Reset, rethink and don’t forget to breathe
• Head to the country for a mind, body and soul restoration weekend
The clear, wide dam has been getting gradually closer during our scenic hike in the foothills ofthe Klein Drakenstein Mountains near Paarl. Now we ve followed a track ’ down to the shore and Maika Goetze, the owner of Cascade Country Manor, is stripping off and urging us to jump in. She points to a small inlet on the opposite bank, and says that s ’ the spot to swim for. I m dubious. The sun is bright on this spring morning, but the dam water feels icy. It s deep ’ too, and I can t see the bottom ’ after my first few squelchy, muddy steps.
But a dam swim of about 210m is part of a programme Goetze has put together for a mind, body and soul restoration weekend in the country.
A slip, a splash, a shiver, and I m in, striking out through the invigorating water and realising that the scenery is even more gorgeous from the water than from dry land. At the other end, I scramble up the rocks, envelop my goose-bumped body in a towel and feel ridiculously proud of myself.
Earlier our hike led us through a field of buchu, a plant I d never heard of before, ’ sipping a drink that looked like sparkling rosé wine but tasted bitter. Buchu is a herb touted as a treatment for colds and flu, kidney disorders, digestive ailments and cellulite. It s native ’ to the Cape floral kingdom, and grows happily on scrubby looking slopes around Paarl where this famous wine region s more delicate grapes ’ probably wouldn t flourish. ’ Healthy drinks aren t ’ compulsory on the programme, so at lunch I replace the buchu with a soul-restoring chardonnay. The food is healthy, though, with a harvest table set out in the olive groves presenting a dozen platters to pick at. There are several unusual salads, an impressive tower of soft cheese dotted with olives, crudités and dips, salamis and freshly baked bread. The dessert catches me out by looking like a small bowl of strawberries, but underneath lies a delicious Danish pastry prepared by chef Volker Goetze, Maika s husband and co-owner. ’ The lunchtime wine is practical as well as hedonistic. I figure it will help me relax in the afternoon s breathing lesson. ’ I ve been breathing for decades, ’ but dance teacher Liz Surmonhas come to show us how to do it properly. Surmon has branched out into gyrotonics, a method of matching your breath to movement and breathing in more ways than seems possible given the simple mouth and nose combination.
She sets out stools near a stream in the rambling gardens, and has us inhale to counts of four, then suspend our breath before exhaling. Your “diaphragm moves up and down 200,000 times a day, but if it doesn t move optimally you can ’ sit with all sorts of problems like bad posture,” she says. People come to me when “they re tired of living with aches ’ and pains and they just want to feel comfortable in their bodies,” Surmon says. The diaphragm is “such a huge muscle that if we get it to move optimally it has a huge influence on the whole body. You can increase activation of the nervous system and tone the vagus nerve through diaphragmatic breathing, and that has an influence on gut health.”
It s so intriguing that we ’ arrange for her to return the next day for a breathing-tomusic class, and we joke that nobody is allowed to breathe until tomorrow, because we don t like overachievers. ’ Cascade Country Manor is a glorious old mansion with dazzling white walls, arches and pillars all reflected back in the large outdoor pool. Inside, it s ’ homely rather than imperious, and the 15 individually designed bedrooms all have a private balcony or patio.
The hotel is a member of
Cape Country Routes, a collective of individually owned hotels and adventure activities strung along the Western and Eastern Cape from Cape Town to just beyond Port Elizabeth. Its members were flourishing, until the Covid-19 lockdown hit and drained spending money from the pockets of potential customers.
Goetze has responded by planning women-only weekends for those who need to restore and revive themselves after holding households together during lockdown, and to help those whose careers have evaporated to rethink their future.
Life coach Cornelia Burger will run sessions on how you talk, behave and relate to other people, and how they relate to you. A handicraft or baking session will encourage creativity, while yoga, an inspirational film evening and treatments in the spa complete the package that Goetze hopes will help Cascade to reinvent itself too.
It might sound a bit airyfairy, but Goetze is a practical Namibian-born woman of German descent, so fluffy isn t ’ her thing. Very few people are more “sceptical than I am, so I had to experience all this and benefit from it myself before I could try to sell it to others,” she says.
Good food and wine will ensure there is none of that finding yourself through “deprivation malarkey. One aim ” is to encourage self-reflection, and some people find a glass of wine helps them to reflect, Goetze says.
Many men will also need a rethink and a reset after lockdown, but Goetze believes a women-only environment is more conducive for a safer, caring and supportive atmosphere. You have to admit it s true. In that chilly dam swim, ’ my group of five women all encouraged, looked out for each other and laughed together, while men would have turned it into a competitive sport and tried to reach the bank first.