I am full of mosquito bites and I am  discovering new ones all the time, while the old ones itch more and more.

It's a bit like having a map of the places I've been: on my thigh a pinch of horsefly on the beach at Carloforte, some bites on my right ankle dating back to Cagliari's Poetto, old itchy bites without a location on my left shoulder, as well as unexplained and unlocated beaks at my hairline.

Perhaps I can place some mosquito bites on the wrists in Bari Sardo or at the Rimini restaurant.

A more recent one under the chin, perhaps in Bologna.

Lingering memories of moments gone by.

Memories imprinted not very gently on the body.

But  these little annoyances are not the only  memories imprinted on me.

With Nia, I learnt how to cultivate a practice that we have actually all known forever, but so often forget because we refer more often to the mind. The practice is: 'Remembering with the body'.

How is it practised?

Just stop for a while and ask your senses to remember.

The body has definitely stored memories, and not just mosquito bites. When I remember with my body, sensations that seemed to have disappeared come back to me and together with the sensations, images, words, emotions are rekindled.

Where memory slowly falters or erases, the body remembers.

I vividly remember smells of important moments or people in my life: the smell of the tents at the campsite where we slept, the softness of my grandmother's fur collar, the taste of the chestnut cake my aunt used to bake.

So today I ask my body to bring back the moments of my recent retreat in Sardinia and immediately I am pervaded by images, colours, smells, sounds, tactile perceptions, flavours.

Then the colour and taste of the water of the different beaches resurfaces, the massage of the white pebbles under my feet, the voices of the people around me as I rested by the side of the pool, the lizards that crossed my path as I went to the activity space, the rustling of the wings of the birds that passed by my open window, the evening croaking of the frogs, the freshness of the air as the clouds passed by during a morning walk with the group.

Just as the feeling of tears of emotion streaming down my face during the reading of a poem by Julia, a teacher participating in the retreat. My shoulders recall the feeling of relaxation during the evening chats after dinner, the feeling of well-being of a dip in the pool after the activities, the contact of the many hands during the final moments of the lessons, the smell of Nia's space, the roar of laughter in the pool, the sound of voices, the different timbres, the different languages mingling at the table.

If I close my eyes and let my body guide me, I can recover pleasant memories and 'prolong' the well-being of the journey.

The mind, unlike the body, has the task of analysing, judging, remembering, reorganising, but sometimes it distorts the purity of sensations.

Who knows, maybe you too would like to sit down for a moment after your holiday and let the memory of the body bring back the sensations you have experienced. I guarantee you that as trivial as it may seem, remembering pleasant moments imprinted in us through the senses has a beneficial effect on our being and prolongs the holiday effect.

Wishing you all wonderful holidays!