Is Balance a really tangible and consistent thing? or is what we are searching for the ways in which we can flow and shape shift around moving in and out of balance?

If you think about it even when we walk we are in perfect balance for only a moment and then out the next. Perhaps our Quest for Balance is about recognizing those things which take us off balance, or the actions that tip us toward burn out. What if our quest for balance could begin with recognizing the things in our life that are out of balance? , perhaps relationships with ourselves and others, our connection to our bodies and it’s habits and patterns, our connection to the natural world we live in.. seeing these things without judgment and as a catalyst for growth.

Once we are able to see clearly we can begin to cultivate and draw in what we need to create an authentic sense of balance and equilibrium.

The last Quest for Balance Yoga and Sea kayak retreat I facilitated taught me alot about the balance in my relationships. How essential it is for us to cultivate healthy and sacred connections with those people in our lives that we love. I learned how powerful the connection between siblings can be and how the strong and silent presence of our sibling can help us reach our own sense of internal balance.
I realized that the age and time that separates a mother and daughter gets alot smaller as we grow and to nurture our soul connection to our mothers is worth every moment of cultivated effort.

The group of girl friends on our retreat taught me about the sheer joy of friendship and support, how our friends can catch us when we fall off balance or support us when we push ourselves toward an edge.

Most importantly I realized how important it is when we can recognize that our relationship to our self is becoming foggy or distant, that we have been giving away more to others than we are giving to our self. How brave to step out of our everyday commitments and responsibility to simply feed ourselves back to a balance state.

Our shared and collective morning yoga practice on the dock restored my own understanding of balance. When we share special and sacred moments with others we feel our connection to the larger picture. We move into a resonation that is quiet yet crisp and alert, waking up our sleepy senses, this is space where we can hear our hearts and souls speak instead of the chatter of our minds.

When we take the steps to disconnect ourselves from the fast pace stream of every day life, the intuition of balance becomes strong. Have you ever had moments when you are in the perfect place? where you can feel fresh breeze on your skin, where you can feel it move through your soul, where the sound of lapping water calms your whole system, or where the rhythm of silence has resonated deep within you. These moments where you feel so connected to everything around you and within you, that even the choices you make feel clear and instinctive.

I am now understanding that balance is something ever changing and evolving, there is balance between effort and surrender, activity and rest, sun and moon, we are always searching for the way to be within ourselves and the world in a balanced way.. I am looking forward to what lessons and joys will come this weekend as I Quest for Balance with a new group of people, as we learn to ride the waves and currents of life I am hopeful that our times spent in balance will be greater than our times off balance..

With Love.
Wendy.

–
Wendy Martin
Algonquin Yoga Goddess
Northern Edge Algonquin
YogaAtTheEdge@gmail.com

I just got back from an incredible weekend at the Toronto Yoga Show. Our Yoga Retreat Facilitator and I went down for the weekend to promote our Algonquin Park Yoga Retreats and to shoot for our new “From There to Here” campaign, which promotes green train travel from Union Station to Algonquin Park (to view more images visit our Fan Page). We had a blast! Although we arrived in pouring rain on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were just perfect for photos and travel. Friday afternoon was spent schmoozing at the show. We were lucky enough to meet up with some friends of the Edge (Musician David Hickey), Wendy’s mentor, and Cosmo TV (who interviewed Wendy and her husband about how “HOT” couples yoga is. Wendy even got to participate in a couple of the free yoga workshops.

Practicing Yoga at a free workshop

Flow Yoga at the show

Wendy M and Jason are interviewed for Cosmo TV

Saturday morning brought a different type of adventure. We gathered outside Union Station and began shooting. The wind was incredible by the Yogis were even more amazing! They were seriously into getting the job done and were very much in the zone.

Beautiful Yogis Outside Union

Brooke and Wendy at Union Station

As Tall as Building at Union Station

Brooke in Bridge at Union Station

Two Trees on Front St

Following this windy Yoga Adventure we parted ways and continued to schmooze. Sunday morning brought more wonderful weather surprises! The sun came out and the sky stayed blue. We met mid day in Kensington Market, enjoy a great Latte and started all over again. The city provides such an incredibly chaotic backdrop for the tranquility of yoga positions. We took advantage of every nook and cranny, every spray painted wall, and every busy street.

Chaos and Tranquility in Kensington

Beautiful Yoga in Kensington

Headstand in Kensington

oooooohhhhhhhhmmmmm...at the Orange Wall

Green Yoga in Kensington Market

Blue Skies over Yogi's Eyes...in Kensington

Todd and Wendy are chatting about the last of the fall colours.  Todd is hosting Ontario’s Digital Economy in Huntsville, then heading to Manitoulin Island to help the community develop new tourism experiences and bring them to life.

Also, Newsweek and Explore Magazine inquire about Tracking retreats at the Edge.

Congrats to the team for wrapping up a great season this week!  Learn more about Yoga and the Zen of Winter by calling 888.383.8320.

As our final summer yoga and sea kayaking retreat draws to a close, Wendy and Northern Edge Algonquin adventure retreat facilitators are already dreaming up new experiences! In the next few weeks, our new winter yoga retreat will be online, and at least a few new Quest for Balance retreats will come into being this fall.

2009 will also see the highly anticipated return of Quest for Balance II, our yoga and sea kayaking trip on Georgian Bay which has always been a popular one.

As the sun dips lower on the horizon, it’s time to get back into the routines of fall. Remember to take time to appreciate the slow quiet moments and find stillness wherever you are.

