This past week, 7 men joined Chuck Naughton, Ben Seidman, Shaun LaFramboise and I for the 5-day Men’s Yoga Quest at Kripalu Center, Lenox MA. This morning I feel great! Grateful, strong, content, thoughtful. I’ll share one nugget that reverberates into activities of daily life like an unexpected pebble dropped into the pond, guest at the door. We begin the program considering what we need. What do I need from these five days? What do I need at this point in my life? As distinguished from wants and preferences, what do I need for nourishment to sustain myself, to sustain vitality. My dear friend Chuck Naughton, kept us rolling (with laughter and eye ball rolls) with his quips, puns and wisecracks. There was more than a sprinkling of wise pearls that he shared this week as well. “Enough is abundance for the wise.” Euripedes. Enough is enough. When do I have enough?

This week of yoga, relaxation, meditation, massage, drumming, labyrinth walks, poetry, philosophy, listening circles, filled me on so many levels. There were many things that I wanted to do. Some, at the time seemed essential, critical. Reading inspiration from one more wise author, guiding another family of postures, more time out in the woods and fields of this paradise, one more thought or feeling to share. I didn’t get to all of them. I would have loved to have more men in the program. There were many things that I wanted that I didn’t get. But from the very beginning I began to refill my well of the things that I really need. Time to stretch and relax. Time to meditate. Being in the presence of honesty, self-compassion, self-care.  What a satisfying retreat. Now, I’ve got my guideposts for this month and a group of men to stay in touch with about these days of getting back to my wife, my friends, my friends, swimming everyday, my 30 minute morning yoga practice 5 days a weeks, cycling, and stacking wood for the seasons to come.