“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.”

―Terry Tempest Williams

It’s funny how life turns out. For a long time I have wanted to visit the Findhorn Foundation, having read about the legendary 40-pound cabbages which grew here and made the gardens famous and attracted others to establish a small community committed to their spiritual path and to expanding the garden in harmony with nature - with help from the elementals.

I liked the ethos, “the role of Findhorn is to help humanity turn within and be part of the solution to the chaos and confusion in the wold” (Eileen Caddy, Vision of Findhorn, co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation. I like how it came into being and the idea of living with others who share a common vision, but the opportunity had not presented itself to visit, not easily anyhow, until now.

As it turns out my brilliant yoga teacher, Louise Simmons, lives here. She was gifted to me from a visit to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides back in 2018, when I took the family to see the Callanish stones on a whim really, I was only beginning my passion for stones back then. It changed my world connecting with Louise as she showed me a way to practice yoga which was unlike anything I had experienced previously.

It changed forever the way I teach, which cost me financially as it wasn’t the yoga that my students were used to practising, or any other students for that matter, but it has provided infinite richness to my life- and to my body, mind and spirit - that no money can ever buy. This is yoga that has no rules or methodology, only an approach, which seeks greater freedom for the spine and indeed the mind. It is radical. But the world needs more radical.

It takes you deep, deep into the body and helps to change stuck and stagnant and restrictive movement patterns which cause some disharmony, especially mentally, and which might weigh us down energetically. In our yoga practice too we can apply my favourite quote, “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got”. if you keep practising yoga poses the same way, you limit the body. And if you limit the body, you limit the mind, it too gets stuck in its patterning and conditioning.

I was delighted then when the opportunity presented itself to finally visit my teacher. I knew she lived up by Inverness but it wasn't until I actually arrived “at my destination” as the SatNav voice told me that I realised she actually lived in Findhorn, not at the Foundation (albeit she has lived there) but in the village itself. I knew she lived near Findhorn but i didn’t realise she literally lives here, so that was a joy.

It’s a historic village and an amazing spot here in Moray in the Highlands of Scotland, there’s a wildness and raw beauty to it that reminds me of Vancouver Island and Salt Spring. The light is exquisite and the air so clean, the birds are in abundance and I have witnessed many murmurations, something I don’t see at home. Funnily enough the other place I have seen this is in the Somerset levels, down the road from Glastonbury - these sites are special.

I walked the beach the other day and Louise took me on a beautiful walk through the heather and the pebbles, across the sandy dunes, through the forest that leads to the Foundation. We even walked the labyrinth. The Foundation is great, inspiring, the way the houses have been built in harmony with nature, and the energy of the place, people trying to read lightly on the earth, such a contrast to Guernsey, where all I see currently is over development, ugly box buildings, huge properties displaying affluence, and loss of green space.

It’s the simple things in life - there’s an amazing whole foods shop in the village which sells freshly made wholesome food. Louise and her partner’s beautiful cottage is just down the road, with a lovely yoga space and a really charming and homely loft space where I am lucky to stay, reminding me of Lower Coxbridge House in Glastonbury where some of you retreated with me. Really we need so little to live well. If only we thought - like the Native Americans - about the seven generations ahead of us.

The yoga has been phenomenal, it’s a real treat for me to receive one to one sessions in the flesh - we usually only do online sessions, but it is an entirely different experience with Louise getting her hands on me so to speak. We had small group sessions every day too, which is also amazing as it has given me the opportunity to see other bodies being moved and changed in subtle, gentle and yet powerful ways. I can’t wait to share my experience with others - if you’ve never tried it, one does need to be relatively open minded, this isn’t yoga as it is presented in media, or by the plethora of modern yoga classes and ‘trainings’ out there, it is so much richer - it is truly life changing.

Talking of changed lives, one other things this trip has gifted me, well two things, is neolithic stones and the beautiful moon. I’m fairly obsessed about the moon because of its influence on its, especially us water beings, and when I booked this trip, I hadn’t clocked that I’d be arriving on a full moon, what a treat! I spent it alone at Clava Cairns, one of Scotland’s most evocative neolithic sites - these are the only cairns in mainland Britain with stones around them.

The moon is picking up its pace, as we head towards the major standstill next year, when the moon rises and sets farther north and south than the sun. The movement of the moon is always a bit tricky to understand, there are more articles appearing on the major standstill so have a search online or let me know as I have a fab article, but I can’t seem to share the link on here.. This will affect us how can it not, I have a feeling we may be in for quite a year of deeper healing.

I also got to visit my first recumbent stone circles at Easter Aquhorthies, near Aberdeen (it was quite a drive!) which reduced me to tears. One of the stones is pure jasper, another has been shaped to reflect the shape of the landscape behind it, and another has cup marks. I visited a few others too in Aberdeenshire, which is THE place for recumbent stone circles, which capture the moon rise amongst other astronomical events such as the solstices and equinoxes.

I went to Loanhead of Daviot below and was lucky to have this to myself as well.

The weather has been kind throughout, I have been treated to the most amazing nights skies, Orion’s belt clearly visible and the moon, oh my goodness, at this latitude it is rather special - see, I could talk about the moon for hours. This is such an amazing spot that I have a feeling I will be visiting more regularly, and I am hopeful that I might bring Louise to Guernsey to share her with you too.

Thank you to all those who have made this trip possible, I am extremely grateful and totally inspired.

Love Emma x

Findhorn, Scaravelli-inspired yoga and stones!

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