Balance March Issue 2018 - 41

LETTING GO

Physical detoxes we know about, but would you
benefit from going deeper and sorting out those
deep, ingrained emotions? Anna Hart visits the
UK's first retreat set up to find out for you

F
.

ew people in this
enlightened age feel even
a flicker of embarrassment
telling colleagues 'I'm off for
a week's yoga in Ibiza' or 'see
you after my WildFitness weekend in Scotland'.
Where we're all less comfortable though, is
saying we're off to work on our emotions.
It's different in the US; out-of-office
messages ping around Silicon Valley declaring
CEOs are on a Shamanic journey or Vipassana
silent meditation retreat. Thing is, I'm British,
possessed of a stiff upper lip, and inclined to
slip into a sneer at anything that smacks of
quackery or self-indulgence.
So I don't shout about what I'm up to when I
check into The Bridge at 42 Acres in Somerset,
the brainchild of 33-year-old entrepreneur
Lara Tabatznik. Instead, I lie. It's far more
British. I tell colleagues I'm on a digital detox
and off-grid for six days. I don't reveal the
real purpose of The Bridge, Britain's first,
comprehensive emotional detox.
The first evening, despite these luxurious
surroundings, I'm decidedly uncomfortable.
My laptop and phone have been spirited
away and I wonder why I've chosen to spend

March 2018 BA LA N CE

my time with 15 people essentially moaning
about their own problems.
But as founder and therapist Donna
Lancaster explains: 'Humans are programmed
to assess potential threats and future
pitfalls using past experiences and traumas.
Sometimes, however, our powerful selfpreservation instinct can make us so
risk-averse that we violently shut the door to
health and happiness'.
Some guests arrive with specific traumas
in mind, maybe a painful divorce or a
bereavement. Not me. I'm here because of my
crippling anxiety and tendency to run away
when I feel vulnerable.

SUBCONSCIOUS FEARS
Almost immediately, my visit to the Bridge
begins paying off, as I glean the sort of insights
into unconscious impulses it could take years
of therapy to uncover.
I feel inclined to be compassionate to myself
and others about behaviour I'd previously have
dismissed as twisted, weird or plain pathetic.
I realise I never really allowed myself to be
sad about spending most of my early 20s in
hospital, on crutches and generally in recovery

41



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Balance March Issue 2018

Balance March Issue 2018 - 1
Balance March Issue 2018 - 2
Balance March Issue 2018 - 3
Balance March Issue 2018 - 4
Balance March Issue 2018 - 5
Balance March Issue 2018 - 6
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