Episode 14: Ever Been On A Retreat? Me Neither. Until Now!

When a last minute opportunity to go on a retreat presented itself, I jumped at the chance. It felt as though the stars aligned, so I threw caution to the wind and went. I had no idea what to expect but it was brilliant. I learned and and experienced new things, moved, challenged myself in so many ways, and meet some incredible people.

As promised, here are the details that I  said I would include. Both recommendations are absolutely worth checking out!

The place that we stayed had safari lodges with toasty beds, fabulous showers, a wood-burner and everything else you could imagine needing. The lodges are set in beautiful fields and are surrounded by meadows and flowers. Follow the link below to take a closer look.

Tall Trees Glamping

If you would like to take a look at Catherine's site and book a reading or find out more about the incredible soul led work that she does,  you can do that HERE and to find out more about next May's  Glastonbury retreat, just click HERE

Have a fabulous week! Beth 

Transcript

1:23

Hi, it's lovely to be back with a new episode of the podcast. If you haven't tuned into a friend in your ear before then, welcome it is lovely to have your hair. And if you listen to any of my first 13 episodes, Then it is great to have you back. Now. I was going really well after Christmas on recording the podcast episodes. And then I kind of fell off the horse, or most of the point life threw me off the horse and I just didn't have time to do everything that I wanted to do so unfortunately, or needed to do so. Unfortunately, the podcast went by the way, but I'm now back raring to go and hoping that I'm going to be able to continue to podcast weekly through the summer. And ever after that. And this week, what I really wanted to talk to you about was something that I've done recently, which I've never done before. And it's this. I went on a Mary Magdalene retreat. I think that we're so busy so much of the time, and we rarely get a chance to stop and doing something like this, where you just literally put the brakes on and I have to stop. Dead in your tracks is such a brilliant thing for our body, for our mind, for us spirit. Everything. So, let me rewind a little bit. I knew that there was a retreat coming up because my friend Mandy had told me about it and the reason I didn't sign up was just because I couldn't life was so topsy turvy that I didn't know what was going on and where I was going to be. Anyway a few weeks ago. We'd been for a usual Thursday morning run. And I said to Mandy, Oh, well, she doing this weekend and she said, oh, I'm going on the retreat. And as she was driving off in her car, I nearly went up to her and said, do you mind if I see if there's any spaces. But I didn't want to put her on the spot. So I came in the house and before I got in the shower, I messaged Catherine, who was running the retreat because I thought, what if there aren't any spaces? It's academic anyway. And said, are there any spaces on the retreat this weekend and she said, yes, we've just had somebody cancel there's one spare place. And it's in Mandy's room. And I just thought to myself, oh my goodness. This is meant to be. So I rang my husband and said, look, We haven't got any plans this weekend. This opportunity has arisen for me to go on a retreat is something I'd really like to do. This is how the place has come up. What do you think? And he said to me, well, you've got to go. It's a no brainer. You have to go. And so I got really excited. And then for, oh, no, but what if Monday doesn't want me to go with her? Maybe this is her thing. I don't want to invade her space. I was very conscious that this is something that she does. So we had a chat and I told her, and she said, yes, I knew that there was a place that had come upon the retreat, but I didn't want to hassle you. And I said, well, I didn't want to hassle you by letting you know that I was interested in going, but do you mind if I go? And she said, no, of course I don't. I said, and did you know that the place that's available is in the same room as you? And she said, no, I didn't. I said, well, there we go then. So it kind of all fell into place. And this was on the Thursday, lunchtime, and we were going Friday, lunchtime. So I had a quick Google and a quick look at where we were staying. And the retreat was being held just outside of Glastonbury. On, I think probably what had been a farm. There was still a farm house and there were four safari tents. Within a beautiful sort of meadow area with little gravel pathways running between them. And I was hooked. When I got there, but were fairy lights involved. I was hooked. And that was one of the reasons I wanted to go. I was like, well, whatever else is going on on the retreat. This fairy lights glamping. Right at my street. Let's get on with it. So we packed all our things that set off. The next day, I hadn't really had an opportunity to look at what the itinerary was for the retreat. And so. On the way down, we started to Google various things. I was like, oh, well, where are we going? Exactly. And what are we going to be doing? Exactly. And I was reading about cacao ceremonies and thinking, well, what is a cacau. Well, Sarah, when you've got no idea what that was, so that they were going to be