Earlier this year, our community gathered in Vietnam (Da Nang & Hue) for a Yoga & Healing Retreat for a nervous system reset.
Having visited Vietnam previously in May and November, I wanted to avoid the extremely hot summer months, and the extremely wet monsoon months — and so we held our retreat in Q3.
As a retreat host, I felt the duty to do weather checks one week before the trip. I was slightly surprised to see that in Q3, there was such heavy daily rain for a week that various parts of Vietnam had flooded! I then prayed daily for good weather during our retreat.
I arrived a few days earlier in Vietnam to settle in and check out our cafe spots. When I landed, it was hot and humid. I thought to myself, better hot and humid than raining and flooding! At least the week-long rain and flood has cleared — I thought, my prayers must have worked!
When our group arrived, I had high hopes everything would go as planned, with perfect weather.
Unfortunately, throughout the first few days, the weather was extremely erratic — raining for a few hours, pouring for a while, and then sunshine.
At some moments, I even thought we might not be able to go ahead with our boat rides and local tours.
How wrong was I!
For our river cruise, it was raining as we were making our way to the port. Yet, we trusted that we could proceed since the cruise was sheltered. The moment we got on the cruise, the skies immediately cleared up.
For our historical tour, it was drizzling and raining in the morning when we started, but slowly, the skies began to clear up, and we had extremely fair weather for the local market shopping and the rest of the day!
On our final day together, the skies were completely clear — and we could do our nature walk and farm visits with the most perfect, cooling weather!
I felt that as Singaporeans, myself included, we always try to make plans around the perfect conditions.
We feel at ease when the weather is fair, and feel stressed and disappointed when the weather is less than ideal.
This includes our life plans as well — our 5-year plans, and doing everything we can to make sure things go smoothly without any hiccups or deviations.
But life rarely happens this way, does it?
What I learnt from this retreat was the importance of resilience and equanimity.
Trusting in our own resilience to overcome any new challenges and still have a good experience, despite small setbacks or rain weathers.
Not letting every inconvenience or setback affect our mood, mental balance, and experience.
We gathered in Vietnam to regulate our nervous system and prioritise self-care.
Being surrounded by nature, healthy food, daily wellness classes, daily spa, and like-minded community on a similar healing journey — it nourishes our soul, and gives us the breather we need from fast-paced living in Singapore.
But beyond a relaxing retreat, I found profound lessons in our ability to both regulate ourselves, while being resilient amidst circumstances beyond our control.
For the Vietnam locals, some drizzling and some rain never deterred them from going ahead with what has been planned — as long as there is no huge thunderstorm.
As I spoke with my favourite manager at our resort, he said this profound line.
“Every weather is a blessing.”
May we keep trusting in our ability to flow with the river of life, no matter what challenges it sends our way.
Because each challenge will strengthen our resilience and allow us to cultivate deeper wisdom.
What has this Vietnam Retreat taught you? I’d love to hear from you.
I hope to see you at our next Nervous System Reset Retreat in Vietnam on 25-29 April 2027.
Sign ups are now open, feel free to drop me a WhatsApp message if this speaks to you.
Till next time!
