‘take your dreams seriously’

As I am starting to write on this blog post I am sitting on our veranda with a stunning view of the river and the mountains. The sun is shining and we just did another hike this morning.

We are in Portugal enjoying the magnificent Peneda Geres national park in the very north of the country. Just before we came here we had one of our yoga weekend retreats in the Netherlands. It was a delightful retreat with such a lovely group of yogis and I feel very grateful for being able to do this kind of work. During every retreat I’m amazed by the incredible experience that unfolds in just a few days and how people open up and how the group becomes closer. And then I just wish we could have much more of those retreats.

But in the days and weeks before the retreat I’m also always surprised how much work it is. It seems like the joy of the retreat makes me forget how much work it was to prepare it. Actually the most challenging part right now is that we don’t have a house nor a car and that all our stuff is in a different place. This probably sounds quite funny because that is exactly what we wanted when we sold everything and started travelling. And it still feels really good like this, but every retreat has become a logistic challenge: Where to sleep before, after and in between the retreats, how to find and pick up all the things we need from the storage, what car could be borrow or rent, and so on. Sometimes it can be interesting and fun to figure out how to do everything and sometimes we start dreaming of our own yoga retreat center.

Dreaming of…
our own retreat center where we have all the things that we need in one place. A place where we could live as well. A place where we could do as many retreats as we like and don’t have to make reservations 2 years in advance to get a spot. And then we start dreaming some more. Our place would be in nature, in peaceful surroundings. One or several buildings that have an atmosphere of calmness and serenity. A cozy place that is suitable for small groups. A place where you arrive and feel at home instantly. A place that would be affordable and not too much of a renovation project. The land around it would have fruit trees, a vegetable garden and lots of space. When I write about it like this I can clearly see it. I can totally imagine Boris and me living there and hosting many wonderful retreats. And I can see you there too. I can see how you arrive, how we do yoga every day, how we have heartwarming conversations, how we enjoy all the delicious food, how we appreciate the sunshine and have great time together.

We daydream and talk about this idea frequently. Boris says he knows that the perfect place for our retreat center is already somewhere out there. We just need to be patient, look for it and find it. Being patient in a situation like this is not one of my strongest qualities. When I feel enthusiastic and passionate about something then I want it right now. I want to find the location today and invite you for retreats tomorrow. Of course I understand that it doesn’t work like this.

But it feels already great to write about it now, to tell you about our dream. By putting it on paper it feels much more real. So if you got excited now just like me then we all need to practice patience. But one day, hopefully, I will be able to invite you to our own yoga retreat center and I am already looking forward to the day you arrive there. I’m missing you, my yoga friends in Delft, my new travel friends everywhere and I would be very happy to see you again soon.

Sending you a big hug and lots of sunshine from Portugal
Sophie & Boris

P.S. Right now this is just a dream. It is an idea we developed during the yoga retreats this fall. We can’t promise anything. Things can always change. But we will let you know how everything is going. We are looking for a suitable place here in Portugal but we also continue to check the house market in the Netherlands. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please let us know. You can follow us on Instagram to see what’s going on at this moment. @sophielivingyoga & @b0ris0

Portugal, October 2020