As more of our learning and lives shift online, here’s why in-person experiences matter more than ever.
I spend a lot of time alone. Well, alone with my phone.
I listen to podcasts while I cook dinner. I brainstorm content with ChatGPT while I walk. I strength train with a coach inside an app. These tools are beautifully efficient. They keep me inspired and productive and moving. And often, they’re just enough of a substitute to keep me from feeling lonely.
I also do most of my yoga teaching, and yoga learning, on Zoom. It’s an incredible way to connect with students across time zones and continents. In a recent Restorative class, I had students joining from Morocco to Mississippi, Paris to Petaluma, and Cozumel to Cape Cod.
But what we gain in convenience, we lose in connection.
A few times a year I lead and retreat, or get to take a retreat as a student. And what I notice during those weeks is that I spend almost no time with my phone. Because I’m too busy eating all my meals with other humans, or having long chats over a second cup of coffee, or doing yoga with my sangha—the community of practitioners.
But on retreat, it’s not just about the practice. Some of the most meaningful moments unfold in the in-between. In the breaks between sessions when I sit next to someone new at lunch. Or, take a walk with someone I’ve known for years. When we dare to talk about real things.
Those unscripted, analog moments create a kind of belonging that’s hard to replicate online. Because something powerful happens when we gather together that doesn’t happen when I’m alone with my phone.
One of the reasons it feels different is something called co-regulation. This is the process by which our nervous systems subtly attune to one another. It happens through small cues—facial expression, tone of voice, posture, even the pace of breath. What this means is that if I’m in a room with someone calm and grounded, my own system starts to match that state.
It’s not conscious. It’s biological.
The vagus nerve, which helps govern the parasympathetic nervous system, plays a central role in this process. It’s part of what neuroscientist Stephen Porges calls the “social engagement system,” a network that evolved to help mammals feel safe in groups.
When we feel safe—when we are held in a calm, regulated environment—the vagus nerve sends signals to slow the heart rate, deepen the breath, and reduce muscle tension. This is the parasympathetic nervous system in action: the part of the autonomic nervous system responsible for rest, repair, and digestion. In other words, the conditions that allow healing to occur. And that process is not just internal, it’s relational.
This is why we feel different after a hug, or why a conversation with someone grounded can have a calming effect long after it ends. Our nervous systems are always in dialogue, even in silence. In-person yoga practice makes this dialogue more available. We’re not just influenced by the teacher, but by every other body in the room. And that shared field—the subtle presence of other humans—leads to healing.
This means that on retreat I don’t have to try so hard to regulate myself. Just being around other steady, calm bodies helps my own body settle. Connection becomes more available, not because I push for it, but because I’m held in a field that supports it. This is the power of community. This is the power of sangha.
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Whether or not you went to summer camp as a kid, this retreat evokes that playful, open-hearted feeling. Join Restorative Yoga pioneer Judith Hanson Lasater and effervescent daughter Lizzie Lasater for a week together making new friends, being outside, feeling creative, and losing track of time, Aug 1 – 8, 2026, “Yoga Summer Camp: Finding Connection and Creativity.”
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ABOUT LIZZIE LASATER:
Lizzie Lasater began teaching Vinyasa Yoga in 2005, before earning a Masters in Architecture from Columbia University.
She lives in Salzburg with her partner and twin boys where she produces online yoga courses, leads retreats, writes a free Slow Sundays newsletter, and designs spirit jewelry.
Learn more about Lizzie: lizzie.yoga