Episode 2 The Retreat

The wellbeing industry is booming -

more people seek alternative ways to cope with rising obesity,

stress and depression.

Stress levels have been getting heavier,

I do not understand why I'm so stressed and can't switch off.

Heading for a retreat on an island in the South China Sea,

Nick Knowles joins a group who are all seeking the antidote

for the strains of modern life.

This place in Thailand says it can actually change your head around,

change your inner space around.

How will the gang cope with a completely new way of living?

I think that some of the participants didn't really know

what they were getting into.

It's almost cultish.

I think it will be a challenge.

Will 28 days of detox and alternative therapies

be enough to change their lives?

I don't think anyone would be surprised to find out

I'm the least likely person to take on this challenge.

This is one kick-ass detox.

Welcome to Thailand.

It's day one of their fast and the gang has a gruelling week

of not eating ahead to test their resolve.

They can expect headaches.

They can expect to be tired,

but mostly very hungry.

Every day includes a detox regime

and the gang meet to discuss tactics.

Good morning.

How are we this morning? We're well.

Hi, Maggie. Good morning. How are you feeling?

I had a really good night's sleep.

I'm feeling way better.

Good morning, Cathy, how are you, princess?

Fine, and you?

THEY LAUGH

How are you, sweetheart?

Great. Had loads of sleep.

Feel much better, walked into town about 4.00 this morning.

Partied. Partied. Had a few beers.

Bit of pool and snooker.

The team seems like, the first day,

they were all doing their own thing and now they're starting to share

with each other and I think Billy is really helping out with that.

Morning, Nick.

Morning, morning. Come and join the party?

Yes.

The, er, detox party.

The colonical detox party.

I've had a thumping headache since yesterday evening.

Do you want to look at the nice ingredients?

There's a detox drink there.

That's the husk.

There's the measuring spoon

and obviously, that is the glass we fill it in.

And we don't want to talk about what the little thing is?

No. The little thing will be put up somewhere later.

Do you put the water in first?

As well as the regime of supplements to speed the detox,

it includes a psyllium drink to aid digestion while not eating.

There's a man used to drinking pints!

That's us clear now until 8.30,

when you have to take two supplements and two chompers.

Which are those?

These ones here, aren't they? That's right.

They're doing fine.

I thought they were going to be more grumpy than that.

The only grumpy one is Nick.

Did you do all your homework, by the way?

Did you read about your Colema technique?

Yeah. Yes.

I've got an hour and a half to read it now.

You can have a cappuccino, a latte...

Next up, the Colema.

First of all, I am going to put the tube into coconut oil,

to make it a little bit smoother, for when it enters my butt.

Now I shall put this through a little hole in there and join it up.

What happened yesterday? I heard you had some problems.

I fell off the surfboard three times.

When we say a surfboard, we mean this plastic plate with a hole in

that's supposed to sit on the toilet.

Now this is the bit where...

..I shall proceed to go on the board.

But first of all, I'm going to put a bit of the oil on my own butt

to make it a bit more lubricated.

It's not a bad little number.

Me, in my wisdom, I put the surfboard that way,

so it kept falling off.

I am now going to take the clip off and let the water into my bottom.

And I forgot

to add the coffee.

HE LAUGHS

Obviously, when I got comfortable and nearly got there,

put the tube there, it came off the other bit of the tube,

so I wasn't getting near enough.

The result, what I have seen that has come out,

has been absolutely brilliant.

Now I just look forward to it.

Really? Yeah. What a surprise!

I don't mind a bit of... No...

THEY LAUGH

Right... That's more information than I needed right there.

Unbelievable. I feel 100%.

You know those moments, where they say, "Oh, I'm busting?"

I can feel why they feel like they're busting.

It's a lovely feeling.

WATER RUSHES

Maybe I should sit down and go to the toilet more often.

Do we have to have these conversations with everybody?

Couldn't you have them on a one-to-one basis with Billy?

Cos I'm never going to get that image out of my head

for the rest of my life.

I don't know how I'm going to manage with that.

How are you doing? You all right?

