Skyros in Thailand by Kate Lester

To be honest when I searched for a holiday this winter I wasn’t thinking of personal development – I was thinking of warmth and escape from the cold British winter. So I searched for Yoga holidays in Thailand and Skyros came up. Now I had heard of Skyros – a friend had subscribed me to their brochures many moons ago – but I was a younger, more corporate me and the thought of all this hippy nonsense just didn’t do it. But after 3 years of recession and a feeling that it was time I did a radical life rethink I was ready to give Skyros a go. So I booked and found myself less than a month later in sunny Thailand.

The Sofitel in Bangkok is great – I felt like I was having a 'Lost in Translation' moment gazing out over the multicoloured cityscape of Bangkok whilst I enjoyed the first of many splendid meals in Thailand. The next morning I touched base with my companions for the next 2 weeks and we enjoyed a fairly painless transfer to the beautiful island of Koh Chang. My middle class sensibilities were amply pandered to at our atmospheric 5 star resort – and the room was perfect – great views, lots of space, nicely appointed.

The next day, the week was set out for us – Yoga at 07.45, then a variety of meetings, which would become the backbone of every day, then our morning session hosted by the inimitable Malcolm Stern, and then an evening course in singing. Evenings could and would be organised if we liked or we could our separate ways and explore Koh Chang. Bit more than the anticipated yoga break!

In for a penny, in for a pound I thought and decided to cast away my standard cynicism and participate. And participate I did. And I can’t believe what a revelation it has been. The yoga every morning was a great way to start the day. The Oekos group provided me with support I didn’t know I needed, the Courage to Change has brought about revelations that mean I can find a more authentic way of being, to be happier and more fulfilled, and the singing… oh the singing!! Well if I tell you I haven’t sung in public for 25 years and found myself on a stage doing a rendition of 'Summertime' by the end of the course you will understand that Sarah Warwick is an illuminating teacher who has the ability to inspire and motivate, not to mention the voice of an angel. Quite simply the whole trip was bliss. Amazing, thought provoking, sometimes controversial but truly life changing.

The only way I can describe the impact of Skyros is to give you a before and after picture of me. In all honesty before the course I was very stressed, at a crisis point in my marriage, career and facing my children going off to University with dread. Since Skyros I feel like I have found my self again – had 2 weeks of sunshine, am very bendy and feel that with continued practice I can create a more fulfilling life. In addition to that I have been massaged to the point of bliss, eaten the most glorious food and made friends I look forward to seeing again.

Try it. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Kate Lester
www.katelester.com

Kate joined Skyros in Thailand for celebrations over the New Year. Skyros-in-Thailand is hosted in the exquisite Aiyapura Resort and Spa on the magical island of Koh Chang. The holiday included courses such as life coaching, singing and yoga as well as optional spa treatments, snorkelling and elephant trekking. To find out more about Skyros holidays, including holidays in Greece this summer, visit www.skyros.com.

Atsitsa Enhanced My Life by Sue Harris

I spent two lovely fulfilling weeks in Atsitsa, Skyros in 2008. It had taken me 10 years to get there after somebody told me it had changed his life! I really wanted and needed to get in touch with my creative self which had been buried under the weight of life for too long.

Singing in the sea and on the rock overlooking the sea were probably two of my highlights of the trip. But the eureka moment was during a course run by Julie McNamara. We explored our creativity and had the chance to write poems, draw etc in a supportive environment. I used to write poetry in my teens but hadn’t written any since school. I realised how much I enjoyed it.

I spent a year just writing my own musings in a book, not showing them to anybody. Then I decided I wanted to get these musings into a form that others could read and enjoy. I set up a session with Felicity Fair Thompson at The Grange on the Isle of Wight - we ended up spending 2 hours instead of 1 hour and it gave me the pointers I needed to make my musings into poems and I haven’t looked back since.

I have got about 40 poems now (written in just over a year) and I have put some of them into two competitions recently. Felicity has been wonderful at giving feedback on my poems and I have been back to the Isle of Wight twice in the last year, spending time with Felicity on both occasions to develop my poems.

I love The Grange in the Isle of Wight and I have used it as my place to go for a rest and recuperation over the last 2 years - it is a home from home.

I'd like to share some of my poetry with you which was in part inspired by my time at Atsitsa.

