Pathways to Stillness - Meditation, Mindfulness & Spiritual Wellness Retreats

Achieving and maintaining strong and healthy spiritual wellness has become a necessity in today's modern world. The benefits of achievieng good mind, body and spirit balance have been well documented and claim to achieve one or more of the following: reduced stress, anxiety control, greater patience, more tolerance and acceptance, increased self-awareness, greater consciousness, more kindness and compassion, increased concentration, and reduced memory loss.

If you want to find a greater presence of one or more of these attributes in your life, dive in and take a look at what we have to offer.

What is spiritual wellness?

• Spiritual wellness is about: achieving greater balance of mind, body and spirit, of existing in greater harmony with family, friends, colleagues, our environment and the world at large, and balancing our personal needs with the needs of others.
• Good spiritual health is an understanding and acceptance of your connection to the world and your place within it. It’s the certainty that your life has a higher purpose which goes beyond 3D physicality and short-term happiness, and that life happens for you and not to you. Spiritual wellness necessitates a desire to do good for yourself and others, to live with gratitude and bring more light to bear in the world.
• We engage in spiritual self-care to find and nurture more depth and meaning in our lives and develop a sense of connection to a higher power beyond the physicality of the body. Just as it is essential to nurture our bodies with food, so must we nurture our souls with spirit. 

Why is it important?

• Spiritual wellness acknowledges our search for deeper meaning in life. When we're spiritually healthy, we feel more connected not only to a higher power, but also to those around us. We have more clarity when it comes to making everyday choices, and our actions become more consistent with our beliefs and values.
• Good spiritual wellness gives a sense of peace, wholeness and balance to the physical, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of our lives. In difficult times, greater spiritual wellness can help us deal with adversity, overcome hardships and ultimately give more meaning to our lives.
• For many people the path to such spirituality involves passing through great struggles and suffering, and often includes experiences that are both frightening and painful. In these cases, a Spiritual Wellness Specialist can offer support and techniques to develop meaningful and long-lasting spiritual strength.

Come and experience your retreat, your way ...

• Choose your retreat duration between 3, 5 and 7 days long. You choose the modules that inspire you.
• All retreats are based in the Razès Gîtes, Pays Cathare, south west France.
• All our walking and spiritual wellness work is one-on-one, with couples or small groups (max. 6 people).
• All modules of one hour duration are €30 each. Where two hours or longer are required (i.e. some walking and nature therapy modules), the cost per module is €55.
• Pricing for exclusive wellbeing retreat options is costed out separately as detailed on the Exclusives page.
• The cost of your meals and accommodation in the Razès Gîtes are in addition to the cost of these modules.

All modules are drawn from our specialist experiences and competencies and are complemented by the beauty of the Pays Cathare, Occitanie.

(Looking for something more? Don't forget to check out our Exclusives)

As Spiritual Wellness Coaches, what do we offer?

• We help our clients release unwanted and stagnant experiences, emotional blockages, outdated beliefs and misaligned programmes from the subconscious mind, and replace them with new, positive energy flows focused on the client’s desires for growth.
• We share simple yet effective self-care and healing techniques so that our clients can learn to self-heal and evolve to become who and what they want to be.
• We provide neutral, judgement-free support and encouragement to assist our clients achieve their spiritual wellness goals without fear, worry or pressure.
• We offer a range of ways and means to discover, experience and expand deeper feelings of inner peace, joy, love, healing and freedom in our clients' lives and the lives of those they love.

UnGuided Sessions

For those who prefer to be left to their own devices, yet have specialist guidance or loving support on hand when required, the sacred place and space that is  the Razès Gîtes in the heart of the Razès region are there to give you just that.

Silent Meditation Retreats

For those who really want to benefit from a digital detox, learn how to become more mindful and find more joy and beauty in the natural world - all in a shorter time frame -  then silent retreats offer these benefits and more. Auditory stillness helps us to find focus faster and, once free from the external stimulus of our own noise, our brains can better concentrate on the task at hand. 

In other words, we find it easier to stop the mind chatter when we remain silent as it has the enormous added bonus of helping us stop judging and comparing ourselves and others, thus allowing us to find inner peace quicker and more deeply. This inevitably benefits our life in terms of improved relationships at work and home and you'll find that you can better handle the tough stuff when crises happen. Your brain may become more efficient and your mental health improves for the same reasons as outlined above. A silent retreat - for a long weekend or full 7 days - also makes mindfulness in every step, every action, and over every meal, easier to achieve and more pleasurable. 

Guided Modules Examples

The core modules we offer draw on our specialist training, experiences and competencies. We may combine several of these in any given session where a client wants to experience it and/or we feel it will enhance a beneficial outcome. For more details on all modules, Get in Touch.

Walking, Standing, Sitting, Laying Down Meditations (1 or 2 hours, or 1/2 day)

Walking meditation offers a healthy alternative to sitting meditation and, in addition to achieving the usual benefits of sitting meditation, walking meditation is also known to be as effective as antidepressant medications, improves sleep, uplifts moods, eases pain, and improves overall wellbeing. Unlike sitting meditation, this method has you engage all your senses in moving gracefully and mindfully through woods, around lakes or up hills, connecting with the natural wonders that you encounter and thus helping you become more mindful and appreciative of the beauty that surrounds you. Whether practising walking or standing meditation outdoors, spending time mindfully in nature gently helps you re-balance and heal the body, mind, and soul. We like to offer all forms of meditation so that you get to experience what works best for you. 

