Become the mentally strongest version of yourself

Today is about getting to know each other, the programme, and the island you are a guest on this week. You get a short deep dive into (un)safety and how it affects how you think, learn, connect and respond. Muna then takes you through Stone Town and shows you the city through her eyes, and we take you out by boat to a beautiful piece of the island for a picnic.

Today is about what shaped you. What you learned growing up. What helped you adapt. What you still carry with you. And what might deserve to change now. In the afternoon, Roots of Hope leads yoga and breathing on the beach. You experience how movement and breathing can influence the way stress feels in your body.

You learn all about your patterns under stress: fighting, freezing, fleeing, or pleasing everybody. And most importantly, what you can do with it once you recognise your own. Then you kickbox on the beach. A practical way to work with strength, space, voice and boundaries. Guided by role models who show up here for the children of the island every day.

Today is about other people. Connection. Trust. Shame. Giving. Receiving. And why relationships can sometimes bring out the best and worst in us. In the afternoon, you work creatively with the Creative Education Foundation, who support children who do not have the words for something yet. You experience a different way of expressing and exploring things, without everything needing to be put into words.

What actually restores you? What drains you? And what do you keep calling self-care even though it does not really seem to be working? Today is about stress, recovery, rest and self-compassion. Then you get the afternoon off to practise. Sleep. Swim. Read. Explore. Book a massage. Or sit somewhere with a drink and do nothing at all. Your call.

Avoiding something is what keeps it frightening. Today you learn how that works, and how to take small steps towards the things you have been walking around for years. In the afternoon you do acrobatics with MJ and his team, who train the children of More Africa every week. You climb, you lift, and other people catch you, which is impossible without trusting them.

Goals against values. What you want to achieve, and who you want to be while you do it. In the afternoon, music, singing and dance at Dhow Music Academy, where young people from the island learn to find their voice and be heard. You join in properly. Most people have not made a sound like that since they were twelve, and it is a lot more fun than it sounds.

How do you keep all of this once you are home? You make a concrete plan: what you do differently in your first week back, and who is going to hold you to it. First you go out on the water with Under the Waves, who teach children and local fishermen how to be around the ocean and its animals. You look for dolphins, from a respectful distance. In the evening we close the week together.