From the category archives:

Paradise Courses

Thumbnail image for Stay with it….and feel the joy!

Stay with it….and feel the joy!

21 September 2012

“Stay with it……” That’s the phrase that stays with me from Sophie Marsh’s Nia week. Others too:  “Relax your jaw… and breathe!” or “[there are] no mistakes!” and “Feel the joy”. But that first was my favourite. “Stay with it…..” she calls out….with the music, with the movement, with the moment, with the joy. She [...]

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Thumbnail image for Liquid focus: the flowing art of landscape quilts

Liquid focus: the flowing art of landscape quilts

9 September 2012

It was a week of liquid focus and fascination, flowing easily from day to day. Each morning the quilters climbed the stairs to the yoga shala where their sewing machines and tables were set up, commanding the most beautiful view of any quilting workshop. There they stayed until George beat the lali for lunch – [...]

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The Laughing Quilters

11 August 2012

When doctors go on holiday, they are all too often beset by other people asking them for a quick opinion on whatever aches and pains they have that day. When quilters go on retreat, it’s a prime opportunity for the rest of us to sidle up to them with rips and tears in our favourite [...]

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A Star is Born

2 July 2012
A Star is born

Singing produces joy. It’s chemical and it’s indisputable. We’ve had lots of Rachel Hore’s singing groups at Daku, and they are always happy occasions. The wind may blow (it did this week, but not too hard), the rain may fall (which it did intermittently) but the sunshine produced by the choir is always breaking through [...]

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Breakthrough Writing

31 March 2012

  Jan Cornall has now lead three retreats at Daku; she’s just come back from the latest and has sent me a brief account of the week:   I love the moments on our Fiji  writer’s retreat when the breakthroughs start to happen.  You would hope for it on a course called Breakthrough Writing but [...]

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Starting the New Year with yoga

4 February 2012

A lovely start to 2012 – a dynamic yoga week with Michelle Jayne. We were up every morning to start the first workshop at 7.30 – and soon sweating hard.  Her practice is influenced by the Power Yoga approach, but her major mentor has been Ana Forrest. She first met Ana when she trained with [...]

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Noah Maze: a gift of confidence

Noah Maze: a gift of confidence

19 December 2011

An extraordinary week with Noah Maze: the experience of learning from him was a daily endorsement of his huge reputation. Noah leads a very strong practice, well beyond the normal comfort zone of at least half the class. But with his meticulous work on the preparation of each pose, and the Anusara based emphasis on [...]

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Kerrie Lester - Art Holiday Retreat

The Joy of Painting

8 December 2011

In September, Kerrie Lester was at Daku for her second workshop. One of her students, Christine Leaming, writes about the week and what she learnt. It was a week was filled with painting, new experiences, laughter and relaxation. Each day began with a relaxing stroll along the waterfront, followed by breakfast around the pool. We [...]

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Magic in the Ink

Magic in the Ink

29 November 2011

The writers on the Manuscript Mentoring week with Rosie Scott had a great week – productive, friendly, stimulating, full of laughs and stories – and Rosie enjoyed it every bit as much as they did. Rosie Scott: MAGIC! I loved it. Small but fabulous group very committed, worked hard but also lots of fun, the [...]

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Yoga with Sons and Daughters

Yoga with Sons and Daughters

14 November 2011

Almost a year ago I spent a week doing yoga with my son at Mark Whitwell’s course in December. I wasn’t the only mum – and so I had the idea of writing about it from the point of view of doing a retreat with your son or daughter. It was subsequently published in Issue [...]

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