Mazunte – Going Deeper Into The Heart

It’s difficult for me to write this post in a coherent way because so much happened, and yet with so few “major events” over the course of 23 days. After I wrote about a thousand words of this, I realized that it would be a long one, so buckle up. I’ll put the photos in the middle this time to break it up a bit ;).

Mazunte Vibes

As my van from Oaxaca pulled up the hill from San Augustinillo (the next beach town over) to Mazunte, I could see the large bamboo-veneered gate, and people milling about. Most were the typical yoga / hippie-looking types you might expect, but then again, that’s not how I see myself. But then again – here I was. This would be a pretty constant theme throughout – questioning the judgments I have of myself and others. Who Am I? Really though, what did I get myself into?To set the stage a bit, Mazunte is on the southern coast of the state of Oaxaca, about 7 hours due south of the city of Oaxaca. It’s a pretty tranquil little beach town, with a population around 700 according to our friends at Wikipedia (I’m not even sure it’s that high, to be honest). It’s hot and humid year-round, with temperatures consistently around 90 with 80%+ humidity while I was there (October 30 – November 29).

A funny little anecdote is that after sweating myself to death the first day, I refrained from wearing a shirt for the rest of the retreat. It was just too hot, even if I was just sitting in meditation in the morning. Nighttime temps were consistently around 80. What’s funny is that the day after the retreat ended, I had to move my things to another hostel and put on a shirt to be more comfortable with my backpack. During that day, no fewer than three people did a double-take, not recognizing me with a shirt on.

One unique part of Mazunte is that it faces roughly due south into the Pacific Ocean, which means that it magically gets both an ocean sunrise and ocean sunset every day. There have been very few times in my life where I’ve seen both sunrise and sunset in the same day, but in Mazunte it was a pretty common occurrence, for which I became so grateful.

There’s not a ton to “do” in Mazunte beyond enjoying the beach. There’s a main street that leads to the beach from town, called Rinconcito, which has some natural foods shops, a bakery, some restaurants and bars, and notably, a delicious pizza spot where the Italian proprietor / chef also doesn’t wear a shirt.

During the retreat, there happened to be the International Jazz Festival in Mazunte, which flooded the town and turned it into an unrecognizable place, probably increasing its population 10x. What was cool about this though, was beyond giving the locals a huge burst of income, it was mainly Mexicans who made the trek to Mazunte and not just an influx of drunk Americans. It’s the small things.

There’s also San Augustinillo next door, which had a slightly more developed tourist scene with a few more restaurants on the beach, smoothie places, a panini / wine cafe, another yoga studio, etc.

Bottom line, this place has chill written all over it, and it delivered in spades.

Getting Started

We had an orientation the first afternoon where we all sat in a circle in the main yoga hall, which would be our home for the next few weeks, and did the common introductions. The group consisted of ~45 students, with 6 teachers that rotated through different classes and lectures. The mix of students was quite amazing. There were about ten other men (which surprised me as high), more than ten countries represented (big contingents from Canada, Germany, Mexico and a few from the U.S.), and ages ranging from 19 to 60+. Of course, though, the biggest diversity was manifested in the infinite mix of backgrounds, personal histories, and experience with yoga, meditation and spirituality.

What amazed me more were the incredible mental / emotional / physical journeys that my cohort had taken just to get here. Some were coming off newly-formed or recently-ended relationships, caring for a dying parent, going through an existential career change, and more. Meanwhile, here I was, peachy as can be, coming off an incredible two months of experiencing the best of what the U.S. has to offer, and beginning a year-long journey around the world. I felt like maybe I didn’t have enough to “work on” for this type of retreat, compared to the others.

As we went around the circle introducing ourselves, it became clear that many people were arriving at Hridaya to begin or continue on a spiritual journey into the heart. Did I misread something? I thought this was a yoga retreat! Well, sorta. Yes. But not in any way what I thought it might be.

The School

The first couple days really felt a lot like the first few days of summer camp. You don’t know anybody. Most people don’t know anybody either. Somehow you feel alone, despite the fact that everyone is embarking on the same journey, and doing so together as a unit in some ways.

But that didn’t last more than a couple of days. This group of people – fellow students, teachers, staff – were all far too loving, kind and open for me to feel down for too long.

The school itself was beautiful, with incredible ambiance and a well-crafted environment for the type of work being done there. There were a handful of yoga halls of varying sizes, a communal outdoor patio, several lookouts over the ocean, a communal kitchen and a reception area. All of this was enshrined in neem trees (an extremely bitter digestion-helper), hibiscus bushes, a permaculture garden, flowers, some stray dogs, and lots of shade.

There were about 45 in my module (Module 1), but then another ~30 in a teacher training that runs for 3 months, ~10 in Module 2, and then teachers and staff. All in all, about 100 people were at the school for the month.

