Happy 10th Birthday Moses!

At 18 months the day we left London

It's hard to describe how much you have changed our life Moses. We've always loved you. Even the very thought of you before we first met. Remembering back to 2004 when Vonnie and I, Joshua and Eloise began talking about getting a family dog to live with us in New Cross in south east London, we loved the idea of how you might change our lifestyle. How you would necessarily force us to live more outdoors, explore more of London's parks twice a day and take longer journeys out of the city where you, and we, could run a little freer.

Asleep with Eli

The previous summer, Josh had been bitten by a big brutish dog while we were all on a yoga retreat in Italy and as a small boy was understandably a little scared thereafter of dogs. That had to change. So Von began doing her research into the best family dogs and the best breeders. Later the following year in 2005 we went to meet Lillah and her family in Sutton Coldfield in the UK Midlands. And to meet the 14 six week old puppies of the single litter Lillah let your mumma have. Josh picked up a few of your brothers and sisters before finding you. You lay on your back in his hands for just the right amount of time before wriggling to right yourself. Apparently a good sign you would be compliant but not too docile - still with a little joi de vie. You were the one.

In France 2007

We returned to London and left you to spend a few more weeks with your mamma. Now we had to find your name. Took us a few weeks of playing around with a few.  Had to be grand.  Had to somehow capture how we felt your introduction to our life would lead us all on an adventure. Late one night, lying in bed laughing about historic adventures in human history, I said "Moses". Vonnie looked at me, smiled that big broad soft ear to ear grin of hers,and repeated "Moses. He's called Moses."

Lake Dijon

Over the years since, I've often remembered that night of choosing your name. We had at the time absolutely no idea how provident that choice would be. It just felt right. We joked with our friends you were called Moses because you would lead us to the promised land. And that, my friend, you surely did.

Pisa

After just 18 months of exploring London's parks and surrounding countryside, holidays where you would be welcome and free, we finally began to realise that morning and evening walks and weekend wooded escapades were so much fun that maybe we'd like to spend all of our time with you like that. So we decided to quit our jobs, take the kids out of school, rent our house, buy a motorhome and take you on a much bigger expedition round Europe.

Marking territory top of Portugal

And we'd call it the Poop in Europe Tour aiming to let you poop in as many countries as we could manage in a year. That link is the first blog we ever wrote, and it still gives me goose bumps to think of how nervous and excited we felt at the top of the cliff before we jumped.

Italy Sheep Trough

Abruzzo with Margot Portrait

6 months of travelling, eating, learning, cycling, walking, swimming in Europe's lakes, rivers and seas (and Italian sheep troughs!), you led us to an old farm and the possibility of a new life in the mountains of Portugal. Through all the chaos of the beginning months, the uncertainty of not knowing whether we could restore these old ruins and what on earth we would do when we finished, the trepidation of starting to invite people to spend a week with us on retreat, the hundreds of people who have come to see us since, you Moses, have been our dependable, faithful constant.

The original yoga deck and Safira

Wife Safira and daughter Moksha

Serra de Estrela

It's been a remarkable 10 year adventure. And we owe it all to you buddy. Just in case you ever get to read this blog, your official pedigree registered name is "Osrealin The Show Must Go On" and you were born on Sep 15 2005.  May you live long and healthy into your aging years and continue to bring joy and solace to all who know and love you.


We love you Moses.

Walks by rivers

On the beach in Barcelona

Company while restoring houses

First touch of Portugal

Outdoor Shower with Vonnie

First snow for 30 years

Ready for shampoo and set in Lisbon

The State of Deliciousness, my retreat review by Chloe Skinner

Lying on my yoga mat this morning I was 'invited into stillness' by Von - my favourite yoga teacher, and now, after my third visit to Vale de Moses, my friend. I lay there in the beautiful yoga shala overlooking mountainous forests, gleefully anticipating the joy of the astanga practice that was to come - a yoga practice guided by Von's playful, sincere and genuine love of sharing the joy of yoga with others. 'Stillness' isn't something that I find easy to 'achieve', but here at Vale de Moses, even in the invigorating movement of a vinyasa flow, a meditative morning walk with Andy, or a solitary hike up a hill, I can - albeit apprehensively and reluctantly at times - find stillness.

