The Magic of King View

I doubt I’ll ever really get into yoga, but I enjoyed Linda’s weekend retreat all the same. It was held at the King View Conference Centre outside Toronto, a place I’d love to go back to again. There’s a meditation waterfall and a labyrinth, as well as 86 acres of lush meadows and trees, and wonderful views too.
A group of residents live there year round and tend to the property. They are very spiritually minded people, and the care they give their home is especially evident in the way they look after their animals: goats, a pig, ponies, a beautiful mare and her foal, a lovely golden retriever and Jacqui the long-haired donkey pictured above. I spent some time communing with Jacqui…well, actually we just stood there and looked at each other for a while, and occasionally she would twitch her ears at me.
Jacqui was in bad shape when she arrived at King View, and terrified of humans. But because healing is an important part of what goes on at the centre, they nursed Jacqui back to health; this was done in part by attunement, a non-touching process of healing practiced by several of the residents. When I reluctantly left Jacqui to go to lunch, she became annoyed and started braying at me! I wanted to climb over the fence and give her a big hug.
I hadn’t met anyone who was attending the retreat before, but getting to know wonderful people like Karen, Eva, Joyti, Judy and Bibi was an unexpected treat for me. It never fails to amaze me how unique and interesting people really are. I know it’s easy to be cynical about things, but speaking as a bona fide aging hippy/failed yuppie, I think life is a lot more interesting for me now than it was back in the 70s.