We welcome back former guest and guest-teacher, Chloé Bovay, to Suncokret late this summer. For the second year in a row, Chloe will be leading an exclusive event in French entitled "Precision and Flow".
Dearest Chloe, can you tell our readers more about what you have been up to since your retreat with us last summer?
After the retreat at Suncokret, I took a break last summer and did a trip to New York. Travelling is important for me, both inside and outside... I love to discover, to observe, to immerge myself in a different places and cultures. My soul has always told me the next place to go... When I come back home, I always feel nurtured by my trip, and more centered.
Then I went back to Geneva where I have been teaching the whole year.
It has been a very special year for me. Very introspective, meditative, with daily walks in forest... I’ve spent a lot of time alone, walking in nature, reading, feeling connected with something within, which ended up with more serenity.
What are your fondest memories of the retreat week you lead at Suncokret last year?
Maybe the last class/practice outside, in this wonderful place, an old abandoned village... It was quite magical.
What was the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge was to teach a whole week with the same group, to take them from one point to the other (I usually teach weekly classes). We all arrived pretty exhausted - the students and me. At the end of the week I could see that the faces had changed, and it was the most beautiful gift.
What are you bringing to the table this year that is different from last year?
More confidence. From this autumn, I’ve felt guided in my teaching by some higher power, I feel more humble and more confident at the same time. I don’t doubt in my way as a yoga teacher anymore. Of course, I am always learning, going to classes myself. But, besides that, and due to deep personal work (which includes meditation, walks, readings and of course seeking help when needed), I feel much more connected with myself, more peaceful.
What are you currently reading, learning, and growing from?
I am currently reading all the books of Marianne Williamson. I feel that I’ve found my spiritual teacher! And even if she is not a yogi, the concepts she is speaking about will influence the message of my teaching, as it is influencing me. I feel much more serene since I started reading her books, especially « A year of miracles », which contains one page to read every morning throughout the course of one year.
For the page of my website concerning the summer retreat I lead last year, I had already chosen a quote which I found later in this book, too (I guess it is not a coincidence):
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Albert Einstein
So, you might have guessed, the key word of my retreat this year will be « Miracle ».
I hope this week will help all of us to open our eyes a bit more widely to the miracles around us, and mainly the miracle within. You know, this small voice within who always knows what to do and what not to do, what to say... Our inner guidance, inner wisdom.
For me this invisible world within is not in contradiction with the physical practice of yoga, which I do need and love a lot. Working on the body, with the body, allows us to see and feel beyond the bodies (physical, energetic, emotional...) that is the mystery and the beauty of yoga. To share my love of this mystery is the beauty and the gift of my life.
Tell us more about your pathway as a yoga student turned teacher, perhaps something about your favorite teacher…
My first yoga teacher, Solar Pope, teaches in Geneva. I felt in love with her pragmatism and spirituality at the same time, and that’s always for me the key point: « spirituality » is not something high above us, but lies in every of our cells, here and now, within...
I didn’t know at that time that I would be able to share this truth later, and it took me time to have more confidence in myself... As I said I consider it a gift to be able to do it. In my own way, with my own words, as the truth never reveals itself exactly the same through different individuals, that’s the proof of the diversity and abundance of the universe. Even if we are all speaking about the same truth. Same truth, different and unique perspectives on it.
Is there any spiritual / yogic literature that you most appreciate and why?
I’ve loved the Bhagavad Gita long before to practice yoga, and wrote an article about it (in French): http://www.yoganova.fr/et-pour-toi-cest-quoi-le-yoga/
How will this year's event be different from last year's and who is the event appropriate for?
The frame of the asanas practice will be more or less the same, even if I never teach the same class twice, and it will include variations taken from the classes I’ve been following during this year and my own practice.
On the philosophical level, it will be quite different: as I said, it will be influenced and infused by what I’ve learned all year long (and what I am still learning, as it is a continuous process).
I’d like to help the participants to connect more with their inner voice, this miraculous voice of wisdom that lies within everyone (when we are listening ;-)) and always tells us who to be, what to do, and especially how to find our special place and purpose in the big picture of life.
What can we expect to learn by attending the "Recognizing Miracles, Precision and Flow" event?
To go a bit further in the practice of asanas, with precision on the physical level and more strength when needed, but also to learn to listen to what is more appropriate for oneself: on and off the mat.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I am more and more grateful of my path as a teacher in general, but also to be able to come to teach in Suncokret Body and Soul Retreat.
I will now tell you a secret: when I first came to Dol two years ago to follow your retreat, at the end of the week my wish to the Universe was to be able to teach one day in a similar place (of course I was not thinking of YOUR place), so when you asked me a few months later if I wanted to come to teach in Suncokret, I had to admit that the Universe had heard my wish and had been even more generous to me than what I had dared to hope!
I am very happy to come back for a second time as a teacher this summer.
What a great blessing to be able to support your journey as a teacher and to assist you in your pathway to share the teachings and inspire others in our beautiful place. We are looking forward to having you back again, dear Chloe! See you soon! Namaste!
For more information about this event, please see: http://www.yoga-sur-les-voies.ch/stage-dete-en-croatie/