You & The Rose

The Path of the Heart

My relationship with the Rose has grown gradually through years of working with ritual, movement, scent, plants and the body. Again and again I find myself returning to her — not only for her extraordinary beauty and fragrance, but for what she seems to embody: softness alongside strength, openness alongside discernment, tenderness with deep roots.

In yoga we work with Sankalpa — an intention that arises from somewhere deeper than simply wanting something. Rather than imposing another idea of who we should become, Sankalpa can be understood as listening closely enough to recognise what is already true within us, and orienting our lives towards it.

For me, the Rose speaks beautifully to this. A flower does not need to become another flower. It unfolds according to the particular intelligence held within it. There is something here about learning to listen for our own pattern — the quiet impulses, values, desires and inner knowing that might guide us towards a life that feels increasingly our own.

The heart becomes part of this listening. Not the heart as sentiment alone, but as a place of courage, discernment, relationship and direction. Through movement, breath, scent, touch, sound and stillness, this retreat is an invitation to create enough space to hear what may already be asking to unfold.

Yoga — Rooting into the Heart

Our morning begins with a gently progressive Vinyasa practice, preparing the body carefully before exploring heart-opening shapes.

Rather than pursuing dramatic backbends, we will build the conditions for opening: grounding through the feet and legs, creating space through the side body and shoulders, awakening the spine and breath, and gradually moving towards gentle backbending and expansive postures.

The sequencing will offer variations throughout, allowing you to explore your own appropriate expression of each posture. You do not need to be particularly flexible or have an advanced yoga practice. The intention is not to achieve a shape, but to experience what happens when strength, breath, attention and softness begin to work together.

Movement will gradually give way to stillness and sound with gongs and tuning forks, allowing the morning practice to settle through the body.

Rose Ritual — Tea, Oils & Anointing

We will then meet the Rose through the senses.

Gathering together in circle, we will explore Rose tea, petals, botanical oils and fragrance, experiencing the plant not simply as an idea or symbol, but through scent, taste, touch and beauty.

There will be time for a simple Rose anointing ritual, followed later in the day by guided self-massage with Rose-infused oil — bringing attention back to the skin and body through slow, conscious touch.

This isn't about elaborate ceremony. It is an opportunity to slow down enough to notice: the warmth of tea, fragrance opening in the air, oil against the skin, petals in the hands, breath moving through the body.