Nature doesn't hurry...

The sun is shining. The sap in the trees is rising. The mimosas are in full, gloriously-scented, yellow bloom. And the tiny daffodils are peeping out on the forest floor. Signs that Spring is emerging. Graças a Deus that we've had a winter of rain to fill up the water tables after last winter's 5 month drought. The appearance of Spring holds an even more poignant message for us this year.

The forest fires at the end of last summer charred a sizeable chunk of the surrounding landscape. Paradoxically, fire destroys and rejuvenates simultaneously. The contrast between the wee forest flowers breaking through the rich black pot ash is remarkable. I was heartened by Tameera at Light Stays Retreats for her Lau Tzu quote this week on FB. Good to be reminded....

"Nature doesn't hurry, 

yet everything is accomplished." 

Lau Tzu.

Big thanks to our wonderful volunteer Christian Steiger, who has been working tirelessly over the last month, helping us prepare the houses and the land for our yoga retreat season opening in a few weeks. Clearing up some of the fallen trees and debris of the winter storms, weeding the kitchen gardens ready for planting out this year's herbs and salads, rearranging and tidying spaces, deep Spring cleaning and to top it off playing around in the kitchen with me inventing new dishes for the retreats. Exploring the taste-scape of our pallets.  It's been a lot of fun and inspiring to have another chef to cook with.

Eloise turned 14 in January and Joshua 16 last week. They grow fast. And we observe them change once more, this time into adults, young, energetic and magnificent. Flapping their perfectly formed wings on the edge of the proverbial nest, eyeing that tantalizing horizon of destiny, wherever it may lie for them. The world is their oyster. 2 languages mastered and more coming, they'll be able to navigate their way through. They're not ready to leave just yet, but they're beginning to imagine what that might look like. Imagination and Vision. Such precious and powerful human attributes.

Now the winter rains seem to have passed, we'll be starting the improvements to the yoga platform next week in the sunshine. Strengthening the wooden pillars beneath the veranda with a metal structure that will double as a frame for the wisteria,  roses and jasmines to grow up through. We'll also be enclosing it from the fresh morning valley autumn breezes and the fierce summer sun. We'll keep you updated with a couple of vids to show work in progress. It'll be sad in someways to loose the openness of the practice space, but with more guests and children coming this year, that experience of floating above the forest is not as important as taking care that our guests are safe and don't fall to injury.

And while all that is happening we also have 4 families from the UK with us to explore the possibility of making the jump out to this part of the world. Nice to be able to provide a comfortable base from which they can travel off every day to hunt for similar abandoned hamlets in this beautiful, mountainous and relatively "undiscovered" central part of Portugal.

After these lovely families and their oh so very cute kids leave, my Mum and Dad are popping over for a fortnight from the UK before Easter and then we start our first retreat of the year. Which, Merci Papa, is already fully booked. Places on our retreats are booking so fast this year we can hardly believe it. We've had over 5000 likes for our Facebook page in 12 months. Staggering. Guests are coming in from all over the world - America, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Italy, India, the UK, Thailand and Norway. And that's just for the first 2 retreats of the year. Amazing.

We are really touched by how people have responded to our invitation to come spend a week with us in the forest. And by how many people are helping us in this little quest - Ellie and Rosy at Responsible Travel, Will at Yoga Travel, Filipe at Seegno, among many others. Thanks. We really do appreciate all you're doing for us.

Peace, love and Spring hope to you, whatever the weather outside your window today.

Memphis x

p.s. Respect is due to Josh for these photos on the blog, he took them for me this morning. Lad, you sure got an eye.

Yoga at Moses went on holiday. By River

Hey guys

As some of you might know I get a little homesick from time to time for the little gem of an island on which I was born.  The island of Barbados. This small 14 x 21 miles bit of coral protruding miraculously from the Caribbean and Atlantic seas is a Tropical Paradise.  From the moment you get off the plane the heat hits you, slam.  Warm and moist, every muscle relaxes.

