The ocean is such a healer! After working throughout the Summer of 2019 I decided to book myself into Salty Pelican Retreats for a week. I’d never travelled on my own before and was really excited to go out of my comfort zone but obviously the natural worries came too. What if everyone knew someone? What if I don’t make friends? I took a few books with me so that I could spend my spare time reading if that was the case. Well, how wrong I was. If anyone is debating whether or not to go somewhere on their own (provided it’s safe of course) then I’d say definitely go for it. I have absolutely no regrets! So many people are doing exactly the same thing, in fact most people on the retreat had come by themselves, and can’t wait to meet new people either.
Everyone has the same worries but it always works out. You never know, you might meet a friend for life. I met a girl called Ella. We bonded on the first day over our love of being in the sun, books and obviously yoga. For the rest of the trip we were totally inseparable. And I’ve seen her lots since we’ve been home. Each day began with a 7am yoga flow on the pier overlooking the ocean. The sun was just starting to rise at the beginning of the practice and by the time the hour was up the sun was high in the sky. We then walked back to the house and had a healthy acaí bowl/parfait breakfast.
We could choose what went in it which was lovely, and all sat around a big communal wooden table to chat about our morning practice and whether we were going surfing or not.
We would then get ready for surfing and travel to the beach in a minivan. We surfed and chilled on the beach then would head back to the house for some chill time before the second yoga practice of the day – a Yin practice on the deck in a public garden – bliss!
In the evening Salty Pelican offered amazing dinners such as veggie or fish BBQ and a tapas night which I loved getting involved with. The veggie tapas were my favourite.
One of the days I took part in an incredible silent meditation hike. We hiked down to the beach in silence, sat in a big circle and had a guided meditation. We then discussed how the meditation went for us and what showed up. We also had snacks and drinks.
I surfed, I flowed, I ate some amazing food and met some lovely people too. I came home feeling a hundred times better than when I left. Ella even booked a new flight home so she could extend her trip and we could leave together and we decided to do a road trip from Lisbon to Faro!
Rosie x