The Amazing Pause Retreat at the Slowness Himalayas

The Amazing Pause Retreat at the Slowness Himalayas

I attended the Pause Retreat at Slowness Himalayas recently, and it was something that I really needed, even without knowing that I needed it.

The Beautiful Setting

Let me first talk you about the setting. Slowness Himalayas is located in Basgaon in Uttarakhand. The nearest railway station is Kathgodam, and the nearest airport is Pantnagar. To reach Basgaon, which, if you stop to eat on the way, is about three hours from Kathgodam. Slowness can arrange a taxi for you. That’s the best way to get there.

Once you arrive at Slowness, it is the home of Kriti, Ashish, their daughter Veera, and their two dogs, Shanti and Winter. They live at the top of the terrace fields that stretch through the property. Midway on the terrace is the Stone House, which has just four rooms for guests, along with the dining area where we have most of our meals. The Stone House is built by using local materials and using local techniques. At the short distance from the Stone House is the dining area.

Everything else is nature, plants, trees, flowers and serenity. From many parts of Slowness Himalayas, on a clear day, you can see views of the Nanda Devi range of mountains.

The Pause Retreat at the Slowness Himalayas

Pause Retreat is typically a six nights, seven days experience where you stay at the Stone House and take part in a series of thoughtfully curated activities, the core of which was the guided meditation. The whole idea revolves around leading a slow, purposeful life.

Our instructor, Harshil, is the kindest yoga teacher I have ever encountered. Being from India, I am not particularly enamored by yoga. It’s something that feels internal to us, almost intuitive. A lot of what I see these days feels like fluff, and I don’t really connect with it. But Harshil is different. She keeps everything slow, meets participants where they are. She makes it relevant, and brings a deep sense of kindness into the practice.

Alongside meditation, there are other beautiful experiences, cacao immersion and forest bathing with Prachi and Sai, slow fashion with Kriti and her team, where we experimented with natural dyeing. That, in particular, was a riot. We did some dyeing with indigo and we almost became children!

We also had two sessions with Ashish, one on the philosophy of slowness, and another on permaculture, which explores a slower, more mindful way of relating with food. On one of the days, we experienced “slow relationship,” visiting a neighbor’s home in a nearby village for a meal.

I could go into the details of each activity, but that would take away from the joy of discovering them for yourself. What I can say is that each one is thoughtfully designed and genuinely enriching. I valued each activity that I participated in!

The unique point of the Pause Retreat is that all guided activities wrap up before lunch, leaving the rest of the day open for you to simply be.

After lunch, it was me time. I was free to do whatever I wanted, rest, sit quietly, or pick up a book and read.

Me Time at the Pause Retreat

There is a more than hundred year old oak tree within the premises, which quickly became one of our favorite spots to relax in the afternoon. There were also two hammocks, on the first day, I thought I would just soak in the sun but I kept drifting off, nodding into sleep.

Then there was the observation deck at the very edge of the property. Beyond it, you could see a few distant neighboring homes, with stretches of forest in between. It was an absolutely fascinating place to sit in the sun, wander through your thoughts, and listen to countless birds chirping around you.

There were so many little corners to choose from. And if nothing else called out to you, you could always retreat to your cozy room and take a nap.

This beautiful balance between guided experiences and complete freedom to be in the second half made the retreat truly special for me!

Food Tales from Slowness Himalayas

Let me talk a little about the food now. Since the nearest supply lines are far away, you eat what is grown locally and what is available within a one to two hour radius. And the kitchen team of Dhiraj, Dhirendra, and Vijay did a wonderful job bringing all of it together.

To give you an example, one day, along with another participant from the US, Ronit, and I went on a village walk. Along the way, I noticed these huge lemons, the kind you see in Italian movies, growing everywhere. No one was picking them; many had fallen to the ground and were just lying there.

I found a fresh one, picked it up, and handed it to the kitchen team. The next evening, they surprised me with a wonderful local dish called Nibu San, made using that very lemon. That’s how local and fresh the food was. They also bake their own breads and cakes!

The meals were an absolute delight and deeply satisfying. Everything was vegetarian, which suited me perfectly. They also had eggs, which I eat and enjoyed at breakfast. And tea was always in plentiful supply which, for me, is essential.

Closing Thoughts

So how do I sum up an experience like this? I’ll tell you, it has been more than 15 days since I came back and my head is still stuck at the Pause retreat in Slowness Himalayas. I still think about it daily. I will not say I am very successful after coming back in maintaining that rhythm, but I had a huge problem in life. I detested getting up early in the morning. The one thing that has stuck with me is I go to bed at a reasonable hour, so I am able to wake up at a reasonable hour in the morning and I am loving that rhythm. It allows me to play tennis with a lot more peace.

I will also say that we had a talk about a term called digital pratyahara (Harshil’s term), that we need to kill the digital cravings and focus more on ourselves, more on natural activities. I will not say I am very successful. But I am aware and also realizing how addictive these social media apps are. I should not blame anyone, I myself create content, but I mean that is a thought that is still with me and I am struggling with it. So, if you are looking for a small retreat to find some time for yourself, you could look at Pause with Slowness Himalayas. They have three more retreats coming up in the year and each retreat has just four participants in it.

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