The Gawler Foundation

It is now a good three weeks since I returned my retreat on the Life and Living 10 day residential program for people affected by cancer at the The Gawler Foundation. I have been keen to record some of my experience in this blog but much diverted by, among several matters, the day-to-day business of enacting its precepts. (photo right: main entrance to the centre’s building complex)

The whole thing started somewhat precariously. On the day of departure, Monday the 9th July, I slept in and would certainly have missed my flight had it not been for the unprompted intervention of a friend. Although I had the alarm on my mobile phone set, I apparently slept through it completely and soundly. I had intended to allow a generous amount of time to get ready and make my way to the airport on the train. I was woken by the phone with sufficient time for me to spend 30 minutes to throw things together and be ready to be chauffeured to the airport. A very shaky start to my adventure but all was well.

At Melbourne I had a connection with the Gawler chartered bus and joined with several others to be taken to the Foundation centre in the Yarra Valley. No one ever talks on the bus on the way out, the bus driver told us, but they always make a lot of noise on the way back. (photo right: fountain in courtyard)

We arrived at about 2 p.m. and were greeted and served lunch of carrot and tomato soup followed by a rice and tofu pattie burger on a bun with salad.

After a short time to settle into our rooms we met 3 p.m. in the main conference room for the introductory session. I was amazed to realise that the person leading the group was someone who I had known some 30 or more years ago when we were both involved in an amateur theatre production in inner Sydney.

Many stories were told in the introductions. Some tears also. People living with a range of different cancers and prognoses. Several people had a prognosis comparable to myself. One other had a similar type of lung cancer.

Dinner on the first day was lasagna with white sauce, baked tomato and salad followed by a chocolate brownie.

After dinner we watched an old documentary film that showed Ian Gawler as a young man. His cancer produced new chaotic bone growth in parts of his body. Dr Ainslie Mears was interviewed and he explained his ideas that by reducing stress and anxiety, especially through deep and extensive meditation, the body is more likely to return to a cancer free state. Gawler said that he had meditated up to 5 hours a day.

Generally, each day on the program began with a glass of warm diluted lemon juice, followed by a 30 minute mediation session. The 30 minute morning meditation was increased to an hour for the last days of the program. After meditation, a hearty breakfast of porridge or muesli, fruit toast, dandelion coffee or other herbal tea.

Each day of the program was devoted to one or two themes and after breakfast an information session began in the main conference room.

Morning sessions were interrupted on the hour with a small vegetable juice. First carrot juice at 10 a.m. and a green juice at 11 a.m. Another 30 minute meditation before lunch with a bit of break after lunch for a walk or other activity. (photo right: afternoon juice)

More information sessions in the afternoon and we often broke into smaller groups: men with cancer, women with cancer and partners in a separate group. Further juices were also dispensed during the afternoon.

A further 30 minute meditation, generally accompanied by singing frogs, before dinner. (photo left: meditation sanctuary)

After dinner there was often some special recreational activity, such as a film. One evening we played interactive games involving movement and simple performances. Much hilarity. Films screened included “The Joy of Stress”, “Patch Adams“, “Little Miss Sunshine“. On the last evening we spent a short time doing some singing with an eminent singer who lives nearby the centre.

The property itself is a perfect sanctuary, forty acres set in a verdant valley (at least during my visit), on the banks of one of the tributaries to the Yarra River. The centre has a main building with accommodation housed in a separate wing. A hexagonal meditation sanctuary building joins onto this. There are courtyards, fountains, and landscaped gardens with ponds. A mob of kangaroos lives on the property.

Plenty of trees and abundant bird life including Bell birds, King Parrots, Blackbirds, Crimson Rozellas and some types of Honeyeaters. A bird table in the courtyard often offered a major visual distraction through the windows of the main conference room when attending the information sessions. (photo right: early morning view from meditation sanctuary)

Beautiful vases of flowers in all sorts of places including the mens’ toilet and bathroom.

We had warm sunny days for the first two days and then some gentle rain set in. By Saturday afternoon, when we had some free time and I had a good wander around the 40 acre property, the rain had cleared again and there were some mild sunny periods for a time. It then continued to drizzle on and off and there was a tremendous overnight downpour one night. At one stage there were some significant snow falls at places not too distant from the centre and I was able to see snow on the distant mountains.

