being on retreat

Meg emailed a couple of months ago to tell me she wanted to go on a yoga and meditation retreat for her 20th birthday. She asked me if I'd like to join her and we have just returned from nine heavenly days in Bali. 


I haven't done a lot of yoga before - mostly my exercise consists of gym and walking. But I loved it. My body is still a bit weary after almost five hours a day but interestingly, I haven't felt as rested in years.


Before we left I didn't give a lot of thought to what we'd be eating but it turned out to be a complete detox too. We ate beautiful vegetarian food and had no alcohol or dairy and very little coffee, wheat or sugar. It's amazing how you don't even miss those things when you're not around them. We did treat ourselves to a latte and a shared tiramisu one morning at Indus (their delicious sweets are cooked at Casa Luna where you can take cooking classes that come highly recommended). As Meg said, you can't imagine how much you enjoy a treat when you haven't had one for over a week.


We're hoping to find a way to make this happen every year if we can. It was the nicest way for us to spend some time together.


Vanessa and Michael (who ran the retreat) don't have any others coming up soon, but one of the other participants, Rose Hawkins is also a yoga teacher (and the most beautiful person) and she's running her retreat in Italy in September if you feel inspired.


Or join us in 2012 for our very own meditation retreat at the same beautiful location.