NATURE IS THE BEST HEALER - AFTERTHOUGHTS FROM OUR RETREATS
What’s the best thing about Nature in your opinion? For me, nature, especially forests and the sea in Finland, Mediterranean and UK are the places where I feel the oneness, the continuum of me and the life around me.
Over the years I have practiced yoga and ayurveda which have taught me to feel and harness nature’s healing life forces. The principle is simple: remove the obstacles out of nature’s way and healing, recovery and rejuvenation start taking hold. There’s nothing I need to do except create conditions for healing to happen naturally. Nature’s default mode is to correct imbalances and restore wellbeing. It’s called evolution.
In our retreats in Dorset during the months between November and March we experienced the power of healing on a daily basis, by helping the nature’s life force take charge over the bodies and minds of our clients.
LIFE FORCE
Life force resides is in us all. We human beings are deeply integrated in the web of life. We are nature, not a separate entity from nature like some Oxford dictionary wants us to believe:
“the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations”
Instead, humans are a big part of the phenomena and use the intelligence within the life force to create life, evolve and thus heal, repair and to rejuvenate. We are part of nature and without it we would not have intelligence of evolution.
Our bodies are highly sophisticated and intelligent. The reason why we suffer is because we’ve created barriers for the intelligence to flow. Our body clocks are out of alignment with the light and dark cycle, we eat anytime we feel, we are stressed out, anxious, depressed by living in an environment that does not feel safe and comfortable anymore. We’ve lost emotional intelligence and resilience because of the amount of challenges we need to face on a daily basis.
As mentioned above, healing and recovery are possible if we remove the barriers and allow the body do its own work, called self-regulation. The life force, called prana in ayurvedic terms, is strong and intelligent and will start flowing as water does when a dam is broken
REMOVING BARRIERS IN THE WAY OF HEALING – TENSION AND INFLAMMATION
The most important factor that stands in the way of healing, the biggest barrier is tension. Here’s what we do in our ayurvedic retreats to remove it:
- Isolate from stressors of everyday life by retreating to nature
- Daily ayurvedic massage and treatment sessions for 90 minutes of more if needed
- Solid daily ayurvedic routine to pace the body clocks with the sun
- Daily practice yoga asanas
- Breath work
- Meditation and energy work
- Seasonal, organic and tasty ayurvedic food
- Walks in nature: the fields, the forest and the sea around in this area of outstanding natural beauty
- Learn how to manage life outside the retreat environment
- Learn the influence of the mind over the body
The second biggest issue is inflammation, especially the chronic one. Inflammation can be caused by many factors, stress (that tension above) being the most pressing one. Those two create a vicious cycle with a state of mind unable to step out of it by making constant decision to eat, drink and do the wrong things. Usually these are immediate pacifiers like processed foods and alcohol. The way to reduce inflammation is done the same way as reducing tension. In addition, intake of specific herbal remedies and ayurvedic treatments targeting e.g. joint pains, inflamed gut, headaches and so on. The retreats create a wonderful opportunity to experience recovery and healing that would be difficult to create in an urban environment. The time spent in isolation with beauty and peace around is unrivalled to anything else
ADVANTAGE OF UK BASED RETREATS
UK based retreats create an advantage with respect to the ones abroad. Stress (causing tension) by travel, long flights, crossing time zones are able to nullify the effects achieved. If you travel far to be healed, you will need time around the retreat to adjust to the environment, climate, new foods, microbial environment, the pace of life and many other factors. You also need to be established well in your wellbeing before you should travel back. If you intend to spend two weeks on an exotic retreat location, you should book at least a month away.
Here in UK, we can create a diet and lifestyle that matches with your local needs and resources, not disturb body clocks by jet lag nor immunity by a drastic change of bacterial exposure. When healing is priority, removal of barriers around it is the most important thing. Traveling far can, on its own, create another layer of barriers and slow or prevent healing all together.
OUR OFFERING
Our all-inclusive healing retreats took place in Wraxall Yard in Dorset from November to March. This year we are repeating the cycle and in the same way, open the clinic there for 12 days. During this time one can come and enjoy a residential stay for 3 days minimum. Panchakarma, the signature detox program of ayurveda lasts for 12 days but other options for shorter days can be custom made according to needs and resources.
We are also offering an option for private retreats such as a long weekend for winding down and enjoying relaxing treatments and tasty food in a brand new place, rewarded for its architectural beauty and functionality. Indeed, we could not have a better place than that. Come with a friend or a partner to spend a healing weekend to remember.
Nature, safety, comfort and peace. Those are the qualities offered in Wraxall to support the bodymind do its own work. We are products of our environment and surrounding us with qualities that promote wellbeing and inspire the mind is almost all we have to do. Add carefully selected ayurvedic treatment techniques on top and it’s all happening.
Get in touch to discuss options for you in anu@jivitaayurveda.com or click below to choose time for a Zoom call convenient for you.
About Anu
Anu is the founder of Jivita Ayurveda Spa and Clinic, director or Jivita Academy of Ayurveda and author of Ayurveda Detox: How To Cleanse, Balance and Revitalise Your Body.
She has been involved in education in Finland already when studying in the university of Helsinki in the Nineties. The real passion for teaching was inspired by her turn of career from language studies to Ayurveda.
Trained in clinical Ayurveda, Anu released soon that to get results with clients they needed fundamental education on basic healthy living. Ayurveda is mainly about self-care and most of the times clients need help in understanding what is in their power to do.
Having started teaching in a yoga teacher training school called Yoga London in 2010 she developed her interest in education and launched Jivita Academy of Ayurveda to respond to the high demand of quality courses with hands-on approach for therapists and nutritionists.
Her passion in education is also visible in client work. Anu is passionate about translating ancient wisdom of healing into modern context. She empowers her clients to take charge of their own health by increasing awareness in nutrition based on their individual needs. Incorporating her twenty years of practice and teaching of yoga Anu’s approach to healing is almost unique to anywhere in London or the UK.
Anu has created a community of enthusiasts by teaching that health in its right form brings about joy in life. Healing and recovering in her opinion do not exclude fun and enjoyment but are an extension of balanced and abundant life.
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