Meditation Retreats

Gently Downstream: Canoeing and Mindfulness Retreat in Devon | Health and fitness vacation

The setting sun bathes the River Dart in gold and pink as our small canoe fleet travels upstream. I reach for my phone to take a picture, then remember it is turned off and stowed in my tent, where it will stay for the next four days. I bite back on a remark on Emily, who I share a canoe with, as we were asked to paddle in silence. We try to find “stillness and flow”. At dusk, our silence is rewarded when we hear an owl scream. It has gotten dark by the time we reach dry land and return to camp with headlamps lighting the path.

Devon Map River Dart

This was a recce paddle on the first night of a canoeing and mindfulness retreat on the Sharpham estate near Totnes in Devon. The 550-acre estate includes Sharpham House, an 18th-century Palladian mansion operated by the Sharpham Trust, a charity founded in 1982 to help build “a more mindful, compassionate, and environmentally sustainable world.” That means organically farming, generating renewable energy and promoting biodiversity. The foundation also offers affordable retreats, mindfulness classes, art projects, and events like bat and stargazing walks, game medicine collecting days, and food fermentation workshops.

House, barn and forest are retreats and accommodate around 2,000 people annually – but demand still exceeds supply. Before the pandemic, it was fully booked with long waiting lists. Now the Trust is spending £ 1.6 million to convert a Grade II listed stable yard from 1760 into an 18-room coach house with en-suite bathrooms and a meditation room. From January 2022, there will be space for an additional 1,000 people per year at weekly mindfulness retreats.

Rachel Dixon on a Sharpham Trust canoeing and mindfulness retreat‘We meditated in a meadow surrounded by rolling farmland before heading home.’ Photo: Katie Tokus / The Sharpham Trust

Thanks to a rejection, I got a place at a forest retreat. After choosing my bell tent from the dozen scattered among the trees, I attended the opening “Sharing Circle” in the “Fire Temple”, an open building with two campfires. We introduced ourselves and explained what pulled us into retreat, from wanting to spend time in nature to feeling lonely during lockdown. The honesty was moving. We were a group of about 15 women, roughly 30 to 60 years old. Most had been on a Sharpham retreat before – it’s a place that pulls people away.

The rhythm of our days was: 6.30 am wake-up songs from Rupert Marques, our mindfulness teacher; then breakfast at seven, on the water for eight, back to lunch, free time, afternoon meditation, dinner, more meditation, circle and fire.

Canadian-style canoes for two people are stable and sturdy.The Canadian-style canoes for two are stable and sturdy. Photo: Katie Tokus / The Sharpham Trust

The first paddle of the morning was in sturdy Canadian canoes upstream to the edge of Totnes. Instructors Hannah, David, and Nigel explained that the person in front of the canoe is the engine and the person in the rear steers. They shared a few basic technique tips: use your body to paddle, not just your arms; how to use the oar as a rudder; the sweep hub for turning.

We took a tributary into the floodplains and paddled slowly in silence as we watched the eddies in the stream and listened to the rhythmic lapping of our oars. We meditated in a meadow surrounded by rolling farmland before turning home. The calm was destroyed when we jumped into the river to swim – it was terrifyingly cold with a strong current.

The next morning we paddled downriver towards Dartmouth, stopping to “forest bath” in a wood and swim in a calm, flat spot. We paddled next to the Sharpham seal, a regular visitor, and a pair of swans flew back and forth so low over our heads that we could hear the hum of their wings.

Country RiverA wide river flows through the fields in the summer sun.  Taken by the River Dart from near Totnes, Devon.“I could have stood for hours and watched the darts.” Photo: Keith_Rose / Getty Images

While canoeing was a form of movement meditation, most of the silent meditation took place in the afternoons in the gardens designed by Capability Brown and in the evenings in a marquee. Rupert talked, and then we sat still for half an hour – a long time for inexperienced people. I found “aimless wandering” easier: walking for no other purpose than paying attention to everything we saw, heard, smelled, and touched. Sharpham is on a hill in a bend in the river, surrounded on three sides by water, and I could have stood for hours and watched the darts. I spent 45 minutes in the 18th century walled garden examining every flower and fruit.

The camp is located in a wooded area of ​​the Sharpham estate.The camp is located in a wooded area of ​​the Sharpham estate. Photo: Vicki Couchman

This garden and the rest of the estate were the source of most of our delicious vegetarian meals. Dinner could be callaloo soup with local bread, followed by pumpkin and pea pilaf, salad with edible flowers and homemade dips, then lemon posset. In our free time, I re-enacted canoeing on foot, on high bike paths with a view of the river and low forest paths. It felt amazing to be outside and moving around all day after being locked in at home for months.

At the closing group, we shared our feelings, heard Rupert’s stories, and sang call-and-response songs by the fire. Did I find stillness and flow? At least I forgot my cell phone.

The trip was provided by the Sharpham Trust; Three night canoe retreats from £ 395, currently waiting list only, other retreats available

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