The January Reset - Varkala, Kerala

Today

I’m writing this during my 7 hour lay over in Dubai, on my way back from Varkala, India - my annual winter escape and creative reset. The little bubble that I have been hiding away in is over and it’s time to get back to reality!

A few of you have been asking for details of the retreat and what I have been doing so I thought I’d write a little blog post about it. So a bit off topic this week! But in a way it’s all connected. Soaking up the colours and the atmosphere fuel my creativity. When I used to go away earlier in the year and I was creating bouquets for delivery, I would always come back to a period where the flowers I would choose would be SO colourful! Everything links to everything basically.

Panchakarma isn’t exactly a beach holiday. It’s a traditional Ayurvedic treatment that involves a great deal of lying still whilst various oils are applied to you, during a 2 hour daily treatment. Each section of the treatment lasts 3 days and involves a detoxification and a rejuvenation process. The treatments tend to become more intensive in the middle of the programme and can leave you pretty depleted. But it’s a good kind of tiredness, well maybe not when it is a results of the purgations you have to go through!

The Benefits

It certainly wasn’t plain sailing and also an unexpected dental emergency leading to an extraction wasn’t the most fun part of the trip. But on the plus side the whoe thing including consultations, x-rays and the extraction cost me £18 in total - and the care was exceptional.

I’ve done some work, I’ve painted and having a set routine has been very grounding, for someone who is normally not especially good at sitting still!

And Yes, Still Flowers - Always

I return feeling physically restored and creatively charged, ready for a busy few months. I will miss the colours in Kerala - those extraordinary sunsets. the bright saris, the lush greenery against the red earth of Varkala cliffs. But they are all filed away in my visual memory and I know they’ll turn up in my work at some point in the near future.

Following Along

This year is going to be full on - in the best possible way. If you’d like to follow the journey, see new work as it develops, and maybe even come see my work at the Artists Open Houses in May, do sign up to my newsletter on the website. When I get back late tonight i’ll have a studio full of Mimosa to play with in time for the Open Day at the Walled Garden at Cowdray this Sunday (details on their website) and I can’t wait!

Here’s to growth, creativity, and saying yes to what excites us.

Caroline x

P.S. Oh, and if you’d like to know more about where I stayed and any more details, do get in touch xx