A walk through the French countryside with my dear friends Annie and Loic.
(Angers, France, 2011)

This weekend, I went on a Yoga retreat in El Palmar, a long stretch of farmland and beach that’s largely untouched.  The residents have voted to keep it as uninhabited as possible, barring any development within 500 meters of the shoreline. 

The result is quite astounding.  Wild weeds grow in the dunes by the shore, offering visitors a lovely view of nature left to its own accord.  The occupied terrain, used mostly as farmland, fits right into the atmosphere.  I stood by a wheat field in early morning, and watched as the wind moved the wheat stalks, illuminated and sparkling like silver by the rising sun.

The beach had a wonderful color to it, a cerulean blue hue that blends into green, splashing over the light yellow sand.

It is in moments, days, like this that I feel lucky, so damn lucky, to be alive.