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/The Manifesto
In the happiest corners of this world, both large and small, you will find a community that follows rituals for Expression, Self-Reflection, Connection and Healing day in, day out.
Retreats Collective is a community that experiences unique immersive retreats for life changing transformation.
Through the alchemical and metamorphic process of Yoga, we learn how to activate the inner healer and cultivate the wisdom that leads to true purpose and passion. Yoga encourages our natural intelligence to embark on a progressive and expansive journey through inner layers within the practice, somatically, spiritually and mentally.
Yoga is a living tradition, a complete method for attaining lasting happiness, a practice that is available for All Beings.
Within the safe place of our Yoga practices, we can allow the most unfiltered, exposed, real and vulnerable expressions of bodymind to blossom. This is where fundamental changes unfold, where we realize the most transformative parts of our personal practice.
Yoga is a way to [re]write our own stories.
/The Three Tenets
Our consistent core philosophy is expressed through three tenets, which form the foundation of Retreats Collective. We embody these three principles, so that they color all of our retreats, movement of freedom and liberation practices.
(1) Kula
कुल ‘Kula’ is a Sanskrit word that can be translated as ‘community’, ‘clan’ or ‘tribe’.
This word implies a group of people joining forces and the sense of belonging that humans need to flourish and thrive.
It is also the physical place, the place of compassion and love where we hang our hearts, offer your anger, jealousy, selfishness, insecurities and fears.
A community offers a stable ground, a Home where we can return to, again and again to nourish the bodymind, to grow, to learn, to become a better person and feel supported. It is a shelter where we can take refuge anytime we are facing uncertainty, changes, challenges and chaos too.
It is a safe, non-judgmental, honest and experimental place where we can allow the most unfiltered, exposed, real and vulnerable expressions of bodymind to blossom. This is where fundamental changes unfold, where we will realize the most transformative parts of our personal practice and many surprising revelations.
It is an Altar where we are called to take back our voices, write, create, rest and do things that will leave footprints, in service of the collective well-being of its members.
It is a sacred space where everyone, and everything, is invited. Pain, suffering, joys and curiosity. It is a place where there are no differences and where we are reminded that we are not alone in this journey.
A community keeps us on the path. A community provides a common goal towards Wisdom, Truth and Liberation. Towards Yoga. Samadhi.
(2)Sadhana
साधना The Sanskrit word ‘Sadhana’ means ‘conscious daily spiritual practice’ or rituals. This is a steady repeated practice involving discipline, a process said to occur over time.
Sadhana can imply many different liberation practices but only filled with a pure intention. Sadhana prepares us physically, energetically, emotionally, intellectually and blissfully for Moksha, Liberation. When we engage ourselves fully and give our whole heart to any ritual, this will bring us closer to the state of Yoga, Freedom, Love and the Realization of the Self.
It is never something we do for ourselves but it is about getting over ourselves. Within the community, we are held together by our intention and guided along the way to embody these practices of liberation for the heart. We chose to let go of our personal dramas, stories, our self-centered, skin-encapsulated ego to become a part of the whole of creation so we can experience Magic, growth and transformation.
(3)Moksha
मोक्ष The Sanskrit word ‘Moksha’ means ‘liberation from all forms of suffering’
Sometimes, we know that we’re not free, but we don’t know why. When we release the blocked areas within our bodies, we are able to take a better glimpse at what Yoga calls the true or authentic Self. This is a big part of why we step onto the mat: we are looking for Freedom from the imprints and obstructions that are held in our bodies.
Moksha is the concept of ultimate Liberation also known as ‘Mukti’, relating to Freedom of the Self and Bliss, to how we feel about ourselves, inside our mind, our heart and how we interact with the world around us.
Yoga provides teachings for the bodymind that can liberate and heal the individual soul, jivanmuktih. We come to the fact that it is possible to have a beneficial and fulfilling life in the modern world, and also grow spiritually - perhaps even attaining a little enlightenment, liberation while living.
Moksha helps us clean the dirt of ignorance - avidya - and desires of a worldly existence. This is the practice of an internal revolution we have started to free the soul.
All these actions will come to us like magical little explosions, leaving a feeling of ‘Oh, I always knew’ but just didn’t know how to express. The longing for Liberation that we will uncover has always been within us.
/A Note from the Founder
As I was growing up, the world began to show me its many challenges and hardships. I was guided more and more into the world of movement medicine, and then Yoga. Through Yoga I was able to compassionately move through insurmountable challenges and into acceptance.
In the end, it became evident that these gifts needed to be shared with a wider community. I became a Teacher in february 2016 with the Santosha Yoga, an Australian Institute.
In 2018, I became a certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher, joining the community to empower humans to cultivate actions based on compassion, non-violence and Love.
Over the last seven years I have received transmission from many teachers to whom I am endlessly grateful and devoted - among these are Sharon Gannon, Yogeswari and Meghan Currie. I have always believed in this collective inspiration for a creative expression of body and soul {or bodysoul}, to this end the Havah Yoga Collective was founded.
In the beginning of 2022, Retreats Collective came into life. I believe whole-heartedly in a community that experiences unique immersive retreats for life changing transformation.
The consistent core philosophy I have chosen to follow, is expressed through three tenets — Community ( Kula), Rituals ( Sādhana ) and Healing ( Moksha) — which form the foundation of the collective. We embody these three principles, so that they color all of our retreats and movements of freedom.
I wish to share these liberation practices for the heart as a pathway to recovery, transmitting the gifted experiences that helped me along the way.
There are so many stories to be told. I cannot wait to connect and to hear the one that comes about for each one of you.
I aspire to meet every soul with Love, intentionally and unconditionally. No matter their differences.
Eva Lucie Daniela.