The Digital Detox yoga weekend in the picturesque English countryside was a bit of a sham on my part. Despite promising to turn off my phone I kept skulking upstairs past lounging Millennials to check and see if my kids had texted or Facetimed, which morphed into looking at Twitter, which then morphed into reading articles about “Why we need to tune off and drop out” … or something. But I can’t say I was completely unaffected by by nature during the yoga retreat at Oxfordshire’s shabby chic manor Braziers Park. In fact something struck me hard in the middle of the night.
It was a painting of mountains that fell on my head at 3:30 am.
Ironic poltergeists aside, Braziers Park is an inspired background for a yoga retreat with Nova Milesko 1. The daily trials and tribulations of running a communal house and “integrated learning centre” provided fascinating colour. I don’t know if you’ve seen that interactive play Tony and Tina’s wedding but the gist is you are a wedding guest and the storyline spins out around you. It felt like a low-key version of that.
I’m sure the set of Braziers Park is no stranger to drama. During the welcome speech our resident host urged us to do our own washing up, be careful what we flush and note that the western patio is a terrible place for a private conversation as you can be easily overheard. I love that he had to mention this as one of three items in the welcome speech. It must have been a lesson learned the hard way … more that once.
The house is a communal endeavour that sees a mix of residents and volunteers taking on the running of the estate. As the website puts it:
“Braziers is a conscious experiment in living together. It was founded to explore how a group could develop more harmonious relationships and more effective group structures.”
The gothic stone building dates back to 1688 and remained an aristocratic setting until it became the commune and school it is today in the 1950s. Apparently along with playing host to many artists and writers over the years Marianne Faithful brought Mick Jagger there in 1967 declaring it to be “mixture of high utopian thoughts and randy sex.” I saw neither but, really, watching for one weekend is no way to form binding opinions or make sweeping statements.
I’m sure the daily life of Braziers Park has all manner of time to experience both as the community hosts courses, retreats, weddings and seminars; providing the food, accommodations and grounds for events like the Supernormal Festival, Sweat Lodge, Utopias Seminar along with introductions to game theory and permaculture. They also provide a few authentic individuals or damn fine character actors dressed from the BBC sitcom closet of 1975.
The promise of an intact commune seems to draw in interesting old guard characters along with a number of international bright young things passing through. One of the full time residents Hugh 2 says he came to Braziers after a Cornwall-based commune imploded under the weight of personality conflicts. Braziers is still going strong well into its 60th year so they must have figured out a formula for getting along.
One of my favourite edicts from a paper list of suggestions on harmonious living pinned to the cork board outside the kitchen suggested that if you are feeling cross it would be best not to take on any jobs unless they are mechanized.
That’s ideal advice. You would never find yourself fighting tooth and nail with venetian blinds if you had the wherewithal to recognize “now is not going to be a good time for a fiddly project.”
The course kept us busy and exhausted but food was always on hand at the end of each class, even if we did overhear at a meeting that someone one had forgotten to start the oatmeal that morning. It was dealt with so kindly.
“This is no ones fault, we are all over worked.”
It seems with a run of weddings and other events the community has become worn bare, a victim of its own success. But in actual fact the oatmeal was still delicious, the food was great and they managed to make a delicious, vegetarian, organic, gluten-free Sunday lunch that didn’t look like sick which should lead anyone anywhere to basically mic drop and rest on their laurels.
I hope after their guests left and the curtains closed they got back to nature, utopian or otherwise and found their harmonious balance … and sturdy picture hanging nails.
1 Full disclosure we are talking about my sister here so really anything I say is unreliable and open to scrutiny! But it was still awesome and you should go!
2 Hugh was dressed under duress in deference to the visitors. As an adult child of hippies I am more than familiar with the naked male hippie body and as beautiful as we all are I was super grateful he remained clothed, even if that did hinder his spirit a little. I also wish him luck in growing a sustainable roof on his A-frame cottage on the grounds, even by alpine standards that seems a very steep pitch.
oonawoods 
Leave a comment