I'm doing fine. We've got an expert here.

THEY LAUGH

With Billy having conquered his fears,

the others remain tight-lipped about their own.

We've started the programme.

We've had several drinks, you know,

stuff I haven't really liked too much at the moment.

I will honestly say I was terrified.

I must confess, I'm not jumping for joy at the prospect of

washing any dirty linen in public.

I kept thinking, "Are you doing the right thing?

"At your age, should you be doing something like this?"

I have really bad halos from the lights and slightly double vision.

And I just want to stay in bed.

On top of the Colemas,

the week ahead will consist of some light yoga

to ease the digestive cleanse.

Although the early morning commute is wet and treacherous,

the views aren't bad.

Nick's having a rest, I think. Where's Nick? Oh, look.

But there is some slow traffic.

Nice of you to meet us.

Yoga is the backbone of the holistic programme

the gang are going through.

It is believed to cleanse the body and mind

for physical and mental wellbeing.

My name is Satyama

and I am very happy to introduce you to the journey of yoga

for those who haven't done it before.

Just take a moment here to breathe fully into the body.

And stretch, stretch, stretch the body.

Extend the legs long as well.

Really go for it.

And when you exhale, you go deeper.

Forward and back. So the forward inhale and the back exhale.

Breathe through the nose. And then next time you rock,

we're going to make this a little bit bigger.

Go for a side body stretch by dropping the right leg over

towards the left wrist.

Just follow me, lads. Just follow me.

THEY LAUGH

Go for the good example.

Bring that leg back down. Change sides.

Bring the left leg up and over.

Beautiful.

It's all possible.

I'm not feeling it.

Well, it's over time.

Remember the journey.

I've got short hams anyway.

Who doesn't have short hams?

I don't know. I've got extra short hams.

OK, come with me.

Bring this foot in front.

Now bring this one back a little bit.

Yeah. A little bit more back.

A little bit more. Now drop this knee.

Now lean back.

Yes.

Take the hands down into Anjali mudra.

It represents the unification of the sides of the body.

Your body can go further than you probably think.

Yeah? And when you can't reach any more, take the hand to the shin.

Not holding on too hard.

Just lightly. It's the core of the body.

Attention on your back.

Relax your brain.

Slowly, mindfully, come up into a seated position.

And if you are sleeping,

hear into my voice that you are not sleeping

any more.

THEY APPLAUD

Hello, Milton. Hello.

Morning.

Wow.

That was interesting. My first-ever yoga lesson.

That was, um...

Well, it's tougher than I thought.

My hamstrings are tight.

My shoulders. It all aches.

Also got a banging headache at the moment,

which I've had for the last...

Well, since last night.

So I had to pull out of some of the poses when my head was down

because the headache gets worse and worse and worse.

But really fascinating. Also...

it was so good that Billy and Milton both fell asleep.

How was it?

Not sure, really.

Um...

I think it's going to take me a little while to get into it.

I kept forgetting to breathe properly.

And then...

But I wouldn't say I've instantly clicked with it,

if you know what I mean.

It was definitely stretching bits I hadn't stretched for a while!

Bit of leg shaking going on.

But, no, it was good. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

When I was first doing it, everything was kind of twinging.

It wasn't that elastic.

But after a while, as we went through it,

everything felt a bit better. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it.

It was tough but afterwards, standing here talking to you now,

I enjoyed it. And you had a bit of a snooze.

And I had a bit of a snooze.

HE SPEAKS THAI

That's all we have to eat every day, a bowl of watery broth.

You put plenty of salt, plenty of pepper, plenty of chilli in it.

Look at that salad. A great big bowl of salad.

When have you ever said, "Look at that big bowl of salad,"

in your life? Never.

When you've got that to a bowl of salad,

I'd sooner have a bowl of salad.

At least it's something, isn't it? Yeah.

That's ALL we have to eat.

When I'm at home and I'm cooking, I'm cooking vegetables.

That's what you chuck away, isn't it?

You make gravy with it but the majority of that gets chucked away.

I've seen washing-up water like this.

It's tasty, but...

