Current mood:	refreshed
Current music:	Chemical Brothers

Retreat
Retreat diary under this cut.

It doesn't seem like a year since the last one, but on Friday I was on the train to Tonbridge en route to Oxen Hoath for my second retreat. I had the same room as last year, which was a bit of a surprise but did minimise my getting lost, which took up a lot of time last year. Retreat diary as follows:

Friday - arrive, unpack, find with some pleasure that there were a lot less flies in my room than last year, register for stuff, supper. They have a newish chef and do absolutely gorgeous veggie food, so I bonded with the rest of the guests (retreaters? pilgrims? what should you call them?) over grub. By the time all the admin stuff was done it was getting on for 11pm, so bed.

Saturday - Up about 8 then breakfast. Went for a walk in the grounds on a quest to find the lake (big pond). According to the booklet, this should take 45 mins to an hour. Walked for 45 mins, saw a large rabbit but no lake. Got throughly muddy and began to question our society's obsession with fitness. I was happily squelching across a field, heading who knows where and looking out for friendly farm animals when two joggers passed me. They hurled themselves over the nearest stile and soon vanished into the distance. I thought that they were obviously very healthy, but had they seen the interesting plants, contemplated a mole hill or talked to a sheep? They had not, and I think their day was poorer for it.
Back in time for meditation class then lunch and a nap prior to having my chakras balanced. This done, a small walk in the gardens, seriously yummy sweet potato curry for dinner then the highlight of the weekend, Nature's Rhythms with an instructor called Lianne Campbell. She's based in Brighton and I do wish she taught in London. The class is something she devised herself and is similar to the 5 Rhythms moving meditation. We did dances based around the chakras and, round about half way through, I realised just how wonderful it all was. I was completely unselfconcious and almost in an altered state and it felt great! Forget all the chakra stuff, it was just fabulous to dance like that. Worn out afterwards, so shower and bed.

Sunday - Began the day with EFT, otherwise known as "that thing with the tapping". I think it might be a while before I can evaluate how much good it did me, but the therapist, Anne Todd, helped me to view negative past experiences in a more positive way and showed me how to tap on various acupressure points to release energy. I think this could be a good way to deal with my anxiety, but we'll see how it goes. Followed the EFT up with another walk, and got stared at by a whole field of sheep. Haven't they got anything better to do? Probably not...probably a bit dull being a sheep. Back to house for removal of sheep poo from boots. More nice veggie food for lunch, then a quiet afternoon spent reading before four of us piled into a taxi back to the station.

I was considering idly at one point whether we could do one of those Channel 4 programmes like Wife Swap where Steve and I changed places. He could have his chakras rebalanced and dance to the Chemical Brothers for an hour, while I played 5 a side and emailed people in Outer Mongolia regarding inconsistencies in the rules of 5th Edition something-or-other. Perhaps not.

Tips for a successful retreat:
1. Whatever clothes you take, you will have too many of some, not enough of others and things will get muddy. So don't worry about it.
2. Crocs are comfortable for wandering about in and useful for bonding with other guests, who will observe your footwear and realise some level of psychic connection with you. Two of us had purple Crocs and I saw at least one green pair.
2. One I got from a fellow guest last year - bring your own snacks. She recommended wine and Minstrels, but I was fine with apples and Chipsticks. Snacks come into their own after 11pm, I find.
3. You will be tempted to take lots of worthy self-help books. This is fine, but also include something you will actually read. I took House of Dark Delights, an erotic novel I bought when we were in the US for GenCon last year (this line contains the word GenCon. This means Steve will read it). Said book was reasonably well written, absolutely filthy and occasionally unintentionally very funny, which meant I spent more time reading it than I did on my tarot workbook.
4. Phone home once, but keep your mobile off for the rest of the time, just to see if you can do it.
5. Don't book too many classes and treatments or you will stop having a relaxing time and turn into Hermione in that Harry Potter book where she had the device that let her go to two classes at once.