A Retrospective look at 4 days on Retreat; October 2014
Location: Agroturismo Hotel, Can Planells, Ibiza
Self-development on Retreat: Your relationship with your physical body
Day One:
The Retreat began with our welcome lunch, a delicious, locally cooked and sourced, Paella. Served by our Host, Joan Planells, the owner of our hotel, Can Planells. Joan was born and raised at Can Planells. In 2000 he converted the beautiful Finca that was his family home into an 8 bedroomed hotel, rustic but beautifully appointed with comfortable rooms and wonderful views. It is still a working farm growing avocados, lemons, oranges and sharon fruits, to name but a few of it’s produce.
This lunch is the first time our Retreaters, 8 in total, had met each other. A mixed bunch of professionals, all searching to be something… more. This group of people would work together, move together, breathe together throughout the next few days. They would each have a different experience but would each take away a shared memory of a few days cocooned in Can Planells, which to my mind is a little peace of paradise, right here on Earth.
Our first afternoon, was an introduction to our Pilates based movement classes, time spent completing a lifestyle questionnaire, aimed at highlighting gaps in an individual’s life, finding a meditative space in colouring a personal mandala and a specific self-development exercise to bring a new awareness to the individual’s unconscious feelings about their body, a Midline Meditation closed the day leaving everyone free to wander to the local village of San Miguel for some well deserved supper.
Powerful stuff! A wonderful beginning, insightful, inspiring and the first steps towards a new way of being.
Day Two:
For the first time since I’ve been running Retreats in Ibiza in October we had rain; soft rain, warm rain. Rain that left you hopeful that the sun was about to emerge. It didn’t, so we held our movement class in the main living room inside the Finca. This class was all about alignment, moving with the flow, allowing the breathe into the body. A meditation to open the Chakras (energetic sites within the body) followed and then a second self-development workshop dealing with an individual’s beliefs around their own body.
Lunch: Joan served up a simple lunch, tortilla made by his mother, and salad grown on the farm.
Our afternoon’s sessions followed later, another movement class, looking at tension around the shoulder area, how to move the spine evenly. A body scan mediation looking at how the individual felt in that moment closed the day. This evening we visited Santa Gertrudas for supper and found a restaurant in the town’s main square, another delicious meal full of spirited conversation.
Early to bed this evening, time to process!
Day Three:
This morning the sun came back, and we were back beside the pool for our morning movement class. An hour looking at our relationship with the earth, grounding and finding balance in our movement and in our Selves. The workshop today followed on from the class, to find harmony in our perception of our body. To learn to love it, all of it. To be able to sit in the center of ourselves, for that to be our safety and our home.
Lunch: Local ham, chorizo and salad grown on the farm. Today Joan treated us to homemade chocolate cake (I mean Joan made – who said Catalan men don’t cook?!).
An afternoon spent by the pool, soaking up the sunshine before we all head off together to visit Es Vedra.
Es Vedra is a small island just off the southwest of Ibiza. It is the third most magnetic place on this planet (after the North Pole and the Bermuda Triangle) and is fabled to be the top of Atlantis. Nowadays it is a nature reserve and home to a few goats. The public aren’t allowed access to it so we went to the cliffside opposite to watch the sunset. The energy in the area is fantastic; that coupled with a spectacular sunset, and a feeling of togetherness amongst our group meant our evening was a very poignant one. Once the sun had vanished we ventured down to the beach below for dinner in the moon shadow of Es Vedra.
Day Four:
Our final morning and our final movement class. The difference in the group’s movement was quite profound. A new understanding of movement, the floor and ourselves meant that we were in the moment and our bodies were flowing naturally to the rhythm of the moment. Our closing was a meditation on our Breath. Breath is life, after all.
Our final lunch, an exchange of high points, low points, emotional points – a shared few days, with powerful individual experiences. Going home, very different, but with a new understanding of the importance of being in your body, understanding your relationship with it and the healing nature of movement and breath.
Testimonials from Retreaters:
Our final lunch, an exchange of high points, low points, emotional points – a shared few days, with powerful individual experiences. Going home, very different, but with a new understanding of the importance of being in your body, understanding your relationship with it and the healing nature of movement and breath.
Best Spiritual Mentor in the world, and much more than just that! This amazing woman is dedicated and passionate about her work. So exciting working with her. Thanks, Sarah.
If you are looking for a safe environment to learn things about yourself, acquire the skills to develop and participate in your own life in a nurturing, non-judgemental, non-confrontational way…look no further
Working with Sarah was an absolute pleasure. The escape from daily life enabled me to focus on myself, which was a treat. I have learned how to view my body in a more positive way and accept who I am.
