The Animal Experience

As mentioned in the list of Unique Retreats from Around the World.

Vogue Arabia issue July/August 2019

Editors Choice

Listed on the retreat page in the new publication Travel Goals by Lonely Planet. 

Sacred Journeys: 

Enlightenment on the Rocks

By SUNNY FITZGERALD. Published on 18 February 2019

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A troubled traveler goes from grumbling to grateful thanks to a sunset shivasana half a world away from home. 

Alternative living

An interview with Sandra Jelly

By MADIHA BEE. Published on 15 May 2018

We live in a city where pharmacies are popping out on every street corner and the impulse to seek alternative healing practices seems natural — and yet, rather than explore the possibilities of health care and holistic healing, we often do the opposite and prey on pharmacies, where over-the-counter pills await. But what If there were better cures to our headaches, heartaches, and existential pangs?

Blog: How to heal your self by being present.

Heal yourself by accepting the world as a mirror of your thoughts, feelings and needs. All is there for you to be whole, at peace and in love.  

By SANDRA JELLY. Published on 12 March 2018

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I belief in holistic healing, I accept that all around me is a mirror of my being that is helping me to become whole again. I may not understand it, I may not like it, I may be afraid, worried or angry, but I still accept it as... 

Body experiment: equine therapy

How a travel journalist found natural anxiety relief in the deserts of Jordan.

By SUNNY FITZGERALD. Published on 26 February 2018

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When your job requires to you to travel around the globe, panic attacks and anxiety are not just unsettling—they’re debilitating. International travel consultant and writer Sunny Fitzgerald experienced her first panic attack while on a business trip in India in April, 2017. In its wake she almost canceled her next trip...

Explore equine therapy in the Jordan desert.

By SOPHIA CHARALAMBOUS. Published on 5th March 2018

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“Horses are still connected to their 65 million years of wisdom, they’re connected to their souls,” explains Sandra. “They give immediate feedback and once someone connects to their authentic being, the horses respond to that. When we accept all that is, we open up to a different field of awareness..."

Petra Horse Meditation.

Getting up close and personal with horses proves emotional in Little Petra, as they deliver a dose of equine enlightenment. 

By EMMA THOMSON. Published on 6th June 2017

When I was told we’d be trying horse meditation, I immediately thought of the film, The Horse Whisperer, and conjured up images of me cantering across the desert, hair flowing in the breeze, accompanied by a denim-shirted Robert Redford. Luckily for us, Sandra Jelly — described as ‘the horse whisperer of Petra’...

Desert Yoga & Horse Meditation.

Jordan is the Middle East's most boho destination, says EMMA THOMSON. Published on 28 December 2017

I’ve done downward dog in some strange places: from a Tibetan monastery to the deck of a boat drifting down the Amazon River. None compare, though, to the sun-roasted rocks of Little Petra – or Siq al-Barid (“the cold canyon”) – whose Unesco-listed sandstone canyon walls are carved with the same ancient Nabataean buildings found at Petra.

Silent nights: 10 destinations where you will find peace & quiet next year.

By EMMA THOMSON published on 24 DECEMBER 2017 

Exhausted after the hullaballoo of the holidays and in need of some hush? We’ve hand-picked the best places around the globe – from meditation retreats to silent cafés – where you’re guaranteed peace and quiet. It’s time to join the cult of quiet. 

Blog: How I dreamt a new life into existence.

By SANDRA JELLY. Published on 18 March 2016

Petra is an ancient desert town in the kingdom of Jordan. It is also home to my three cats, three horses and myself. Although living and working here as a single Dutch woman is challenging sometimes, I feel that I have become part of this community.