Peak Moments

This post was written by my yoga retreat in Spain co-leader, Alli Crowell. If you’d like to be a guest writer, I’d love to hear what you’ve got to say! Please send me your thoughts at insideoutyoga@va.metrocast.net.

“Our sense of enchantment is not triggered only by grand things… The awe-inspiring, the numinous, is all around us, all the time. It is transformed by our deliberate attention. The magic is of our own conjuring…” ─ Katherine May

The work of Katherine May has played a significant role in my life over the past three years. Her book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat came out toward the beginning of the first pandemic winter. May describes how just like in the cycles of the natural world, there are natural “winters” that cycle through our lives─illness, loss, unexpected changes. “Winterings” are a time of hibernation, of dormancy, a period of necessary rest in order to generate new life.  

In the spring of 2023, as the world was coming to the other side of the pandemic, May released another book, again as timely as ever, called Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious World. Just as we observe the fullness of life in springtime following the darkness of winter, she poses the questions─How do we emerge? How do we begin again? How do we reconnect? We do so by paying attention to and becoming re-enchanted by the grand and small wonders that surround us in every moment. 

This past month I had the pleasure of attending and teaching at the Kekoka Yoga Retreat in Kilmarnock, VA. In the opening circle, we shared aloud our intentions for the weekend. One friend shared that she wanted to give herself full permission to choose rest over activity: a liberty we don’t often afford ourselves in a culture that values busyness and productivity above most other things. In another interaction, a friend commented that when she’d opened her eyes following a sunrise meditation, the first thing she’d noticed was the way the sun had played on the ripples of the water and how she’d been captured by its beauty. Spending the weekend by the water, these ripples were present in every moment of the day, right in front of our eyes, but in this moment, she truly noticed and was in awe. 

It occurred to me that when we go on retreat, we are intentionally and uniquely able to practice both of these seasons of life May speaks of: resting and awakening. Separate from the distractions of our daily lives, we practice balance between effort and ease, physical challenge and relaxation, social connection and quiet solitude, disciplined mindfulness and deep sleep.

The theme of Susan’s and my 2024 retreat in Barcelona, Spain is “Peak Moments.” Each of us experiences peak moments every day─at the top of our inhale, in our heightened stress response when we’re anxious or afraid, in the celebration of an accomplishment at work or school, and in the embrace shared with a loved one at the end of the day. Over the course of a lifetime, we experience what we might call even bigger peak moments─meeting a life partner, the birth of a child, graduations, first jobs or promotions, or life changing adventures (I’ll just say it, this retreat is definitely going to be a peak moment for me 😁). The word retreat might imply an attempt to “get away;” however going away on retreat does not teach us how to escape life. On the contrary, learning to both slow down AND awaken our awareness teaches us to practice this sort of balance in our daily lives, allowing us to live more fully into every moment.

We see it in the team leader who, in a pivotal moment for the company, recognizes their own weaknesses and gives a more deserving member of the team their moment to shine.  

We see it in the partner who at the most heightened moment of an argument, takes a deep breath and chooses to walk away, afterward returning with love and compassion, even if not with agreement. 

We see it in the new mother who decides to call on the help of a friend so she can take a much-needed nap, afterward returning to her nursing chair more mindful and appreciative of each curve of her baby’s face, each eyelash. 

We see it too in the acceptance and love shared at the end of a life well-lived. In the hands held, in the stories retold, in the smiles exchanged. 

When we take time to pause and pay attention, we notice that life offers an opportunity to experience peak moments at every turn.

See you at the top!