Our spectacular June 2026 Retreat in Sardinia
Only now, on the threshold on the next Sardinian retreat, do I get a chance to write a post about our June trip to Baja Sardinia, in the north of the island.
Part of the reason is that something extremely scary happened just a week before my departure, and I was exhausted when I got there.
My 12-year-old son had a routine surgery – adenoidectomy and turbinate reduction – which turned into a nightmare when he had a bleed that would not stop. He ended up being moved to Crumlin, where three amazing surgeons saved his life. He was under for 8 hours. It was an incredibly stressful and frightening experience, and I spent the following week sleeping beside him to make sure he was okay. He was not even strong enough to walk by himself for a while.
All this has a happy ending, thankfully – he is back to running like Speedy Gonzales – but it did take a lot out of me, and meant I would have to leave him sooner than I wished because the dates for the retreat were set.
Of course, that week worked its magic, like it always does, and though I had to pace myself and make sure I rested more often than usual, it brought a lot more healing than I could imagine.
Twenty-three lovely people came with me – including my brilliant colleague Angharad Costin – and their presence was the greatest balm. Because I am highly sensitive, I often tend to seek out time by myself, but in this retreat I spent a lot more time than usual in the company of the other participants, and it really did me good. My good friend Maria had come along, and we had some long, relaxed chats on the beach.
All together, we visited some beautiful places, thanks to the shuttle service offered by the Hotel Airone: Cannigione, Baja Sardinia, Porto Sole ... then, on the day we hopped into two amazing catamarans for our sea trip, we also visited the spectacular islands of Spargi and Santa Maria, had a yummy lunch, snorkeled and laughed ... it was all quite magical. Ria, Jo and I sat on the catamaran´s net and got duly drenched amongst much laughter. I had a brilliant time snorkeling in every beach where we stopped, and jumping into the water from the catamaran in the middle of a school of fish who were happy enough to be observed and followed around.
There was a little accident when one of the dinghies taking us back to the catamarans got out of balance and capsised ... I was very worried until the unflippable, good-humoured, brave Mary told me she was absolutely fine and there was nothing to it. I am ever so grateful to her for being so understanding!
Maria found some swimming tubes for lovely Ke, who ended up enjoying her snorkeling more than she thought, and also drove the catamaran for a while!
Eileen snook a bottle of prosecco and wine glasses (!) onto the beach and there was a big toast there...
There was some serious dancing on the catamarans (not naming names ... Ann!) as well as a good bit of munching on Sardinian cheese, pane carasau and olives.
Just a few weeks before our departure, I had planned an extra excursion: a visit to the village market of San Pantaleo, as well as a little archaeological tour.
The market was a lot of fun, and the strangest thing happened to me: Maria called me to show me something and what I saw was... the lower half of my face and my torso painted on a canvas sold by an artist – Costanza Antoniazzi – I had never met in my life. The figure was submerged in sea water (just like I usually am!!) and was even wearing a bikini top I had once owned (only in red instead yellow). I was flabbergasted, and so was everyone in the group who saw it. We were late for our bus though, and had to run. On the bus, I kept regretting not getting contact details for the artist. I thought I would never see that painting again, but I was wrong ...
Our guide brought us to a Nuraghe and a Giants´ Tomb, ancient megalithic edifices only found in Sardinia, developed between 1900 and 730 BC, and to a sacred well. On our way back to our beautiful hotel, we were exhausted but happy!
Thankfully, our incredible four-course dinner awaited us. The food was so good that every course was cause for celebration.
Eileen, Una and I even had a dawn swim at the beach near the hotel – even though, as usual, it took me for ever to get in! This made Karen very happy, as she thought it took her embarrassingly long until she saw me and my turtle pace ... Thank you, Una and Eileen, for putting up with my incredibly slow progress!
Dinner was a real highlight. From the beautiful restaurant, we could see the pool and a stunning sunset every evening through a glass wall. The food was absolutely delicious: four blissful courses all for us. Don´t you just love it when amazing food gets handed to you?