Sue Harris

RACE FOR LIFE - CELEBRATE BEING ALIVE

Pink ribbons flapping
Pink women running
Cancer for day banished
Love for life cherished

Sun beats down
on the ground
to the happy sound
of bees buzzing
butterflies strumming
people happily humming

Illness, death, becomes race for life
Women no longer Mother and wife
Together as one run and strive
To celebrate being alive

Picnics eaten
barbecues beaten
relaxing on the ground
in pink surround
laughter and tears abound
race for life profound

Sue Harris - June 2010

LUSTFUL AUTUMN

Cool breeze masks sultry heat of summer’s passing.
Luscious, vibrant , berries unveil lustful Autumn waking
Yellow, red, purple, round and juicy
Beckoning like a large breasted floosie.

Her songs once more caress our ears,
Energy returns for Autumn indulgence
Nurture for mind, body and senses,
Warmth for winter’s long impotence.

Sue Harris - September 2010

RHYTHM OF THE TRAIN

Swing it boys
Let it rip from the hip
Life in the fast lane
Slowed down by the train

Trees swaying in time
Cows chewing to the rhythm
Train meandering through semi tones
Swing it boys once again.

Sue Harris

Sue visited Atsitsa Bay for a holiday in 2008 where she had the opportunity to choose from a wide range of activities including personal development, windsurfing, painting, singing, dance, sailing and yoga. For more details about Atsitsa Bay or any other Skyros holiday visit www.skyros.com.

She also visits Skyros offshoot The Grange guest house on a regular basis. Visit www.thegrangebythesea.com for more details including our varied programme of weekend courses and B&B room rates.

Atsitsa Bay - The Place by Kate Shore

In a place where the waves sway soothingly against the rocks,
Where the silky rhythm tunes into your heart,
Where the calm is inhaled from within,
There is no anguish
There is no sorrow.

In a place where the sun reaches into our soul,
Where the light shines through our hearts,
There is no darkness
There is no hollow.

At dawn, the wind breathes into our bodies,
Exhaling any insecurities,
Cleansing our souls from deep within.
At dusk it settles our hearts,
Renews our strength,
And gently eases our sorrow.

In a place where the past is history,
Where the future beckons us on and moves us with force,
Where nature is at ease with itself,
Shining on as an example,
Leading the way to move on.

In a place where my wound is healing,
Where my judgements and decisions are clear,
Where no past can haunt the future,
But the unexpected shows us no fear.

Atsitsa Bay – the healer and the journey,
Beckoning us and believing in us to encompass what lies ahead.
The gate,
The path,
And the way.

Kate Shore
Written 29/09/10, Skyros Island, Greece

Kate visited Atsitsa Bay for a holiday in late September this year where she had the opportunity to choose from a wide range of activities including personal development, windsurfing, painting, singing, dance, sailing and yoga. For more details about Atsitsa Bay or any other Skyros holiday visit www.skyros.com.

My Skyros Centre Adventure by Sara Withers

I went to the Skyros Centre on Skyros island in Greece to facilitate some jewellery making for the Music and Arts part of the programme. I didn't really know what to expect, but had decided it was time for a little adventure. My husband came with me and we were both in need of a holiday as well as a change, and normally we would have gone to Greece to collapse at this time of year!

What an adventure it was - we were both captivated by how Skyros works. We arrived mid session and were so impressed by how supportive and welcoming everyone was. We met so many interesting people from many different countries. There is a real feeling of the community working together to create a space where participants can rethink their lives, learn a new skill or relax in a proactive way.

There is lots to do, a great yoga class first thing, classes in the morning and early evening and some evening activities. But there's always time for the beach, a walk or just time on your own as well. And wonderful healthy food. The jewellery making was a pleasure, it was great to be working with such interested and interesting people and the beach had just the right sort of stones to make into pendants!

Our second week was Arthur Smith's comedy writing course. I don't think I have heard so much laughter for years, again a positive, caring group was quickly formed from the participants.

How does it happen so fast at Skyros?

Sara Withers

Sara came to the Skyros Centre in September with her husband Nick to teach jewellery making as part of the Music and Arts programme at the Centre. For more information about the Skyros Centre or any of the other holistic holidays offered by Skyros Holidays visit the Skyros website or call 01983 865566.

Cuba and the Craft of Fiction with Romesh Gunesekera

As summer ends and the temperature drops, you sense change in the air. You open the newspaper and find Cuba splashed across the page. You wonder what it would be like to see a place on the brink of change. You wonder what it would be like to change yourself and discover new ways of seeing, of expressing yourself creatively.

