Kripalu & Gandhi

What strategies do you use to help sustain the relaxation you feel when you're on vacation?

This week my wife and I are at Kripalu, a yoga retreat located in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. After discussing it for years, we finally made it to this gorgeous setting. After today's yoga session, which was followed by a guided meditation and a healthy vegetarian meal, I felt profoundly relaxed. My reverie brought me to the question above as I reflected on previous vacations and how quickly the benefits of those vacations have dissipated. I want to shift this pattern.

One of the techniques emphasized in all the classes offered here is mindfulness; I realize this could be a partial answer to my question. A past challenge for me has been remaining mindful when I'm faced with  negative energy re-entering my day-to-day life. And thinking about that energy reminded me of work I still need to do. Last year when my daughter returned from her intensive yoga certification, she was glowing as I picked her up at the airport. Navigating the traffic, I lost my patience with another driver and filled the car with that negative energy. My daughter's three weeks of relaxation had been compromised.

The words of Gandhi are easy to find here at Kripalu. So it's entirely fitting a good answer to my question would be to keep his words in my head back at home: "We must become the change we wish to see in the world". Could sustaining my glow be as simple as remembering to help others sustain theirs?