Woo Woo

Courtney seems to find or build community everywhere she goes. It’s crazy to be walking with her down the street in Guiones, a small coastal town in Costa Rica and hear someone say: “Courtney? Is that you??” and it’s someone she met on the waterfall hike the other day. Or it’s her Port Angeles friend’s former boyfriend we just happened to bump into. Or it’s a guy she and Shannon met in Nicaragua last year. 

(And yes, all of these things happened yesterday as we were walking around the farmer’s market & craft fair while Shannon was getting a massage.) Really incredible and so much fun to see. 

She also made a new friend here, Melissa, who invited her to a guided group meditation thing the other day, and then invited all of us to some kind of “breathwork” thing yesterday. 

So after the craft fair and Shannon’s massage, we grabbed a quick bite and then met Melissa at The Harmony Hotel & Yoga Retreat. 

I didn’t know what a “breathwork” session was, had no idea what to expect and so just went into it with an open mind and no preconceptions. We were just doing something different with Courtney is all I knew. 

There were about 12 or 16 participants and we met in a beautiful open air yoga studio. We were all given mats and floor cushions and instructed how to arrange them for maximum comfort by a petite, soft spoken yoga teacher. 

Eastern yoga music filled the space, and Natrishka began guiding us with some exercises to warm up and loosen up - standing and rocking from heel to toe, stretching, leaning left and right, etc. And before long we were laying flat on our backs, finding a comfortable spot on our cushions, and the real thing began. 

And I know I just said this but I really want to drive the point home - I wasn’t here searching for meaning, for connection, for inner peace, for understanding, or anything - I was only here because Courtney thought it would be cool. And I was simply laying on my back trying to keep up with the instructions. 

The music was loud enough and Natrishka’s voice soft enough that as she walked around and in between us all, I frequently could not hear what she was saying, so I just did my best. 

“Breathe in through your nose for a count of six: 

1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6…

Feel it fill your chest, feel the air behind your heart, feel it press your spine into the ground. Now let your breath out through your mouth for a count of six, and say ‘ahhhhh’ (or ‘uhhhhhh’ or ‘ohhhh’): 

1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6…”

And so on, also doing 4 counts and 2 counts and 1 counts - speeding up and slowing down, always with:

“feel the breath, reaching to the top of your head and to the tips of your toes… flowing through you, energizing your mind and body… ”

This went on for almost an hour, eyes closed, just relaxing flat on my back trying to keep up but also not particularly worried about whether I was doing it right or not, just focusing on feeling my breath and the rhythm of the music. 

At some point I realized she was no longer talking. The music had changed and we were left there to bask in an extremely relaxed state. The last thing I remember her saying had been to be aware of the world around us through touch and smell and sound. 

And then there was nothing but the music and the feel of the floor on my feet and hands, the warm sea breeze flowing over my body…

…and a tear rolling down the side of my face. And then another, and another. 

I guess I was a little self conscious because I grabbed the cloth “eyeshade” that was provided, covered my eyes and just let the tears flow. 

I wasn’t bawling. I was just lying there feeling wave after wave of something I can’t put into words.

At one point I wondered if the session was over and all the participants had left - Were Courtney, Shannon and Melissa standing around at the reception desk wondering why I was taking so long? But I figured if so, someone would come and nudge me and then I would get up. So I just stayed there and went with it. It was so relaxing, it was almost dreamlike. 

This seemed to last for 20 minutes or so before I finally heard soft voices and I peeked out from under my eyeshade. Everyone was still there, but now sitting up cross legged, palms upturned on their knees, thumbs and middle fingers touching and eyes closed. And Natrishka was doing the gratitude thing that ends yoga sessions. 

And then, slowly, gently, one by one, people began standing and collecting their cushions and mats and returning them to the shelves over on the side. I made a bee line to the front of the room to ask Natrishka what her name was (because I didn’t know it at that point) and to tell her I’d had no idea what to expect but that something incredible had happened, to which she replied:

“Thank you and yeah you really crushed it!”

I found out later that the session was titled “Chakra Breathwork”, and I wonder if it would have been different for me had I known that before the session. The words Chakra and Qi and such have always seemed kind of “woo woo” to me - not that I don’t believe in that kind of thing, I’ve just never been one to go there. And in my shortsightedness, maybe it all seemed like a wannabe thing for people who are missing something or need to purge something in their lives.

But that’s not me right? And yet there I was having a very profound experience.

Had I known we were doing something with our Chakras, I think I would have had preconceptions, so I’m glad I just went with an open mind. It gives credence to this whole thing - that something real and profound happened, and not something falsely conjured up from whatever expectations I might have had.

I think this has opened a new pathway in my life for me to explore.

Wow. 

Just wow.

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Natrishka has a website with more information about her practice if you’re interested: www.natrishka.com