drums involved in thought not on your life, but let's go and find out anyway. So that was a really exciting. And we got down there and we were shown to our lodge, which was lovely. It's this safari lodge. Just in case you ever want to go? I will. Try. If I can to link in the show notes to where it was, we were staying. But they were almost, if you imagine a wooden lodge with a veranda at the front and seating, there were like that, except the sides were canvas. So it was glamping, but in there, there was everything you would need. There was a wood burning stove. There were the cutest little bedrooms. There was a nice kitchen area. Really? Well-equipped. Everything you would need. There was a separate bathroom. You have to take a couple of steps outside to go to the bathroom, which was like in its separate cabin, but that was a big walk-in shower. Amazing. Just lovely. Really, really lovely place to stay chilly at night a little bit, but there were electric blankets. I had forgotten about the electric blankets. Which were absolutely gorgeous, especially if like I did. On the first morning, I nipped to the Lewis about five in the morning and it was a bit chilly. And then I got back into my. Bed with the electric blanket on. And it was like being wrapped in a lovely, warm womb. So I got back to sleep, which is very rough for me. So that was all great. Commendation is lovely. And then the food was served in the farm house around a big table. There were two girls on the retreat as well, who the organizers of the retreat Katherine and Lou both knew. And they come along to the retreat for the weekend to do the cooking. So all the food was vegan and we had the most amazing food. Delicious delicious. Salads and desserts and hot meals and pat lunches, everything beautiful dressings, just the tastiest food. In fact, I think the girls or one of the girls used to run a vegan cafe. So, you know, put delicious food into the mix and where that. I am ready to go. Anyhow. It became apparent fairly quickly that. As have everybody in the group, and I'm not sure how many there were of us now between 12 and 16, I would say that. I had the least idea of what was going on. It became apparent when we were chatting that I was so far away from where these ladies and girls were on their spiritual path and with what was going on, that it was unbelievable. So I was just not a rabbit in the headlights, but I was just taking it all in and like, oh, this is a very completely different immersive experience for me. As it turned out to be when we were naked swimming the next day as well, but I was lapping it up. It was brilliant. It was so different. And it was so much fun and everybody was so genuine and kind and lovely and warm and inclusive. But although I did slightly feel like a fish out of water. And as if I'd got the word newbie, Tattooed across my forehead. It was still. Really, really good fun. So on that first night. And I'm just going to chat you through what we did so you can kind of get a feel to see if it's something that you ever found the C doing. The girls had also taken Katherine and Liv had also taken Abelton. I mean, the organization for those girls they'd. Well, women they've traveled a really long way. It was about five hours for them, I think. And it must have been such, such hard work for them. Not only emotionally, but physically as well. They put this big bell tent up and they'd set up like a little altar in the middle and there were maps and sheepskins around the side. So we all went into the tent after our evening, Marilyn and sat around in a circle. It might've been before dinner, even actually, I can't quite remember now. But we sat around in this circle. And. There was an introduction. So we all went around and we introduced ourselves and said how we were feeling. And, and there were some issues that were bothering me. So I got a little bit upset, but that. That in itself, didn't matter because I thought. If I'm going to get the most out of this weekend, I've kind of got to really commit to it. And if I'm going to be held and supported and heal a bit, then I've just got to let it out. You know, it was a really safe space to do that. And then we were having some little sort of ceremony at one point when it was very quiet. And I could hear this ringing outside the tent. And I was like, oh, flip me. That's my phone going off. And although I'd remembered to put the volume down on my phone or just switch it off. I forgotten to switch off my six o'clock alarm, which goes 6:00 PM every evening. To remind me to post something on Instagram, which I never ever, ever do, but the alarm still goes off anyway. And just to reinforce the feeling of Beth is the new beat. I thought that's my phone. That's my phone. Oh, no, that's my phone. And then there was a little break and I think Catherine said. I think somebody, his phone's going off outside the tent kidney. Go in and switch it off, please. You know, when you stand up and you think, oh, all eyes are going to be on man, such a numpty. Anyway, dealt with the phone. So that was one of the big, yes, Beth, the newbie in town. Switch the phone off carried on with the circle, met some amazing people. There was a lady who to travel down. From. Scotland. With her mom. There were girls who were younger than us, I would say Monday. And I were at the