Key Lessons from a Kripalu Core Centering Retreat

Ani
Hi and welcome to the Somatic Coaching Academy podcast. We are on episode 87. Hi there, Brian.

Brian
Hey, Ani.

Ani
Hi. How are you?

Brian
I'm doing awesome.

Ani
Good, good. What are we talking about today?

Brian
Oh, wow. Gosh. So today we are... We just got back from Kripalu recently and I know we've been talking about it a lot on the podcast and if you've been reading the newsletters we've been talking about was the run-up to the Somatic Practice Essentials or Core Centering Practitioner Training that we were hosting at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. And we just got back from that and it was such an amazing experience that I thought we would just take a podcast to chat about that a little bit and some of our key takeaways and experiences and things that happen inside of those Kripalu programs that are so, just so amazing because some of the stuff that happened that was amazing, that was, it was actually planned and other stuff was just the universe just bringing goodness in a lot of ways. So I just thought we'd chat about that.

Ani
Oh, that would be great. I'd love that.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
Yeah. Can I start with one of my key takeaways? Sure.

Brian
Yep.

Ani
Okay, great. The chocolate peanut butter brownies at Kripalu. Right. I mean, they're like magic and it's no joke. We spent tons of time at the training talking about the food at Kripalu because Kripalu's food is awesome. I think it's a really important thing to say, right?

Brian
It is. I didn't think. I didn't think you're going to start with that, but I totally understand why you did.

Ani
So it's great. All right. So inside of Kripalu, it was like day three and it was dinner time and they don't have dessert at every meal. So they brought out these chocolate peanut butter brownies, and all of us were actually looking forward to the actual brownies they were serving at the next dinner I think. They bring out these chocolate peanut butter bars. That's what they were. And they were off the charts. And so we're at the table, we're sharing the chocolate peanut butter bars, and we realize it's almost the end of dinner and there's no more out. So we actually went and like, asked, are there more peanut butter bars? It was so delightful. And I think it, it just, it's funny. Yeah. But it also just gives a really good glimpse into the Kripalu experience because Kripalu is awesome. The lodging is amazing, the food is great. And knowing that you're coming, I mean, some people are traveling, traveling really far way to come. And knowing that you're really going to be well taken care of, is very important. And then it's just like, I don't know, a snapshot of what it was like to be there because we had so much fun.

Ani
It was such a delightful experience. And, you know, I'm, I'm gonna pat us on the back here for a second and say our retreats are a lot of fun. We, every time, we have lots of laughter, we have lots of community sharing, and we were just enjoying meals together and laughing together. And the peanut butter bars were just a part of that.

Brian
Big part of that.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
So, yeah, well, that was one of my big takeaways too, is, I can't remember a time where I've laughed so much, so, so many days in a row sort of thing. Yeah, it's just, it was just a lot, it was just a lot of laughter, joyful, a lot of joyfulness and so many levels. But maybe let's just back up a little.

Ani
Yeah. I had three, one was about peanut butter bars.

Brian
And so, you know, first of all, I kind of want to think about who, who even came there. Let's kind of talk about who, who joined us for this training. And, you know, it was cool because there were people who joined us for the core centering practitioner training who were already teaching things like qigong and tai chi and yoga and Pilates and there were business owners there. And we had two educators, higher, you know, higher Ed educators that were looking for tools to be able to bring home to their student teachers for self care and potentially even to bring into the classroom as well to help students be more regulated with the learning and those sorts of things. And that was super fun. I had a lot of fun with, with them talking about curriculum and lesson planning and, and that's kind of something I'm really into too. So that was really a lot of fun for me. Yeah, we had.

Ani
We had coaches.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
We had coaches that were there, experienced coaches and new coaches. We had people who are already members of our community. We had people who had heard about us but who hadn't joined us for anything yet. And then we had people who were brand new to us.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
We had people who are brand new to Kripalu and people who were seasoned, who come to Kripalu over and over and over again.

