Review: Intermission

by H. Murray. Oct. 1st, 2019.

In August, I took an Intermission. I headed from Los Angeles, CA to Manchester, VT for a week in the country with a few like-minded musicians. I had followed Intermission on social media from its inception and wanted to experience it for myself. I felt like I was packing for the adult summer music camp of my dreams, and my suitcase was filled almost exclusively with yoga apparel and music. I took a red-eye flight into JFK and slept surprisingly well (making me wonder if the lady sitting next to me had drool stains on her shoulder). I remember pressing play on The Great Gatsby, read by Jake Gyllenhaal and waking up to the end credits, a compelling listen to be sure.

I hitched a ride from the airport with Intermission co-founder Elena Urioste, and we settled in for a four-hour drive with a quick coffee and snack break on the NY border (Just FYI, flying in and out of Albany Is a much more convenient airport for those thinking about attending in the future).

Elena and I were the first to arrive at the Wilburton Inn, and we got busy setting up the yoga room, loading up swag bags, and ensuring that everything was in order. The roster included several veteran Intermissioners and some newbies like myself. I was excited and a little nervous about spending a week with some of my esteemed co-retreaters. When the website says "seasoned professionals" I would say that perhaps what they get (for the most part) are "Michelin Starred professionals" you know, the type whose recordings you own and listen to, or the type who are winning prestigious awards and completing commissions for Carnegie Hall premieres. I felt a little out of my league.

The Daily Schedule

The retreat followed a loose schedule: meditation at 7:30 am, yoga/movement class around 8, breakfast at 9:30, then free time until 1 pm when lunch arrived, followed by free time or an activity in the afternoon, then 5 pm yoga/movement, dinner around 7 and an evening group activity and share time. There was no attendance policy. You could do or not do whatever you pleased. Some people skipped movement classes to make deadlines, or take a phone meeting, some people wanted or needed to sleep, and some were there for everything. I had an audition the week following the retreat, so I kept myself fairly occupied outside of yoga class with audition preparation and practice. There were some excellent activities organized throughout the week: hiking to the top of Equinox Mountain, swimming at the Quarry, many people went on shopping excursions into town where there is an excellent assortment of outlet shops and consignment shops. I participated a little bit, I met the hikers at the top of the mountain for lunch with a view, and I went on the final hike to Little Rock Pond, but I would have loved to participate in even more, or explore more of the countryside, go for a run or two, or simply sit outside and read a book. Feeling duty-bound to practice in such an idyllic setting was not the most fun-sounding use of my time. Fortunately, I was not the only one feeling the burn of a pressing deadline, and overall the group was very good at being self-motivated to do their work when needed and joining the group later on when they needed a respite from the solitude.

Body Work and Movement Classes

The yoga classes were not strictly yoga classes. We learned a great deal about proprioception, Interoception, CARS (Controlled Articular Rotation), hand-eye coordination, and more. If you watch videos from our class (available on the Intermission Instagram), you will see some bizarre antics, some of which look more like juggling than yoga. We also did some vinyasa yoga, and there was a 5Rhythms session during one of the evening classes.

You could also sign up for bodywork as an add-on option to the retreat, and I cannot recommend this enough! Tiff and Giulia are rehabilitation, and bodywork specialists, and your session includes an initial consult with both of them to discuss your issues or things you feel need attention. One person talked about performance anxiety, I was interested in ways to connect with my back body, and others wanted help with their golf swing (Ahem, Anthony). You had the chance to talk with both of them about what hurt or was uncomfortable, and then you reserved an individual massage session and a bodywork session. I learned in my massage appointment with Tiffany that my pectoralis minor on my bow arm/right side is very tight and that my levator scapula on my left side is almost always in contraction. The physical evaluation explains why dropping my head back in some yoga poses is uncomfortable, and my session with Giulia provided me with some exercises and recovery tools that I can easily do at home using props I already own, like yoga tune-up balls, and yoga blocks to target some of my problem areas and apply self-massage techniques to places that are hard to reach.

Share Time

Share time happened after dinner and was a time we could talk about things, ask questions, plan for the upcoming day, or perform for one another. Share time sounds a little juvenile, but it ended up being something that we all looked forward to at the end of the day. We played card games, Exquisite Corpse, had a bonfire with s' mores, chatted in small and large groups, and more. Throughout the day people would say, "At share time can we…" and it became an essential component of the daily schedule.

The Food

All the food we ate was vegetarian or vegan and catered by Earth Sky Time Community Farm. It was incredible. I probably gained 10lbs of raw vegetable weight from my week in Vermont. I still crave the savory tarts and bread baked from scratch, and I think about the salad dressings and baba ganoush. If Earth Sky ever releases a cookbook, I will be the first one to buy it. Their food is so delicious you don't even realize that you ate a dairy-free meal, or didn't eat meat all week.

