Corbett, at a Slower Pace

Three days of yoga, meditation, nature walks and time to do very little reminded us how good it feels to slow down once in a while.

3 days from Gurugram to Jim Corbett

Trip highlights: 

• Yoga and meditation

• Guided nature walk

• Quiet resort time 

• Pool and leisure

• Sunset tea

• Games and conversations 

• Time to simply switch off

We left Gurugram early in the morning for Jim Corbett with a fairly simple plan. Spend three days away from the usual routine, practise yoga, be outdoors and leave enough time in between to actually enjoy being there.

There was no long sightseeing list waiting for us. No rush to cover one place after another.

By the time we arrived at the resort, had lunch and settled into our rooms, that slower pace had already begun to feel good.

Some headed towards the pool. Some found a quiet corner. Others sat around talking. Nobody seemed particularly interested in checking what came next.

And that was exactly the point.

The First Walk Into the Green

Our first evening began with a guided nature walk around the resort.

It was an easy start to the trip. No big agenda, just a chance to step outside after the drive, stretch our legs and take in the surroundings.

The forest has a way of making you notice small things. Bird calls become louder. You start looking more closely at the trees. Even an ordinary walk feels different when there is no traffic or screen competing for your attention.

By the time we returned for yoga and meditation, the group was already beginning to settle in.

Dinner that evening was relaxed. Conversations moved from introductions to families, work, travel and the usual stories that appear when a table of people have nowhere else they need to be.

Mornings Felt Different Here

There is something especially nice about doing yoga when the day around you is only just beginning.

The sessions were not about complicated poses or how flexible anyone was. People came with different levels of experience and simply joined in at their own pace.

There was movement, breathing and meditation, followed by breakfast and an entire day that did not feel as though it was chasing us.

At home, most mornings quickly become a list of things to do.

Here, there was time to finish a cup of tea while it was still hot.

That felt like an achievement in itself.

The Pleasure of Having Nothing Urgent to Do

A lot of holidays somehow leave us needing another holiday afterwards.

We had deliberately kept this one different.

There was time for the pool, reading, resting, chatting and doing absolutely nothing without feeling that we should be somewhere else.

Lunch could stretch a little longer. Someone could disappear for a nap. A conversation could continue without anybody checking the time.

There were games and lighter moments too, and by then the group had moved well beyond polite first day conversation.

People who had arrived knowing very little about one another were saving seats at meals, sharing photographs and laughing about things that would probably make very little sense to anyone outside the group.

That part was never on the itinerary, of course.

It rarely is.

Yoga, Tea and an Evening Together

As the day softened, we returned to yoga and meditation.

The evening sessions had a different energy from the mornings. Everyone was more relaxed, both with the practice and with one another.

Afterwards came tea, time around the resort and an evening that gave everyone a reason to dress up a little and enjoy being together.

By then, phones were appearing mostly for photographs rather than emails.

Dinner ran into conversation. Conversation ran into laughter. And nobody seemed to mind that there was not much more to report about the evening than that.

Some of the best parts of a trip are like that.

The Morning We Did Not Want to Rush

The final morning came sooner than expected.

There was one more chance to move, breathe and enjoy the quiet before breakfast and the drive home.

Packing felt slightly less appealing than it had two days earlier.

Three days is not a very long time. We had not travelled across several cities or filled our camera rolls with famous landmarks.

But that was never what this Corbett trip was meant to be.

We remember the greenery, the walks and the yoga sessions. We remember tea at the end of the day and mornings that began without rushing. We remember the conversations that became easier as the weekend went on and a group that felt noticeably different by the time we left.

Corbett gave us the setting.

The slower pace did the rest.

And sometimes, that is enough.