Restorative (Re)treat

Our on-the-go culture places value on striving, but if you don’t accept who you are , you’re cheating yourself out of health, happiness, and feel ing whole . Here , learn how to find refuge from judgment. (Hint: It’s closer than you think.) Plus, a deep Restorative Yoga Savasana practice to get you started.

- By Judith Hanson Lasater

When we take up the practice of yoga, becoming deliberately self-reflective, it eventually becomes apparent that taking refuge—from busyness and stress—is not about running away, but rather it is about deciding what you want to move toward. Refuge is not dependent upon a location at all. Rather, it is actually an intention we can choose. What do I mean? We can always opt to focus on that part of ourselves that is not made of thoughts, feelings, or bodily sensations. We can choose to focus on that space behind our thoughts— on the silence from which we observe ourselves and the world and the space that we keep forgetting to notice.

When you stepped on the mat in the first days of your yoga practice, you were likely still associating refuge with a specific place: the mat or the meditation cushion. Many practitioners believe that the sense of stillness they feel from their yoga is something that must come from what they have done rather than from who they are.