The Importance of Deep Relaxation by Beverley Drumm

The current season for Skyros holidays, the leading holistic holiday, is now in full swing, offering inspiring and invigorating course-based breaks on the beautiful Greek island of Skyros.

Most recently inspired was Skyros facilitator and holistic wellbeing specialist Beverley Drumm who just returned from the latest Atsitsa  holiday where she ran her fabulous courses in Nia dance and Kundalini yoga.

Affected by profound sense of relaxation and freedom on the holiday, Beverley was spurred into sharing her observations.

At the end of any yoga class, there will always be time for deep relaxation.  And, as any yoga teacher will tell you, this period of complete surrender into stillness is just as important as the active engagement of body and mind that has gone before.  This is the time when the "amrit", or "sacred nectar", generated during practice settles and assimilates.

Coming to Skyros reminds me - both personally and in witnessing others - that this kind of deep relaxation is very much absent from our everyday lives.  In conversation after conversation with participants, especially in the first days after arrival, I hear tales of lives lived full-on, packed with activity, doing and stress.

And then, on coming to Skyros, there is suddenly the time and space to take a long, slow, deep breath and just be.  No agenda to fulfill, no deadline to meet, no constant bombardment and distraction from the media and electronic communications.  The body and mind are able to relax and let go.

 
What happens as a result is quite magical.  Tense bodies and faces visibly soften and brighten. Deep connections are forged.  Life-changing insights arise without effort, and astounding creativity unfolds.  A community spirit and structure grows that is inclusive and generous-hearted, able to flow spontaneously with group needs, yet deliver specifics on time and in place.

If only we could remember this as we journey home, back to our lives "out there", and all the demands and responsibilities we'll be met with.  If only we could remember how much richer and easier our lives would be, if we kept this sense of deep relaxation present with us.

Those decisions and tasks we fret and agonise over, the problems that seems insurmountable, the burdens we feel on our shoulders, will surely diminish and be met with new solutions, when faced with a calm mind, open heart and a full deep breath that slowly expands and contracts the belly.

Whether you are "out there" right now, or enjoying a magical holiday with us in Skyros, take time to breathe deep and remember how cultivating a sense of deep relaxation in your life, will enhance your sense of well-being and allow all aspects of your life to flow with greater ease.  Your body, mind and spirit - not to mention your friends and family - will thank you for it.


Beverley Drumm
Nia Dance Teacher and Kundalini Yoga Instructor with Skyros
www.nectaroflife.co.uk


In need of some deep relaxation? Why not join a Skyros holiday this summer and experience the holiday of a lifetime? But do hurry as spaces are limited. See www.skyros.com - for more information, or call the Skyros office on 01983 865566.

Attention camera buffs -- Interview with Monty Python's Julian Doyle . . .

Julian Doyle is a British film maker who is best known for editing Monty Python’s Life of Brian and also for shooting the special effects for Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. 

He has directed the films Love Potion (1987), about a drug rehabilitation centre, and Chemical Wedding (2008), an occult thriller starring Simon Callow which he wrote together with Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson. 

He has also written Twilight of the Gods, a play about the relationship between Wagner and Nietzsche which was performed at the Edinburgh Festival and directed music videos, including those for Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting and Iron Maiden’s hit Can I Play with Madness. 

His latest book The Life of Brian/Jesus is billed as the book that will ruin Christmas! 

Julian teaches at the London Film Academy and for the lucky few who book his 12 - 22 November 2012 photography course in Cuba with Skyros Holidays, Julian will be heading up the programme to help Skyros participants capture the rebel spirit of Havana through a lens! Find out a little more about Julian and the course he has to offer . . .
 
1) Hello Julian, welcome to our little office. Have a seat, can I get you some fruity tea? To begin, just to get to know you a little better, what would you say is your favourite piece of work you have had in print or on film/TV?

It has to be Life of Brian which has remained a classic.  But that was as Editor - on the photography side I think I enjoyed shooting the special Fx on TimeBandits. As Evil kept changing people into animals (eg Og into a pig) I had the fun of working with pigs and dogs making them change and do strange things.

