DEEP RELAXATION MINI-RETREATS
ISSANI DAY SPA
Why not experience a 2 hour immersive Rainforest Relaxation at Issani Day Spa during your Daintree stay?
Issani’s Deep Relaxation techniques create suppleness, openness and a deep letting go in body and mind leaving you feeling lighter, clearer.
If you book ahead, Deep Relaxation Mini-Retreats can be booked most days at a time of your choice in this beautiful Rainforest Oasis.
Booking your Mini-Retreat also entitles you to a 10% discount on all Spa Treatments at Issani day Spa
Scroll down to find out more about the seamless progression of techniques at one of Issani’s gentle Deep Relaxation Mini-Retreats and how to book your own Daintree Mini-Retreat …
Easy, fluid movements to create suppleness and warmth in the body. We develop subtle awareness of how we are holding ourselves in space and techniques to improve without effort. Suitable for any ability.
A gentle practice that allows the release of deeply held tensions whilst you are fully supported, lying on an extremely comfortable mat. Whilst in a state of relaxation, physical, emotional and mental tensions held deep in the connective tissues are effortlessly released. By gently unblocking tensions, we allow energy and the fluids of the body to flow, hydrating and softening previously dry and tight fascia and connective tissues.
Excellent for gently realigning the body and posture.
Simple positions are held for a minute or two, allowing the body to release into gravity with no pushing, no pressure … no effort no trying.
Apart from the benefits of increased flexibility, suppleness and postural alignment this practice develops the ability to allow and let go that will flow into your daily life, especially if you practice regularly.
It also creates a safe, grounded foundation for Sitting in Stillness Meditation.
Because of my understanding of the myofacial connective web, I realised, during my years of intensive meditation with my teacher Linda Claire, that our myo-fascia holds not only physical tensions. It is also holds the mental and emotional residues of the past. I practice and share gentle myo-fascial Connective Web Release to soften, and loosen the whole body-mind. This also greatly eases and enhances meditation as it is a gentle way to feel “in our body” and be present and grounded enough to benefit from Sitting Still in more formal meditation practices.
Deep Relaxation is a guided journey, taken as you rest comfortably lying on your mat… a journey throughout your whole body-mind that takes you deep into a restorative space where tensions automatically release.
Simple Awareness of sounds, feelings, and thoughts as they arise brings us more intimately into the present and to the realisation that we are the unlimited Awareness or Presence that sensations arise in.
A gentle gong will mark time passing at 10 minute intervals and you can choose to stay Sitting in Stillness or transition to lying down on your cushioned mat and relaxing in Shavasana or unwinding on your mat go for a quiet walk or have a herbal tea…whatever you like at your own pace. We close the session with some gentle awakening activity …
Pre-booking is essential!
1 person – $180
2 people – $120 per person
3 people – $80 per person
4+ people – $70 per person
There is a limit of eight people.
Water and herbal teas included
For a more intensive Relaxation experience, check out Ayurvedic Rejuvenation Retreats that begin with One Day Retreats and combine Ayurvedic Massage, Shirodhara, Deep Relaxation and more …
Alternatively, you are welcome to join the local group sessions held from the beginning of July to the end of October. These session are held twice weekly at 3:30 at a cost of $25 per person.
Please wear comfortable clothes and bring your water bottle. Filtered creek water and herbal teas are also available at the Day Spa. The weather is generally mild and sunny, around low to mid 20’s during the day and a little cooler morning and evening. There are very few mosquitos during the tourist season. Carefully positioned fans keep any insects at bay with insecticide sprays on hand, essential oil based and otherwise. Comfortable mats and cushions are provided. If you have a favourite meditation cushion or stool, please feel free to bring it with you. Zafu cushions and and comfortable chairs are provided. The mats also make a great floor cushion for meditation cushions and stools.
During the Passive Stretching & Sitting in Stillness mediation, you can change techniques as whenever feel to. in the early stages of the retreat we will practice these together. Once you are familiar with the practices, you can mix it up as you feel to and either stay sitting in meditation or change to any mat practice, or simply take a break, relax by the creek and enjoy a herbal tea.
The Gentle Movement, Discussion & the guided Deep Relaxation are done together as a group.
No. The retreat structure allows for individual pacing and choice. However, all participants are expected to be quiet and respectful of other’s practice. Please arrive before the beginning of each session to settle into the practices together.
