We looked out of our bedroom window at 6.00 a.m. last Thursday morning to find a herd of cattle from the meadow in our garden! They weren’t easy to herd out again either! Steve and Mel managed to get them back in the field in two groups with much flapping of arms and shoo-ing. The farmer has now repaired the metal fence so we are not expecting any more unannounced visitors but Steve then had to do some industrial strength pooper scooping before the Tai Chi group arrived!
It’s been a Tai Chi-ish kind of month this month. We had Richard and Marigold Farmer’s group in at the beginning of the month and then Alec Jones’s Dragon Spring Tai Ji School here last weekend (http://www.dragonspringtaiji.co.uk/index.htm) who arrived with fans and walking sticks and other props for the various forms they practise. 
We greatly enjoyed their visit and there were lots of sunny days for working outside. Interestingly, Alec was doing an exercise about “the herd” so the events with the cattle wove into their workshop thematically – they say there is no such thing as an external event!
Between Tai Chi courses we also hosted the European Shadow Work Facilitators’ Guild (http://www.shadowwork.eu/index.php/component/easydiscuss/profile?Itemid=1) who have come here for the last couple of years for their annual gathering. It’s a peer group and these guys have worked together over many years so there is always an immediate feeling of them being at home here when they arrive. Easy chairs are wheeled into the group room and we always enjoy the friendly and warm atmosphere in the house. We hope to see them again next year.
We are now hosting Deb Dunning, Holly Harman (http://www.holotropicuk.co.uk/www.HolotropicUK.co.uk/) 
and Cait Branigan (http://spiritwarrior.ie/shamanism-cork-ireland/teachers/cait-branigan-house-clearing/) with their Freedom of the Soul retreat. This retreat is a blend of Holotropic Breathwork and Celtic shamanism and we have had a great week together. We were also delighted to see Marianne Murray again who is facilitating the breathwork sessions with Deb and Holly on this retreat. Marianne brought the original Breathworks groups to Poulstone of which this course is a continuation.
Right! That’s all for now!
More soon!
Mel & Steve
Poulstone Court Retreat Centre