Fun Yogic Times Under The Spanish Sun
About a month ago, a group of 15 yogis, the freshly qualified yoga teacher Mary Betteridge and myself got to experience a blissful week at La Finca Paradiso, a magnificent renovated and revamped farmhouse located a 15-minute drive away from Mojacar in southeast Andalusia.
Like most yoga retreats, the week consisted in practicing yoga first thing in the morning for a couple of hours, breakfast, enjoying the swimming pool and the stunning gardens of the property with its cactuses, aloe vera plants, bougainvillaeas, fruit trees, vegetable garden and toward the end of our stay, the newly-erected hand-painted yurts imported all the way from Mongolia. Lunch would be served with a plethora of delicious and simple dishes, dressed with “house” olive oil, followed by yet more relaxing time within the finca, the town of Mojacar or at the beach.
I would teach another couple of hours of yoga in the evening, mixing vinyasa flow with restorative yoga and we would all enjoy our dinner chatting and watching the light change as the sun would go down. As it happens, we were in this magical setting to see the majestic “Super Moon” and yes, although not grammatically correct, I shall use capital letters!
On 22-23nd June, the full moon was the closest and largest full moon of this year and is a rare phenomenon that allows us, Earthlings to see the Moon, for those of you who like figures, as 14% bigger and 30% brighter. Spectacular!
The week flew by filled with laughters, shared experiences, dog-petting (the four dogs living on the property are the most docile and sweet creatures) and so much more. Just not very much sleep as far as I am concerned; I guess I got high on the energy of my yogis who are genuine and beautiful people, and whom I am hoping to gather again really soon! We made a great team.
As a finale for this blog, here is a litany of thank yous!
Thank you to all of you, yogis, for joining me on this retreat and throwing yourselves into whatever I would lead you into practicing during our sessions; thank you to Mary Betteridge who played the role of my assistant during the retreat and helped me refresh my knowledge of assists; thank you to Jenni and Craig, the wonderful managers of La Finca Paradiso and perfect hosts; thank you to the ace team of masseurs and masseuses who kneaded the tensions out of our bodies; thank you to our cooks Maria Angelis and her partner for their delicious and nourishing meals; thank you to Penelope Salmon for making her property a little piece of heaven on earth and opening its doors to us.
You will see us again!
