*FOR T&CS SEE P157
Lanzarote
need to know
(
1
)
Voted Best Winter Sun Destination 2014
by the Irish Travel Agents Association
(
23.5
)
Average daytime temperature in Celsius
during March
(
1966
)
Year the film One Million Years BC was
shot here
easyJet
flies to Lanzarote from London Gatwick
and Liverpool See our insider guide on
page 126. Book online at easyJet.com
easyJet Holidays
Seven nights self-catering at the three-
star Hotel Blue Sea Los Fiscos, departing
London Gatwick on 6 May, costs from
£195 per person. easyJet.com/holidays*
PRINCESS YAIZA SUITE HOTEL
Just 10m from the beach, every room of
this five-star stay has a balcony or terrace
with sea views. Book at hotels.easyJet.com
Of course, it also has much in common with more
traditional forms of meditation. On day three, a Tibetan
singing bowl is used to ease me into my transformational
state. I’m getting better at the breathwork and I sink
deeper. When I come out, there’s an eerie silence. I open
my eyes and see Dolan’s blurred silhouette. Then it starts:
tears begin to stream.
“What are you
feeling?” he
asks. I pause for a
fewminutes.
“That I’m not bad.
I feel like I’m a
good person.”
I explain why I’m
crying between
the sobs.
“I realise that just
because I’m gay, I’m not a bad
person.” There’s another silence.
I try to pull myself together. It’s a
spectacular catharsis which, I’m
told, is very much part of the
process. By releasing everything
bodily, Dolan says, repressed emotions are also unloaded.
I’d been fearing something like this might happen.
I had a phenomenally happy childhood, but at 30 I came
out and it was tough. It took 10 years for me to realise
I needed counselling. Nevertheless, there was still much
that therapy didn’t resolve: anger, frustration,
loneliness, guilt. I’d been suppressing emotions for over
a decade and it’s these that have bubbled to the surface
once the retreat has taken away my control and allowed
my body to speak, as it were.
Uneasily, I shuffle out of the room in my socks. In
the mirror, my face is ruddy and bloated, but there’s a
beaming smile that I haven’t seen since I was in my 20s.
I feel emotionally whacked, but also relieved. I retreat to
my room, sinking litres of fruit tea to rehydrate. In the
evening, we eat under the stars. Too tired to talk, I just
listen to Dolan’s trippy chat about the universe.
It turns out to be an epic trip. So, do I know how the
therapy worked or can I explain it? No. Do I think
Transformational Breath can help people? Absolutely.
Will I be able to keep up my regular practice at
home? Well, going by my record of morning meditations
over the past 10 years, not yet – but I’mworking on it.
See breathguru.com or transformationalbreath.co.uk
for more information. Lanzarote Breath retreats start
from £530 (approx €645)
WAITING TO EXHALE
06
Dolan leads a small
group in breathwork
07
Where the individual
sessions take place
“There’s a beaming smile
on my face I haven’t seen
since I was in my 20s”
06
07
PHOTOS
LOUIS DE ROHAN
0 8 2
T H E B R E A T H G U R U
L A N Z A R O T E
