Paros Retreat

Eleven women thrown together for a one-week yoga retreat on the Cycladic island of Paros. What can possibly go wrong?

This week was the impetus for the whole island hopping prequel, it anchored this Greek travel chapter. I had found the retreat via AI and trusted my gut and the teacher’s website (London based) that I wasn’t going to some crazy cult gathering.

Then, a few weeks earlier my beloved cousin wondered if perhaps she could join me last minute and voila there was that one spot still open which clearly had her name on it. We had never traveled together so I was over the moon.

I came over by ferry from Sifnos to the settlement of Ambelas (Ampelas) in the northeast of Paros about 10 minutes drive from Naoussa and facing the island of Naxos. I say settlement because there is no store, no bakery, no gas station, no taxi, no center. A tiny harbor with a small sandy beach, three geese strutting about territorially and a few roosters off their clocks. Restaurants right by the sea, waiters crossing the narrow road, restaurants by the beach behind the sun-beds. A few places to stay. The yoga and meditation center (Taos) run by a small-boned wisdom-spouting Israeli man was a 30 minute twice daily walk up a hill on dusty roads. It did not take long to realize one needs a car here. A car we did not have. It also did not take long to realize one needs bottled water here. Water we could not buy anywhere in bulk. Hmmm. Clearly no Germans involved in the planning of this. The mind rebelled. Judgement surfaced.

The yoga studio was stunning with our mats already laid out in a beautiful fan pattern, the many windows let in a refreshing wind, the incense was pleasant, the music coming out of powerful speakers. I was relieved to find the group dressed in whatever was comfortable and not all in white with turbans which would have indicated a stricter more traditional Kundalini philosophy.

We moved, chanted, meditated, did breath work, journaled, danced (the Chakra-Shake, a guided movement for each chakra in the body to loud music) and contemplated our current behavior patterns, visions and goals for the future, and overall how to become a more authentic being.

We watched two sunrises together (at a beach and a monastery), one sunset

(By a lighthouse), and celebrated the fall equinox as well as the full moon.

We delighted in delicious brunches and dinners together. Kilos of Tzatziki were shared.

We had a jewelry trunk show (the teacher lives in India 7 months of the year and works with a small jewelry shop) and lots of dips in the clear warm Aegean Sea.

Sounds blissful, right?

Well, anytime you put a bunch of humans together in a small space with a lot of time together you get an interesting cocktail of tension, connection, curiosity, competition, and joy. And so we went through some ups and downs throughout the week but it all came magically together at the end. It was exhausting and a big time commitment but also recharging and releasing. For sure an inner journey and process. By the time we had our closing dinner, the table was rocking with jokes, well-wishes, and camaraderie.

The power of women coming together to claim their strength is not to be underestimated. Watch out world, here we come.