Stillness in the surrounding mountains; stillness in the stars on a clear night; stillness in the people around me; stillness in myself. Stillness can be intimidating, particularly following or during life's storms - the times I have found myself journeying back to Vale de Moses - but the warmth and love of those that live and work here, coupled with the ease of finding solitude, is such a nurturing environment in which to seek stillness.

As someone more naturally inclined toward movement however, the ability to balance this stillness I need so much with the delight of  physically flowing - as well as the inevitability of a concurrent emotional flowing - is one of the many dynamics which draws me to Vale de Moses. After a morning walk with a sparkly-eyed and warm-souled Andy - predominantly silent but with a vignette of wisdom sprinkled in - a yoga class in which all different bodies are lovingly celebrated, 'held', supported and encouraged by Von, and a body and soul nourishing breakfast with good food and good people, I spent some time alone yesterday down at one of the natural pools - basking in the cool, fresh water, the fire of the sun, the rich smell of the earth and the silkiness of the light wind.

In the nurturing stillness, I found the rarity of the time to 'look' - simply 'look' - and found movement, adventure and busyness. Watching the small fish under the surface, the insects resting on the water's surface, the sway of the surrounding trees, I thought about how lucky I am to find myself in a place where I am reminded of the ease of loving this life, this world, these people, this self - even amidst the inevitabilities of pain and hardship which came before, and will come after, this moment, this week, this retreat.

All of this and it was only midday! The afternoon followed with mouth-tingling nourishment, brain-stimulating conversation, heart-warming laughter, body-quenching yoga practice and, all in all, soul-quenching life! Lovely life!

This morning, after hearing ourselves moving, stretching, and breathing into our bodies alongside one another - bodies that have recently been deeply massaged by the expert hands of Pete or Von - two of the other guests remarked upon how good an idea it was to come to Vale de Moses. I couldn't agree more - it is an excellent idea... indeed, it is my favourite! It is true, however, that one of my 'favourite' volunteers here said yesterday that 'every 'thing' is your favourite'. But that is just how I feel at Vale de Moses...as Von said to me,

'it is just about moving from one state of deliciousness to another'. 

And it is. It is delicious here.  Come.

Chloe Skinner

Happy New Year and Green Smoothie Recipe - by Vonetta

Campo Pequeno

Happy New Year one and all. I just finished my first practice session in a few days. Over the winter so far, I have been travelling and moving and teaching and studying and being a Mother. My yoga practice often has to fit into my life and 2014 indeed was very busy, productive and outstanding. It is a little daunting to consider making it all happen again in 2015, but I am also reminded that my life will not fit without practice and it is on to the mat I go.

My setting has changed, I am now in a tiny little flat in Lisbon.  

For the last seven years at Vale de Moses my gaze while practicing looking forward out of the shala has always landed on a tiny little pine tree. From where I like to stand, this tree appears to be growing at the end of a fire path. When I first started practicing in Portugal this tree was pretty little. Like me, it has survived being in total isolation, aloneness, strong winds, blazing heat, electric storms and even a huge forest fire in 2012. I remember the first morning practice after the fire, I looked up ready to say goodbye to the little tree to find the fire had been put out by the brave firemen just above it. That morning when I came to practice Vrksasana I felt a communion with the little tree. It had survived and would therefore be nourished by the scary events that had taken place, depositing nutrient laden potash all around it.

This morning I am seeing the tree but only in my mind's eye. My real view now is an elegant yellow Lisbon apartment building. I am unable to sprawl around the shala and I am not receiving strong and satisfying adjustments as I would do in a studio. I have simply rolled out my mat and a delicious solitary practice can begin, time and space, after months of teaching, working, travelling, moving and mothering.  I am actually landing and there is no better place to land than on my own on my mat.  

This morning I am surprised by how light and happy my body feels even though certain more athletic postures feel awkward. I know that after a few days of dedicated practice more lightness, or freedom or whatever may come, but I am not concerned. The aloneness that this personal practice provides is needed right now.  

Tomorrow, I will be back to the studio, Casa Vinyasa in Lisbon (not unfortunately on this beach nor this mat in Barbados!), allowing my body to be artfully adjusted in postures, a benefit that I would not be without. I am sure this morning's gleeful leaping around the mat while it has personality, must lack technique. However today is a personality day and I am having fun. I am falling in love with lengthening and broadening again.

