Mindful Martyna shares her nature-inspiration and a practice on the elements

Retreat leader Martyna Raczka has a deep mindfulness and meditation practice rooted in nature.

Here she shares inspirations and her reflections on how to be with change, together with a mindfulness practice that she created and led (as part of our Summer Embrace retreat) beneath our beautiful yew tree on the South Lawn.

Martyna has recently gained a Certificate of Postgraduate Studies, Ecopsychology, Ecotherapy and Social Change from the SWPS University in Poland.

Why is change so uncomfortable?

Change is uncomfortable because we try to hold onto what’s already shifting.

But what if, instead of resisting it, we made space for it?

I do my utmost to hold onto emptiness - Laozi, Tao Te Ching

Not emptiness as absence or loss, but as openness and spaciousness. A quiet mind. A willingness to let life move without forcing it.

Everything changes. It’s the rhythm of life.

The more we loosen our grip and open up, the more clearly we begin to see.

And in the middle of all that uncertainty, there is still so much to be grateful for. When we open ourselves to it, we notice it more deeply - the joys, the beauty, the peace.