Brian
Yeah. Yeah. So it was a lot of fun. It was a great... It was a great mixed group of people. And we do this great ice breaking exercise on the first night and it's kind of, kind of themed around the idea that we already know each other and we kind of come at it from being long lost friends and it really kind of sets up the idea that we all already have a connection right away. Right away.

Ani
Yeah. So it doesn't take three days to get into some kind of rhythm of knowing each other. Just kind of sets it off right away.

Brian
Yeah. And it's a really joyful way to go about doing it too. So it was a lot of fun. And so we all kind of got together really quick. And of course, you know, the daily schedule that we kind of laid out of the learning. Right.

Ani
It was so well done this time to have just the right mix of morning practice, of learning, of experiential learning, of breaks, of food and digestion time and free time. It was a fantastic mix.

Brian
Yeah. Yeah. So we start every morning with a morning core centering practice that's kind of laid out, it's organized. And you led a morning and did kind of a practice how it feels great for you to do it. Yeah. And then we had our assistant lead a morning practice. And so our assistant is a graduate of our... all of our certification programs and he's assisted with us last year at Kripalu as well. And he tells his story, of core centering.

Ani
That was really fun.

Brian
So it's a lot of fun. So really love that and can kind of see possibilities for themselves. So Nathan got to, you know, led a morning and then. And then you both tag teamed a morning.

Ani
Yeah. That was fun.

Brian
Yeah. So the morning practices are really... We plan them around the curriculum to help integrate the work as we go along.

Ani
Right.

Brian
Which is really great.

Ani
Yeah. And. And the morning practices were more led so that the students for this program could learn along the way as they're learning the core centering curriculum. Because we're doing core centering in the morning practice. But we always, no matter what program we do, when we do morning practice, are looking at how the morning practice dovetails what students are learning. I think most of the time when we do morning practice, because we do morning practice for all kinds of retreats and stuff that we lead, I think most of the time it's not mandatory, but it's strongly recommended. But I gotta tell you, I mean, if you're attending anything that we do, come to the morning practices, because not only are they awesome and you're gonna learn a lot and you're gonna feel really good, but we actually organize them such that they really go with learning. You're gonna get more out of everything.

Brian
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We plan. It's not just a random thing we're doing to help people relax or set up their day. It's actually interwoven with all of the teaching that we're doing. It's a part of retreat process. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And then, you know, at Kripalu, it's a silent breakfast.

Ani
Right.

Brian
So some people really enjoy that. Of course, being on the teaching team, you know, we usually... Oh, and the faculty get... get on the same page together in the faculty room in the morning, and we actually get to then meet other faculty that are teaching and presenting at Kripalu at the same time. Which you can come back to talk about now or talk about later. But that was a really fantastic experience.

Ani
I think that was a bit of the universe providing us some magic at Kripalu this time to be able to connect with the faculty.

Brian
Yeah, yeah. With Reggie Hubbard especially. So Reggie was at Kripalu leading a retreat for men of color. And we had some really deep conversations with Reggie. And one of the kind of auspicious, universally ordained kind of things that happened was that Reggie is an aficionado of gongs. And so he's a gong master. He's a gong master. He brought with him for his retreat, like, 17 gongs or something like that.

Ani
Bowls.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
He had instruments wise, like 30 things.

Brian
Yeah, yeah. So he was using that actively as a part of his retreat. And one of the things that happens at Kripalu is they do samplers in the evening. And on one of the evenings we were there, Reggie led the sampler in the great hall and did a gong bath. And there were like 80 people in the hall. And that experience of being a part of that gong bath was just.

Ani
It was profound.

Brian
Amazing.

Ani
And since we had been getting to know Reggie all week, we decided that we would ask the class, you know, you want to go on a field trip on Wednesday and go to the gong bath back together? It was so much fun, I got to tell you. It was kind of like being at a rock concert.

Brian
Yeah, it was.

Ani
Right? So we stood there, what, 45 minutes before so that we could all be as close as humanly possible to the gongs. And then we stood there and chatted and waited for them to open the doors. And they opened the doors and we flood in. And we got in the second row, because the first row, of course, was set up for his students. So we were in a row along the second row waiting for the gongs. I was so excited to watch the show, but I only saw about what, three minutes of it before I went out.

