I arrived at Lendrick full of anticipation on Friday evening. It was a lovely day and as usual the gardens were beautiful with their own earthy and woody fragrances. Two of my roommates Cathy and Lesley arrived at the same time and our fourth 'roomie' Elsia had already made herself comfortable in the Butterfly room so we all introduced ourselves and made friends. Lisa had already begun the weekend with an asana session so we made ourselves at home with a cup of tea.

Peter was not due to arrive until Monday morning and Lisa was teaching us over the weekend, so the week began with dinner and introductions in the lounge. There were seventeen of us, coming along for different reasons and needs. Stephen welcomed all of us and was very forthcoming with the history of Lendrick and also shared both his and Vicki’s hopes and dreams for the future. He introduced us to Carol who was the house manager and we also met Bracha who was the in-house masseuse for our week.

Lisa took care of us with love, great expertise and an abundance of patience. The morning session begun at 7.15 until 8.15 then from 10 until 12.30 ish and lastly from 4, finishing around 6pm. 'Experiential' was her aim for us over the weekend. We worked hard at experiencing this Scaravelli-type yoga, and were enchanted with Lisa.

Big Dave described Lisa as completely 'egoless', teaching from her heart. A hard act to follow, Peter Blackaby!

Peter stepped in as effortlessly as he did everything else. Here is a man who really 'Walks the Talk'. He arrived with his spine and leg underarm!!! to establish to us how the skeleton and muscles work together, how the bones of the skeleton transmit forces, how the muscles move us around and how the fluid within the body is a hydraulic force. He really stressed the importance of the feet, and we all endeavoured to free and bring life into our toes throughout the week. Peter’s knowledge of the engineering of the body was exceptional. His teaching, particularly of the asanas was completely different from the mainstream, which Anne summed up as completely undoing her understanding, in a lovely way! We studied each asana in detail, reiterating the benefits and discussing the possible dangers, verified the importance of the breath. We worked with asana, pranayama, sound and laughter and shared a love of yoga in and out of the yoga room. Like Lisa, Peter was completely egoless, approachable and open.

As usual there were lots of walks going out throughout the day and someone joked that we only walked when it was raining, which it did frequently. A large party of us set of for a 6-mile hike in the torrential rain for our main walk of the week, thankfully the sun made its appearance towards the end where we landed up sipping tea and eating scones as a reward in a local tea-room.

Our group bonded immediately with so much sharing and caring. Carol took care of our every need, ensuring we were warm and cosy, lending an ear and sharing a joke and I know that she took great care of the other Lendrick guest who was there, not for the yoga but for respite. We had great fun with Bracha as she gave us our own individual massages. Some of even managed to catch a glimpse of Vicky and Stephens’s beautiful new baby daughter.

I have been coming to Lendrick since 1990 and with each visit it is heart-warming to see the progress and changes that have taken place both within and without. Every time I visit I feel privileged to be amongst such lovely like-minded people. This time was no exception.

I arrived at Lendrick filled with anticipation and left, satisfied, fulfilled and still filled with anticipation, thanks to Peter and Lisa’s teachings.

Looking through my notes I have written, one sentence stood out amongst the scribbles: Yoga is about transformation and change, not re-enforcing habits. This for me encapsulated the week’s teachings.

I give my thanks to each one of you for a truly wonderful week.

Summer Yoga week, is just one of the many yoga courses at Lendrick Lodge.