As the resort manager led me to see our yoga space at a slow casual pace I found myself shifting gears to join his rhythm. I was asking myself why do I rush, even at home? Going slowly and mindfully I notice and feel gratitude for many small things. The red dragon fly. The pink lotus. The varied shades of lush green. My regular relaxed breathing rhythm. The quality of connection with other humans – that is really listening before responding, eye contact, tuning in, feeling.

    
 
The Balinese have a rich culture. It was explained that their religion is based on a trinity:
     > Connection with the earth.
     > Connection with each other.
     > Connection with God.
In their daily life they nurture these connections in a harmonious and balanced way. We could definitely feel it and it supported us on the yogic path and our effort to connect to Self.

 
Mahamandaleshwar Swami Jasraj Puri guided Satsang each evening and some morning workshops offering an enriching understanding of yoga, meditation and yogic philosophy. One analogy that carried through the retreat was that of our yoga “toolbox”. The background story is that Stephen King (the writer) tells that each writer needs their own toolbox. It’s not a literal toolbox, what he is saying is that you need a toolbox of the mind. And, as you would take care of real tools, keeping them clean and not letting them get rusty, as a writer you need to take care of your mental tools, too.  As most toolboxes are designed with levels, King describes our minds as having levels, too. Swami Jasraj cleverly adapted this for our yoga practice.

  
 
Imagine that you have a multi-layered toolbox. On the top level that you see as soon as you open it are the yoga tools that you use every day. Your daily meditation etc. 
 
On the next level are those tools you use less often. For example when you have a bit more time to practice, or something has come up and you need different tools to manage it.
 
On the bottom are tools that you use every blue moon. For example a health crisis, big questioning or change.
 
Yoga has many tools available to us and we arrange our toolbox according to what works best for us.
 
When we go on retreat, and this came up quite a few times, we have the opportunity to:
    > Re familiarise ourselves with what’s in our toolbox. Including those 'oh yes, I haven't practiced this for years and now I'm remembering how good it is' realisations. 
    > Reorganise our toolbox according to our current needs.
    > Add more tools. That is, to learn some more. 
 
On our 7 day Yoga in Daily Life Retreat in Ubud, Bali we sorted out our yoga toolboxes!