7th Wedding Anniversary

14th - 16th May, 2011

Whilst I was helping out at the Self-Transcendence 2 mile run, my wife was busy trying to find a vegetarian B&B or guest house for us to stay for our anniversary. We had arranged for my parents to look after Robert from Saturday afternoon until Monday so we thought that it would be nice to get away for a couple of days. After hours of searching Bernadette booked two nights at the Self Realization Meditation Healing Centre in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire in West Wales. This was a surprise as I am really into meditation and spirituality and Bernadette isn't, so this is my blog of how it went.

Self Realization Meditation Healing Centre, Wales

After a pleasant journey west from Cardiff we arrive at the centre at about 6.30 and our host for the weekend had a lovely vegetarian meal and a smile ready for us as we arrived. We enjoyed this in the lounge with a proper log burning fire to warm us up. After our meal, we were shown to our room and she explained we were the only people staying for the weekend so we had unique use of the bathroom and the lounge.

Meditation would be at 7.30pm that day and Sunday, as well as 6.45am tomorrow morning then 6.30 on Monday. My wife thought, "Great! Whilst Stephen is meditating I can watch the Eurovision song contest without being disturbed." This was when we were told that there was no TV or a radio in the centre, so she couldn't even listen to the song contest. We didn't even have a mobile phone signal in the area, it was as if we were cut off from the outside world. This come as a huge shock to Bernadette, but luckily she found a cupboard with some games and jigsaws in there, so she started doing one of the jigsaws.

The meditation was based on the teachings of the guru Mata Yogananda Mahasaya Dharma, and in the meditation room they had a picture of here on the wall. Their focus, as quoted on their website, "is on providing teaching, care, nurturing, clearing of emotions and balancing of body, mind and spirit for all who desire peace, harmony, health and progress." The meditation sessions over the weekend which were about an hour each time was amazing, even though there was only 2 of us there. After each session I felt a tremendous feeling of calm and happiness.

Sunday, 15th May 2011 - Our 7th Wedding Anniversary

I got up at 6 to have a shower before my early morning meditation at 6.45am, needless to say that my wife for 7 years stayed in bed. Then, after waking my wife up at 8.30 and wishing her happy anniversary, we had a lovely cooked veggie breakfast (Quorn sausages). Once breakfast was finished we went for a drive to see if anywhere was opening in this part of Wales. We ended up in Llandeilo and it was there where we found this amazing ice cream and chocolate shop called Heavenly, and it was definitely heavenly by name and heavenly by nature. We both had an ice cream each, which is something of a tradition as we had an My Whippy ice cream after our photo shoot at South Stack lighthouse in Anglesey on out Wedding Day. The ice cream was amazing and the amount we had for one portion was equivalent to at least three scoops of the ice cream I had in London a couple of weeks ago. Bernadette also bought a reduced Easter egg with actual, edible gold leafs on it. This was definitely the wife's version of Heaven.

After that we went for another little drive and ended up in Lampeter, were we had a very nice meal in The Royal Oak pub. We then went back to the the B&B where we explored the grounds around the centre before my evening meditation. During my meditation Bernadette stayed in the grounds and took lots of photos, some of which can be seen in my flickr album, we then relaxed in front of the log fire for the rest of the evening.

We were both sorry to leave on the Monday, and, despite not having a TV and radio, Bernadette really enjoyed her stay. I felt spiritually refreshed as it was good to meditate with another spiritual person on a slightly different path to myself. It's a pity the centre in Wales is up for sale, for reasons I won't go into in my blog, as I would love to stay there again and it is very relaxing and in such a beautiful part of Wales. I returned home with such an amazing feeling of love for my wife and felt very at peace with myself.

Happy Anniversary Bernadette and thank you for such a wonderful weekend, I love you so very much.