2) If you could have produced any works by another photographer / filmmaker, which would it be and why?

I suppose I would have to go for David Bailey as he works in a way that is very different from me. I go for the gritty and real while he glamourises and romanticises the subjects. I like that skill.

3) So, a little birdie tells me your going to be the Skyros facilitator for photography in the Cuban capital this November. Can you tell me, what do you think participants will learn from your course?

My main aim is to train their eye to see life in a fresh way and then teach them the simple skills that will capture that view of the world in their photographs or videos.  For example, understanding the difference between photographing a subject with a wide angle lens or a long lens is crucial. You can stand somebody in front of a majestic building and in one go you can make the person look bad and the building look like nothing. Why? because one does not understand the difference between the 2 lenses. These simple steps will change forever the way you take photographs.

4) What advice would you give to anyone booked on your photography course? Is there anything they should bring?


Bring a camera or video camera.  it does not matter how simple or how complex. By the end they will be taking better photos even on their mobile phones.

5) And last, but not least, are you as excited about Havana as we are? Any particular reason?

I often teach at the Havana Film School so I have friends there. I love the island and its people and I know our little band will capture much of this in their photographs.

Join us and capture the rebel spirit of Cuba through a lens with the helpful guidance from Monty Python maestro, Julian Doyle! Why Cuba? Where better to find your own rhythm or creative edge than in a country that breathes passion, culture, music and dance? 

For more information, visit http://www.skyros.com/cuba.htm. Call us on +44 (0)1983 865566, or e-mail office@skyros.com. We'll be happy to help so that you don't miss this wonderful opportunity.

Abseiling in Atsitsa by Berny Woodward

Skyros Holidays facilitator Berny Woodward holds the UK Mountain Instructors Certificate and has extensive experience having worked in the RAF and as an Outdoor Adventure Instructor for over 20 years.

Here, Berny talks about his recent experience teaching abseiling at the Atsitsa Bay Centre on Skyros island, Greece (21 - 31 July 2012). 

Where else in the world can you go on holiday and have the opportunity to abseil into a mine shaft, abseil over overhangs and abseil into the warmth of the Aegean sea.

To scramble onto an ancient limestone ridge to see the most panoramic and photogenic view of Atsitsa Bay on Skyros Island. To experience a controlled sense of fear and challenge in the safe hands of an experienced mountaineer and the camaraderie of a shared group experience in which you know your fully alive as the adrenalin and the adventurous spirit courses through your veins?


This is the pleasure and gratitude I hold every year I am invited to attend the Skyros holiday experience as a part of a facilitator team of experienced teachers, offering a variety of holistic and life enhancing activities that vary from sailing and windsurfing, to T'ai Chi, Yoga, Drama, Life Coaching and creative expressions of song, music, art, mosaics, creative writing and many other soul nourishing feasts. 

To see people facing their innate fears and become overcomers, is a great privilege I'll never tire of. To see them grow incrementally in their confidence and seeing that adventurous spirit then spill over into the community experience that is Atsitsa, is a transformative phenomena that inspires me every year, that the human spirit needs new challenges in life.

Whilst a simple activity that requires limited skills and is backed up by the safety rope I provide in addition to the abseil rope, it does also require an accelerated and apparently irrational form of trust to commit oneself to leaning back over a spectacular drop into space. 

Standing on the edge at the start of an abseil is for most people, a very scary moment and it is in this moment I see the start of a transformation that is personal to each and every participant, leaving them a reference point that translates to the analogy of the obstacles life throws at us.....often I will hear thereafter, "If I can abseil down a scary 70ft cliff, I can do anything!" . 

This is the satisfaction I get out of enabling someone to overcome their fear whilst introducing them to a new activity in a stunning paradise setting that is the wonderful Greek experience of Atsitsa Bay... long may my association continue with this very special and life enhancing experience.  

Holidays in Atsitsa on Skyros island, Greece, run up until the 21st September this season. Grab one quick!

See www.skyros.com. Call Gemma, Michelle or Laura on +44 (0)1983 86 55 66 or email office@skyros.com for your free brochure.