Brian
Or you just melted in Gongland.

Ani
I wasn't asleep. I could tell you about the experience. It was profound. But I couldn't watch because I was like, in a state. It was the bomb.

Brian
Yeah. So you know why I thought it was so universally ordained that we had that experience with the gong bath is because on the... Our intention for this time at Kripalu was talking about deep reset.

Ani
Right.

Brian
Nervous system reset. And so a lot of the way that we organized again, our morning practices, our learnings, our breakouts, the meals, like all the things that we were kind of bringing into this was this idea of around a reset, a deep nervous system reset. And it turned out that those... A lot of those morning conversations we had with Reggie were about his program also being about deep rest.

Ani
Yes. Yeah.

Brian
And so we really were like, wow, let's... There's obviously a need for... This is obviously some type of 'it's in the air' that this is really, really important.

Ani
Really important.

Brian
And so for our field trip, our students to be able to kind of also take part in that process just further deepened and soaked in.

Ani
And being a participant, like all of us, being able to receive deep rest like that reception.

Brian
Exactly.

Ani
That receiving was actually a part of some of our students' intentions when they came. Because we ask people what they want to get out of it.

Brian
Yes.

Ani
Actually some of our students' intentions was about receiving. And the gong bath was a real example of that. Because it is so receptive.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
You know?

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
And I mean, maybe just one more bit about why I thought the gongs were so profound is they went below the level of language to a resonant frequency, a vibrational frequency in my body that you need the gong for like, I can do a lot of really great stuff, but it was like getting me on this, what word...? Primordial. Like primordial, below language reset of the vibrational frequency that was different than... I'd been to lots of other sound bath kinds of opportunities with a lot of different instruments and crystals and bowls and things like that. But the gongs were really, really special for that.

Brian
Yeah. And I think the way that we are kind of having this conversation again with Reggie said gongs are somatic. They're really mindful. They really get you in your body.

Ani
Right.

Brian
Present versus other instruments, which are actually more kind of more spiritual to actually kind of take you out of your body. Yeah. You can really bring you into your body.

Ani
Very present.

Brian
Yeah. Anyway, not to belabor that whole experience because it's my intention that hopefully we can actually invite Reggie here onto the podcast to have a conversation with him about that, because that was just really, really cool. All right, so what else happened at Kripalu? So one of the other things that I just want to kind of know is that when we, when we do these things in person, because we've talked about this a lot, you know, after Covid, it kind of like virtual things started happening, virtual meetings and which by the way, there's a good side for those things because then we can meet with people all over the world simultaneously, of course, different time zones, but it has enhanced connectivity and information sharing, like, for sure. So let's just say that. And on the other hand, I still always need to be reminded that there's not a substitute for being in person. There's just not in that when we do these programs in person at, again, at places like Kripalu or other retreat centers that we work with, the transformations, the deep awarenesses that happen for people almost immediately because, you know.

Ani
Yeah, you can feel it when you live on campus.

Brian
Remember we had a meeting with our current students at the time that were returning to Kripalu again.

Ani
Right.

Brian
And we did a little intention setting, if you remember. We kind of shared with that group kind of what the trajectory of an arc of transformation looks like at or during a retreat experience. And we said, just to let you know, this is how it looks. And at a certain point in time, people are going to start to have kind of like little breakthrough awarenesses or big breakthrough awarenesses. And we're like, typically it happens around day three, sort of thing.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
And we had people day one start to have these... Really starting to have breakthroughs because of the way we run the process, the way we set the container for the process, the way we set it up. And it's really amazing, even with these very simple to do practices, because core centering, they're not complex practices. They're very easy to do. Of course we do them in a certain way that actually enhances the process of breakthroughs, releases, awarenesses, recognizing whatever. However you want to talk about that. Light bulbs. And so it almost started happening immediately. And people having like really kind of deep emotional experiences and connections with themselves of awareness.

