Labor Day Weekend Earth Yoga Retreat on Star Island
4 September 2024
Oceania’s back porch sunset, 1 September 2024
The weekend just past was unique in my almost 72 years, decidedly NOT compromised by back-to-school jitters for this retiree now five Labor Days out from having to prepare opening lectures. Instead, I enjoyed the yoga retreat organized by the vastly experienced, world-traveling yogi Kacy Harnedy, with assistance and revelatory Thai massage from Megan Gallagher, on Star Island, an hour’s boat ride off the coast of Portsmouth NH.
The cosmic coincidence that this break from all accustomed activity also corresponded with the publication of my book first conceived 25 years ago heightened an already heady experience. Most of the family and several friends who endured my oh-so-slow progress on that book, Will to Live: Learning from Shakespeare How to Be and NOT to Be, have long since departed this dimension. But the company of comparative strangers offered me the unexpected gift of whole-hearted support and celebration. Even as I await the availability of print copies—still today only the eBooks are on offer—the afterglow of sun, practice, and the benevolence of this group lingers, lightening the load of all necessary quotidian tasks. The “retreat” from routine was indeed a treat—and a re-treat.
These images best tell the tale.
The Thomas Leighton, our ferry to Star Island, at the Portsmouth dockPortsmouth Harbor and the doughty Moran tugs that ply the 4-knot tidal currents of the Piscataqua RiverHeaded out into the Atlantic under the Memorial BridgePassing the symphony of cranes at the Portsmouth Naval ShipyardPortsmouth Harbor Lighthouse at the U S Coastguard Station adjacent to Fort ConstitutionFellow yogis passing the 1872 Whaleback LighthouseApproaching Star IslandArrival, with greetings from the Island Pelicans, staff members known as “Pels”Ascent to my third floor roomEvery passage on these stairs an Andrew WyethWe meet our leaders, Kacy Harnedy (left) and Megan GallagherOceania, haven for the quick and the dead“THE” Adirondack: often occupied, vastly therapeuticThe ParsonageVaughan Cottage Museum and LibraryCairn marking the Perimeter RoadMonument to John Smith, “discoverer” of the Isles c. 1610. He named them Smyth’s Isles, a name that didn’t stick, as fishermen there called them the Shoals. Gulls have since expressed their opinion of Smith’s narcissism.Star Island communicationsThe lobby at Oceania, 1876Sunset view from Room 66, 31 August 2024Oceania’s inviting front porchGhost Tour at the graves of the three Beebe girls, Mitty (7), Millie (4), and Jessie (2), daughters of the Rev. George Beebe, minister to Gosport NH, all dead within weeks of each other in 1863 after Mitty brought diphtheria back to the island from her mainland school.Dinghies in syncRoom 66: “Tis a gift to be simple”Oceania’s Dining RoomDaily LaundryJeunne Homme et La MerSunday sunset, 1 September 2024Candle lanterns for the evening service in Gosport ChapelSunrise from the Brookfield deckL to R, Megan, Trudy, Deb, and LindaAudrey and Kacy in our closing circle, and yoga toesKids at the Marine Lab’s annual critter releaseLast Lunch: curried tofu & chick peas, turmeric bread, and ginger cookieLast look: will we return?Back to the Sea
Georgeann Murphy 
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