Walking the Camino & a Day Retreat

Hi everyone,

I had the greatest intentions of writing about the Azores retreat and the Camino - but, at the end of each day we fell into bed, spent. Altogether we walked over 227 miles.  

The mornings were filled with delicious practice, green waterfall hikes and pre-dawn shuffles along the cobblestone villages of Portugal and Spain. We wound our way through vineyards, eucalyptus forests, neighborhoods and under highways.

Mostly, we were rural and loved every second. But the Butafumerio at the Pilgrim's Mass at the Cathedral Santiago de Compostela finished off our amazing journey, flying above our heads.

It was harder than I thought. It was easier than I thought. Many things can crop up to keep one from one's goal! But we persevered. 

What did I learn? Even more about attitude. It is everything. If we buy into the obstacles, they will take us down with them. 

Faith, humor and mental clarity, however, will show us what is real. Exceptional self-care helps to keep us in the right zone. Depletion breeds drama, overwhelm and a sense of lack. We all know this, but...

Walking the Camino was a yoga like no other. The real yoga of coming together with the Divine and marveling at this great big beautiful life we are given, that is here for us in even the smallest of things. 

Compassion for ourselves and others, celebration of our amazing resiliency, and fact-checking ourselves regularly on what’s really important, were main themes of the Camino. Oh how little we need. Oh how much we convince ourselves we want!