Ani
Okay, pause there for a second because I want to say for anybody who hasn't experienced in person work with us, sometimes, a lot of times perhaps when you go do somatic work in person, it can be very big, dramatic, emotional releases, people crying, people screaming, tremoring, like big, big, big, big. And one of the things I think that we do really well and I experienced at this retreat in Kripalu, we experience it a lot with our in-person stuff is this kind of gentle blooming into a transformation. And I mean, it's just really beautiful, you know, so it doesn't have to be big and scary and ugly and gut wrenching to have transformational experiences, especially with somatic work. So the evolution of the transformation for the students, they were having light bulbs and ahas and stuff. It wasn't all like, you know, gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands.

Brian
No gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands.

Ani
There was tons of laughter and, and bright eyes and ideas and releasing and it looked very curious and playful and joyful and all of that stuff. It was really cool.

Brian
Yeah. So I think as far as like a takeaway or a key kind of takeaway is just exactly what you're talking about, Ani, is one of the things that we know that transformation kind of be like is that it can be joyful. And I think you said recently it was either at this group or another group. I think it applies here. Is that when it comes to transformation, when it comes to deep change, we can either meet that with crying or laughing, and either one is actually necessary in order to move through that transformation. And that's in a lot of ways. And either one's great, by the way. Right. So we've done both. You can always pick both. Fine. And in a retreat like this, we chose laughing. We really had an intention to come through to help us move through any change processes through joyful laughter and lightheartedness, cheerful indifference. Like those are kind of a lot of the themes that we were leaning into.

Ani
Yeah. So you started talking about the importance of in person. I'd like to say something about by far my number one takeaway from this experience. I was talking with our students this week at a bonus training for finding ideal clients that we did with our level three grads. About how you need to make sure when you're trying to help educate people and see who you can help and find your ideal clients that you're talking to people who are aware that there's a problem. So I've been thinking about how profound the in person experience was and how a lot of people might not understand actually that some of the problems that they're having have anything to do with making sure that you come and do in person experiences. Yeah, okay. Because, you know, you could be hearing us and saying, yeah, that sounds great, but I, you know, whatever. I don't know if that's for me. So if some of the things that you're dealing with look like, go ahead and, you know, hop on in here with my laundry list. Stress, anxiety, decreased ability to really regulate your nervous system and get in that optimal window regularly.

Ani
Not sleeping great, not having great connected relationships, feeling stuck, feeling like you need to get energy or momentum or motivation. I don't know if you have anything else. You need to get in person. You need to get in person and you need to do it at times that it really helps you to leverage your goals, your intentions, what you're trying to accomplish in your life, you know, because setting yourself up, for example, at the beginning of the year or certain times during your year with an in person experience can have a profound leverage that you might think that you're trying to solve your stress problem, for example, but the problem really is that you haven't been getting in person with people to commune, do transformational work, get in the vibrational frequency that will help you to achieve your goals, be the person you want to be. It is so profoundly important to understand that the solution that you're looking for may actually be to be in community with people who are holding the vibrational frequency that you want to be in and be in that space in person together so that you can get what you want.

Brian
Yeah, yeah, agree a hundred percent. Agree 100%. So another huge takeaway is that that just a continual reminder that in person hits different than virtual. It does, totally.

Ani
There's so much virtual. Like you said, virtual is so great. Thank goodness we have it. It opens up the world to us. And let's please not forget what we knew before COVID that we need to be as humans in person together.

Brian
It's more somatic.

Ani
Yes.

Brian
Right?

Ani
It's more somatic.

Brian
Yeah. You know, another kind of takeaway or thing that happens at the core centering retreat anyway or core centering practitioner program is we're learning these tools and skills during the course of the days we're there. And then the very last morning, oh.

Ani
It's so much fun.

Brian
We get together and we do like a group class and we get in a circle and everybody has five minutes to present a piece of the core centering practices.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
And we have it organized so that kind of follows the flow and the rhythm that we've been working with during the week. And everybody has an opportunity to share and it's always interesting. Even people who are nervous in the beginning really show up in a really strong and again, meaningful and lighthearted way.

