
The beautiful, gentle stream running through the site, alongside which we decided to pitch our tent (!), rapidly turned into a raging torrent. We came very close to being flooded out; my partner and I broke our silence as we plotted our tent moving strategy! I learnt a lot, however, about the rise and fall of water levels. Rivers can drop back down just as quickly, it turns out, if the rain eases.
At the end of the retreat we did have one or two days of sunshine, enough to remind me of how being outside, exposed to the baking sun can impact on us. If you’re heading off on retreat this summer, be sure to protect the crown chakra from the burning sun – wear a sun hat and seek out shade when you can. Intense spiritual practice accompanied by exposure to summer sun can contribute to tipping us over into spiritual emergency.
Now I’m all chilled out and all fired up, ready to share my inspiration with my Mindfulness students this autumn!