**If you missed it, you can read How to Spend the Holidays Abroad Part 1: Hot Springs in Suzhou Here.
No matter where in the world I thought I would be, if you would’ve asked me a year ago where I saw myself on New Years Eve 2016 I would’ve probably said something along the lines of “drunk at a bar” or “sleeping on the street” (I like to fall asleep in random places).
That’s just what 20-something year old’s do, right?
My co-worker’s voice rang in my head “Bar Rouge is insane, you have to go out for New Year’s Eve!”.
My twins’ voice (I’m a Gemini, therefore I truly have an inner [evil] twin. ) echoed inside; “what will people think of you if you don’t go out and rage for New Year’s Eve?”
I was fighting the urge to do what I’ve always done. To be comfortable.
I’m not saying there is anything wrong with ringing in the New Year with a bottle of champagne. Drink up!
However, I did not move abroad to be comfortable and continue to live a life that proved to make me unhappy.
I’m seeking the uncomfortable experiences that take me outside my comfort zone and mold me into the best version of myself.
Therefore, I had of course been perusing options for a New Year’s Eve trip. Yeyjo, another one of the travel subscriptions on WeChat, had a Yoga Temple Retreat listed.
This sounded interesting.
I’ve inherited a fierce new trait in Shanghai: procrastination
Due to the constant internal battle, I nearly missed out on an amazing experience during my first holidays abroad. So finally on December 28, I signed up for Yeyjo’s New Year weekend.
There was only one problem, my procrastination slapped me right in the face. I instantly received an email saying the trip was full and I would be waitlisted.
Nooooo! The trip was in a day. I figured there was no way someone would cancel and at this point I was SOL.
Five hours later I received confirmation that I was in.
It was meant to be.
Yeyjo already felt more welcoming than WannaTravel.
Surprisingly, I was not the first one to arrive at the metro meet up location. Half the group was already on the bus when I arrived and the majority of people were sitting by themselves.
Yey! Fellow solo travelers in the same shoes as me. There ended up only being about 3 pairs of friends in our group.
I plopped down towards the back of the bus and instantly started up a conversation with the guy in front of me and the girl across from him. Brandon, an English teacher, and meditation coach from New Orleans and Alana, a yogi middle school art teacher from Chicago.
Before we could get too deep into a conversation, Tina, our group coordinator, interrupted us over her microphone. She went over the schedule and temple etiquette, as well as introduced us to our yoga instructors.
Born and raised in India with both parents deeply rooted in a yoga lifestyle and practicing Hindu. Ganesh, the founder of Just Yoga, grew up practicing yoga nearly his entire life.
Mayank is also from India and has a decade of yoga practice under his belt, although he is a fairly new instructor at JustYoga and to Shanghai.
Temple life is peaceful and quiet.
Our morning wake-up bell would ring at 5-am and thereafter the bell would be used to indicate the beginning of our next session.
No mobile phones during lessons and meal times.
Tina encouraged us to disconnect for the entirety of the trip by handing over our phones or at least switching them off or on airplane mode.
I had an incident with my phone before coming on the trip (we’ll just leave out the details of my carelessness and stupidity) and I was more than ready to disconnect.
5:00 wake up bell
5:30 chanting, breathing and stretching
7:00 breakfast
8:30 hatha yoga practice
11:00 lunch
13:00 chanting, breathing, meditation
13:30 pranayama
15:00 walking meditation and karma yoga
17:00 dinner
18:00 Satsang and yoga philosophy
20:00 sharing
21:00 lights out
Suzhou Yun Quan Temple is a temple in Suzhou that would become our home for the next few days.
Outside, to the left of the entrance is a pathway that leads up to a trail along the mountainside. Three pagodas are set up on the side of the mountain that overlooks the temple and you can easily hike up the mountainside to visit them if you have a few hours. Our walking meditation involved us hiking up this mountain one afternoon.
The first afternoon we spent getting to know the 25 other yogi’s in the room.
Who are you?
What are your expectations here?
What is yoga to you?
These sound like pretty simple questions. But they’re not as easy to answer as you might think.
I’m hesitant to share how new I am here as it can put me in a pretty vulnerable position. There really wasn’t going to be a safer space than this, so when it was my turn I introduced myself and told the group I’m a China newbie straight off the plane.
I told Ganesh I had no expectations coming to this yoga retreat other than to connect with local yogis and disconnect for the New Year, both of which I did.
However, looking back, this is silly. How can you not have expectations of something? Of course, I had expectations.
I didn’t realize my expectations until they were or weren’t met.
It’s funny how that works but verbalizing my expectations, wants, and needs is something I am working on across the board in my life.
I’m happy I shared this because throughout our time Ganesh provided useful “newbie” China breathing exercises (because…pollution) and many of my fellow yogis were very welcoming by sharing useful newbie tips for my time in Shanghai.