Ani
And everybody brings themselves to the practice and so it's unique to them. And when they show up and do their thing, even if they are nervous, who they are shines through and it's really special.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
That's a really fun part.

Brian
It's a great play and really kind of, it kind of brings the, brings the whole training home and empowers people to really be able to get out in the world and bring these things. Because to come to a place like Kripalu or actually to learn these skills at all, whether virtual or in person is really, really important. But. And the most important part of it is turning around and sharing with other people because that's such an important thing. I don't know if I share this on a recent, on one of our recent conversations or not, but I was listening to a podcast recently with Richie Davidson and who does a lot of research on meditation and he's been around for a really, really long time. And some of the research he's shown is that only it's less than 20% of people have a self care practice.

Ani
Wow.

Brian
Less than one in five people actually do a practice like daily yoga, tai chi, qigong, mindfulness, anything like that. And I'm like both shocked and not shocked because you look at the state of the world and the amount of angst and anger and frustration, all those kinds of things in the world. And then it makes sense because yeah. Most people on the planet are not practicing these types of things. And so we have to find ways to lower the barrier of entry for people to start doing these centering practices. And so that's why when people come to do trainings with us, it's... We've done as much as we possibly can and we keep working on it to make it so easy to turn around and start, and start leading practice for other people.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
Because it's so, so, so needed, obviously.

Ani
Yeah. And one of the conversations that we had at the retreat is how when you teach these things for a living, you get to do it too.

Brian
Yes.

Ani
So I don't remember. I think one of us asked a question about why do you do this for a living? So that you can, you know, do this kind of work all the time. And everybody raised their hand. I mean, to be able to... It feeds us back. It's life giving. So it's just like, it's so awesome in that way to be able to do the things that you love to do, make a difference, but also feeds us as well.

Brian
Yeah. That feeds into another actually, another takeaway. So one of the last things we do as a part of this training is we ask everybody, so what's going to get in your way? What's going to get in your way of turning around and sharing this with other people? And one person mentioned something that commonly gets in people's ways and it's that I don't know how to convince people to do these practices and I feel like I can't articulate it or they think it's weird or whatever it is.

Ani
Yeah, that comes up.

Brian
And I said, yeah, you know, I mean, I had that experience too in the past and I remember and I've worked with a lot of people who had that same idea. And here's the thing. When we do our own practices, when we do our own practices and we prioritize them for ourselves, and then we no longer think they're weird. So that when we know that these practices are as important as brushing our teeth, as important as drinking a glass of water, as important as eating food, like all the basic like everyday things that we don't even think about doing or don't we never even question as when we adopt those that way for ourselves, then we never have to convince anybody to ever do it again.

Ani
That's true.

Brian
Right?

Ani
Yeah. Because it doesn't even come up anymore.

Brian
It doesn't come up anymore. It's like it doesn't even occur to us that we have to convince people because it's like, Walt, you have to convince people to brush their teeth? Sort of thing, you have to convince people to eat food? And it's just. It changes our whole internal perspective around bringing these things to people.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
And so the best way to convince other people to do these things is to convince yourself. That's it. Simply, simply said, that's how it is. And the way you convince yourself is just to practice and then slowly start practicing in public a little bit more where other people can see you, and then just kind of growing in that way, which is why leading a practice thing is so important, because then you're practicing in front of people. The more you do that, the less you really care about what other people think about what you're doing.

Ani
Yeah. I'm laughing because I posted a video on social media of Nathan doing a blither shaking and said something in the caption about how if you could shake like a farm animal, what farm animal would you shake like? And I commented below that I shook like a chicken in the practice that we did, and I loved it. It was so awesome. And figuring out that chickens, actually, the last shake is right through their tails, that was so much fun for me. So my kids saw it because they love to follow me on social media, and, you know, they tried to get my goat about it. You know, like, oh, we're gonna shake like a farm animal. Oh, look at me. Shake, shake, shake, whatever. And they just wouldn't stop, but it wasn't bothering me at all. And finally they're like. Like, they just, like, gave up. You know, teenagers, they love to be a pain in the neck. And, like, they just couldn't get me about it. So I was like, yeah. Did you shake like a farm animal today? Like, try it. Have you shook like a chicken yet? Give it a shot.