The regime now consists of one bowl a day in the canteen.

It's 4am in the morning and we're just about to walk to the hospital

to get some blood tests done.

It's going to be challenging.

It's about 7km.

But it's going to be cool, it's going to be a good little walk.

I've got Cathy coming with me, my little team-mate,

and we're going with Ron,

so we're going to have a good long walk

and see how it goes. Speak to you later.

Dominique, the retreat's detox manager,

has requested Milton does more hospital checks

before he starts his fast.

And Cathy and Ron have opted to go with him for moral support.

It's been a nice walk. We're nearly there.

Probably got about another 15 minutes' walk.

Here we come.

We've made it. First Western. Made it, made it.

The last time, my bloods and that was a little high.

Now they've said I should do a new blood test to see how it is now.

Yeah? OK.

Yes, yes.

You don't think it's changed in one week?

One week, you mean?

The same?

OK, OK.

Yeah, let's do it. They're paying for it so...

Despite the fact the doctor doesn't think a change is possible

within 30 days, let alone six, Milton does all the tests again.

It's like a good wine.

Yeah! SHE LAUGHS

Cathy and Milton are back from the hospital with his results,

and the gang have gathered together

to see if the doctors have cleared him to do the detox.

So let's see the results.

In six days of eating healthy, his fasting blood sugar,

this is the sugar that is in his blood, high-risk is 150 to 180,

so he was at 170 and now he's at 101.

Wow.

70 drop.

THEY APPLAUD

Wow. Good thing you kept all of this.

Triglyceride, circulating fat again

that is caused by too much refined carbs, alcohol, cigarettes.

Yeah? The bad stuff. Yeah?

He was at 231, which is super high.

He's at 111.

THE OTHERS GASP

That's brilliant. It is brilliant. And, to be honest,

I never expected those results to be so amazing this morning.

I thought that they would be great but this is dramatic.

This is incredible.

Milton's hospital results show that of a pre-diabetic patient,

seemingly achieved in one week on a strict programme of yoga

and vegan food.

But can they really stay that low until the end of the month?

And can Nick and Julian even stay at all?

You were thinking of giving it up yesterday.

How are you feeling today? I feel a bit more positive today.

I'm getting into it. You can just see the benefit.

Even though I still don't want to do the regime

but because I can see the benefit,

it's pushing me on to do it a bit more.

Yes. Anything irritating you at the moment?

I've got to be honest,

the main thing that's irritating me at the moment is Billy's happiness.

NICK LAUGHS

It's just like...

It's like he's turned native.

He's gone with it so much.

He has, hasn't he? That's great for him, obviously.

It's great he's enjoying it. Absolutely.

I'm 100% behind him. But, you know, you think...

I just wish I was 200 yards 100% behind him so I didn't have to hear

some of the detail we were getting. Yeah, yeah.

Wind it in a bit, Bill. There's other people still suffering.

Give him five years, he's going to be a yogi here.

He'll be sat here with a two-foot beard.

Good for you. I'm pleased you're over the hump, so to speak.

Yes, I'm over...

I'm over something. Yes.

Shall we go and get some...? That time of day, is it?

I think it is. Then it's yoga. Yes.

Haven't we got a detox at 11 o'clock?

Yoga? Yoga, over in the back one.

A detox at half ten?

No, there was supposed to be one at 9.30.

Did you not do that one? No, because I've done it at 8.00.

I'm an hour behind because we went to watch the sunset.

You've probably got time to do a detox drink.

I'll just go for a detox and meet you over there. Yeah.

While everyone splits for various treatments,

Dominique sits down with Milton

to discuss the incredible hospital results.

Everybody around the table was so excited as if it was their results.

Oh, yeah, I did keep it in a little bit,

otherwise I was going to get teary-eyed, you know what I mean?

You don't do that stuff.

I try not to. I just want to keep going and have another look

or talk about it right at the end,

because that's when I'm going home on the plane.

I want to be going home on a plane further in front of these.

I think that if we see you again in one year,

you're even going to be slim.

If you continue like that, you're going to be a changed man.

