Last week, a group of More to Love members joined me at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in the breathtaking Berkshire mountains for our second annual A Lovely Rising yoga retreat. For three days, our time was devoted to connecting with our larger bodies through yoga and other body-loving practices.
More to Love Yoga helps plus size people at home in our bodies. I wanted our time together to involve personal healing and communal celebration. The world is hostile to larger bodies. Being in a loving space is key – something Kripalu has offered me for years – and is the perfect venue.
Being part of a retreat is life-changing. Personally, I’ve attended numerous retreats over the years and consider them an important – ok, priceless – aspect of my own self-care. When you’re removed from the distractions of every day, you have the opportunity to explore what matters most to you.
The theme for A Lovely Rising retreat was “receiving” and our daily sessions focused on how to better listen to our body and inner wisdom. Living in a larger body means we’re bombarded with messages to make us SMALLER, to diminish our bodies. I know that has a big toll on our inner world. This retreat was an experience to reconnect with the loving part of who you are. Through yoga, breath, relaxation and personal reflection – and it’s magical to both lead and witness happening.
Here are just a few of the feedback from More to Love members who joined:
“I have nothing to apologize for – I am whole, strong and More to Love.”
“I felt safe and connected to my body during A Lovely Rising!”
“I never knew how much my breath mattered to my overall wellbeing”
“I felt so strong when we played with new yoga poses – I’m a badass!”
“The MTL community is THE BEST!”
Wellness is a spectrum and one we each are trying to find harmony with. The core of More to Love’s approach to wellness integrates our connection to the body, our breath, mindset, heart, and what I call “essence” – the undeniable truth of who you are, no matter your size. Each of these layers interacts to create our life and finding balance can be hard. But yoga offers an approach to align these parts of us so that we can live fully, regardless of size.
Larger bodies find it hard to understand what wellbeing can look like. So my retreats are designed to both teach, but viscerally experience your own truths about wellness: from the inside out.