When I am struggling with accepting any phase in my life, then this little practice time helps me to just feel better after, or at the very least, less bothered. Practice is, after all, a tried and tested method of delighting in the now.

In a few months I will be back to retreat teaching and the joys of seeing known faces and new ones, of hearing their stories of the Winter face to face rather than on FB. My days will be filled with sweet smelling oils, pungent herbs and Qi balancing magic wands (acupuncture needles). Beautiful bodies of all sizes and descriptions will be nourished by the excellent Vale de Moses team and volunteers.  

Like my Yoga practice, the pleasures of retreat life have been tried and tested and I am relieved to have this in my future. Yoga practice with our other teachers coming this year will begin and there will be sharing and learning and a light competitive frolicking and I am looking forward to such long and generous summer days. However, right now it is good just to roll out my mat and be there.

The joy of yoga has to be being alone in your flat with your tunes, enjoying the immediate gratification of touching your toes.  

Ah, all that is left to mention is my Green Smoothie fetish. My favourite smoothie at the moment.  Created by Dr. Fuhrman and inspired by Victoria Boutenko's Green Smoothie Revolution and introduced to me by my Natural Physician Course. The course gives me the mental challenge I need while I wait for my loved ones: Andy from his work preparing the valley and cottages in the mountains for the Yoga Season ahead; Josh finishing school in Castelo Branco and Eloise finishing a day of art school in Lisbon. The juice gives me that zip that lasts throughout the day and will also help get rid of some of the Christmas loving.  

It's a lot of fun working on the course, I am constantly running little benign experiments on myself and it is worth it as I know the experiences I am having through this course will improve what we offer at Vale de Moses and in Barbados over many years to come. This juice was apparently drunk by Pop icon Peter Max every morning since 1998.  It is a deluxe Super Green juice that gives me the stamina to keep at it. If you would like to try the juice and do not have all of the ingredients, don't worry about it just substitute and omit. I often have to. 

The treat of a great juicer such as Hurom 700 GY or a Vitamix may be just the thing for you to get this 2015 off to a bouncy start.  

Vonetta 

Dr. Fuhrmanʼs Green Longevity Drink

Makes 4 cups 

1 large head romaine lettuce 

1 1/2 cups spinach 

2 sprigs parsley 

1 cup broccoli florets 

2 leaves mustard greens or turnip greens 

3 collard leaves 

1/2 cup watercress 

1/8 tsp. oregano 

1/2 avocado 

1 banana, peeled 

3 large strawberries 

1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries 

1/2 papaya or mango 

1 1/2  tsp. flax seeds 

1 1/2  tsp. sunflower seeds 

1 1/2  tsp. sesame seeds

I hope 2015 is a Yogi Year.

Tired of Speaking Sweetly - a poem by Hafiz

Bom Dia!  A good friend of ours David Pott sent us this poem this morning by the 13th century mystic Sufi poet Hafiz, and I couldn't resist sharing it on the blog.

Tired of Speaking Sweetly

Love wants to reach out and manhandle us, 
Break all our teacup talk of God. 
If you had the courage and 
Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights, 
He would just drag you around the room 
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world 
By your hair, 
That bring you no joy. 

Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly 
All your erroneous notions of truth 
That make you fight within yourself, dear one, 
And wants to rip to shreds 
And with others,
Causing the world to weep
On too many fine days.

God wants to manhandle us,
And practice His dropkick. 
Lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself 
The Beloved sometimes wants 
To do us a great favor: 

Hold us upside down And shake all the nonsense out. 

He is in such a “playful drunken mood” 
Quickly packs their bags and hightails it 
But when we hear 
Most everyone I know 
Out of town. 

~ Hafiz ~
The Gift – versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

We've been revelling in the retreats so far this year. So wonderful to have guests animating the landscape once again. It's such a joyous thing to watch people relax into their week, with themselves and with other people around them. If you've been here you'll know exactly what I mean.

After a few days of daily yoga practice, morning meditation walks through the forest, dips in the natural river pools, good food, clean spring water to drink and bathe in, and most importantly of all, some massage and acupuncture from Vonetta, the months of stress and tension that often lead people to come on retreat, begins to melt away.

You see it on the face first of all. I really should take before and after photos of everyone so you can see what that looks like. "Angel faces" is how our last week's group aptly described the phenomenon. When the tension that builds up in the small muscles of the face disappears, it's like seeing a brand new version of someone.

