Thursday, August 14th, 2008

Greetings from Cognac

Hi,

I’m over here in Cognac, France with my family and 5 year old daughter escaping the english rain and thought I’d share my recollections of the first retreat I organised which was held here at my parent’s house near Cognac.

It was early days in my Reiki practice and I had decided, living in London that what most of the clients I was meeting needed was to get out of the madness of the City and go somewhere totally quiet and peaceful, so I chose this house which is just that.  Set amongst sunflower fields and with about 6 other houses in the hamlet, this place is totally silent and has a big starry sky at night.  It was an amazing retreat and everyone took away a transformation of their own, including the practitioners.  I am still in contact with some who came and my thoughts are turning to retreats again. 

My sister is living in Marrakech and her Riad guest house will be open in October where I will be holding a Reiki and Ashtanga Yoga retreat early next year in January or February.  Up-date to come when we have finalised the details.  Retreats are a fantastic way of speeding up and enhancing your journey as it is often the routine of life which keeps us held in old patterns of behaviour and stops us from really moving on.  I take every opportunity I can to either change my routine or get away just for a change of scenery no matter where that might be. 

Other forms of retreat are also interesting.  A friend of mine has just done the 10 day silent Vipassana retreat.  This is held in Hereford in the UK but she attended in Barcelona.  Its a rigorous practice which starts at 4 am and includes total silence and meditation throughout the day.  She said that initially you just sit and watch the madness of thoughts become crazier and crazier until finally they stop and you do experience a sense of peace.  At this time, the Vipassana facilitators then teach you the specific Vipassana meditation which she said takes you deeper into your psyche and older more held back thoughts begin to arise.  Vipassana means ‘to see things as they really are’ and the aim of the process is to irradicate all mental impurities for the person to acheive the highest state of happiness.  Although my friend said the schedule was gruelling at times, she felt totally alive and buzzing when she left.  I think it depends how much personal work you’ve done when you go but she said that most people there have literally walked off the street and never really meditated before which I find highly admirable!  Check out the website at www.dhamma.org

I’m interested in a Raw food retreat as I’ve recently turned to a 90% Raw diet.  Its totally amazing and I’ll share all with you another day.  Check out www.totalrawfood.com

Please get in touch if you’re interested in going on retreat as I’d like to hear your feelings about why and what you’d hope to gain from a retreat so I can fine tune the experience.

Love to you all,

Rebecca

WORKSHOPS

REIKI I

Thursday 11 September

REIKI II

Friday 12 September

REIKI MASTER

October - date tbc