upper end of the age bracket, but you know, it was great. A real mixture of people there, which was incredible because not often do I meet anymore ladies with young children or necessarily ladies who are quite a lot older than I am, or ladies who were just doing all different, interesting, spiritual things in life. So we all got together. We had our circle. And that was it for the first night we went back. And then the next day we had so many exciting things planned. This was the great thing for me, because I'm really not very good at taking time out. I can chill for maybe an hour or so. And then no, a bit longer than that. Two hours. Half a day, maybe a day. I had to push two days and then I'm just searching for things to do. My brain starts to where I have a really, really active brain. That's like, Oh, you could be doing this. You should be doing that. I have thought about doing this. Why don't you create that? Why don't you figure out how this platform works or that platform works? But the thing about this is that we were so busy all the time, but I was learning so many new things and I was so. Distracted from everyday life, but engaged in this new world. Whilst it's still being a really restful and cathartic and healing experience that it just ticked every single box me. Which was brilliant. So the next day on the Saturday, and this is where things started to get really interesting. The first thing that we did was have a cacao ceremony in the tent, which was a little bit of a walk from where we were staying still in the same Maddow area, but a bit of a distance. I know Mrs. Numpty had here. One, we were meant to take our own cups from home that I guess had some kind of significance. And I thought, well, I can't really rock up. With my sports direct mug. Now can I, so perhaps you didn't take a mug with me because I thought, well, I'll probably break it anyway. And then I meant to take one from the lodge, but didn't so arrived down at the 10 and said to the girls, I haven't got a mug with me. I forgot time to go and get one. And they said, yes, you go and get your mug. We were super way from the Belton where the cacao ceremony was taking place. So again, Beth made of things started a little bit late. But we had this cacao ceremony and we were sitting around now. I didn't know anything about cacau. I won't go into great detail now, but it's basically the purest form of chocolate. That is a new gets. Her cow sent over by Keith and somebody. I can't remember the lady's name from, I think he's from Guatemala and she makes it up in this big pot and you can put cinnamon in it and you can put. Some kind of milk in it as well. And it's basically like this lovely hot chocolate, but then it can, send you a little bit trippy. So we were sitting around and we were nursing our cups of cacao and it was sort of being blessed and things. And loose it to us. And now take your, take your first ceremonial. Sip of cacau and I'm thinking, oh, flip I've drunk half mine already because I was a bit chilly and it was hot. Ready to go. So that's Beth's third vote and not that it mattered at all. So we drank the cacau and we went around and we shared how we were thinking and feeling and what kind of night we'd had and all this kind of thing, which was just lovely. It was, it was so fabulous. But after that, or I should say, and after that, We were going on a trip into Dustin Bri. Lou and Catherine had booked the white wealth for us to go and to swim in. And I didn't really realize this, that you can go and swim in naked. If you wish to. And we got there and it was brilliant because. It was dark. And there were lots of candles around and Lou had taken her drums with her. And as I mentioned, when I read about the drumming in the itinerary, I thought. I'm not going to be jumping. Anyway, I was handed a drab, real stood in the circle. We were handed a job. Each and we started drumming and Lou was singing something and it was funny. It was so much fun. All these things that we probably used to do when we were kids and we don't do anymore. I think it was just fabulous. So we were drumming and it was, it was damp under foot and it was a bit chilly under foot. And you could hear the water running. And then it came time to get into the well. Fortunately, I had already in preparation for potential naked swimming. Had the nail varnish remover Polish on my butt to get rid of the marks on my, my HRT patches go. Which was fortunate. And then, sorry, if you can hear a phone in the background. I've got to switch that off. There's a theme here. And shown her who was there. He was the lady from Scotland who was probably early mid seventies. And she apparently loved to be naked and she had no problems taught about whipping all my clothes off and getting in the freezing cold water. I was standing next to her and I was like, come on back. You cannot be a big old wimp, just crack on with it. So I did. And so did lots of us, not everybody swam and I'm not sure that everybody. Chose to so I'm naked, but most of us did. And we went, there was like a lower pool that was easier to get into an Edison steps up to a higher, deep pool. I was going up the steps. I'm showing Monday, my, my mistake. I was going up to the steps. To get into the deeper pool. I looked. Thumb was right in my face. She had a very lovely. So that was