Talking to a retreat host

During Easter I visited a dear friend of the family, Maria, at her rural hostel in Almería. She is a wonderful host, cook, and storyteller. For more than 20 years she and Adolfo have made a paradise in this emptied far-away corner in Sierra Cabrera, notwithstanding bushfires, droughts and wild boar incursions, and many visitors and groups have used the house and environs for retreats of all types: women only, writing, yoga, meditation, mixed arts and crafts… I myself have witnessed how other visitors used their time there to cultivate communities of practice around writing, walking, or being closer to nature and animals. 

This being a sort of sensing journey for me, I spoke to her about our project(s). She stressed that there is a great need for people to get away from the city and create some time in regenerative places. Not necessarily with a therapeutic aim – sometimes just being there is enough. The house and the environment provide plenty of spaces for sitting, reading, writing, or walking.

When the experience is framed as a retreat, she said it is helpful to have some clear rules laid out from the start, to create a safe space where confidentiality is respected (what happens in the retreat stays there) and people don’t criticize each other. María didn’t take part usually, but she was the counterpart (home host) to the group host or facilitator.

Sitting in circle and giving each other the word by means of an object or ritual was also important. María sometimes added local lore and some practices, such as grounding, to energize the whole group. The practices generated some element of shock that usually catalyzes transformative experiences, or so have reported many attendees.