Other activities

There were a few organized activities, including a trip to Earth Sky Time for dinner where we ate some incredible food outside on the porch before heading to the barn for a jam session. The members of the farm community joined us onstage, danced, watched, and listened. I watched them watching us for a little while and wondered if they knew who these people were onstage. There were a few classical references, I heard some Bolero on Clarinet, and Lillian sang Summertime with "the band," but there was also some Queen, blues, some original songs by Alfred of the Alfred James band and some other wild, wild stuff. One thing is true about these performers: They like to perform, and it doesn't matter what or where.

We also enjoyed an evening meal at the Wilburton Inn proper. We were staying at a stand-alone house used for retreats and large gatherings, but the Inn also had a more traditional hotel building as well just down the road from us, and we headed there for an evening meal on the patio and to enjoy other musicians play music.

Personal Highlight

Probably the experience I cherish the most now that I've been home for a few weeks is the very last night. At dinner, we each drew a name from a hat and wrote a letter to that person. We then ate our dinner indulged in Share Time where we read and recorded a piece written for us by composer Brian Adam McCune called Proprioception, for those who Radiate Big Time. Brian wrote each part specifically for the humans present at the retreat. There were moments where the sound quite pulsed and throbbed all around the room. I am still in awe that my name is on a score with these other talented individuals. After reading the piece, we headed to the yoga room for a brief movement practice, and then we shared our letters. Elena and Melissa read them for the rest of the group, and they brought tears to my eyes. People picked up on the most lovely aspects of each other throughout the week, even when tasked with writing a letter to themselves. It was cathartic to hear them read aloud by a third person and touching to connect with your letter writer afterward.

Post-Intermission Reflection

It was an emotional and exhausting week. I forgot what music camp is like, when you live in close quarters with other people and pick up on, feed off of, and directly feel other people's energy. People shared personal and sensitive things about themselves. It has been a long time since I've done yoga twice a day, and it wore me out, and the stress of an eventful summer and the impending audition weighed on me all week.

Giulia said at one point: “Change is inevitable, transformation is optional” and the day I left Intermission I remember thinking "not sure I transformed this week, but I feel different, and it feels uncomfortable." Now, almost one month later, I think my transformation is starting to reveal itself. Intermission uncovered some old wounds that had festered silently in me for a long time and confronting them made me feel unexpectedly tender. I am still healing; in fact, I think I am finally starting to heal. During the retreat, I tried to stay collected and not “crack,” but I realize now that transformation isn't something you decide on and schedule into your summer. Feeling that raw was a change I didn't sign up for, and everything that I resisted feeling and expressing in Vermont seemed to gush to the surface when I got home. If I had written this review within the first week, or even ten days after returning home, it would be a very different review — one full of my bruised ego and feelings of inadequacy. Now, I feel stronger because of that week. I've connected with parts of my yoga practice that had gone missing for years and instead of feeling like every note on the page (especially in an orchestra excerpt) is a test I am bound to fail, I can feel the music peak out and smile. As any wise person will tell you, emotional upheaval and discomfort are often when the seeds of transformation take root. Maybe I needed to stare my insecurities in the face to make peace with them.

The Takeaway

My practice routine is now heavily influenced by what I learned from the yoga teachers and other musicians at the retreat. I haven't felt this connected to a daily yoga practice in a long time. I haven't practiced the violin without using my foot rubz ball in over three weeks, and I regularly tie a theraband around my rib cage to ensure that I can feel my lungs expand three-dimensionally. There is also a hilarious text thread between all of the retreat attendees, founders, and movement specialists that makes me giggle, smile, or smirk almost daily. The impact of that one week in the countryside on my life feels like a surge of new energy and zeal. I learned so much, I gained so many friends, I had so many needed experiences, and my garden grew a little greener. So much of what I got from Intermission, I can’t put into words, and so many of the things I treasure are tangible quotes and daily lessons, that I could put into words but simply don’t want to in order to preserve the magic of your own, future Intermission experience.

You can find out more about Intermission Sessions and Retreats on their website. Follow them on Social Media, and also check out the yoga teachers that led our sessions in Vermont - Giulia and Tiffany. Elena and Melissa just held their first European retreat in France (which looked incredible), so if you are reading this from overseas and want to attend, they now exist on both sides of the Atlantic. You can also check out the corpSonore podcast episode where we sit down with co-founders Elena, Melissa, and multiple Intermission attendee Marie to talk about the retreat, how it came to be, the new Intermission App, and the future.