looking for your favorite retreat centers around the world that you've either facilitated at or participated at a retreat at ! Thanks in advance !

Would love to connect with those headed to Bali in September! Looking forward to this journey Jonah. Thank you for launching this group! ❤️

Theme: From Ego, to Breath, to Heart Over a year of practice, most students will move through three stages. Sometimes it takes ten years. Sometimes it is not linear. Sometimes you feel like you are going backward. But every sincere student will touch all three. Stage One: The Ego Centered Stage This is where almost everyone begins. A new student walks into class and the mind starts firing: How do I look Am I doing it right or wrong How stiff am I How inflexible am I Am I going to make it through Do I need to leave the room The ego centered stage is very common. We are preoccupied with opinions and judgments. Our own fear and craving lead the way. We compare, we worry, we try to control. In this stage the practice can feel overpowering and overwhelming. The only way out of this first stage is not to fight the mind, but to notice it. To see the flow of mind and matter. To recognize “Ah, this is ego. This is fear. This is craving.” And still stay. Stage Two: The Breath Centered Stage You will know when you arrive here. The ego is still present, but it starts to loosen its grip. The breath begins to take the lead. You can feel this in yourself and you can feel it in the room. The energy gets lighter. There is less heaviness. Students start to smile. They do not take themselves so seriously. It becomes ok to fall. They smile when they fall. They laugh when they come out of a pose. Somewhere along the way the focus shifts: I was no longer practicing to look good or bad. I was no longer wondering if it was right or wrong. For the first time in ten years I gave all the importance to my breath. My breath became tangible and visible. My ego did not overpower me. My breath was simply expanding and contracting. Pulsing through the entire class. You can feel when that shift happens. The whole room changes. Everything begins to feel juicy, alive, connected. This is the doorway from ego to breath. Stage Three: The Heart Centered Stage There is a third stage, and most of us just get brief moments of it.