CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Retreat Goes On  

Ad for Yoga Walks in the Wye River Valley, Wales. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.

Away from the heat, there must be some winds that wish to cool the earth. Some that carry the scent of wet stone and violet. Some that reach the Welsh mountains still fresh.

As a friend wrote last week, “This is why I build in the mountains with my own water sources and plenty of wind and solar.”

In Wales, I gather people have their yoga mats at the ready again. Last year, the two teachers running this one particular retreat would have looked upon running it together again as a matter of course.

But it will only be the one.

The teacher who began these events—in France, Portugal, Italy—fell critically ill. Though living in Switzerland, it happened while meditating in Wales.

It must have been dramatic. Not tranquil, I am sure.

A red air ambulance lifted our man into the vast Ceredigion sky. After a long slog in hospital, he was placed on what remains a private road to recovery.

Months of gruelling rehabilitation continue. He has had to relearn balance, fight to........

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