5 Heart Journey (It’s Not About the Yoga Trip) to South France & Spain

Jean Oshima
3 min readDec 1, 2018

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One of the beautifully appointed rooms at the castle!
One of many amazing desserts!
Pink marble quarry at Caunes-Minervois. Sorry, I really should not have climbed on this rock. It’s bigger than it looks and SUPER slippery!!!
The group departing
The castle
Paella! Stil the best I have ever had was in Carcassonne, France, not Spain!
Michelle
Michelle’s wine!
Plafond à la Française — see a 5 Heart Rating just for this beautiful centuries-old style of ceiling
Streets of Caunes-Minervois
Tarte au Citron, from the bakery at Carcassonne, my fav!
The staircase at the castle
Ceiling at Dali museum
Caunes-Minervois
Playing pool at the castle
Yoga room with 1000-year-old beams

This was one of the very first 5 Heart Journey trips. At the time we were still calling them “It’s Not About the Yoga Trips” in an effort to convince people that, well, the trips have very little (just enough) to do with Yoga, relaxation, breathing, and meditation practice. As depicted in the feature photo. That’s one of our group sitting out Yoga practice and lounging by the beautiful pool where we stayed in a centuries-old castle! I’d say that’s a form of Yoga, if not, at least meditation and relaxation!

It would be impossible to detail everything we did on this trip as I am certain we could not have packed in any more to our week-long trip. But just to name a few things, we 1) did a road trip to Spain to visit the Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueres, 2) did a private wine tasting and tour with our host’s lifelong friend and winemaker, Michelle, 3) visited the largest marble quarry outside Italy, 4) had an incredible guided tour of an 8th-century abbey and the beautiful town of Caunes-Minervois, 5) stayed in a 12th-century castle with 9-foot thick walls and the most beautiful modern touches/conveniences including an elevator, 6) ate the most delicious foods imaginable, 7) drank incredible wines, practiced Yoga in a beautiful room with 1000-year-old beams, 8) ate paella in Spain, 9) sipped beer at a local pub, 10) spent an entire afternoon at the incredible Carcassonne farmers market, 11) and met the most incredibly warm and welcoming people! Here are just a few photos from our trip. This truly was the trip of a lifetime. And ALL due to my incredible friend, Julia.

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Jean Oshima

See my blog, 5 Heart Rating at http://jeanoshima.com I am a Wellness & Wine and Special Events Producer