Episode 3 The Retreat

The wellbeing industry is booming.

More people seek alternative ways to cope with rising obesity,

stress and depression.

My stress level's been getting heavier and heavier.

I don't understand why I'm so stressed and I 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 down 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 Celtic.

I think it's going to be a challenge.

Will 28 days of detox and alternative therapies be

enough to change their lives?

I don't think anyone will be surprised to find out I'm the

least likely person to be taking on this challenge.

This is one kick-ass detox. Welcome to Thailand!

I don't like being at the back. I've seen it in the films.

They take the back man out first!

At the halfway mark of the retreat and with the fast becoming a distant

memory, Nick and the boys set out for an early-morning adventure.

Oh, look at the sun through the trees as well. Good timing.

You all right?

HE STUTTERS

Sweating profusely. Hold that for me a second.

Am I living? You passed away about halfway up.

My general fitness is not what it used to be. Well done, son.

It's like Jurassic Park - all this tropical forest where you

could imagine dinosaurs moving through the jungle here.

It's fabulous, isn't it?

Amazing!

Hoo-hoo!

Feel a bit like Leo DiCaprio. Leo DiCapriadio.

What's round there, then? Found the beach, didn't he?

I think Knowles is going for a swim.

While the boys refresh themselves with a swim,

it's the 11th early-morning walk for Milton and Kathy.

Despite still being on his fast, Milton is determined to keep

increasing their distance, so Dominique has a quick catch-up

to check he's not going too hard for a man with type II diabetes.

I mean, you were losing weight last week. Yeah. Eating. Yeah.

But now, on the fast, it goes fast. But how do you feel inside?

I mean, now that the end is coming? The end is coming.

Yesterday felt a little rough. Why? Just felt just drained.

Is it because... I heard you were going on hikes on the mountain.

Woo!

I didn't go on a hike but, this morning,

we was meant to do our normal walk... Yeah. ..what takes an hour.

We got lost and it took two hours. How did you get lost?

There's one road! Yeah, I know. We got lost somehow.

But, yeah, it's still nice to get out in the morning cos it

sets me up for the day. Mm-hm.

You are aware, last week, of eating healthy. Yeah.

Your blood sugar went down, your cholesterol went down.

Everything went down, basically, almost like a normal person. Yeah.

And so, this week, you were fasting. Do you expect...

What do you expect now?

Keep on the same kind of programme, really,

because I still want it to stay down. It's not like, hallelujah,

let's get back up there again now. Exactly. So, no, no.

I'm ready to keep it on that level because I was...

It was nice to see everyone so happy,

as well as me being happy about everything coming down. Yeah.

So that was a good feeling, a really good feeling.

I'm just so fed up with my eyes ripping every night since

I've been here and I don't know why they're so bad.

I'm wondering if it's cos there's not much humidity here.

Anyways, I'm just feeling really fed up.

But I'm excited cos I'm going to the osteopath in about half an

hour and I hear he's brilliant.

I'm really hoping he can pinpoint why my body isn't healing

itself the way it should.

The gang are going to be subjected to more invasive physical

therapies for about a week. First up is Oren, the retreat's osteopath.

I deal with anatomy and physiology and mechanics.

Already, Nick looks less than impressed.

So what I'm going to do,

I'm going to check your body because all of you know that you have

pain in all kinds of areas of the body - lower back, neck, shoulder.

I'm very interested about the source of your pain.

And through the knowledge of anatomy and physiology, I'm going to do like

an exploration to try to understand where your pain is originating.

There has been a lot wrong with me for a long time in terms of

physical wellbeing, and so I use physios quite a lot.

And I've always found that sports physios are the best cos

they just get everything working again. But they don't...

They never say they're going to cure me of the problem

because it's an ongoing problem that I have from injuries.

Whereas here, more interestingly, he's saying

he can get on top of this by actually finding the root cause.

This is sensitive here? Yep. Yes. And here? Not so much. OK.

If I can walk away from this experience without actually

having to see a physio every week because of the damage that

I've got done to me, then that will be absolutely fabulous.

