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| Ordesa National Park, The Pyrenees, Spain |
Something I did during the Puente de Deciembre (December bank holiday). I partook in an incredible yoga retreat in a small hamlet in the depths of The Pyrenees near Ordesa National Park.
This centre is situated in some unbelievably breathtaking surroundings and is run by a lovely couple. This ambience was reflected in the people who attended the week and those who passed through during my stay (yes people passed through, it seemed the place acted as a type of refuge/a community hub for like minded people).
This is the first time I have done such a thing and therefore have nothing to compare it to but I feel as if this organisation possesses something extremely unique that I sense* is probaly neglated in other yoga retreats which may focus more on the physical aspects of yoga or have a more commercial, business focused and holiday camp feel. This could be largely due to the fact that the owners of the centre have visited India many times and I believe loosely base the centre on their experience from principles you can find in typically Asian yogic centres.
Casa Caudrau definitely is not that, it really is a retreat offering unique stays and visits.
This centre offers courses, teaching and learning on all of the aspects of Yoga, not only the physical asanas. In my 3 days there we practised meditation twice daily, at sunrise and after dinner in the evening. After the evening meditation we spent time speaking about different ideas and thoughts, sharing experiences mainly about the day or problems we may have with meditation.
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| Room with a view and trinkets |
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| Small outhouse to the rear of CC, endless views form all angles of the house |
This particular retreat was centred around vegetarian cooking and meditative trekking, both of which were fantastic. I discovered after all these years that you can in fact eat the skin on a butternut squash! I have also learnt to love and make tahini! So simple and delicious - maybe I'll do a recipe blog post. Shall I?
The combination of activities and how they were carried out in a flexible and responsive (to the attendees) manner was perfectly enhanced with the area of outstanding beautiful.
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| Red cabbage smoothie |
Views from the top:
On quitting smoking:
In fact, ever since attending I have been a non smoker...Ok, wait! I'm not saying this retreat stopped me smoking full stop. That was essentially down to me and as it is for anyone, down to themselves and gaining enough strength to do so. But for those of you who have dabbled in meditation or mindfulness of any sort would know that once you enhance your self awareness it is easier to achieve such things.
I had been a smoker for quit some time, in excess of 5 years. Although I wasn't a heavy smoker (5-20 a day, depending on the day in question) I was a smoker and I never really had the urge to quit. I felt as though, I would one day, when maybe I decide to have kids or just later, it was always a question of later. The push to do so was when I decided on going to this retreat and discovered it was non smoking, which initially put me into a state of question as about whether for not I should even go! I decided that Casa Cuadrau looked too amazing to miss the opportunity and I'd have to give it a shot.
The retreat was on Friday, on Monday I had one ritualised morning cigarette with my coffee but half way through it, decided it was enough and that was the last one I smoked. The following few days were hard but not incredibly so, I craved them but nothing more. It was a habit, that was all. The week quickly passed by including the infamous "most difficult three day mark" and then along came the retreat! The positivity of the retreat and the meditation made me momentarily forget about smoking, my energies were focused on something else.
Before the retreat I had every intention of returning to smoking but as I had achieved the hardest part, without any substitutes and the new perspective on life that I'd taken from the retreat I in the end had become a non-smoker!
All in all the intensive weekend of meditation and yoga aided my termination of smoking and I would recommend it* thoroughly to anyone looking to quit smoking, or in fact doing anything, it's all about focusing our attention.
Sunset.
*Really sense, as I said, this is the first retreat I've ever attended and is purely a comparison made on my impressions of others. I'm aware this is very sweeping, please feel free to point me in the direction of other places like this.
*It. Mindfullness meditation. Also Casa Cuadrau in general!
