Host Your Own Retreat at Nirvana
May 14, 2024
At 7am on the wide Nirvana balcony the air is soft and still, punctuated only by the whip-crack calls of whipbirds high in the nearby rain forest. Mauve/green hills roll gently down to the Coast. An eagle circles and dives. I take a slice of fresh aloe vera and sip steaming herbal tea.
Summoned downstairs to the spacious yoga room by the sonorous beats of the gong, I settle on a mat with a back support and plump cushions stuffed under my knees, for meditation. Pale sun slants through the full-length windows. Shanti, our teacher and mentor, guides a path to a deeper state through breath. As every part of my body gradually relaxes I become still, almost weightless, yet very alive. I see flashes of colours, cobalt blue and emerald as intense and brilliant as a peacock’s feathers. I feel laughter bubbling up. I’m smiling.
Breakfast is a nutritious porridge made with dates and other “secret” ingredients followed by home-made bread toasted and drizzled with local honey. Around the huge, carved dining table the chatter is light and easy. In some ways we’re a disparate small group of varying ages and experiences, from different locations, but each seeking a more profound understanding of the key to living a joyful, positive life.
As each day of this nine-day retreat comes, deep, raw emotions emerge, hurts and scars that have shaped our past and define who we think we are. The sessions of meditation, reflection, contemplation, deep relaxation and exercise, all masterfully guided by Shanti, cleanse and heal. By day nine the faces around the big table are visibly lighter as though layers of dusty cobwebs have been swept away.
At a recent weekend Retreat I was not well, laid low with a flu of some sort. I had flown from interstate two weeks prior with a clear plan to attend every possible yoga class conducted by Shanti at the Yoga Studio in Southport, culminating in the weekend Retreat. After each wonderful, three hour class I would float back to my rented apartment in a “yogic dream” (as I had done on a previous visit!). In reality I coughed and spluttered and barely left the apartment couch. As I contemplated my “unmet” expectations, I realised its accepting what actually happens that matters. I may have missed valued classes but in their place I was showered with care and kindness by Shanti and staff members. My heart opened. Every “expectation” had been met.
Su Pollard (November 2025)