When he was doing manipulations, or said he was doing manipulations,

there appeared to be no movement or manipulation going on at all.

By the same token, it did feel better after than before.

Stretch the lower leg. It's painful? No, no. It's not painful?

I'm not sure. For example, if I was to pressure you on your shoulder blade

now and say, "Does that feel better?" Then you'd say yes.

I can't honestly say whether he's pressing

me as hard the second time in those places as the first time.

So the only way of knowing whether that's actually worked or not

is over the next few days, the next couple of days,

whether I feel better. Do you feel that? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yes? Yeah.

Interesting. He's unpredictable.

Exactly the middle here.

He doesn't respond in the way that you would expect.

I still feel the tension and the pain in the lower back.

It's been a long-term problem and I'd be very surprised if that

got solved in one session.

With Nick and Laura still unsure of Oren's effectiveness,

April sees him with her chronic eye condition.

The top of my eye is

no longer properly adherent to the rest of the eye.

I have severe dry eye and I have recurrent corneal erosion.

What happens to me is, when I go to bed at night,

within about 30 minutes, my eyeballs are bloodshot - sometimes

both eyes, sometimes one eye.

Is it when I open my eyes, pieces of the epithelial layer are pulled off?

And I'm in absolute agony. I want to release all the orbit area.

It was absolutely incredible because the response in my body was

so profound and I could feel, like,

energy moving through areas that I think have been blocked previously.

I feel much more in alignment,

I feel much more balanced on my left and right sides. Absolutely.

And it's going to be really interesting to do yoga

because my right hip is always really,

really jammed but he's just loosened that all up.

I'm excited. Well, time will tell, right?

With everyone hitting their own rhythms,

the gang are on different paths.

I'm glad that I extended my detox from the 7 days to 13 with

the juices.

I feel my body needed to clear a lot more things out,

which apparently this helps.

And it's not easy watching everybody eat their food.

I mean, you're craving to have something but I think you've

got your end date in mind and you're doing it for you,

and everybody's doing their own little journey on this thing.

And so, you just...

As long as you know where you're going, it's tough but it's OK.

Melody does this vegetarian sushi that is pretty spectacular

so I didn't want to kind of have a big blowout.

I just would have really liked a plate of her vegetarian sushi.

Would have just hit the mark. Want to chew something!

I want some flavour and I want some texture!

As Milton and Kathy's walks get ever longer, the morning finds

them trekking as far as Thong Sala - the island's capital.

They're really overripe. Overripe? Yeah.

Not a great place for two people on a fast. Nice.

But they're not the only ones who have slipped the monk-like

confines of the retreat.

Laura has taken Claire into town and is keen to show her the more

spiritual side of Ko Pha Ngan.

I've been studying the Dharma as part of a group over the last

few years, and it's a really important part my life.

I started to meditate and then I asked to be a Mitra, which just

means friend but it means you've committed to the path of Buddhism.

And then, a few years after that, I requested ordination.

The Dharmic monks here take the retreat's meditation

practices to some extreme levels.

This monk is practising being in a state of nothingness and can

sit like this for hours on end.

I want to talk to Maggie to check what happened yesterday with you.

Ever vigilant, Dominique checks in with the gang over lunch to

discuss another new level of the programme.

So I had that very deep tummy massage. Chi nei tsang.

Which was painful in places and incredibly...incredibly deep.

I thought, at one stage, literally,

she was massaging my kidney and liver. Mm-hm.

She said that there was a bit of a build-up of clay and that there

was definitely a blockage - not the clay but there was a blockage.

She didn't necessarily manage to get rid of the blockage but at

least we sort of moved things around a bit so I feel a lot better.

That's great. Yeah.

Chi nei tsang is a deep tissue abdomen massage designed to

specifically move toxic blockages and release negative emotions

from individual organs.

Only some of the gang opt to try it out as it can be extremely

uncomfortable.

# But I still have not found

# My way over

# I've been stuck, mixed up for years

# And it only my pride that keeps me alive

# Yes, it is. #

Sort of a dud note then. That's good. Mate, that's good.

