Woodland Retreat

We held a wonderful and blissful relaxing time in the Treetops woodlands last weekend, a day retreat with tutor Laura Routh-Parsons.

Laura used to hold Yoga and Meditation classes here at Treetops about four years ago, so it's been wonderful to welcome her back.

We started with a lovely calming meditation listening to Laura's gorgeous voice and the nearby birds and breeze through the trees.

We then added bits and pieces we'd brought from home to add to Laura's beautiful and colourful nature mandala, which created a lovely centre piece to our gathering.

Enjoying some gentle movement and simple yoga poses we got our bodies moving, worked on some breathwork/pranayama, which on this Retreat was Breath of Fire, this is really good for balancing and strengthening your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, increases your resistance to stress, boosts brain function and gives you a general feeling of wellbeing, especially with regular practice. 

We took a break for some flapjacks and elderflower cordial.

Laura then held a beautiful sound session as we lay on the soft woodland floor, either looking up at the canopy of beech leaves and blue sky or with our eyes closed covered with an eye mask, wrapped up cosily in blankets with supportive cushions.

Using crystal bowls, chimes and bells, it was so beautiful mixed in with the sounds of nature, it was just the perfect spot to be.

We moved across the woods to the fire pit to enjoy a delicious lunch and chat.

We had a lentil and nettle daal, made with nettles foraged from the edge of the woodland that morning, served alongside warmed naan bread.

My little outdoor kitchen set up on the treehouse platform!

Pudding was a lemon drizzle cake infused with homemade elderflower and rose cordial.

Finished and packed up mid afternoon, leaving no trace apart from flower petals and footprints.

Join us back in the Treetops woods for our next Woodland Retreat on Sunday 17 September.

10am - 3pm

£65

Relax and Restore

Make time for you; peace, relaxation and the perfect place to just get away from it all.

Some recent comments:

A huge thank you for the beautiful woodland retreat on Sunday. Oh my goodness, I enjoyed it so much! Everything was lovely, including the food (of course!) as always.

Thank you for a wonderful few hours, can't wait to return

Such a wonderful day!

Relax & Restore Retreat March

On Saturday we held another Relax & Restore Retreat Day with Laura from The Wellbeing Feeling.

It was a lovely relaxing day and great fun.

We started the morning with a gentle flow yoga session and meditation.

Followed by a delicious lunch.

The theme of the retreat was "Sowing the Seed", whether quite literally sowing seeds, eating seeds and psychologically planting seeds of thought etc

Seeds have many dietary benefits, and are great added to our cereal in the morning, our salads at lunchtime, our cakes and bakes at tea time, and our casseroles and pies.

I made a vegetarian cottage pie, very vibrant thanks to the beetroot!

recipe here 

With a winter slaw salad, with an extra sprinkling of seeds and a tahini dressing.

After lunch Laura took everyone into the woods for a mindfulness walk, some meditation and lots of chat!

And they returned to sowing seeds, which was fun, coir pots and interesting seed mixes.

And after all that exhausting work (!) it was time for relaxation and a good lie down.

Finishing with a wonderful Yoga Nidra session

(More than one person fell asleep!)

If you would like to join us on our next Retreat Day, we are holding one on Saturday 5 May.

11:30am - 4:30pm

£75

Namaste

About Meditation ........

We have a Meditation class here with Laura on a Monday morning, from 10:45am - 11:45am

But I hear many of you ask "what is meditation, what will I have to do"?

My answer is "come and give it a go", it's great, very relaxing and soothing. 

The main purpose of meditation is to make our mind calm and peaceful, meditation strengthens the connections between the regions of the brain that regulate our emotional responses.

Firstly, we are very lucky to have Laura Routh-Parsons, who is a BSoM (the British School of Meditation) accredited and highly trained teacher, this is really important in both your introduction to meditation and developing your practice.

You know you are in safe hands.

We sit quietly, eyes closed and focus on our breathing, our body starts to relax, shoulders drop and we count silently on our in-breath and our out-breath.  This helps with the focus.

We sometimes change the counts as the breath and focus is developed.

At Treetops it's lovely as we can hear the birds and it's very peaceful, no traffic noise or sounds of others.

Laura also creates a beautiful sound meditation with bells and her sound bowl.

We can also lie down and continue our meditation.  We've also meditated with essential oils and focussed on the flicker of a candle.  Sometimes Laura reads some beautiful passages from books and poems, and whispers some soothing mantras.  It's never boring!  And the time flies by.

There are so many benefits to meditation, it's definitely worth incorporating it into your life:

It reduces stress

Releases tension

Improves concentration

Encourages a healthy focus and lifestyle

Increases self-awareness

It increases happiness

It even slows ageing!

Great for anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue and insomnia

Come and spend an hour at Treetops and see what you think ..... 

2018 Relax & Restore Classes

Yoga and Meditation

From Monday 8 January 2018 we will be holding Relax & Restore Classes with Laura Routh-Parsons.

Session 1

Gentle Flow Restorative Yoga: 9.30am - 10.30am

Session 2

Meditation: 10.45am - 11.45am

Time to connect, balance and restore your body, mind and soul.

Ideal for beginners and others wanting a gentle start to the week in a small and welcoming environment.

The price is £10 per session and everything will be provided for you; mats, towels, cushions, blocks, belts, eye masks and blankets.

(If you book the 5 week block you receive 10% off)

Please email to book up to 8am on the Monday mornings to ensure that there is a mat for you. 

Candlelit Yoga Evenings

On Tuesday 23 January we are holding another wonderful Candlelit Yoga Evening by the fireside.

Gentle yoga and meditation led by Laura with a delicious supper of nutritious soups and warming drinks.

The class runs from 7pm - 9.30pm and costs £30.

Relax & Restore Retreat Day

On Saturday 20 January we will be having another relaxing Retreat Day at Treetops.

Running from 11:30am - 4:30pm you will enjoy a great day in a small group taking part in gentle yoga, meditation, yoga nidra, a wellbeing workshop, a delicious and nutritious lunch, a creative activity and a gentle mindful walk within the 3 acres of grounds and woodland at Treetops.

We cater for all dietary requirements. 

Around the fire in the woods.

The day costs £75, we currently have 3 spaces left for this Retreat.