Yoga in the Spanish Mountains

Last week I traveled to the Spanish mountains for a yoga retreat.

We all met up for a night in the mountain village of Competa for a night on route.

 It was lovely to meet my new yoga family.

The town may be all white from a distance but there was so much colour in its tiny winding streets

   

It was good for my senses to be somewhere so different from home.

Then we climbed and climbed up winding mountain roads to our retreat at Finca Los Pinos.

My home for the week was this wooden cabin in the trees.

I was in heaven sitting at my desk on the veranda reading, drawing, writing and dreaming with birdsong all around me and red squirrels darting about.

There was a bit of a squirrel chase one day. The squirrel got away much to the annoyance of the cat!

The retreat was run by my dear fiend Jackie Jones from Shrewsbury. Jackie and I were friends-at-first-sight when we shared mats next to each other on a Rod Stryker intensive a few years ago. I have talked to her lots about yoga but I have never experienced her teaching before.

  I LOVED it. A beautiful flowing breath led practice on a platform under pines and eucalyptus with ten lovely warm souls. We practiced morning and evening and breathed in so much of that clean mountain air.

We had some good walks. 

To the mountains

 I admired these two bikers for getting to the top (we got a lift)!

and to the big blue sea

I found a kindred spirit in ceramic artist Ruth Gibson who perhaps takes even more close up photo's of nature than me!

We held everyone up while we looked up close at new flowers and seed pods.

There was lots of time to relax between yoging and eating.

It's amazing how much time opens up when you don't have to think about what to cook three times a day!

What luxury to have beautiful healthy meals all laid out for us. The food (mostly veggie except for this last party night) was exquisite. The host David and the lovely staff looked after us so kindly with much attention to detail.

 Mealtimes were long and laid back and good time to chat and get to know each other.

It was altogether a magical experience and my mind and heart is still full of the lovely impressions from the week. I have come back with a sense of deep refreshment and I am very inspired to crack on with my yoga teacher training and get teaching. Having a week of deep yoga and lots of playtime does wonders for the body, mind and soul. It gives you a taste of a state of being that is harder to find when you're at home with the demands of business and everyday life. But, once you taste it, it inspires you to give yoga even more space in your everyday life. 

I recommend Jackie as a teacher. She has made some online classes on her website to help people learn some simple sequences they can do at home. 

Thank goodness for yoga x