No, that's good, isn't it? We'll get there.

It's getting there, it's getting there.

Yeah, we'll get that on point. Definitely.

How are you finding it? Look at the shape of you.

Yeah, well, as I keep saying, I came on this on a mission,

you know what I mean? And I was going to, you know,

I was going to stick to what I was told and do what I was,

you know, do whatever, like, the experts and that was telling

me to do kind of thing, you know?

And been enjoying the yoga.

Just been kind of enjoying it all, really.

What do you make of the reiki?

Reiki didn't work for me. No? Didn't work for me, didn't do anything.

I felt a bit odd through that experience,

but I didn't really come away with a hallelujah moment.

Nor me. I saw it in some other guys. I had a good kip a couple of times.

I had a good kip.

I think I could hear myself snoring and it woke me up. Hm.

At 1.30, I've got to go to the hub.

I've got a...

What do I have? I've got a...

chi nei tsang with Satyanna

and that's a tummy massage.

I mean, you've met Satyanna. She's one of our...

yoga instructors and...

she seems to like pain kind of or inflicting pain,

which is making me a little bit worried.

She seems to smile

and I believe this can be quite sore.

So, I'm worried about the pain infliction, but also,

you know, hopefully, I don't react and slap her on camera by mistake.

So, today we will do a session called chi nei tsang,

a very deep abdominal massage that is working

towards the support of your cleanse.

You say deep, getting an emotional and deep tissue rub.

I mean, is this going to be quite emotional again or...? They can be.

You can be prepared for that.

For example, the liver is associated with anger,

so a lot of time when I'm touching on someone's liver on the

right side of the body, it's like this will trigger something.

But also, like, lungs, heart, associated with grief, for example.

Or kidneys associated with jealousy, so depending on what your

physiological make-up is and what's going on in your life,

then these things can be activated

or it could be totally pleasurable

or you could totally feel like you've got so much energy at the end

or you could totally feel drained. OK, ready to go.

While Kathy tries to relax and get the most out of the session,

the others are encouraged to let themselves go with some deeper yoga.

Today's class, we are working with opening up your hips

and we are working with a muscle called the psoas muscle.

So this muscle attaches T12.

The psoas is a particular muscle used in the fight or flight

instinct and a tight one increases feelings of stress and anxiety.

Inhaling, the right leg goes behind the body.

Looking up, keeping an arch in your back.

Ooh! THEY LAUGH

Man down.

'That was kind of cool cos actually for the first time'

today I've heard it said for eight days now,

"lose the outline of your body" when you're, like, relaxing

and I did.

Actually couldn't feel where my skin was.

It was like I was...

twice the size or I was like expanding,

but not feeling where my skin was.

That was really weird, actually.

That was kind of odd. Yeah. I mean, you are aware where you are, aren't

you, at all times? You know what your skin is, you know what

your arms are, and legs, I mean,

I still knew where they were, it's just that... I hope so.

The outline kind of... I understood what they meant for the first

time today. I like...

Look, you know, I'm the least hippy person in the world,

but I actually... LAUGHTER

Seriously, I feel kind of stupid even saying it.

LAUGHTER I really did.

I felt like a complete muppet saying it, but actually...actually I did.

I don't care what you think of me.

LAUGHTER

So the last couple of days I've actually been feeling that I'm not

doing that well with yoga and I don't know if it's to do with the

hunger and maybe in and out of depression and being happy.

If it's all just part of the process.

I'm battling at it a little bit now.

We close the left, we exhale through the right,

making sure your exhalation is longer inhalation.

His constant coming back to the breath and then lengthening

the breath when you're feeling stressed has been brilliant.

Oh, that meditation at the end is just beautiful.

I'm finding the meditation part at the end when you are

visualising people, I find that really hard.

I get really upset.

I've never really been asked to wish people health and happiness

who you don't like, you know, and who have caused you pain.

I just never realised that...

yoga was that powerful.

Today was a better day for me.