The food was wonderful and I would have rarely experienced such a rich variety of top quality food over such a period of time. The salads were extremely vibrant. Some of the vegetables are produced on site and on the second Monday we had a tour of the vegetable garden. Some attendees found the diet a little alien to their normal experience but I think most people had become very happy with it by the end of the program. Initially I particularly missed salt, even though I had already made an effort to reduce it in my diet, but I seemed to fairly soon become accustomed to what was provided. Some favourite meals included polenta with mushroom sauce, spelt spaghetti with lentil sauce, oven baked potato chips and ratatouille, tofu cutlets, lemon vegetable bake. On one occasion we were treated to a vegan custard with a pudding. Fresh fruit “ice cream” and yes, even a small amount of high quality dark chocolate, was served as a treat on Sunday. In addition to being vegan, the diet is very low in fats, mostly allowing only tiny amounts of olive oil for cooking and very much favours (uncooked) flaxseed oil which we drizzled on our toast in the mornings and was the basis of the salad dressing served at every meal except breakfast. (photo left: last day’s lunch – lentil soup)

Staff everywhere. Cooks, cleaners, gardeners, administration. Information sessions led mainly by two (married) staff members in addition to Ian Gawler. Some information sessions also given by kitchen staff and others associated with the foundation. A live-in night supervisor co-ordinated the afternoon and evening activities. Ian Gawler told us that the price charged for each participant in the program, about $3,000 does not cover the full cost of running it and a further $1,000 or so is contributed from the Foundation raised from sponsorship and other sources.

Topics covered during the information sessions included:

• Meditation
• Positive thinking
• Death and dying
• Mind/body medicine
• Causes of cancer
• Pain management
• Food, preparation, theory, products.
• Emotional healing
• Healthy emotions, forgiving, personal boundaries
• Imagery
• Spirituality

It was suggested that the minimum commitment for meditation should be in the order of one and a half hours per day. (photo right: trees near the river)

Various interactive exercise were incorporated into the information sessions. For example, in one type of exercise, called a “dynamic contemplation”, we were paired with a partner. Each person (“the questioner”) had turns asking three questions that were supplied on the white board, and the other person (“the contemplater”) would take any time to answer them. The questioner was to show no feedback during the answers.

Ian Gawler appeared after lunch on the second day (Tuesday), having recently returned from a trip to Queensland and led the afternoon meditation session.

In the positive thinking session, we were shown some inspiring pictures (perhaps similar to the one shown here) of microscopic views of a cancer cell being attacked and cleaned up by white cells. (photo right: Macrophages begin to fuse with, and inject its toxins into, the cancer cell. The cell starts rounding up and loses its spikes)

The information on food was mostly familiar territory but I made several notes. Notable was Gawler’s recommendation for the more limited “healing diet” and for periods of monodiet of either grapes (summer) or brown rice (winter) for periods of up to 10 days.

An excellent session on one afternoon from Craig Hassed, senior medical lecturer from Monash, who presented an entertaining and very motivational look at medical evidence and theory that supports the recommendations of the Gawler approach. His paper Mind-Body Medicine: Science, Practise & Philosophy is available on the Gawler Foundation website.

On the Saturday night after dinner we had meditation with a harp performance. We were also introduced to the Tibetan singing bowl. The bowl demonstrated was a small hand held instrument. Playing the bowl is suggested as a type of meditative practise. (photo right: mob of ‘roos)

On the last day we participated in a structured closing ceremony. One by one, each participant made a personal statement and lit a small candle from one in the centre of the room. The candle is taken home and we also received a group photo and list of group contacts so that the strength of the group experience can continue to contribute to the challenges ahead.

By the end of the program I was quite tired from information overload but transformed in my level of positive outlook. An enormous amount of personal momentum was established in terms of maintaining a much increased amount of meditation and a stronger adherence to the dietary principles. I have also begun a daily practise of Qiqong as taught during the program. I do this practise outside, weather permitting, in one of the parks on or near Pyrmont Point which thus also involves some extra early morning walking before breakfast.

Ian Gawler himself is certainly an inspirational character. As many will know, he lost a leg as a result of his cancer some thirty years ago, and I believe he also lost a lung in recent years through Tuberculosis. Today he is looking in fine health. He has a marked sense of humour and a constant supply of inspirational survivor stories. The other staff were all very friendly and caring and the quality of care given was excellent. In addition to the program content itself, there was of course the enormous benefit and comradeship of spending this time with so many other people living with cancer. Getting away from the world, “the news”, normal social distractions, and other habits of thought and behaviour also add an important benefit to attending the program. I very much hope to attend the five day follow-up program in six months or so.