March 17 – 23, 2024
Embodied Awareness w/Patricia Brown & Surya Chandra Das at Lake Atitlan, Guatemala Highlands
The retreat will be an embodied exploration of meditation, yoga, meditative movement, and breathwork as Portals to Awareness. This recognition liberates the body and mind from old patterns while cultivating the capacity for living with ease, joy, resilience and resonance with the Source of Being. Creating a sacred container together, there will be four sessions daily for this embodied exploration.
Villa Sumaya, located on the shores of Lake Atitlan in the Guatemalan highlands, is surrounded by indigenous villages and described by novelist Aldous Huxley as the most beautiful lake in the world. We have taught at Villa Sumaya for five years and have spent nine winters living on the shores of this rare, mystical lake, said to carry the energy of the Divine Feminine.
Created by a textile designer with great attention to detail and beauty, Villa Sumaya, accessible by boat only, offers an artistically designed, enveloping haven with vistas of the lake as well as three volcanoes from every room. If you are searching for a place to rest, reflect, revitalize, immerse in practice, culture, and ageless natural beauty, Villa Sumaya and the Embodied Awareness Retreat may be what you have been searching for… a unique sanctuary to care for the soul….
Reviews of Villa Sumaya on Trip Advisor are found here
Villa Sumaya website is here.
Sessions
Yoga sessions invite deep listening, fluid unwinding, and awakening sensation as guide back to body’s innate intelligence. This approach to practice, shifts the habit of “doing” asana to an unfolding, by feeling and sensing our way thru the practice. Sessions will be guided with periods for self exploration and discovery.
Meditation and self inquiry sessions encourage becoming familiar with the rest and ease of our essential nature. The meditation sessions offer mindfulness and breath awareness based on Vipassana meditation as well as non-dual, open awareness meditation, and self inquiry.
Movement explorations allow for slipping thru the cracks of our conditioning, experiencing a different vibrational energy to directly embody Essence and True Home.
Breathwork is a rare offering in yoga and meditation retreats and is an experience of healing, enhanced well-being, insight, and the direct experience of expanded consciousness. It is a profound dimension of our retreats.
There will be ample time to soak in the hot tubs, take a sauna, have a massage, hike in the adjacent hills, swim in the lake, explore one of more of the Mayan villages around the lake or simply relax in the beauty and quiet of Villa Sumaya.
This retreat is an opportunity enjoy a week on the the shores of majestic Lake Atitlan taking your practice to another level by inquiring into the essence of your being. Who am I? What is life really about? Why am I here? Is Presence my true nature? These are all questions which begin to arise from a deeply engaged life and practice, a yearning for true freedom and the desire to open to the depth of who and what we are. The container of this retreat will provide the support for an embodied experience of this exploration.
There is something mystical about Lake Atitlan. The lake itself is about 50km in diameter, surrounded by volcanoes and traditional Mayan villages which maintain their cultural identities and traditions. A few of these villages are a beautiful walk from Villa Sumaya.
Location of Villa Sumaya
The Villa is about a 20 minute walk to the pueblo town of Santa Cruz La Laguna where local people live a quiet life of farming the hills around the village and fishing the lake. You may see more information about Lake Atitlan.
A page of frequently asked questions is found here. We suggest you review these questions and answers before registering to better understand the nature of the retreat.
For additional information on registering for this retreat go here.
To learn more about the teaching go here.
Passports are required for travel to and from Guatemala from the U.S.
Visa and MasterCard accepted For checks, please mail to: Rolling Meadows Retreat