Breakfast was yummy too: an abundant buffet with several types of bread, fruit, cakes, savoury food, yoghurt, cereal and so on, accompanied by a hot drink.
Another highlight, for me, were Angharad´s practices. I was lucky enough to be able to attend most of them. When I am home, I rarely have a chance to get to a practice for myself, so this was a real treat. Angharad is such a wise soul, and her mindful practices forced me to slow down (something I am really not good at doing!), to turn inwards, to give myself time and rest. I thoroughly enjoyed them.
We also got to know her little daughter, adorable Zahla, a lot better, as she had breakfast and dinner with us and came along to the beaches. She is such a fun, intelligent and serene child that everyone fell in love with her. Like mother ...!
In the morning, it was so refreshing to have a swim in the beautiful pool, a shower in our comfy rooms and then meet in the Yoga room for a morning session. In this retreat, we enjoyed several interesting types of Yoga – Hatha, Vinyasa, Restorative, Yin and Nidra – as well as invigorating sessions of mat Pilates and calming sessions of Sound Healing. With some trepidation, I had brought along my magical, fragile Crystal Tones bowls, and they sang us to sleep on a few nights. There were mornings when we observed Mouna – a mindful practice of silence – and came into the room quietly, then sat on our mats to journal about our dreams, before we settled into a practice of Yoga Nidra. On other mornings, we arrived chatting and laughing for a short, strong session of morning Pilates.
New friendships were formed, and people who had never met before were seen walking together to the nearby beach or hanging by the pool for a chat, like Theresa and Niamh! People who had been friends for years, like Nuala and Therese and Carol and Richelle, shared a bedroom and practised alongside each other. Bernie, whose foot had had a bit of an accident prior to her departure, bravely attended all classes and started to recover, to our delight. Her sister Ria had her birthday during the retreat and, unbeknowst to her, a surprise was brewing ... when the time came for dessert in the evening, a lovely candle accompanied her dish, while we all sang Happy Birthday. Until this point, I had organised everything ... but not what follows. It seems one of the waiters decided the birthday girl deserved not one, but TWO kisses! Of course, I have documentary proof of the second kiss, as it was filmed by a dutiful participant! Lovely Ria was quite red-cheeked but full of laughter and fun, as always!
Some of the waiters were definitely besotted with our beautiful Bea, who had to explain that she did have a boyfriend. Her gorgeous mum Daniela was in stitches telling us they referred to her as to “Bea´s Mum”. Daniela had a University exam on her second night and it was a tense day for her; we were all rooting for her and delighted when we heard she had done great – not that we had any doubts!
In the Yoga room, Kiya and Richelle wowed us with their mastery of some pretty complex and fun Yoga poses, and as usual Carol brought us back to a state of mindfulness by reminding us, with her gentle and calm practice, that all the poses we do in Yoga are just there so that we can settle into stillness, so that we can be kind towards ourselves and others, and remember our connection with all that is.
I was delighted that Christine appreciated Yoga Nidra so much that she treated us to some lovely snores during our practices! That was my cue that it was all going according to plan ...
Neasa and Karen were back for the third time, and it was a real honour for me to practise alongside them again. Luckily, Neasa was not tasted by any creepy crawley this time, and got to enjoy her holiday without getting eaten!
We had two mum-and-daughter teams this time: beside Bea and Daniela, Kiya and Liz. They all went off to see the fancy side of Sardinia one night for a dinner and a wander around in Porto Cervo. I was so grateful to Liz for bringing her kind, calming energy to this retreat ...
On the last day, when we said our goodbyes and took our pictures together, Angharad and I were surprised with some beautiful presents, and mine was ... the painting from the market! The one that seemed to, mysteriously, portray me (Maria, you ARE a goddess). I have asked a few people what they think of this strange occurrence. Some say the painting must have resulted from a photo of mine found somewhere on social media. But even then, what are the chances of my coming across that painting in a village I had never been to before? Some say it was the Universe´s way to tell me I was in the right place...
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