You have been wanting to put your thoughts down in words, to get in touch with the stories in your head, to write, but there has never been the time to do it. You don’t know where to begin, and what to do next. What shall I write about? Who can I show it to? How do I write the next bit? Is it any good?

Trying to write unleashes a load of questions and not much progress and you forget that writing should be a joy.

You want to spend some time away to play with your imagination and explore a new world. You want to write more and better. You want to discover how to start that book you always wanted to write.

Cuba is the place. In our Havana writing workshop we will examine the craft of fiction and do short exercises to get back in touch with the pleasures of writing. We read out our stories and share tips. We will find inspiration from the place and from each other and have the time to write what we want.

In the Atsitsa workshop in Greece I led two years ago, the 8 participants ranged from those who had never tried writing fiction to those already embarked on a project. We had a fantastic time. A week of discovery, and already one published novel.

Cuba promises to be even better.

Romesh Gunesekera

Romesh Gunesekera, internationally acclaimed writer whose first Novel, Reef, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and his second one, Sandglass, was awarded the BBC Asia award. His most recent novel The Match was described by the Spectator as 'effortlessly accomplished', and the Irish Times as a book that 'shows why fiction is written - and read'.

Romesh will be running his course 'Fiction Writing' from 14 - 24 November 2010. Call Skyros on 01983 865566 to book or book online at www.skyros.com.

Skyros Centre - Hill To The Sea

Butterfly hillside
High
Diving hawks
spiralling down in loose formation

Dawn till dark

White horse on the hill, so still
So still.
Hibiscus descending,
a red scented waterfall,
White butterflies, red ones,
from flower to flower

White horse on the hill,
My beauty,
So still.
Alone on the hillside
In sunlight and tethered
Alone in the tall grass
the flowers around you.

Sea birds ride the wind
Rising hot from the meadow,
their shadows
a pattern
on the hillside below,
Their shrill cries
Songs of freedom
crisscrossed and free
On their run to the sea.

Marti Mirkin
Skyros, 5th September 2010

Marti Mirkin attended a writing holiday this summer at the Skyros Centre in Greece with Skyros Holidays. See www.skyros.com for more information. The holiday included yoga, writing, music and arts as well as the many delights of island village life.

Siesta on Skyros by Kevan Manwaring

Sshhh,
the village is asleep –
curled into the folds of the hills,
sugar cube houses,
white against the dusty olive groves,
the pungent sage, sparse grass, fennel bushes.
Cats lay withering, scrawny,
all eyes and claws,
in hammocks of shadow.
Dogs pant, old men hawk.
Yah yahs sit on plastic thrones,
exiled monarchs,
eyes moist with lost kingdoms
coups and treasons,
traitorous hearts,
the splendour of the past,
memories brought out like jewels
Burnished with time.
Washing hangs like streaks of paint
suspended in the air.
Scooters, pick-ups
are parked on improbable precipices.
Television sets are gagged –
the soap opera will have to wait,
paused – as the village grapevine.
Even the Gods hold their breath,
take time out
from the eternal squabbling –
the sea respects the sky,
the wind and the mountain war not.
the earth is silent –
no tantrum tremors disturb
the monastery perched on the peak,
nest for black bearded birds.
The rooster no longer mocks the sun,
Even the braying donkey bites her tongue,
mute in her daily indignation.
It is siesta,
and all good Skyrians
are as stubborn as the ass.
The glistering shops are shuttered,
trading ceased in the market place.
Even the water washed down the steps,
seems to slow, melting glass.
Everything settles into itself,
stops for a while trying
to be something else.
The velocity of the world
slows.
Each moment
dilates –
a knob of butter slowly melting in a pan.
The riches of night,
the hoard of dreams,
erupt into day,
as the window eyelids droop,
villas nod upon sloping shoulder.
and Skyros succumbs
to Morpheus
for the masses.

Kevan Manwaring
Skyros, 14th September 2010

Kevan recently ran a two week course in Greece which consisted of Writing Poetry and Life Fiction. Kevan is a writer of fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction who lives in Bath, Somerset. Holder of an MA in the Teaching and Practice in Creative Writing from Cardiff University, he teaches creative writing for the Open University. See Kevan's website www.kevanmanwaring.co.uk

To find out more about the acclaimed Writers' Lab on Skyros Island, Greece, described by The Guardian as 'number one of the world's five best writing holidays', see www.skyros.com or call 01983 865566 for your Skyros brochure.