Myo-fascial Release | Restorative Yoga | Continuum Movement
Connective Web Release grew out of my desire for a gentle self-healing process that wouldn’t force my body. Applying my knowledge of gentle, yet powerful myofascial release to my own body problems that stem from rotated hips and a lot of fascial constriction, head and neck problems and trigger points that don’t respond well to harsh interventions. I have formulated Connective Web Release and found to be extremely beneficial in gentle re-aligning my posture and creating more suppleness and bouyancy in my fascia and well-being.
Advaita or Non-dual philosophy | Francis Lucille | Rupert Shira | Unmani | Anasuya Devi | Nissargadatta Maharaj | Ramana Maharshi | Japanese Zazen meditation | Vipassana Meditation | Life | Linda Claire & her teachers. Linda was my meditation teacher for ten years and gave me permission to teach.
The Relaxation mats are 10 cms deep and extremely comfortable, with good spongy resistance and support. They are covered with two layers of thick, soft mink blankets.
There are also yoga mats, flat supportive cushions for head support, and extra cushions for arm support whilst lying down and for hand rests during meditation.
Large meditation cushions are available, filled with buckwheat hulls. They are positioned on the spongy mats, so the base of the body and the knees are supported and you can transition easily to a lying down position for Myofascial Relaxation or Yoga Nidra practice.
Zafu meditation cushions are also available to purchase.
You can choose to kneel or sit cross-legged on your meditation cushion, or sit in one of the comfortable chairs provided.
Woorabinda Room 3 adjacent to Woorabinda Lake with an entrance to the carpark left of the lake entrance.
Room 3 is opposite the first entrance you come to.
REVEALING YOUR ESSENTIAL NATURE
Whether consciously or not, we are all driven by desire, but what is the fundamental desire underlying all our separate desires? If you look closely, you will find the primary desire is for continuous peace and happiness, independent of transient conditions….for no “apparent reason.”
When engaging in an activity that absorbs us, we sometimes feel we have been transported “somewhere” or have been in “the zone”. Actually, we have been nowhere. Circumstances have temporarily connected us to the truth of our being and awakened us to the depth of our presence.
Our primal being is peace, happiness and unsullied awareness. It is so close and intimate, we tend to overlook it, like the sugar on the table, a sweet no-thing, the timeless, transparent presence in which everything is arising moment by moment.
As babies, the conditioned body-mind was not present, so we know that Awareness precedes the formation of the conditioned self. The conditioned body-mind arises by modifying some of the original Pure Awareness, becoming the deeply rooted “me as body-mind” idea. Babies are so attractive and delightful precisely because they precede this contraction and exude Awareness.
We have spent a lifetime unconsciously holding onto our conditioning. The identification, maintenance and attachment to the separate self requires a lot of energy and effort.
We can gently reverse this process, letting go into each moment of presence. We discover we are more than a dry set of memories and mind-stuff. We are life, pristine and eternally new.
This does not require a dismantling of the conditioned self or becoming an optionless, opinionless robot. If we look closely, we can see we are actually more robotic when driven by unconscious patterns. We simply question the identification and shift that emphasis from the limited, conditioned self to the actual pure freedom at our core. The tail becomes less and less likely to wag the dog, but we still keep our tails!
Awareness precedes both the body and the mind. Both arise within Awareness.
With gentle practices, the human body-mind can assume it’s most important purpose, becoming a unique conduit to absolute Awareness.
The transient body-mind is not “purpose built” for ultimate happiness. We all experience relative moments of happiness during favourable circumstances, yet deep down we know everything will change at some stage, including our body-mind. What we really crave is un-changing peace and happiness. Only this will authentically satisfy us at the deepest level as only this is what we essentially are. Our body-mind can, however, become a vehicle through which we can realise and live as limitless awareness.
Thinking we are just separate body-minds, we create individual virtual realities, which can be sometimes entertaining, sometimes painful, but cannot completely satisfy.
Because we are infinite, living this way confers a sense of lack. We try to fill this empty feeling, seeking happiness in external objects and pleasant sensations. As all objects, including our body-mind eventually pass away, we find no Ultimate Happiness in them and often feel fearful, saddened, frustrated and confused. This is not necessarily a bad thing. This friction and annoyance can encourage us to enquire more deeply into the Truth of Reality, the Truth that we are. We do not transform into an enlightened being. We reveal the pre-existing truth of our being.
We crave freedom because it is our essential Nature. This craving is not the problem, only the mis-placement of it. The Awakened state is not one in which there is no fun, pleasure or enjoyment. Most experiences become satisfactory as they arise freely and spontaneously in and as Awareness.
A Deep Relaxation Retreat can support you in revealing your essential Awareness via self-enquiry and as gentle, felt experience.
HOW TO DO THIS?