Many of our answers to “what is yoga to you” were fairly similar and consisted of basic bitch yoga buzz words.
“Connecting my mind and body.”
“Finding inner peace.”
“To focus on the present.”
Coming to a temple to meditate is a great and easy way to disconnect.
However, Ganesh displayed some very tough love from the start. Expressing that we need to learn to find peace and meditate in the middle of the busy city of Shanghai, or anywhere in the world for that matter.
As our night came to a close, Ganesh prepared us for our practice the following morning.
108 Surya Namaskar, better known as Sun Salutations, to ring in the New Year.
Depending on your level and knowledge of yoga, this either seems like very little, a lot, or you just have no idea what I’m even talking about.
Those were pretty much the same responses from our group.
Our group was extremely mixed from beginner (I mean beginner as in they’ve never practiced yoga in their life and decided to come on a temple yoga retreat…) to the more experienced practicing for years. Therefore, Ganesh and Mayank went through 12 Sun Salutations as a group to prepare us for our 5-am wake-up call.
I honestly don’t think even the experienced yogis were physically or mentally prepared for what was to take place in just 8 hours.
**This was also the first time in probably 15 years that I was in bed before 10-pm on New Year’s Eve. And I’m not even mad about it.
108 is a sacred number in yoga
The number has many important and symbolic meanings ranging from religious, spiritual, and pure mathematical in the yoga and martial arts fields. If you’re interested, I encourage you to research. Find one that holds a sincere meaning to you. The most important spiritual symbolic meaning to me is this one:
There are said to be a total of 108 energy lines converging to and from Anahata, the heart chakra.
Anahata means “unhurt, unstruck, and unbeaten”.
When I practice, and why I practice, is not only to connect my mind to my body and find peace from within. It’s to awaken from within and find a place of unhurt, unstruck, and unbeaten.
Essentially to let go of the weaknesses internally and externally and find strength from within.
Ringing in 2017 at 5-am
Silently laying out my mat near the banister overlooking the fountain, I stood in awe trying to ignore the 38°F temperature.
The glow of orange coming from the main temple and the clear (okay, clear for China) black starlight sky was all I could see.
Sandalwood incense snuck outside to greet us.
Light drums and Buddhist monks chanting filled the air as we began to activate our breathing.
Beginning as a group, we slowly became one.
We breathed as one, we moved as one, and we found strength from within to complete 108 sun salutations for the next 2 hours together.
This is what ONE Sun Salutation looks like, but what 108 Sun Salutations feels like is not as graceful as this image:
Mayank broke 108 into sets (3 sets of 30, 1 set of 18). We took active Tadasana (Mountain Pose), Anjali Mudra (Hands to Heart), eyes closed for a minute of breathing between each of the 4 sets.
With each backband, I gazed up at the sky. In my direct eye line was one particular star that shone so bright, I kept my focus on it throughout the practice.
During the first set, the monks slowly came out of the temple one by one. Just as we were in awe of them, they were intrigued by us as they slowly walked around us.
After the second set, I closed my eyes. Pausing. Breathing. Reconnecting.
Beginning our third set. Inhaling to a backbend and opening my eyes. My star was gone, the sun was slowly creeping up over the mountain and I watched the sunrise throughout the rest of the practice.
If you’ve ever done hot yoga, you know how difficult it can be to focus on your practice and not let the unbearable heat distract you.
Cold yoga is similar.
I could not feel my feet for nearly 80% of the practice. I’ve never been so cold in my entire life. It was rigorous and many people did not complete it.
For those of us that did, a sense of accomplishment, strength, and satisfaction flood over us once we were able to regain the sense in our bodies.
What 108 Sun Salutations Feels Like
I often don’t give myself enough credit but I am physically strong. There is no doubt about that.
108 Surya Namaskar is physically doable for me.
But yoga is so much more than physical strength and doing fancy poses.
Yoga is a mental challenge.
For me, this means to find my strength from within.
Finding a place to come back to when my mind wanders.
Silencing my thoughts from the internal chatter.
Disconnecting from the outside world and the distractions around me.
Connecting my breath with the movement of the pose to actually feel the pose.
In this particular instance, overcoming the frigid cold and ignoring every inch of my body telling me to stop and lay in front of the heater.
It doesn’t end here, though.
I didn’t leave my weaknesses in Suzhou at a Buddhist temple.
Each and every time I step on the mat I am building these strengths from within and letting go of my weaknesses.
When I’ve lost myself, I come back to the mat.
If I begin to doubt myself, I come back to the mat.
For the times I forget the strong woman within, I come back to the mat.
It’s a daily challenge with a daily practice that will continue for the rest of my life.
And when all else fails, I now have a strong yogi family in Shanghai to turn to!
Oh My Buddha!
How did you ring in 2017? Share your adventure in the comments below!
