We started with a morning of silence to soak in the teachings we've had on mindfulness and permaculture. This included an early morning silent meditative walk along the cliffs, a silent ashtanga practice led by Em and a silent mindful breakfast. We then returned to speaking over a cup of tea and then headed outside for our closing share circle where we shared highlights from the week and feedback. We then had a veggie BBQ in glorious sunshine as a way to celebrat the retreat, we made vegetable & tofu skewers and bean burgers and also had some cheeky toasted marshmallows. Post BBQ we walked around the coast to the local beach where we had ice cream, cream tea and a swim in the sea (after the tea and cream had gone down). I had to head off slightly earlier to get back for a wedding but I'm told the evening was a chilled one with people making the most of the view and...the leftovers.
This has been one of the most beautiful weeks, I'm so grateful to be part of the Seaways Retreats team and to work with such inspiring women. I'm also uncredibly grateful to our beautiful group of retreaters who have been so open hearted and open minded and have really bonded as a group. Can't wait till October where we get to do it all again. Thanks for tuning in to my blog and following our story, Namaste xx
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Day 4 began with another early morning stroll, this time to a community garden where the guys picked berries for us to have on our porridge. Em then guided us through the most amazing Hatha chakra balance session where she explained each chakra and the specific colour, mantra and emotion associated with it. We flowed through a sequence of poses to balance all 7 energy centres finishing with a very floaty savasana. We then headed in for another hearty breakfast of porridge, fresh berries, yogurt, smashed Avacado on toast and poached eggs. There was then a period of free time and some very indecisive weather. Lunch was cauliflower cheese, ratatouille and green lentils which was really comforting as the weather had turned quite cold. At 4pm we had Mike Jelly from the Polperro Environmental Group come to talk to us about the work that he does in the local area. He gave a really inspiring talk about the environment and the projects that they're involved with and then sang us a beautiful song he had written about a local beach. Feeling really uplifted and inspired we then went straight in to Yoga Nidra session. We finished the session with a seated mindfulness meditation that focused on the impermanence of thoughts and feelings, very fitting on such an up and down day. Dinner was a restorative pea and watercress soup which once again really hit the spot. The evening sky was clear and the moon shining brightly so we decided to make the most of it by sitting in the jacuzzi and swimming in the pool. It was then hot showers and bed.
We were met with cooler weather and a bit of rain on day 3 but still set out at 7:30am for our nature walk, this time along the coastal path in a different direction. Our destination was a small war memorial nestled on the cliffs, where many of the family names from the village were carved in to the stone. We paused to remember those that had given their young lives so that we could now live freely. The rain began to pick up the pace a little so we did too as we set off back to Seaways. Emily then guided us through Power Yoga which I haven't tried before but really enjoyed. It was definitely a challenge but Savasana felt so good at the end and so did breakfast. We had a hump day breakfast with a few extras to help us with energy. As well as porridge and fresh fruit we had smashed Avacado on toast and poached eggs and then everyone went off to enjoy the morning. A couple of the retreaters had their massages and nutrition talks with Emily and one of them went down to the village to take part in a painting workshop. Once again we gathered for lunch, pausing to give thanks for the hearty baked vegetarian baked bolognaise that was before us. After lunch Emily taught the group how to make bliss balls and sugar free breakfast muffins as a healthy alternative to sugary snacks. These went down a treat and inspired everyone to make these at home. The evening yoga session was restorative Hatha yoga so we once again got cosey with blankets and used cushions and blocks as supports for the body. Dinner was Emily's homemade butternut squash soup which once again we had with bread and cheese and left overs. Everyone took advantage of the mild and moonlit evening by going in the pool and the jacuzzi and reading outside, it was lovely to see how at home everyone was starting to feel at Seaways and the friendships that had begun to form. |
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December 2019
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