times, the feelings just surface without forewarning and we may be “forced” to sit with it.

When we pair yoga with creative writing, we can gain access to material that may surface from newly explored places inside ourselves. As our emotions come to the surface, we are then encouraged to explore them with “compassionate curiosity,” as Halina puts it, and bring it into our writing.

Renee Gauthier (yoga instructor and co-host) illustrates how yoga not only helps us access our emotions, but also our “somatic intelligence.”

B.K.S. Iyengar talks a lot about the intelligence of the body: “A yogi’s brain extends from the bottom of the foot to the top of his head.” When we tap into the awareness of the body, we not only tap into emotions, but also a certain level of somatic intelligence, inner knowing.

Through the yoga asana, meditation, and relaxation, we clear out mental clutter and bring to light different parts of ourselves. A new sense of awareness is revealed. What’s next? This is when the yoga continues off the mat. On this retreat we will continue our yogic exploration through writing. We will carry the energy of openness and mindfulness from our yoga practice into our writing. The yoga helps us to open up, to be less guarded or hindered, to be less attached to outcome. The writing will be an opportunity to go deeper in this self-exploration. This retreat will nurture and support discovery and creative expression, as well as remind us of the wisdom that is already there.

How will this writing and yoga retreat benefit you?

The Art of Inquiry Yoga Retreat will offer each of us strategies to deepen and support both our yoga and writing practices. The retreat is open to practitioners of all levels, and yogis/yoginis and writers alike.

During our time together we will:

• Learn new skills and techniques for accessing our creative energy.
• Identify meaningful raw material for our writing during and after the retreat, as well as explore new paths for existing projects.
• Uncover areas where we feel blocked or stagnant physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically.

Through movement, mindfulness, and creative expression, our students will come home to a more integrated, balanced, and inspired sense of self. As retreat leaders, we hope that our students will leave the retreat armed with the tools and the motivation to continue their own journey in the Art of Inquiry – exploration in yoga and writing.

Created and co-written by Paloma Neuman, Renee Gauthier and Halina Duraj.