I wasn't too emotional

and so that seems to be good.

So when I had that ching chang shoo...

chang...chung... Something.

Today, the massage where they massage your tummy,

but they call it a massage,

but it's not a massage.

It's properly painful.

It's like they want to massage

or stroke or move around your

organs, which is boggling.

But I felt really good afterwards.

Everybody has gone off to a lovely place called The Dome,

which has a lovely steam room and bonfire.

Neither of which I can do because of my eye condition.

This is normally my bedtime.

The Dome. D-d-d-dome.

Famous for its singing, dancing and all-night parties,

The Dome offers the gang the opportunity to blow off some steam.

Which appeals to some more than others.

SINGING AND DRUMMING

I'm about to go into this igloo-shaped thing.

I'm a bit scared because they said you hum in there,

but you're not allowed to talk.

And I can't see anything, so I don't even know if there's space for

me, but I'm going to go in.

Amazing. There's like a...

As soon as you start humming, everyone is getting into the whole

thing. It's quite a nice vibe in there.

I'm scared. You go.

Is that really cold?

Trust me. Would it be really cold?

HE GRUNTS

HE GRUNTS

There you go.

Well, that's a mite warm.

Really funny as well because there's like a...

There's like an acoustic inside, so everybody starts humming, om-ing.

And it really... If you get the right tone, it really reverberates.

Kind of freaky, but very refreshing.

You pour the bucket of this over your head, then?

SINGING AND DRUMMING

If I'm completely honest, I'd sooner go to hell,

I think, than go here.

Not my...natural environment at all.

So that was very random.

Um...

I'm not sure how I feel about that little room.

Actually, I feel quite uncomfortable.

Not putting the dress on, not going for a sauna.

SHE LAUGHS

Just...

HE SIGHS

Yeah, might go to sleep.

Yeah, I'm not sure.

Just about to do a colema

and meet up with the rest of the

guys and see what today brings.

I think we are moving today, moving up to a hotel.

While the gang are relaxing

and Milton is still on his detox regime,

Nick has paddled across the bay again

to start a yoga therapy consultation with Luke.

How are you doing? How are you doing?

Good.

Nice office. Yeah. It's all right, isn't it?

The honest truth is, since I've been here I kind of feel like I've

re-found my mojo, which I lost a bit.

I can't describe it any better than that. I feel sort of reenergized.

I'm enjoying fitness work. I'm enjoy the eating,

which I never thought I would. I'm enjoying the yoga.

There's another pain that I'm working on at the moment.

There's a muscle in...

Right on the joint here, which is unbelievably painful.

I would stay away from the gym for now.

Yeah, but I'm trying to get that upper back strength again

cos I've been so sort of lax like this.

Yeah, but just from the yoga, just for opening up your shoulders

in the different postures and downward dog,

I think it's just going to do that naturally.

Your posture has definitely changed.

It is changing, yes, but also I've lost sort of the definition in

my shoulders and things.

I don't think so.

I think you've probably done enough weights for now.

I would consider, anyway,

just trying to open up and stretch rather than...

OK, I'll stick to the cross-trainer and stuff. OK, that will be good.

Over the next few days, the gang are now rotating between Luke and

deeper sessions with Oren.

About five and a half years ago, I had sudden hearing loss.

Two days later, we went away on holiday,

it got progressively worse and even by doing that, I could not clear it.

And then from then, I had no hearing on that side.

'It's quite confusing when he puts his hand in your mouth and

'then all of a sudden, something else is less painful and'

certainly up around this area and if he can do anything, even if

he can restore even just a small amount, you know, but we'll see.

The rest of the gang are equally confused by Oren's unusual methods.

He's the chap that I don't think one could really describe.

I mean, I asked if he could levitate and he said yes.

And he also said he could walk on water, so

'he was very much enthralled about a vertebrae that he fixed'

by inserting a finger in my ear.

So... I mean, I'm not sure. I'm feeling better.

It seemed to have worked, whatever he touched and moved,

the pain moved and then it dissipated. He's great.

Breathe in. Yes.

