Julie Morel of BreathinDeia actually said ‘workshop’ but I misheard her. We agreed, though, that ‘walkshop’ is a good word to describe the perambulatory experiences she offers around Deia, which are much more than just guided walks. Julie’s promise is that, if you go on a walkshop, you’ll ‘connect to nature, discover yourself’.
Like many of us, Julies’s journey to arriving in Deia two years ago took plenty of interesting twists and turns. She’s taught public health and social care, worked for an industrial pharmacy and in the City of Sciences and Industry in Paris. Responding to ‘an inner call’, as she puts it, Julie then became a beekeeper. After this, she moved with her family to south-west France and ‘deepened both my connection to nature and knowledge of energy healing’.
Again like many of us, Julie counts herself lucky that she came to Deia. ‘We have friends who’ve been coming to the village for 40 years,’ she says, ‘and they suggested we come. We were smitten immediately, found a place to stay through Charles Marlow and settled here a few months later.’
What was it that appealed so much to Julie about Deia? ‘I fell in love with the vibration of the place, which is very high.’
I wondered what exactly that meant. ‘If you were speaking normally, you’d call it beauty but, for me, it’s more than that. Beauty is a consequence of the quality of the vibration.’
And how did BreathinDeia come about? ‘I had the idea from the moment I arrived here. I saw many people walking but they were always talking. I thought it was a pity to be in such a beautiful place and not really be present and fully aware of nature.’
The walks bring in several elements that Julie has studied and absorbed over the years. These include Zen Buddhism mindfulness practice, learnt by Julie in a French Buddhist monastery, anthroposophy, which teaches a way of relating to the world, and her own insights from beekeeping. The result is a workshop that’s ‘very simple, accessible, powerful, efficient and helps people open their senses and emotions and connect to the environment. Last Saturday, a woman on a walk cried because she realised she’d never really connected to nature.’
Sounds powerful, indeed.
At the moment, Julie’s happy to walk in the morning or afternoon. In the summer, walks start around 10.30 in the morning and finish by 1300.
One of the most appealing things about Julie’s walks is that she knows hidden places and paths where it’s possible to meet no one. If you don’t have a car, she’ll arrange to meet you at a spot near the village on one of the paths down to Cala Deia. Should you have a car, Julie will meet you a bit further afield but still close to Deia.
Walks last between two and two and half hours but Julie doesn’t watch the clock particularly. As she says, ‘the aim of the walk is to change your consciousness so some people might want the experience to last longer. If people want to walk all day, that’s fine with me. I’ll adapt.’
Taking a BreathinDeia walkshop with Julie is just one of several enriching adventures you can have in and around the village. We’ve curated a list of amazing experiences you might like to try here.