The tropical heat brings a sinuous ease to your practice. Twists, backbends, forward bends, hip openers all come so easily.   Tensions of the mind and body melt away assisted by the sultry tropical days and frequent sudden intense and short rain showers to warm and moisten the sinews. Imagine getting into those forward bends and impossible twists just because your body temperature is constant all day. Or, resting after a sweat inducing practice in Shavasana with the sound of the ocean. Surpasses the ticking of the clock or the desire for more. When your eyes open they are hit with big blue sky, big blue sea, huge big leaved big bodied vegetation and blousy flowers and people who like me, embody the phrase, “Soon come.”

My Dad (in the photo with Josh below) has this intimate little coral stone villa that he renovated as a young man on the South Coast of the island. The villa is adorable, with its own sundeck, overlooking a gently curved stretch of cove.  It's called Jarrow and people go back year after year cos it's so lovely. The entire South Coast is known for its tranquil seas and vibrant night life, just a short walk across the beach and you enter St Lawrence Gap, a bustling mile long stretch of bars, resorts, clubs along a stretch of the softest white sand and sparkling blue sea on the island.

The island is one heaving rock of activity and there is so much to do.  A mid morning practice of cleansing asanas easily prepares for afternoons snorkeling with Sea turtles, boogie and surf boarding in the waves or gently swimming in the clear and warm Caribbean Sea, water the same temperature as the air around.

I guess this little piece of coastline has some sentimental value for me.  I practically grew up along this stretch of the island, Mum worked on one of the Hotels and to me life was all about bustling and smiling and hearing the music of people dancing until 3am in the morning.   The Gap is a little quieter these days, but it is still a great place to shake down a little and drink one of Barbados’ famous and delicious Banks Beers or tasty Rum punches (ask Andy!).  He loves this area too and managed to remind me every day that he once scored a century at the local Cricket ground when he was 18 on a school tour.

I really enjoyed staying a week in my Dad's place by the beach, waking up and practicing mid-morning, lounging and snorkeling with the kids in the afternoons and spending the evenings watching the little fishing boats, dancing all night with the family on the deck or with Andy in a bar and walking back bare foot along the beach swinging hands in the early hours.

The sunlight, ocean air and warmth, huge boosts to health requiring no effort on our part.  An island heated yoga practice seriously cleanses the body of all previous forays.  It’s been 7 years in Europe since I was back last and I forgot just how naturally healing a Caribbean island climate can be. I am not complaining about the European climate (currently loving the endless rain here filling up the water tables ready for the summer heat plus the cold killing the bugs!) It was just interesting to notice the natural healing properties of my little tropical island.

So, it got me thinking. There are probably quite a few people I know back in Europe that would really benefit from a week or 2 in Barbados. Maybe we should run retreats there during our winter off season. Share the joy of the island I am from.   Hang out in the Caribbean with us, stay in a cute coral stone and wooden villa on the beach, practice a little yoga, have some deeply therapeutic massage in the tropical heat, eat my Mum’s home cooked healthy scrumptiousness of freshly picked local fruit and veg and daily catch from the sea, sunbathe on the beach then snorkel on the reef to cool off,  jiggle a dance or two in the Reggae Lounge at night, go see the world renowned Harrison’s Caves and take a dive to Finding Nemo land in a submarine.

In fact that's exactly the holiday we just took and it’s done us the world of good. It would be downright mean not to share the experience. So watch this space. We’re toying with the idea of something like this for Christmas 2013.

Yoga Retreat in Barbados, December 2013

Sharing twin room in beach front Jarrow villa, my Mum’s Island Brunch and Light Supper, 6 Morning Yoga Classes  on the veranda and one full body massage treatment with Acupuncture, Airport transfers – US$1, 000 per person per week (not incl. flights) 

There’ll only be 6 spaces per week. And it would be an awesome yoga holiday for a group of 6 too.  So email me at vonettawinter@gmail.com if you think you might like to come this Christmas. When we get dates finalised, I’ll write to you first before we advertise it on the web.

A happy new year to you all.

Vonetta

P.S. Don’t forget your ear plugs, we islanders like to dance until 3am on account of the fact we don’t leave the house for a night out before 10pm!