Maybe I'll come back just to show you. Amazing.

Now that Dominique considers Milton healthy enough to start the fast,

he needs a little help from the island's newest expert.

Right, what we do...

Yeah, go on, then, Bill, show us...

The bigger spoon, you put two spoonfuls of this.

Two spoonfuls. But what you've got to make sure, see all the...

Sediment. Give it a massive shake. Yeah.

So that's it, it's all mixed now.

So take two spoonfuls, careful...

OK. ..cos it'll go everywhere.

Two spoonfuls of this.

A quick stir.

And just down it, yeah? Yeah, just down it.

It's lovely. It's like the teabag splitting

and then you're drinking it and you go...

HE SPITS

Right, and now... Tastes like water with sawdust in it.

I didn't get much sleep last night.

Haven't got really a busy day today,

we've just got yoga and then most of the day is free.

It's quite warm outside,

although it's 5.50 in the morning.

It's all good, let's see if we can have a good day.

Nick and Julian still find enough energy to paddle across the bay

for their penultimate yoga class before the fast ends tomorrow.

I've got to keep my oar over my underpants,

which I've just realised have gone see-through on the way across,

which is...not what you need.

That was a jolly paddle, wasn't it?

It was kind of, wasn't it? Bit of exercise plus a bit of an adventure.

Yeah.

What I'm struggling with more than anything with,

I'm not getting into the yoga.

We've got different teachers and different teachers

do it in different ways. I can sort of get it with one of them.

But there was a new guy today and I just...

It's just not me, it's just not my thing.

So from here, palms facing up, looking up to the thumb,

stretching through the abdomen and throat.

I'm a yoga therapy teacher so I went in fairly therapeutically.

I started off with breathing and mindfulness

and just bringing your mind back to your breath.

Tune in, breathe into your body. Tune in this, tune in that.

He just thought it was a complete waste of time.

Got up after two minutes and gave me one of these and just left.

You don't want to upset anybody or, you know,

I guess what you would call stereotype somebody,

but I am finding the whole place a bit hippy-ish.

You're breathing with your chest

but not breathing with the diaphragm.

I'm confused now.

Just this alone would create anxiety, because...

I don't get it. I just don't...

I guess because I'm not a hippy,

I don't want to keep on saying hippy because it sounds like you're...

..you're being horrible.

It's definitely something I didn't expect, the way it's going.

With these guys, I wanted to teach them,

to show them that anyone can do yoga

no matter what kind of physical shape you're in,

that yoga can help everyone.

BILLY: That was nice, eh?

It was. Really good.

Really good. You seem a little bit sad today?

I know, I just...

I sort of, um...

have got trepidation about my second Shakti.

Just because some stuff came up I just didn't expect to.

You know, obviously, I haven't got over my father's death

when I was 14.

So I've got to deal with that.

Maybe have it with Shakti.

No, I will do, but I'm just...

Right, so we'll see you...

See you in a minute. Go and...

Bless you, sweetheart.

I love you, princess. I'll see you at yoga,

and don't forget your detox drink. That's right. No getting out of it.

See you later.

Bye, Maggie. Bye.

Billy, tell me, how can I help you? What's going on?

What, in my life?

Yeah, what is it you'd like to work through or work with?

What's been...?

I've been very, very lucky in my life,

I've worked for television for 35 years, BBC.

I've travelled the world. Mm-hm.

Had four daughters, I've got six grandchildren, three of each,

three boys and three girls.

So, my life is very, very happy and very content.

Well, I feel it is,

but the biggest problem I've got is...

Mm-hm? ..my daughter, Emma.

She passed away when she was 20.

Mm-hm. And it's 20 years ago and the hardest thing to accept...

..that's she's been passed away as long as she lived.

Now I can talk about Emma like it's...

Like this but more so, this 20/20 keeps playing on my mind.

I can never, never

not fill up with tears when I talk about Emma.

Shakti is starting to draw out

some of the gang's deeper emotional issues.

And the next day's morning meeting is an unusually subdued one.

Is it a good day or a bad day?

