In May/June 2013, I spent a wonderful month in my favourite place in the world – France!
I never tire of the beauty of the language, the art, history and culture, the architecture and the countryside! When I’m in France, I always find that experiencing everything in a second language throws me intensely into a state which the Buddhist’s call Beginner’s Mind – fully aware in the present moment, and where every experience is new and all my senses are alive…!
Two highlights of the trip were:
• A personal retreat/journey in the south of France led by fellow yoga teacher and therapist, Wendy Batchelor, including travelling to an amazing gypsy festival at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a seaside village in the Camargue, not far from Marseille. The gypsies believe that Mary Magdalene and Jesus’ mother Mary, fled by boat to escape persecution after the crucifiction and travelled to this tiny mediterranean village in the south of France. Each year, they re-enact this arrival in a joyous and moving religious festival over two days. And the festivities which surround the religious festival are wonderful. The town is full of thousands of tourists and pilgrims from all round the world; townsfolk dress in the local Camargue dress; there are parades of the exquisite white Camargue horses; and gypsies perform their wonderful, infectious music in every square, street and restaurant…!
Effigies of the ‘Mary’s’ are joyfully escorted from the sea-side to the church in the village
Attending the annual International Buddhism and Medicine Conference 2013 for doctors and health professionals, held at Lerab Ling, in the south of France at the headquarters of Sogyal Rinpoche (Tibetan master and author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying), two hours north of Montpellier, also in the south of France. The theme of the conference was “Empathy, Compassion and Health.”
Lerab Ling
I came home re-inspired and grateful for such a wonderful trip, full of all the latest research on the benefits of compassion-based meditation practices, amazing personal insights and experiences, and some wonderful new friends and connections in France
On the steps of my ‘yurt’ at Lerab Ling