Iona - Hope
Today, we awoke to an absolutely beautiful day - the land was covered in fog, there was a stiff breeze and the temperature hovered around 50 degrees. We experienced our first St. Columba hotel breakfast - a lovely continental that we were all satisfied with followed by ordering our choice of hot food. A feast! We practiced again our flexible minds as the small kitchen did its best to serve our 22 person group! Susan introduced the word of the day, which is HOPE and encouraged us to contemplate this as we went about the day today.
After breakfast, people separated to do as they liked. Some hiked a bit, others ran, and a brave crew experienced our first yoga outside in the hotel's quiet garden. Beautiful as the weather was, it was really too cold to get on the ground, so we did standing postures and a few prayerful half sun salutations of hope.
Next, many of us joined the Iona community for their Sunday communion service. There was lovely music, an inspiring talk about the unity of all people, and much magical serenity as we sat in the unheated church in our warm coats and hats. We are all very grateful to Susan and Scott for giving us an accurate packing list!
Today's hike was a 5 or so mile round trip to St Columba beach. Many of us chose to go. Our hopeful sun salutations bore fruit, as the sun came out and the day became gorgeous and warm. We walked through beautiful farm land, across varied terrain, passing by the Iona loch which provided water for the original inhabitants of the island, and then alighted on St Columba beach. After a short geology lesson from Scott and a discussion of the energy of the thin space from Susan, we dispersed to enjoy the space in our own ways. It truly was a beautiful and magical beach.
After the hike, we returned to the inn and enjoyed a nice gathering reflecting on the day an on people's experiences with hope this day.
With that, I hope you all reading this have a wonderful day!
Copyright 2018 Nancy C Murray
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