What’s amazing is how the school is run almost entirely by volunteers. The teachers are not paid, the staff are primarily volunteers called Karma Yogis, who in simplest form are doing a work exchange, which helps keep the costs so reasonable for students. Some of the Karma Yogis worked at reception, others helped clean the dorms and many more were on kitchen staff, preparing a delicious, vegan, breakfast and dinner for 100 people every day.

I was staying “off-site” from the school in one of their properties a few minutes’ walk away called Einstein. It included an 8-bed dorm, plus 2 private rooms and a yoga hall. When I booked originally, I was a bit annoyed that I’d be off-site, but this turned out to be a huge blessing, both from a comfort standpoint, and more importantly, from the people I lived with and the bond we were able to forge by having our own dedicated space away from the school.

The Schedule

When they describe this as an intensive yoga / meditation retreat, they are not kidding.

7-8am: Meditation

This was led by the school’s founder Sahaja (a wonderful man, but who was not a huge part of our Module) in the main hall, with about 75 people in attendance. After the first week or so, I stopped going and did my own practice at Einstein, or at the beach as the sun crested over the mountains

8:15-11a: Yoga

In the first week or so, the classes were about 50/50 lecture and practice, but as we continued, we extended the practice further and towards the end were practicing for nearly the entire time

11-11:30a: Breakfast

This was really tough for me at first to not eat until 11, but as with most things, the body adjusts. A wonderful practice we had during the mornings was called “mauna”, meaning noble silence, during which we didn’t speak until after breakfast, which really helped to internalize the prior class. It also really helped us learn to be mindful while eating. Breakfast was typically oatmeal or amaranth + oat milk, accompanied by a rotation of fresh papaya, banana, watermelon, cantaloupe, guava, and lots of pineapple. Then, you could add from a selection of papaya seeds, chia, flax and more. On one occasion we had vegan banana pancakes, which were divine. Shoutout to Rene if you ever read this!

11:30a-3p: Rest time

Sometimes there were workshops during the afternoon – group hypnosis, a sharing circle, astrology – led by some of the teachers or students, but for the most part this was sacred time for me to go back to Einstein and relax on a hammock for a couple hours or go to the beach. Or both. There was also usually a smoothie or fresh coconut that appeared in my life during this time. Fun Fact: I now both enjoy coconut quite a bit, and can machete open a fresh one. My birthday is coming up in a month … just saying

3-5p: Yoga

More of what happened in the morning, but sometimes at a slightly faster or slower pace than the morning depending on how hot it was outside

5-7p: Evening lecture

This spanned an enormous range of topics and was probably the hardest part of the day to stay present and focused in. Sarah, and any educator, will tell you that you shouldn’t try to lecture at people for more than 15 minutes at a time. They broke this rule with abandon, but it was still one of the most important parts of the course. There’s a Kindle book you can buy which supplemented the course materials going through each of the lectures.

7-8p: Dinner

I can’t even begin to talk about what we had, because it was something completely different every night. I just don’t even know. It was all delicious, without exception, though. This turned into the longest period of time I’d ever not had meat or ice cream. I know this sounds outlandish, but eating vegetarian (I did have egg on the Sundays we had off) was something I’d always understood as something I wanted to do, but never made the effort to create the space for it in my life.

Now that I’ve gone through this, I’ve since tried to significantly reduce the meat in my diet. I don’t have any rules around it, as I don’t want to try to go cold turkey (hehehe) and judge myself for making exceptions. That said, when there’s a reasonable veggie option available, I’m trying to eat it.

Hridaya Yoga

The yoga practiced at Hridaya is a form of Hatha yoga (ha = sun, tha = moon), that focuses on using the asanas (poses) and meditation to achieve a deeper level of consciousness of yourself, and ultimately (as we are all one), with the universe (universal / god / higher being / choose your own name for it).

A good example would be that instead of doing a forward fold and stretching so that you can touch your toes, or generally go to your maximum stretch, and hold that for 20 seconds, you dial it back to ~75%, get to a comfortable position that you can hold, and stay in that shape without moving / scratching / shifting for a few minutes. We, of course, started with less, but built up more quickly than I expected, using lots of cushions and blocks along the way.

The key “aim”, if you can call it that, is to free your inner self, detach it from the ramblings and noise of the mind and the pain of the body. This doesn’t mean to live in a cave for the rest of your life (though many have), but to become aware of your thoughts as they happen, and try to not allow them to control your life. The first step to this is controlling the body – so with stillness of the body, you can begin to achieve stillness of the mind. Here’s Sahaja explaining it better and you can read more in-depth here.

That’s the purpose of this style of yoga, and it’s a pretty phenomenal thing to see in action. First, you’re trying too hard to stretch as much as you can. Then, you surrender to that, and find a comfortable place. Then you start holding that for awhile and notice the fidgets and shifting subside, and after a bit, you’re in a place of meditation and stillness.

And Now Some Photos!

Just kidding, keep reading.

