RETREAT 2009 – TALLA RAMGARH

As the group met at Old Delhi station, we couldn’t help wondering how such a disparate bunch of people would live and work together for a week. And as always – this is my third retreat – the magic happened. The young art curator and the grandmother, the professor of literature from Calcutta and the financial analyst, the neuroscientist and the dancer-cum-bookseller with flowers in his beard: fit or frail, novice or experienced adept, all shared the same goal.

Much of the credit goes to the Abhyas team. Ashish, the young, energetic organizer, brimming with ideas and always ready to help; Sunil, moving cheerfully from one person to the other, drawing people out and bringing them together, relaxing the atmosphere with his quick wit. By the second day the hodgepodge group had jelled into a small community.

And this community followed Navtej on an ambitious path: under his amazingly clear guidance, we literally reconstructed ourselves from the inside out, starting from the basic structure of the body – the skeleton and the space within – realigning it, anchoring it, freeing the breath and stabilizing the mind. No spiritual mumbo-jumbo on this retreat. Navtej offers a very precise, no-nonsense approach, an invitation to use intelligence and discernment and become one’s own teacher. Control the body in order to control the breath. Controlling the breath leads to controlling the mind and getting insight into one’s own soul. It is a subtle and powerful tool, and we spent the week lovingly fine-tuning it, like skilled craftsmen, in order to serve our personal inner goals. Some classes were case studies: one person’s particulars were used to draw conclusions that applied to all, everyone contributing questions and answers in a collective enquiry. Early evening was often devoted to chanting, the group echoing Navtej’s rich, deep voice in an entrancing dialogue. We soared!

For most of us, the demands of daily life take priority over deep-seated issues. These were

Nathalie Trouveroy at Sri Aurbindo Ashram, Talla Ramgarh

given a chance to surface here, released sometimes with tears before they could be faced with

a clear and serene mind. But for all the intensity, there was plenty of laughter. This is perhaps the most striking feature of an Abhyas retreat. We practice six to seven hours a day, and this is serious yoga. But the evening get-togethers are hilarious and delightfully spontaneous, full of lively exchanges and mutual discovery. Laughter is not trivial here; it connects us to reality. There is no "holy bubble" to burst at the end of the week, and what we have learned can translate seamlessly into our individual practice.

One particularly strong session ended with a spinal twist, Navtej moving swiftly from person to person, gently pressing a hip here, pulling a foot there, eliciting blissful sighs and – this is a rather cultured group – cries of "if there be Paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here!". Navtej gave us "Sukham" and he gave us "Medham". He taught us to delight in the harmony of our body, breath and mind, in our fresh new insights, to accept them gratefully and to keep up the quest. I cannot wait for the next retreat...