Reasons to be mindful, part 3

The last four days have been incredible. I think I only realised today in the car how different I feel about everything when Toni said to me that my star is shining bright. It was like a wave of self belief rushed over me; I can do it all. Being outside, surrounded by the mountains and animals, drinking the water, talking about mindfulness, and breathing, most importantly. I feel protected by this star that is shining, I suddenly have direction - I can see where North is. You have to accept that you are lost in order to be found. 

Today Samantha woke me up in good time to have breakfast before Toni's mindful walking class. We drove across the border into Portugal and then alongside the river Mino before crossing back into Spain into the town of Tui. Tui is very beautiful, with small plazas and balconies, and many old buildings. We parked and met the rest of the group in a tea shop before driving up the nearby mountain for our walk. 

To begin with we stood in a circle and held our hands out, touching one another's palms. Toni instructed that our attention should not waver from our breath for the time being, which should be entirely through the nose. Standing in the circle this was easy, but once our ascent began, your instinct was to breathe with your nose and your mouth. After a while, we were put into pairs, with one person blindfolded and the other shadowing them for protection. I noticed the light more through my eyelids and the way my foot fell on the ground, time seemed to slow down. When the pairs switched it was equally interesting watching the other person having to process their surroundings in a different way, as if they were a newborn. We came upon a monastry at the top of the mountain which was beautiful, all green and forgotton. Toni reiterated his mantra for mindfulness and we stood once more in a circle, our thumbs pressed to our forefingers, and I felt deeply at peace. We continued to a clearing with trees and again we practiced being blindfolded, this time searching for trees. What was interesting was that when you found the tree you felt such a strong affinity towards it, like it was a mother. Afterwards we lay stretched out on the ground for a while, as Toni spoke about being mindful of our bodies. We came upon some great stones where we sat, with our right hand on our chest and our left hand on the stone. It was centering. 

Afterwards we went for coffee and tapas with Toni's sister and her partner. Her partner was from Columbia and when Samantha explained what I was doing he said that my trip was a beautiful thing and that it would help me find my nina interior, a point of equilibrium between the mother and father inside us all. I need to hold these things close because there are going to be times when it's difficult to know why I'm doing what I'm doing.

When we got home Toni and Samantha strung up a hammock in the garden. I had Gallician cheese wih cinnamon on bread, which tastes delicious. I was sad to leave but I didn't feel scared like before, Samantha started singing 'on the road again' and I knew that come tomorrow it would be time to go again. I replotted my routes from Allariz to Verin with Toni so that I wouldn't be walking on the main road. I packed my rucksack as best I could for the next day and went to bed determined.