fine. And I told her afterwards that she's got a very lovely bump. So we went into the deeper pool. We'd taken flowers as well, because you can leave flowers there as little gifts. I don't understand the ins and outs of everything. I'll probably get it around my neck. If I try to make out that I know what I'm talking about, but we left. Flowers and. And then we came out into the brilliant sunshine and the well, was that so people were filling up water bottles. From the spring. I didn't because I can't remember why not now. It was probably too much for me to take him, but Mandy had lots of water bottles that she'd filled out from the spring. And then we went off into the. Is it called the chalice gardens. I think these beautiful gardens in Glastonbury. We've got a packed lunch, a vegan packed lunch with us. The sun was out. There's the chalice. Well, there, there's different little parts that you can sit in. And we had our lunch in there and just sat and lay down and regrouped and had a good sort of 40 minutes in there. Before it was entitled to go down into Dustin bread itself. That was a whole experience as well, because. I didn't know what to expect. I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't love the shops there. I felt that they were perhaps. A little bit taking advantage of people and little bit gimmicky in some ways there was some lovely bookshops. Which were great to go in. And there were a couple of gifty shops and a lovely whole food shop. But some of the other shops, I just felt that. When they was having their crystals was, it would have been fine if it felt really genuine, but a lot of it felt quite inauthentic quite touristy, which maybe you would expect. I don't know. That could be incredibly unfair of me, but there were just something about my senses that thought, Ooh, I don't like this. I feel like you're going to take advantage of people who were perhaps a bit vulnerable. So we were we're in duster brief for awhile. We went and looked around the Abbey had an ice cream there and the ruins. That was great. And then we met for a little ceremony in the Mary Magdalene chapel because. As I mentioned at the start, the retreat was all about Mary Magdalen, about whom I knew very little, and I'm not going to pretend to know a lot now because I feel that wouldn't be fair to the people who have read a lot and have. Lived alongside Mary Magdalen, but certainly I picked up that she was around at the same time as Jesus, and was probably as powerful as him, but in female form. So it was great to learn. What if that we had, we had this ceremony and this tiny little chapel. In just a brief, which again was just lovely. It was very peaceful. It was very restful. Even if I couldn't engage with and understand everything because a lot of it was quite deep. I could take in enough and it was learning enough and was distracted from everyday life enough. And it was just enjoying the whole whole experience. It was absolutely brilliant. Probably one of those things that if I'd have understood the full itinerary before I went, I might have thought, oh, I'm going to feel out of my depth. And I'm not sure this is for me, but actually in hindsight it was probably one of the best things I've ever done. I can't wait to go again. Because there's going to be another bond next may. And I will give you details about that because you should definitely come and join us. If you feel it's your kind of thing. So after the Mary Magdalene chapel, and I will got some of these things out of order, but it doesn't really matter. We went back. We had food. We could hang out in the loges. We had a nother circle. The weather was beautiful. We were really, really very lucky. I think that first morning, we'd done some outdoor yoga in a circle. Oh, that was just fabulous as well. So we had that. The second night there, and then we, might've done a bit more drumming that night and a little bit more singing that definitely came into it. Next day. We had another cacau circle and Lou made it a stronger. Stronger rendition second time around. And it definitely did make me feel slightly different. I don't remember feeling anything the first time I had it the second time. You just feel a little bit floaty? I think so that was good. We went outside. We did more drumming. We did more singing. We lay on the maps. Catherine went around, did some healing. She was talking in light language, which was phenomenal. Really, really interesting. And that day we climbed the tour, which we could see from where we were staying. So it was not a big Walker, the tour at all. I wasn't sure if it was a hiking boot type job it's quite difficult. And you get that to know how long you're going to be walking for. There's probably only, I don't know, 20 minutes if that, to the top. And we sat up there and could just survey the scenery all around Glastonbury, which was lovely. And that's very spiritual place. If people as well. There's a little tower at the top. And there were people in there chanting and singing. It's quite windy, but it was a sunny day. It was really lovely. Then we went back down. Had lunch. And I could say did the drumming and the singing and the healing and the afternoon had some dinner. And then it was time for Monday myself to leave. Although people were staying. Into the third day we also did whilst we