Yoga Retreats Portugal 2013

Thanks to the great team at Seegno for updating our Vale de Moses Yoga Retreat website ready for our 2013 season here in Portugal, including an online booking system. Top job guys. We really appreciate all the extra time you put in to make it work.

Cinco estrellas Seegno!

And thanks also goes out to the lovely Andi and Olly who have spent the last 3 weeks planting in half of the garden centre that we bought last month for our anniversary present. We'll show some pics of the grounds around the houses next week. It's lush.

Memphis

New Kitchen Garden, Road and River Pools

As promised here are a couple of update videos showing the progress of the new kitchen garden makeover (take a peak at what it used to look like here for comparison), meet Fanny and Felipe, and take a first glimpse of the new road leading to the river pools at the bottom of the valley.

Enjoy.  Memphis.

New kitchen terrace garden makeover



Introducing Felipe and Fanny



New road down to the rivers




Natural river swimming pools

The Monastic Adega

Hey ho happy summer. While we've been running some lovely retreats this month, it's also been party time in this part of Portugal. Oleiros had its Feira do Pinhal 2012 extravaganza, where for 2 weeks 50,000 people come to our town of normally 4,000 to spend a few evenings with family and friends, shopping at the huge outdoor arts and crafts market, savouring the culinary delights of the local restaurants, listening to 2 stages of live music and watching the local firework company show off their world renowned displays.

And every village for miles also has its own 2 or 3 days of festas where the sounds of accordions resonate through the valleys into the wee hours of the mornings. It's a pity River and I have not been able to revel in this party season as much as the last few years, as we need good restorative sleep to look after, teach and massage our guests here.  Josh and Ellie spent the Feira do Pinhal sleeping over at friend's houses in town, so they were happy dancing til 6am and rising from the dead late in the afternoons.

In a few days all the annual kerfuffle will settle down and we'll return to the quieter rhythms of forest life. But I wanted to put this little season in context. Because at the same time we have also finally finished restoring the last of our stone houses, the Adega where one family in this valley used to make 4000 litrres of wine each year. It is now home to Chris and Anette from Denmark who will be living with us a while to deepen their practice of Suikido. They have worked really hard helping us turn the old Adega into a beautiful sublime monastic living space.

This tablet contains the 3 elements of Suikido. Sui meaning water, fluidity, formlessness. Ki - life force, vitality, spirit. Do - path, way, life practice. Chris found the stone nearby the Adega and painted the characters the other week. As you turn the corner and see the tablet at the base of the stone entrance steps, it looks like it could have always been there. For those who have visited Vale de Moses you'll know that the terraces down by the river and apple orchard have a timeless quality. The rest of the world feels a mighty long way away. The invitation to be still and reflect, resonates in a way that can only be described as "elemental", surrounded as you are by forest, water running over a small fall in the stream and hand carved out bedrock everywhere you look.

With water gravity fed and solar heated on its way from a very old Moorish water mine 200m above the valley, without electricity using only candles and olive oil burning lanterns, a small practice space in the cavernous bed rock basement and 2 futon bed platforms made with wood from the old wine vats.

A big thanks to all our lovely Yoga Helpers, Tammy, Evelyn, Rebecca and Xana who worked so hard in June clearing out the space ready for restoration, and to our neighbour João Antunes and his sons Jorge and Filipe for helping us lay the ochre pigment coloured practice floor and turn the old grape foot pressing tank into an outside shower that doubles as irrigation for the orchard.

So there we have it. After 4 years we have finally finished the restoration of all 4 houses at Vale de Moses. And somehow this last one hints towards the direction that life might be taking here. A little more monastic. Coincidentally (!), in September we hope to also be hosting for a few days 4 more "monks". Nick and Juliette from the UK and 2 Bangladeshi Buddhists on a study trip from a Sri Lankan orphanage where they work. It will be a pleasure to welcome them into our home in the forest.

"A monk (from Greek: μοναχός, monachos, "single, solitary"[1]) is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decided to dedicate his life to serve other living beings or to be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many religions and in philosophy." Wikipedia.

A few photos below from our guests here this month. More to be found on our Facebook page. Enjoy.

Memphis.