Very good, yeah, very strange.

Like I say, especially like when he would go to

a point and he would dig his finger in and it would really hurt.

Especially when he'd done that one on my knee,

'I almost jumped off the table.

'But then he goes back to it after he's done his...'

thing and it's just gone.

Well, first of all, I was very apprehensive because I've heard what

other people have been through, it sometimes really, really hurts.

'That's where I felt a bit tense sometimes when Oren was trying'

things, but when I learned to relax with him and trust him,

I found it really, really good.

'That was an experience, man.'

I thought maybe he was pressing on pressure points

'or something like that, but actual'

pain and tension, at this time, is gone.

It's amazing. What can I say? HE LAUGHS

You know, got to give everything a try once, haven't you?

Who knows? HE LAUGHS

I'm still not sure I'm feeling anything at all, really.

It's very difficult to tell.

Over the next few days, Luke's yoga therapy starts in earnest

with tailored one-on-one sessions for their specific problems.

My belief is if you go back into that night shift,

I think it's going to be hard for you.

Because the programme while I've been here has been quite hectic,

but I've gone straight into it and I'm really enjoying it.

What I came here to do was get, I don't think it's a cliche,

but, you know, the mind, body and soul kind of balance.

And, yeah, I'm feeling it every day, mate. Every day and look at this.

HE CHUCKLES

What a place to do it in, you know? So, yeah.

After their previous session, Maggie meets with Oren for

a catch-up and has some incredible news.

Hi, Maggie. Hi. How did you feel after the last treatment? What happened?

How did you feel?

The following day, quite sore in places because I know you had

to do quite a lot of, you know, movement, etc.

I didn't notice it at first,

but I think over the last week or so...

..the perception is, the hearing on this side is not monumentally better,

but I think, you know, I seem to be able to hear a little better.

But it's one of those things, you know.

It sounds a lot clearer, both with my hearing aid in

and also with it out.

I will check it also. OK. Good. So, let's start. OK.

Meanwhile on the other side of the camp,

Kathy is on her way to Shakti to try out some reiki.

Hello. Hello. So how are you doing?

Yeah, fine. On and off emotional in the evenings and stuff. Hm.

But I just worry that I'm going to leave here still with all the

negative things inside me, you know,

and then I don't know what to do when I'm back.

'To start off with,'

there was a lot of things that didn't make sense for her,

but now we are moving.

There is a synchronicity that's starting to develop.

So, as you're inhaling light into this area,

you're also inhaling love into this area.

'She's bringing all her energy back to her,'

so we are clearing out the system of all the stuff that she didn't

need, that wasn't supporting her, of really old, putrid energy,

feelings, emotions.

Reiki originated in Japan

and includes a no-touch laying on of hands,

which is said to improve the flow of the body's life energy.

This no-touch, natural healing may help to alleviate

anxiety, depression, stress and fatigue.

Good one. Hey? Yeah, yeah. That was a weird one.

It was an easy one, though, wasn't it?

No. THEY LAUGH

How do you feel?

Yeah, weird. Strange, I think.

Strange.

'Sometimes this kind of stuff takes a little while to sink in.

'This is the processing time that people need,'

which is the space between the sessions to just get on with

your life a little bit, then you can come back to it.

I see a lot of...

..people being emotional here,

more so the girls and I'm worried that I'm not being

as emotional or crying, you know,

all the time or lots of the time.

So, I suppose my journey is maybe a bit different to theirs

and I don't need to cry.

Kathy, feeling frustrated by her own journey, takes solace in

Milton's and a nice sunset will always lift your spirits.

Next time on The Retreat...

We've given up sugar, caffeine, alcohol, meat, dairy, wheat...

Proud owner of my first juice.

I just had this epiphany that I'd let you down.

I cried last night. Woke up crying.

I just had a very, very strange experience.

I'm not really an emotional person.

Before attempting any of the detox techniques or practices

demonstrated in The Retreat,

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

He didn't understand other people's feelings.

He just didn't.

But then, they weren't important to him,

so why should he understand them?