Fine. I'm still feeling a bit cloudy.

I heard that there were some interesting reikis?

Yeah, was it a good thing, for the rest of us that haven't?

Would you recommend it or not?

It's amazing. You felt you really...?

It was something special.

For me, it felt very special, what we talked about.

I've never been able to speak about Emma to anyone

without actually really breaking down in lots and lots of tears.

When you think of Emma, where in your body

do you feel it? Just there.

In your heart.

Do you see Emma?

OK. OK.

I want you to look her in the eyes

and I wanted to ask her what she needs.

Tell me what she says.

She says, "Let go."

OK. I can't let go.

She's my baby.

She's my eldest daughter.

Shakti asked me to lose Emma, let her go,

I couldn't and then she said, "Trust me. Trust me and trust Emma."

So I did, I put my trust in her.

Emma was telling me, "Dad, I'm all right, be happy. I'm all right.

"Come on. Go to the next step."

And I thought, "I can't let her go," but it went through me and she did,

she walked through the sun, the door shut,

but she looked back and was fine.

So it was good? I feel much better.

I woke up this morning and thought about it, and I felt happy.

INDISTINCT MURMURING

If you've got anything that's depressing you or getting you down,

just spill out, just spill out because she's brilliant at making...

talking to you and the way she talks to you.

And you will, you just go whoo-whoo with everything in there.

I found the same experience.

She helps you feel better and she's very kind to you

and says some special things

and shows you a way of thinking about things differently.

In a more positive light and imagine better things.

That's quite a strike rate. That's three out of three yesterday

in terms of positivity for people who went to it.

I've been through that with Shakti,

she made me let go of things and I see this,

I can't even imagine what's going to happen this month.

Holy! It's amazing.

The detox is over. Just had my last soup.

Day seven, tomorrow, the schedule actually says,

"Food - lunch and dinner."

Woohoo!

That's so nice now.

CHEERING

Oh, my God. Bowls and utensils with solid things in them.

That looks nice. Only five.

Not for me, thanks. I'm not hungry this morning.

LAUGHTER

# Happy birthday to us. #

Girls, what's happening, you're not eating?

No, we think we can extend the fasting bit with the juice option.

And support Milton while he's on his.

More support for Milton.

Milton, I'm not going to support you at all.

LAUGHTER

Jules, man! I was counting on you. And Billy. Who?

Tell us what it tastes like.

Look at you!

THEY LAUGH

Don't say it tastes disgusting.

Chew your food.

Nothing can be disgusting after not eating for seven days.

Is this papaya?

You haven't eaten for a week, what do you care?

I know, she's being really picky.

Get it down your neck.

I'm going to go and pack.

There's no mess unless you're a little loose.

Teamwork, we finished.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

So nice.

Congratulations.

Well done!

THEY LAUGH

Do you feel any different from the detox?

Yeah. In what way?

Lighter headed, lighter in body.

Almost said, "In body and spirit" then, I almost said that,

maybe I'm catching on to it. I don't know, I just feel...

..fresher, really, than I have done in a long time.

See, I don't really think I feel a massive difference.

You look a lot different. I don't feel it, really.

You looked like a sluggish oaf when you arrived

and now you're all sparkly-eyed and sprightly around the place.

"Sluggish oaf"?

Yeah, that was in the past, we can forget about that now I've said it.

HE SNIGGERS

Yeah, but anybody... Like, because I've burnt myself and look a bit

browny and reddy, anybody that has a bit of a tan looks better,

don't they, generally?

That doesn't look good.

That's not a bit of a tan and that doesn't look good.

Everyone except Milton is now back on food and the effect

of the island and its healers on the gang is astonishing.

Next time on The Retreat...

I don't like being at the back.

I've seen it in the films - they take the back man out first.

I would stay away from the gym.

I just never realised that yoga was that powerful.

Just waking up the meridians of the body and getting the energy flowing

and Nick walked off.

No, wasn't very happy about it, to be honest.

Before attempting any of the detox techniques or practices

demonstrated in The Retreat,

you are advised to seek out your doctor's advice.