Here is my visual diary for last week's escape to Northern Ibiza for a yoga retreat with my friends at Stretch London. Ive written up the experience for my Fitness blog on Hunger Magazine - head over here or read below:
STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION
If you are in the throws
of frantically finding a last minute Summer holiday or planning ahead for some
Winter Sun – heed this. I’ve just
returned from my first ever yoga retreat experience and it totally exceeded all
expectation. I can’t recommend it enough
and I cant wait to book another.
It’s a chance to totally
escape your routine reality by literally leaving the country and secondly freeing
your mind. My week away was spent with Stretch Studio instructors and ten other
yogi’s signed up for Ibiza escapades. It
had occurred to me that travelling with strangers could potentially turn out a
bit Pete Tong but it had the complete opposite outcome. Harnessing the energy from everyone around
was just as crucial as time spent honing our skills. Perhaps yoga attracts Zen souls? But we clicked, made each other crack up and
became so comfortable it was the perfect support for playing around with
poses. The best way to learn and improve
is by fearless experimentation and having fun.
After five days of loliday with like-minded folk, it’s an encouraging
space to push your practise as apposed to a regular packed city class.
Each day began with a
guided meditation session on the terrace overlooking the pine green
valley. As the cockerels crowed, goats
tinkled their bells and Mediterranean sun appeared behind the Mountain View, it
was time to set the tone for a day of peaceful play. From this still and tranquil space, we gently
transitioned into the morning’s session of rise and shine energising yoga. A second evening workshop completed each
day’s tuition with the time inbetween free to explore the island. Brunch was served after a blissful Savasana
under the open-air blue sky canopy of sails.
Without wandering off into hippie hypothesis here, I think we were all
in agreement that our chef was cooking with love because we could taste the pride
in every multicolour morsel. Not only
did she engineer something exceptional for each sitting but also decorated it
exquisitely with the Finca’s exotic flora.
However, before I
digress down the Ibizian hippy dream, don’t be fooled into imagining it was
some British Wheel of Yoga mellow
movement. This was energised, active,
dynamic vinyasa flow. The benefit of
five days back-to-back yoga is building up strength of body and mind for
confidence to push limits perhaps not reached at your regular weekly hour. It worked such magic on me that by the end I
was attempting turning a “crow” into a headstand in one fluid move. I have improved leaps and bounds from finding
inversions terrifying to undertaking unassisted upside down asanas. I also finally picked up a sense of how to
sequence poses to be able to undertake my own practice at home. Accumulative learning like that really layers
foundations for familiarity to get to grips with it.
Getting up the last few
mornings now that I’m home has been mortifying.
It was such a treat to be able to roll out of bed onto a mediation matt
rather than a Neanderthal
hunch over a device on a London commute.
Far from the adventure trails we took to Ibiza’s secret beaches for
swimming in azure blue coves and sandy caves.
If that doesn’t sound tempting enough to put down a deposit to their
next get-aways to Portugal, Morocco or India, then you can just use that mental
image of a slice of heaven on earth for your next yoga nidra.
(Thanks to Sally Graveling for the photos of me - see here in a headstand in the 1st pic)
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