Yoga has been a part of Northern Edge Algonquin experiences since 1997 when we featured our first events, which included the Fall Colours Wolf Howl Yoga Canoe trip into Ontario’s Algonquin Park.  Over the years, we’ve added the healing element of yoga to a number of retreats including Quest for Balance, our Yoga & Sea Kayaking Retreat and new this year, Yoga Rhythms: Yoga and World Drumming Retreat

This week, we’ve been hosting Doctors Without Borders HR department for a team building retreat that has included a number of adventurous experiences. For many participants, the highlight has been the yoga sessions which have been interspersed throughout the team building retreat.  Healing Yoga sessions with executive teams here at the Edge have helped team members lower their stress levels and achieve greater levels of achievement and have more productive, healthy relationships.

Hope this finds you all well and excited with the immersion of spring bouncing underfoot. We, at Northern Edge Algonquin are joyfully preparing for another amazing season of yoga retreats, sea kayaking adventures, and women’s only yoga retreats in Ontario. The most attended and sought after yoga retreat is “Quest For Balance”.

These trips merge the exhilaration of sea kayaking on the still waters of Lake Kawayamog, in Algonquin Park with the all the supportive and rejuvenating aspects of daily yoga practices. Imagine, waking in the morning to the call of birds and the pulse of the world awakening with you, meeting your yoga mat placed with intention on the dock surrounded by still, waters and mystic morning fog…here you will greet the day on the edge of Algonquin Park. After a day of sea kayaking the waters of Lake Kawayamog we will once again be greeted by our yoga mats, allowing our yoga to be a balm to muscles that long to stretch and lungs that yearn for deep breath.

The fusion of these activities give us a forum to stretch wide open and play, by taking on challenge we remember the joy of learning and by learning how to retreat and restore we are moving ourselves closer to balance.

This season we will be adding a fresh twist of creativity and surprise to our trips such as; an on site reflexologist, Vicki Arsenault will be available for treatments to deepen and personalize your retreat. Also our returning Kayak guide Kate Moore will share with us some life coaching exercises to support our own personal quest for balance. To deepen and explore your yoga practice I will also like to make myself available to help create a home practice or support you in the challenging pose you always wanted to try, and also help you to work with any on going injury or disease within your yoga practice.

These trips are sure to inspire and invoke us to move more deeply into stillness and Balance. Northern Edge Algonquin offers the best of Yoga retreats in Ontario.

Quest For Balance…. June. 27-30, July. 10-13, Aug. 1-4, Aug. 29-Sept. 01

Quest for Balance 2 this year will not be taking place… we are mapping out a new shape and course for this trip for the future so please keep posted as we move along.. I am trusting that when things dissolve what will be created in its place will be an even more inspiring yoga adventure.

I am very excited to introduce a new Yoga Retreat this season called; “Yoga Rhythms” Yoga, Drumming and the Internal Rhythm. I will be co-facilitating this retreat with an amazing women and Drum Workshop Facilitator Nicole Phippen. We will be thoroughly and completely learning drumming rhythms from around the world such as, Africa, Cuba and Brazil. Nicole will take us through step by step the hand rhythms, songs and dances from thier corresponding countries. We will also learn the importance of how to listen and play as a community. Our Yoga practice will mirror this idea of internal rhythm, how we can learn to move with instinct and intuition opening ourselves to our own internal rhythm and allow it to shape our yoga practice. We will create evenings of music, magic and rhythm drumming by the fire under a blanket of stars. This yoga retreat at the edge of Algonquin Park will bring us closer to the pulse of the earth and move us from the inside out!

“Yoga Rhythms” July 3-6

As you can see we have an exciting season of events planned and it is my hope to see you here at the Edge. E-mail me today and register at yogaattheedge@gmail.com, call the Edge toll free at 800 953 3343, and visit us online for a complete listing of events at www.northernedgealgonquin.com.

The basic invitation is to move gently and with exquisite attetion to wherever one finds a limit or boundary. This is true balance. The challenge is to be with the breath all along the way.

Be Well..

Wendy Martin ( Algonquin Yoga Goddess)

Thanks to retreat participant Kim Dewar for sharing this photo and also for bringing light into our office with a gift from Muskoka Candle Co.

My first impressions of the Edge – blossoming, fresh, green, connected, magical – proved accurate as the four days of our Quest for Balance Yoga and Sea-kayaking program unfolded.

As an outdoor educator and guide, I have been to many centres, camps and retreats in my career and yet I was, and am still, ‘wowed’ by what I experienced at the Edge. To paraphrase the participants, the Edge is authentic: there are no holes; their intention is carried through in everything from the lovingly prepared food to the solar power and composting toilets to the program, the Gratitude Garden and more.

This was my first time facilitating at the Edge. All the staff there and my playmate and co-facilitator, Wendy, made me immediately feel at home.

There are plenty of images that flash to mind as I think of my four days at the Edge: our group listening rapturously to Greg as he presented what we would be eating at each meal; waking the group with the sound of drums and rattles in the morning; reading the magical and inspiring story of how the Edge came to exist; watching Marg with Angie perform a spontaneous and flawless “Assisted Sea-Kayak Rescue” that they had learned the previous day; sharing stimulating conversations in the dining hall and on the water; doing yoga together on the dock as ducks swam by.

Our participants came from as far away as Sault Ste. Marie and England. They gelled quickly as a fun, creative, supportive group. Together, we co-created a magical experience.

I’m just back from my first time to the Edge and already imagining returning.

Thank you to all!

S. Kate Moore

Sea-Kayak Instructor and Quest for Balance Facilitator

Thank you to Judy Vye for sharing her Women’s Quest for Balance Photos….. we posted them here.

If you have photos from this event and would like to add them to this library, please email them to todd.lucier@gmail.com and we’ll add them to this collection.