Or perhaps the question should be, ‘what happens on an Ad Astra yoga retreat’?! We just got back from another brilliant weekend away at the gorgeous Woodlands Outdoor Education Centre on the edge of the River Wye in Glasbury, Wales.
This time we were very active and utterly adventurous, as you can tell from the header image! As well as finding our inner child and splashing about in the river during gorge walking, hanging from the high ropes course and sharing funny stories over dinner, we did find some time to centre ourselves and fit in some gentle stretchy yoga too.
Arriving on the Friday evening, we quickly settled into our accommodation and headed straight out to the large garden on site to climb the high ropes course under the expert instruction of Woodlands resident adventurer, Chris. Dinner was prepared and ready for us when we were done (thank you Madie) and we later got to know each other much better, around the puddings and the odd glass of something chilled…
Bright and early on Saturday we got up for a gorgeous stretchy yoga class returning to the table for a hearty breakfast of porridge or bacon, eggs and beans. We then set off for the biggest day of the weekend – heading to the River Wye with our Woodlands instructors who kitted us out in waterproofs and boots, and drove us out to the gorge and waterfalls.
Here we got thoroughly soaked as we navigated through rocky ravines and some of the bravest among us allowed the waterfall to flow directly over our faces – some even leapt from a ledge BACKWARDS into the pool!
A packed lunch helped us get through to the end and a lovely hot shower back at Woodlands was so very much appreciated…
Then it was time to show some love to those muscles that had worked so hard, with a bit of fascia release and lymphatic drainage in the ‘classroom’.
Dinner time again and we enjoyed a communal meal while we all chatted and laughed about the day’s antics. Thank goodness the instructors weren’t there for that bit!
Sunday morning came too soon, but we managed to get out for an early morning swim in the Wye, while some chose to go for a run. Then back for another nutritious breakfast and we were all ready for a local walk (half of this was filmed in timelapse, you can see it on Facebook).
And that was it! We made sandwiches to have before we set off for home, or to eat on the drive, and off we headed back home to our warm and comfy sofas (well I did anyway!)
Our next retreat is planned for the autumn – possibly October and will be considerably dryer with significantly more yoga and meditation. If you like the sound of that, let me know and I’ll put you on the list. If you missed out on this adventurous weekend though and want to make sure you know about the next one, just let me know.
Everything is included, except evening drinks and your favourite snacks…
In the meantime, thanks to everyone for your company, laughs and help, I had a smashing time and I hope you did too. Enjoy the photos and videos on Facebook.
Jayne x