A special thanks also to our Karma Yogi volunteers this year. Lou from the UK, Maria from Germany and our dear friend and yoga teacher Sara from Oleiros were so helpful in getting us started for the year. Thanks for your patience in the chaos of set up. Much appreciated. :)

This month we have the delightful Petra & Sophia from Holland and Dylan from south Australia. All the volunteers have worked incredibly hard to enable the retreats to run smoothly and with a lot of fun too. You guys are stars. It's been an absolute pleasure to have you on the team. You've set the bar high for the teams that follow!

Our friend Tashi Dawa flew in for a fortnight of retreats in April and as always lifted our spirits with her loveliness. So sad to see her leave but we wish her all the best in her retreats in Italy and France this year with Kaliyoga.

That's all for now, just wanted to share Hafiz's poem with you today as I loved the idea of the divine playfully turning us upside down now and again.

Saude, Paz e Amor

Memphis

Maybe in the stillness....

I love winter. The wind, the rain, the cold that drives us inside. Still stacks to do outside to get ready for spring, but when the weather howls, the fires get lit to roaring and we retreat inwards to the warmth of the hearth and stove; metaphorically and physically. Probably meta-physically too in some way. That's why I love it so. Every winter we've spent here since 2008, I've relished the time to read, to reflect, to plan, to ponder, to dream. To retreat.

Vonnie favours the sunshine of the summer, for she, after all, is a tropical island girl and genetically designed for a daily shower of free vitamin supplements that never cease to rain from the ever shining Barbados sun.  I suspect our future winters might be spent in other warmer climes, bless, but for this one, we're here, in Portugal, in the mountains, on our own, and it’s raining. Inside we remain. ;)

In this reflective season, something dawned on me. Over the course of 2013 an unexpected pattern had begun to emerge, on Facebook no less. Every week it seemed I was seeing another new profile or cover photo emerge on our guests FB pages (as they commented and shared each others holiday snaps), shots taken here on their stay at Vale de Moses. 

It was flattering to think people would choose our place as a beautiful setting to display their virtual identity on the cloud. Face after face of happy, bright souls with dreamy sunsets and misty valley vistas. All looking like they were feeling pretty lovely about life, bordering on content.

I realised it's on places like retreats and healthy holidays we often feel quite lovely. About everything. Relaxed, nourished, minds clear, bodies given an MOT and service, all far from the maddening crowds. The least worried. The most meditative. The most still. Even though every day our bodies are paradoxically more active than normal, practicing yoga, walking in forests, swimming in rivers, surfing, whatever. We feel the most active and yet the most still.

Maybe in that stillness of retreat, we get to know ourselves a bit better. 

And perhaps we actually like ourselves a little better than the stressed out version of ourselves we left back at home.

One thing is certain to me, everyone definitely shines after a week on retreat. “You’re positively glowing, darling”. So maybe it's only natural that photos taken at those moments are the ones we choose to share with the FB universe. Because we feel more like ourselves. And to make our friends jealous too no doubt!

Thanks to our guests who have let me share their selfies and Vale de Moses photos with you today. Each one of these photos today on the blog are from their FB covers or profiles and aren't they all beautiful! 

That's it really. To say it’s winter. Which you knew. And that Facebook is revealing patterns in our own human social behaviour and projection of virtual self image. Again, you knew. And that going on a retreat is really really good for you. If you've not gone on one before, and you are able to do so this year, then

"Retreat, retreat, retreat!"

Choose any one of hundreds of wonderful retreat spaces all over the world. Any one of them. Just go. Especially if you're not feeling particularly like the best you have ever felt. Book a retreat as soon as you can. If it's with us, we very much look forward to meeting you and showing you around this stunning part of Portugal.

Also in this last week we've had an enormous response to our Karma Volunteer recruitment, so successful in fact that looks like we're fully staffed already! If you'd like to be contacted in case anyone of our volunteers have to cancel, and at the same time be considered first for our 2015 teams, please still do apply for our Reserve team this year. 

Finally, finally, you might like to read the interview Vonnie had last week with the delightful Tameera Kemp who runs Light Stays Retreats in Australia. Great site.

Wishing you lots of warmth and cosyness wherever you maybe be wintering.

Memphis