Today, 4 Ix invites us to ground the feminine power of Mother Earth within our bodies, connect with the magic of the jaguar and her grace and awareness, and recognize that our physical presence and embodiment is itself a sacred act of service to the planet.
Essential Questions:
- How do I honor Mother Earth through my body and my actions?
- What magic wants to manifest through my physical presence?
- Where do I feel most connected to the Heart of the Earth?
Ash Fletcher was one of the first people I met upon moving to Guatemala in 2009. We were part of a cohort of new teachers at the American School of Guatemala and became fast friends. (In fact, she is the one who introduced me to Pasajcap, the neighborhood here at the lake where I’ve lived since 2015.) In 2010, Ash and I started co-leading weekend yoga retreats together both at Lake Atitlán and Earth Lodge near Antigua. She moved to upstate New York in 2011 and founded Wholesome Living. We continued our friendship through annual visits, though we took a lengthy hiatus from leading retreats together.
In early 2023, we resumed. Now we offer week-long yoga adventures with evolving themes and venues. “Go to Glow” was held at Cerro de Oro. In 2024, “Hummingbird Medicine” brought us to a lakefront house in San Marcos La Laguna. Then “Lake Magic” unfolded at the Bambu in Tzununa. Each year, groups of yogis from the Yoga Shala Clinton community in upstate New York joined us. This past January, our theme was “The Joy Path” and it was a delight, as usual.
Each retreat has been a unique and valuable experience full of personal growth, fun, ceremony, cultural and hiking adventures, amazing vegetarian meals, and daily practice. We create sacred space together, tending to the heart of ourselves and the heart of the Earth.
This coming January, we invite you to join us on the Heart of the Earth retreat at Bambu Guest House in Tzununa. This week-long journey invites you to slow down, reconnect with Mother Nature, and remember your place in the web of life. Through daily yoga and meditation, sunrise cloud forest hikes, cacao ceremony, Mayan fire ceremony, personal readings, and service work at Wellkind, we’ll practice the radical act of listening to the volcanoes, the lake, and the ancient wisdom held in this sacred land. You’ll leave with a full heart and a renewed sense of belonging to the living world.
This is 4 Ix manifested: the feminine power of Mother Earth brought into our bodies, hands, and hearts. When Ash and I guide retreats, we invite participants to move with grace and heightened awareness, tending to the magic that lives in every breath, every step, and every moment of connection. We ground ourselves in the sacred earth of this land, and through our physical presence—in the gardens, at the lake, in ceremony, and in service. We help others remember that they belong to something far larger than themselves. The Heart of the Earth retreat is an embodiment of Ix magic: feminine, grounded, magic, and sacred.
Maltiox, Nawal Ix.
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