were there. One of the evenings. Oh, this was Beth looks a numpty part for. But 54. We did some hand massaging because Lou had kindly given us all a little bottle of. Rose oil from a place in Scotland, very, very pure rose oil. And we did a little bit of hands massage. Should we just have to turn to the person next to us? And massage their hands and then it was time for us to swap over. And then at the end, we went around the circle. This all happened in the bell tent. Again. We went around the circle. And we had to say how we found it. And me being me, I'd had a great chat to the lady I was chatting with. She was a similar age to me and I said, oh, well, Normally. I'm asked to massage my 15 year old daughters, smelly, sweaty, cheesy feet. When she comes home from gymnastics, that's what she calls them. So for me, this was great because it was somebody's hand it wasn't sweaty, smelly, cheesy feet. It was brilliant. And. You know, people sort of laughter. A bit. And then. As we went further around the circle. Some people were saying, I was really glad that you didn't talk to me. I really needed that space to. Do this and to do that and to proceed, which all of which was absolutely fine. And you know, you suddenly go, oh my goodness, I have so misplayed this and got it wrong. Here's me being. Slightly flippant. Not flippant, but slightly light about it. And actually for some people, it was a, a really Ah, what's the word sort of deep, spiritual. Thing for them and it, and it was lovely. I don't know if that's the right words that I've used. Exactly. But. It meant a lot to them and it was quite emotional and it brought some ladies to tears. And here's me talking about sweaty, cheesy feet. Anyway, Shona, who was lovely. She was the lady from Scotland. She was very sweet to me. And she said, you know, you bring a real lightness to things. And I thought, oh, that's a very sweet way of complimenting me. I think if I were to rephrase that to myself, I'd say you're such a plum he had at times, but nevermind not to worry. So we've done the hand massage as well. So there were all these different things going on just to run through. We had circles, we did yoga, we did drumming. We did singing. We had cacau ceremonies. We went to the Mary Magdalene chapel. We walked at the tour. We had healing, we had delicious food. There was lots of time. The chatting and connecting and reading and journaling. So this whole experience. Which I was only way a couple of days, but it felt like such a life changing thing to have gone and done was absolutely brilliant. And you will be able to find out details of the next retreat. If you're interested in coming. On Catherine's website. And if you Google Catherine Hartley, that's a few Catherine heartless. So her website is, I am Catherine Hartley, which is C a T H E R I N E. Then it's H a R T L E Y. Our link in the show notes, or just drop me a message and I'll be able to forward details to you. If you think it's something. That you fancy going on? But I think suffice to say. No, I'm drawing this to an end and I'm sorry, I've gone on for longer than anticipated again. If you haven't done anything before, as different as this, or if you're looking to do something different and an opportunity comes your way and you think. Shall I show on tie, shall I show on tie, then just give it a world. What I loved about it? One of the things I really loved was it was an opportunity to do something different and which took me outside of my comfort zone, but which wasn't scary. Or really, really physical because often I'll look to do. A marathon or maybe I'll think about training for triathlon or maybe I'll think about doing. I really, really long walk or a mud run. And I do love being active and being outside. But sometimes I'm a bit of a wimp. So the kids might say to me, let's go cliff jumping, or coasteering whilst or bungee jumping or AB sailing down something. And whilst there's a parts of me that would love to do that, I know it comes with a certain amount of fare, which isn't that relaxing. Whereas this, it takes a tick, the boxes of being something different. Something outdoors, different experiences, meeting different people, engaging in different things, opening your mind up, learning so on and so forth. But in a way, which felt really safe and really held, I'm really nurturing. I'm really healing. And that was what I took away from it. So if there's it's about understanding yourself really isn't it. And I think after this retreat, I understand myself a lot better and cannot wait to go onto the next one. So suffice to say, if you've enjoyed listening to this and you think anyone else might benefit from. Hearing it, please do feel free to share it with them. I'll like I said, our link in the show notes. I know I've said this three times now. To Catherine's website. So you can find out more details or drop her a message or drop me a message. And see if it's something that you like the sound off for yourself, but yes, let's go live life. Let's go have fun. Let's try something And let's just see how it makes us feel because. We do a lot of the same. So it's brilliant to try out new things as, and when we can. Okay. I hope that you have a great rest of your day sending so much love. And I look forward to seeing you again, soon you take care. Lots of love. Bye for now