European Adventures
People come to Byron for holidays and I guess beach holidays are something that are nice for kids; I remember them with my parents when I was a child. Or perhaps they are a relaxing break from city living. So to some my life in Byron Bay might seem like an endless holiday, but I've never found such a holiday a relaxing break. To me it is a balanced lifestyle afforded only as I've never had children or other costly responsibilities. Through my adult life I've opted for rough and cheap travel – backpacking in Europe and much time spent in India. Again interesting travel, but not so relaxing. My true breaks have always been yoga and/ or meditation retreats and I've been blessed with lots of opportunity to spend many weeks of every year in retreats – teaching, assisting or attending.
So in Europe this year I had a bit of everything. We hired a campervan for the first part and explored some national parks in southern Italy, which where totally stunning. Driving a campervan (on the other side of the road) in Italy was a challenge that I embraced. As I age, more than ever I feel it's important to stay on the edge of my comfort zone! I will link you to some photos that give you a taste – Pietrapertosa, Morano Calabro, Rotonda - stunning and barely a tourist in sight (another thing I really seek in travel). And I had to speak Italian, as my Italian was definitely better than the southerners English. Many challenges for sure, but the most entertaining was attempting to drive up the mountain roads to get to these hilltop towns. I discovered after sometime the locals' trick of doing 3 point turns to manage the hairpin turns. One such time though when I stalled in 2nd gear I decided that our van was not meant to go up these hills in 1st and thus we rolled back down the hills, reverse 3 point turned and hit the highway to go around the mountain.
After this adventure we met most of our retreat group in Matera – this was my 3rd visit and totally will not be my last, it's such an authentic and historical rich place that boasts the best of Italian culture.
Next we got to relax. Yes, even teaching a retreat is relaxing for me. As a facilitator of the space I delight in dropping into my own practice as I share with others. And wow what an amazing group of people. Everyone gave there fullest sparkly self in abundance – so much kindness, wisdom and positive regard. What a blessing. Now, let me say this was a yoga holiday but still very much a spiritual retreat. It was absolute luxury, particularly the food. Though it was served as a buffet, it was effectively a 8 course Degustation every night – Michelan level dining! This is a practice we embraced. Particularly for the women and mothers in the group, (who are accustomed to sacrificing themselves for family), there was the opportunity to notice the relationship we have with receiving and self nurturing and this was definitely a theme in our afternoon talks.
The final 10 days of my trip were spent in the French Pyrennes, with my teacher Clive, assisting the asana with a group of his European students. Our venue, Mas Vilalte is a more classical retreat space, a old hermitage set in tranquil mountains with significant forest on the property. It's also on the edge of the GR10 a famous pilgrimage walk. I find the forest very mystical and to be approached with caution (a guide) as there are portal's to other dimensions everywhere – quite disorientating. If you are thinking of joining my retreat there next year read “The Portal” by Patrice Chapman to get a sense of the magical esoteric history.
We again had amazing retreat food – our hosts Manuela and Costantino are Italian – so the food was still exquisitely Italian, though there was a bit of french mountain cheese from a local producer.
So, enjoy my pics and will send soon details of future retreats for your planning.