Saturday July 7

The first meeting of COURSES AND ROUTES is confirmed for Saturday, July 7. We chose as the seat of our event MARZIO a delightful resort town in Valganna, fifteen minutes from Varese. Nestled in the woods seven hundred meters, Marzio is the ideal place to spend a day of total relaxation during which we will also be able to discover on foot some special corners of the place. The group is limited to a few participants and the atmosphere that characterizes our appointments, help you regain the ability to confront yourself and to discover the teachings of the desert, even those who have never traveled with Desert Therapy. Personally I am living with emotion and enthusiasm of this new location and am excited to offer to those who want to attend the meeting the opportunity to discover new horizons.

Desert Therapy get together

We are working to organize the Desert Therapy get together to be held this Saturday, open to all who took part in our travels. The participants are numerous and guests will also come from afar, not only to see their travel companions, but also to have the opportunity to know and meet who has been with us in various deserts and compare their opinions and experiences. There will also be coming with me, travelers who will face the legendary Taklimakan Desert in China in October, the desert I crossed in 1998. This promises tp be a feast of joy and marked with a desire to spend carefree days together.

Max will take care of the grill and Lauren as always the deserts, but again the Desert will be the real protagonist: thanks to it many friendships were born and the experience. Desert Therapy is not only a trip but sharing: the emotions and values ​​and relationships that will last over time. Thank you, Desert Therapy!

COURSES AND ROUTES

I finally decided to offer, even to those who can not come into the desert, the opportunity to learn what I have learned during these years, during my first challanges, and then during my journey with Desert Therapy. From this desire COURSES AND ROUTES was born. These meetings are held in our usual style, in particular places, during which I will explain to those who want to participate in learning what the desert taught me and how to find your balance and face life with greater awareness, without being overwhelmed by events. The theme will be supported by projected images and the guests will have the opportunity to spend a whole day together, assisted by the staff of Desert Therapy. Some experts in fields related to wellness will take turns to teach the techniques needed to keep body and mind balanced and everyone will have the opportunity to meet the desert just a few steps from home and enjoy the lessons that this place is able to convey to those who decide to approach it. All information can be found on the Section Desert Therapy and the first meeting is scheduled for Saturday, July 7 at 10.30. The title? PROJECT: HOW TO BECOME AND HOW TO DEVELOP. Where are we? We are considering two possibilities in Varese near Milan, we will soon know the place. The number of participants is limited and we suggest that you give your membership as soon as possible giving you the chance to participate. I'll wait ....... in the Desert!

Recharge your batteries

Occasionally we all need to take a break to recuperate and regain the energy needed to move forward. In times like these we are experiencing, where the tension is often high, as soon as possible it is good to switch off and retreat to a place that is even a small shelter, away from everyday worries. Not always do we have the time to do this but sometimes it does not take much: just change the pace and habits that mark our days, leave behind the thoughts that accompany and transfer our attention to something completely different and not conventional. Dress more freely, wear a comfortable pair of shoes and get going, in search of sensations often forgotten. Obligations influence our behavior, and therefore we must learn not to give importance to the judgment of others, to leave aside the anxiety of appearance and look around with new eyes. The ideal is to decide to leave for a period to go to a different place, to do what we are not allowed in the newspaper but often this is not within our reach. And then we learn to find that special retreat close to us that allows us to dream and to shake off the burden of negative interactions. We release our dreams, whatever they are. We can not change the rules imposed by life but to stay healthy and live in harmony we must learn to adapt and find the bright side even in difficult situations that fate holds for us. This is one of the lessons that I learned of the Desert: accept the rules, recognize this, and move accordingly, to go on without pain. Even at the end of life, it is nothing but a big, endless desert.

dromedaries

Commonly called camels, we at Desert Therapy always refer to them as such, they are actually dromedaries who live in the groups accompanying the Saharan caravans, including our own. The real ones are two-humped, Asian camels, who will be with us in October when we will travel along the Taklimakan Desert in China. Dromedaries have one hump that constitutes their food supply: machines seemed created just to live in the sand. Their water autonomy is impressive, and they can go up to ten days without water with temperatures around 50 degrees Celsius. I have personally witnessed this during my crossing with the salt caravan in Niger. The hoofs contain a gelatin substance allowing them to adapt to the ground, their soft or stony eyes are protected by long eyelashes to protect them from the sand, and their noses and ears are positioned so that even the most violent of storms of sand won’t damage them. The large teeth can grind the terrible acacia thorns that can pierce even tires, but the camels are the only animals that can eat and digest them. Their air of superiority and great peace is in contrast with their true character, often irritable and cranky. There are hundreds of varieties of dromedaries, caravans of them high and massive, and those running or walking who are more slender. Our Desert Therapy instead belong to a specialized smaller type and are very docile and quiet. They are all females and often pregnant. Once we had the surprise of having with us along with two mothers and also their weaned puppies. It 'was an amusing sight to see them run and play along the way, like two dolls with hair. Needless to say that everyone has came to love them and some have said good-bye to them with a few tears when leaving. The dromedaries are a great resource for people living in the desert and the relationship created between man and animal is very close, often affectionate. Those with us in Egypt remember Solah, our Bedouin guide and handler of the dromedaries. Perhaps for this reason those who join us are so tame even with animals, treating them with respect and gentleness.

Smells of the Desert

Tomorrow at 7pm we will have an event at the headquarters of Focus in Milan, where Daniel, who organizes trips with Desert Therapy, has set up an interesting journey through three symbolic places of our planet, the Gobi desert, the ice of Antarctica and Deserts of sand. Each of these environments is characterized by a perfume created especially by an expert in smells and hence the desert can be identified and remembered by the smell. I have not had a chance to smell it, I prefer to be surprised but I guess that the aroma will be very particular and will carry my mind to the memories of the great expanses of sand dunes, fields in the sand, and intense moments lived in that wonderful place. Within the exhibit there will also be the backpack of my last challenge and other items that have accompanied me during the crossings. Often smelling a fragrance brings our thoughts to a place that struck us and left an important and often pleasant memory: being able to return to the Desert thanks to this, is truly exceptional.

Sand

How wonderful is sand! Soft, pliable, always different: it is a pleasure to see and touch. The desert is made of sand that changes all the time, changing colors and texture, but the charm remains the same. It comes natural to caress it, sinking your feet and hands into it, to feel it give in and adapt to our body when we lie down on it, to sense its heat never excessive, like a hug. Far from the desert I miss it so much, and I always dream to have a room with sand floors, in which to stand barefoot or sit down to regain my thoughts and cleanse my soul, to keep calm me and carry me home after each trip and that makes even the darkest, stormy days, sweet and full of smiles. I keep a container with my sand in each room, and look at them and caress them often while I work. I remember the exact point where I have collected them and their presence helps me to return there, the place I love and feel close to even in everyday life, to accompany me in the path of every day.