Inner World Journeys (1 hour)

Many people find sitting meditation difficult and uncomfortable. Even the act of trying to empty the mind may be stressful for some and so we also offer guided meditations as an alternative route to harnessing all the benefits of sitting meditation with a little external assistance.

Our Inner World Journeys use a unique blend of deep imagery, Jung's theory of active imagination, the Eastern philosophy working on the basis that humans are a system of interrelated energies (chakras), and the Native American practice of speaking to and learning from animals. The Inner World Journeys help you explore your inner landscape and encourage you to meet and communicate with your spirit guides, if you so choose. This form of guided meditation shows you how to harmonise and re-balance your chakras using Dr ES Gallegos' technique of creating a personal totem pole of healing animals. The result? You gently and comfortably enhance and grow your personal sense of wellbeing through development of mindfulness, inner peace, and better self awareness.

Breathwork (1 hour)

Total Body Relaxation and Body Scanning (1 hour)

Body scanning is one of the most effective ways to begin a mindfulness meditation practice, the purpose being to tune into the body to reconnect with the physical self, noticing any sensations and feelings without judgement. This and total body relaxation are known to: decrease blood pressure, ease chronic pain and muscle tension, increase energy and mental health as the relaxation triggers a favourable parasympathetic response in the nervous system. With a little practise, both help you to tune in more easily to your body's signals and demands.

Affirmations, Mantras and Mudras (1 or 2 hours)

These all work to focus the mind (just as you would focusing on your breath or a candle), helping the mind become more calm and centred as it lets go of any inane mind chatter. They are also tools for transformation of consciousness. The teaching is that every sound and movement has an energy vibration to it which, when practiced in a sustained manner, is able to produce different states of mind and consciousness. 

A mantra is commonly recognised as a sacred utterance or sound (like OM), a syllable, word or group of words (like Om Shanti) in Sanskrit and other languages that are believed to have religious, magical or spiritual powers.

Affirmations can be considered to be memorable phrases or statements (such as I AM a loving and compassionate person) designed to promote behaviour leading to a positive result. Consciously adding the Great I AM as precursor introduces a divine Presence (God, Universe, Creator or other according to your personal beliefs) to quieten the self-critical voice in your head, raise awareness of your limiting beliefs and shift your thoughts towards recognising your potential.

A mudra is a sacred and symbolic (usually) hand gesture found in yoga, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism traditions used to increase concentration and positivity. Different gestures mobilise different parts of the body and are used for a beneficial impact usually in conjunction with yoga postures and/or mantras. 

Mantras, mudras and affirmations are used to change mood, perceptions and attitudes (especially to the self) and thus help promote a greater sense of self-worth, self-respect, and self-love. They are all very helpful in increasing awareness and mindfulness in a person. Other benefits include:

Self-Healing Energy Practices (1 or 2 hours, 1/2 or full day)

For those interested in delving further into alternative self-healing and energy balancing techniques, introductory sessions are also available on working with: tuning forks, singing bowls, chakra healing and balancing with crystals (and pendulums), and tapping. Each of these techniques may be used to restore balance and flow to disrupted energy in the physical and energetic bodies as they focus on bringing the physical body back into the parasympathetic (relaxation) state.

Feel free to make up a 1/2 day or full day session receiving instruction in several techniques. Such as ...

Tonglen Practice

Tonglen is an ancient form of mindfulness and Tibetan term that translates as “sending and taking”. The practice is based on compassion and essentially begins with becoming aware of the breath followed by sending a wish to establish beings in happiness and free them from suffering. As you inhale, you relieve all others (yourself included) of suffering and the distress and discomfort it brings. On the exhale you share love, light, peace and freedom from this suffering to everyone who needs it. You may for example wish to inhale belligerence and exhale peace, inhale materialism and exhale spiritualism, inhale envy and exhale appreciation, inhale excess and exhale abundance, inhale rigidity and exhale flexibility. The whole process is very soothing and a wonderful healing experience that anyone can practice anywhere, any time of day, for as little or as long as you need to restore internal harmony.

Ho'oponopono

The Hawaiian practice of Ho'oponopono is known to help develop feelings of forgiveness, even after just one attempt. It has been shown to lower blood pressure in patients with high blood pressure and reduce depression, anxiety and improve feelings of hope. In conjunction with focused breath work, the key steps are: 

1. Offering repentance – I'm sorry
2. Asking forgiveness – Please forgive me
3. Expressing gratitude – Thank you
4. Demonstrating love – I love you.

Loving Kindness Meditation

Loving kindness meditation can also be used to boost well-being and reduce stress and those who regularly practice it increase their capacity for forgiveness, connection to others, self-acceptance, and self-love. There are various forms of loving kindness but the key phrases are well known and tend to follow the following to a lesser or greater degree:

May I be happy. May I be peaceful. May I be well. May I live with ease. May I find deep joy. May I be free of pain. May I be free from harm. May I be free of suffering.

In this meditation, one starts with oneself and then progresses with appropriate timing and feeling to sending the same sentiments next to a close loved one; then an emotionally neutral person you may know (your neighbour or a sales assistant in town); then on to someone you find difficult to deal with or have recently argued with; and ultimately to every living being on the planet. It may sound simplistic (and is!) but this technique is also very easy to practice and quickly benefit from personally in all your relationships and walks of life.

Cost of Walking, Nature Therapy, Mindfulness, Meditation & Spiritual Welllness Modules

Modules of one hour duration are €30 each. Where sessions are two hours or longer (i.e. some walking and nature therapy modules), the cost per module is €55. Pricing for exclusive wellbeing retreat options is costed out separately as detailed on the Exclusives page.