My Journey

As I mentioned, at first I was a bit surprised by the level of spirituality that the course seemed to include. I grew up not really feeling much spiritual connection from within Judaism, or elsewhere. I consider myself to be a pretty logical-minded, skeptical thinker with a small side of some belief in a force greater than what we can experience with our limited senses here on Earth.

There’s no way that I’ll be able to even scratch the surface of all we’ve learned, but you can check out the Kindle book of the lectures, should you be interested in learning more. Or just bite the bullet and attend one of the modules! It cost ~$600 all-in including meals, classes and accommodations for 23 days.

Here’s just some key things that I learned / heard / felt / experienced during the time there, in no particular order

• These were my “goals” for the retreat that I wrote down on the first night. Looking back on it, I think these were the right ones to have to allow me to deepen my practice and understand myself better
  • Speak up, Listen, Actively partiipate, Have a good cry, Meditate every day
• As our lead teacher said during our orientation, we were all brought here, together, at this moment, for a reason. 45 of us came from all over the world with such different expectations and back stories, that it is an inevitability of the universe that we were here to impact and impart on each other. I couldn’t agree with this more
• Just an intense feeling of love from everyone in this community. It was truly astounding to feel so much warmth from people I didn’t know at all, and has been strange to be outside of that bubble sinceI’ve been traveling
• An opening of my own heart. Every day I woke up feeling extremely open and energetic from the heart and a desire to share that with others. It was unique at the time, but something that I think was a veil lifted off of me, and will be something I continue to seek to support in myself and seek in others
• Be the witness, the watcher, of your mind. Your mind is working every second of every day to control you, your body, your actions and your consciousness. By bearing witness and observing your thoughts, you take away the mind’s power and can achieve an inner peace
• Stealing and dishonesty can come in many different forms and are harmful both to you and the one who you stole from or were dishonest with
  • Being late (stealing time), interrupting (stealing attention and respect)
  • Understanding how I am dishonest with myself and others was a powerful and opening experience that I’d never considered
• Contentment is the feeling of falling in love with your life! Try it out, it feels great
• Sunrise can be more beautiful and meaningful than sunset. It’s such a peaceful time and often gave me energy for the whole day
• Learning to love and accept the Now, the present moment, is the most powerful thing you can do for yourself. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t situations that are undesirable, but that you can choose how to experience and react to those situations. Know that there is a lesson in every moment.
• A corollary to this is that by spending time thinking about the past or the future, you are robbing yourself of the beauty and perfection of the present moment. The (known) universe has existed for billions of years, with collisions and events that have culminated in your existence and this exact, very moment. How could you be so bold as to ignore it and think about something else?
• How deeply I connected with several people. If one of you is reading this you already know, but I hope to keep you as a strong and supportive / supported friend for many years to come
• The eyes are a true gateway to connecting with a person. Try it with someone you know (or even don’t know) by sitting across from each other and just gazing into their eyes for a couple minutes. I’d be shocked if you don’t feel something
• Hugs are important and valuable, both to the giver and the receiver. Know when you want to ask for either
• There were so many new practices and habits that I learned during the retreat that it’s hard to know what it was that made me feel so energetic and light and open.
• I’m going to be trying to experiment with some of these to continue on with – daily meditation, more yoga, reducing meat consumption, and probably most importantly is surrounding myself with the people in my life who give and support positive energy and a sprotiual journey. I’m grateful to have met so many of these people in Mazunte that I can rely on
• I developed a new appreciation for feeling vulernabke with people who are both new and known, it’s a powerful way to open yourself and build presence and trust

Closing Out

After the retreat ended I decided to spend a few extra days in Mazunte with my friends Casey and Anie. Partly because I wanted some quiet beach and relaxation time, partly to actually experience a place that I’d lived in for a month, but not had time to really enjoy, and partly to decompress and process all that I had experienced in the prior month.

This proved to be essential for me, both internally and to further build my friendships with these two wonderful humans.

We stayed in a dorm attached to a restaurant called La Empanada and got to enjoy easy access to the beach via Rinconcito, as well as a lovely area to hang out. Casey and I started our personal yoga practices outside the school here and also at the beach. Watching the sun rise followed by a series of sun salutations was truly inspiring.

On the 28th, I decided it was time to move on and get on my way to the Riviera Maya for some Caribbean beach andSCUBA time. My midway stop, though, would be the colonial city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, an overnight bus ride away from Pochutla (the nearest city to Mazunte).

My final day started with a sunrise meditation and yoga session with Anie, followed by a swim in the Pacific as the sun crept up in the sky. We came back to Empanada and made a tasty breakfast with some of the goodies we had purchased at the Pochutla market the day prior, including a kilo of fresh strawberries for ~$3 on some yogurt with fresh, Mazunte-made granola, along with eggs and toast with Mazuntella and banana. I was so content!

We hung around most of the afternoon, walking to San Augustinillo for a final mole lunch and stroll. Then I packed up, had some heartfelt goodbye hugs and moments and began my journey to San Cristobal!

Photos