From a mountain lockdown

So, here we are two weeks into the lockdown in Spain, four women who have only been living together roughly the same length of time, getting to know each other and luckily finding we laugh a lot…over Spanish practice, which recently involved learning a song which we recorded and sent back to our teacher (or nuestro maestro!)…europop still rules it seems…and also over a number of amusing video clips sent by friends around the coronavirus (sometimes humour is needed to cope with something so...

summer in the mountains

“What a beautiful, peaceful valley alternately scoured and cooked by weather patterns that clearly haven’t heard of ‘the middle way’.  My ten days there went from hot-water bottle, lumber jacket and woolly hat (all borrowed I’m afraid, my girl guide camping badge is now sadly forfeit) to coveting the shade.  So maybe I didn’t manage to embrace the cold; there was no problem, however, luxuriating in the wood-burning stove, slippers and coffee…Thank you Community for hugging us in!  I loved...

2016

The new year is well and truly underway and the community of 3 is fully occupied with the ‘work-in’ … three weeks of working with volunteers to prepare the retreat centre for the season ahead.

So, who is in community at the moment ? Well, the resident community currently is Manigarbha, Mumukshu and me – Acalavajri. This is going to change though later in the year as Manigarbha has sadly made the decision to leave the community. She will be returning the Netherlands...

my new adventure

Two months so far, into my new adventure at Akashavana, and I am still waking to blue skies with that holiday feeling! Even though there is a lot of satisfyingly hard work and weekly routines, doing it in these conditions help to make it feel seamlessly part of just how things are here, just what is needed to live here and run the retreat centre. At any time you can just raise your eyes to the stunning vista of mountains...