Brian
Yeah, try it. Chickens don't care. Chickens don't care what you think about them.

Ani
And they just keep on clucking.

Brian
Yeah, exactly.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
So that's just another big takeaway from. It is like, when we really embody our own practice, it just naturally flows from us.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
 And then any manner of ribbing it doesn't even matter anymore. Right. It doesn't matter. We just kind of keep moving on, but we're always inviting people in, in ways that can benefit them if they choose to.

Ani
Absolutely. And it goes back to that, like, don't take yourself so seriously thing. You know, you're taking yourself seriously in life when things bother you. When you're less bothered about things, it's just, you know, you're not taking yourself seriously, like, that's when you know that you got there is things just don't really bug you.

Brian
Yeah, yeah. Didn't you say there was a... Was it your goal or that your goal was to become, you know, you've reached something important when you become the weirdest person on your street?

Ani
Oh, yes, I said that a long time ago. Yeah. I've said a lot of times that my goal in life is to become a crazy old lady. Like, you know, the old lady who just does whatever the hell she wants to do, wears whatever she wants to do and is having the best time. That's. Yeah, yeah. I think I'm well on my way to being a crazy young lady, Brian.

Brian
Yeah, you're getting there. Yes, you're getting there. Awesome. Cool. So as far as, like, these ideas of these are the big takeaways from Kripalu. Just to kind of summarize my thoughts around it. It's like the in person is critical as much as possible, obviously. The food and communing together over food is so important. It's such a primal part of being human. And why I think it's so important to every retreat that we host. The food is an important part of it.

Ani
And communing.

Brian
Yeah. Communing.

Ani
One of the reasons why we do things like we do in a lot of places don't do. You know, is it's important to us that we're eating together. We've really, like, gone through hoops when we're planning events.

Brian
Yes. Yeah.

Ani
To make sure that we can do that. Because it would be a lot easier to just host our retreats at a hotel where everyone went off and got their own food. It would be easier, you know, and less expensive, you know, in some regards for us and like that. But it's that important.

Brian
It is important. It's a key. It's a key.

Ani
The foundational human experience.

Brian
Yeah. Which is why it's so important. So. So that's a key takeaway as well for us. All right, so here's a question for you, Ani, because we'd also said that this was going to be our first reset of the year.

Ani
Yes.

Brian
Remember, we said we're gonna have three reset experiences and this was the first one.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
So my question to you is

Ani
Public accountability that we haven't talked about before. Everybody's listening. Let's go.

Brian
Was it successful?

Ani
For me?

Brian
It was as successful as a reset for you.

Ani
100%. It was. Yeah. And again to that. You don't sometimes know the problem you're having. I actually wasn't stressed out or anxious or feeling off or anything before we went. So that was great because to be able to go and not be all jacked up in my nervous system. Because in the past I have been, you know, I felt good going in and I still got a profound reset. Yes. I definitely. It was so good.

Brian
Was it one of the things, though you went. You felt good going in? I'm just curious. I don't know. And when you were experiencing the reset, you maybe still didn't know how wound up you might have been. Do you you know what I'm asking? Sometimes when you relax down, then, like, I never realized how wound up I was.

Ani
100%. Yeah. And I think it was the day too. You might remember I having a lot of trouble sleeping and I was doing some tremoring in bed and stuff because it was like things were like you needing to clear and things. I had trouble sleeping. Day two, I had some stuff come up. Just like not major body stuff, but to recognize not only was I holding, but I was also kind of buzzy in my system more than I thought I was for sure. I mean, again, that's one of the reasons why these in person things over a few days are so powerful. Because you don't understand. Because it's the water you're swimming in where you are until you actually do start to reset and then you go, oh, snap. I didn't realize that I was actually a little more tense than I thought I was.

Brian
Yeah. Yeah.

Ani
So for sure. And it started to happen for me. Day two, because day one, I came in, I walked into Kripalu. I was like, yay, I'm at Kripalu. Oh, I feel so good. And then I felt so good. Day one and day two, I just felt a little irritated is the wrong word. Agitated's the wrong word. It's just. It was a little like that and then it kind of like washed through me and off I went more into reset mode.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
Oh, how about you?

Brian
Yeah. I would also say for me, it definitely was successful as a reset, but for different, different indicators than I thought it might. So one thing was going into, going into the training, you know, when we're, when we're getting prepared for a training and getting organized, we have our, all of our materials ready. Is the curriculum set up? Like, you know, I mean, there's some, a lot of intellectual, organizational, executive functioning that goes on into that. So in my body, going into it, I was having some stiffness in my back and in my body. And then about. Actually right after the gong wash, I had a big release in my system, which was great. So I felt like I was popped. Yeah. It releases in my back that had been kind of hung up for a little bit. And so that felt like a big, kind of nice release. And so I felt like, okay, I'm definitely feeling a reset happening there because it was definitely a downshift for me. But here's the other indicator. I know I had a good reset experience, not while I'm there, necessarily, but when I come back and not when I come back and I'm, like, ready to go.

Brian
Like. Like, sometimes the illusion is, okay, I have a really good reset. Then as soon as I get back home, hit the ground running. For me, I know I have a good reset if I go into a bit of a...

Ani
A little bit of.

Brian
Well, afterwards. Like a bit of a what I call kind of a dopamine well. Yeah, in terms of I'm kind of like, now the reset is extending into the system. But not only that, but when I come home.

Ani
And it wasn't like being laid out, though.

Brian
No, no, no. Not being laid out. But it's almost more like I came home and I was a little confused and confused by things like some things in the environment that I had left just about four days, five days before, and it come back into. We're like 'why are we doing that? Why is that set up like this? Why? And so I could tell that I had gotten out of the whole pattern system. And it was like I was kind of, like, seeing things, not, like, through fresh eyes.

Ani
Sure.

Brian
But definitely through, like, information just wasn't getting filed in the same way immediately. It's hard to kind of describe. It was kind of, like illusory kind of experience that goes on after that.

Ani
And we had a few moments where we shared experiences. We were like, what is that? It was like, blip, blip, blip. What was that, like seeing the Matrix kind of experience.

Brian
Exactly. Yeah.

Ani
A few days after the retreat.

Brian
Right, Exactly. So that's how I know I had a good reset, is because something happened that disrupted my default mode network.

Ani
Sure.

Brian
And so that's how, again, opportunity for change occurs. Because sometimes even as people that we think are really aware or really conscious or really conscious of our patterns, we're still primarily functioning from that default mode network.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
So that's another really important part about these resets, is it actually shakes loose those habituated ways that we filter the world. It gives us an opportunity to see something differently in a real way. And so I had that experience also. And so I know that was a powerful reset experience because that was an indicator of it.

Ani
Yeah, that's a fantastic way to express it. I experienced that, but I wouldn't have been able to put it into words. I don't even think I was really aware of it to the level that you were witnessing it. So, yeah, how you expressed it is spot on.

Brian
Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like a low level disorientation that's not distressing, but it's really like, oh, and if you know what's going on, then it's like, this is really, really cool.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
Because this is an opportunity actually to shift something.

Ani
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool.

Brian
So reset number one for the year. I would say it sounds like both of us checks with success.

Ani
We did it.

Brian
Cool. All right, so reset 2 is coming up and I'm sure we'll touch base with you about that as well.

Ani
Sure.

Brian
But in the meantime, thanks so much for joining us for this episode of the podcast. Talking about just recapping the inside key takeaways from our in person experience at Kripalu and hope you gained something from that.

Ani
We'll see you next time. Thanks so much for joining us.

Brian
Bye bye.