Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishDownton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt has revealed she checked into a £1,500 transcendental meditation retreat in Australia following the collapse of her marriage.The 44-year-old was married to James Cannon for nearly eight years until their split in February 2020, which she has said threw her life ‘in flux’.Joanne, who now has a six-month-old daughter with her new partner, Mark Turner, says she was inspired to visit Soma Byron Bay after watching the TV series Nine Perfect Strangers starring Nicole Kidman just after her marriage ended.Speaking on the Travel Secrets podcast hosted by travel industry expert Tanya Rose, the actress said: ‘I booked this retreat and it was an introduction to Ayurvedic meditation – some people call it transcendental meditation. ‘Oh my goodness, it blew my mind. It was incredible. ‘I went on my own. Byron Bay is just the most stunning place anyway, it’s so beautiful. The beaches are amazing, it’s a very lush, tropical landscape. It’s just gorgeous.’Surrounded by dense bushland, Soma features 10 bedrooms and 10.5 bathrooms.The boutique ‘wellness’ getaway also boasts a geodesic dome, an outdoor cinema, a swimming pool and a fire pit. Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt, 44, has revealed she checked into a £1,500 transcendental meditation retreat in Australia following the collapse of her marriage Joanne’s eight-year marriage to IT consultant James Cannon (pictured together) ended in early 2020 during the Covid pandemic Surrounded by dense bushland, Soma Byron Bay (pictured) features 10 bedrooms and 10.5 bathrooms And highlights include floor-to-ceiling windows which offer stunning views of the surrounding hills. Owners Peter Ostick, a tech businessman, and Gary Garrow, a meditation expert, built the property in 2019 after snapping up the nine hectare site in 2016 for a mere $1.8million (£1.4m).The property was used for the filming of Nine Perfect Strangers in 2020, and Joanne said she booked a transcendental meditation retreat that coincided with a job she had booked in Australia in 2022 after becoming ‘obsessed’ with the location when watching the show. Transcendental meditation is a meditation technique that involves mentally repeating a word or phrase for 15-20 minutes. Practiced by 5 million people worldwide, according to Headspace, it has also been practiced by celebrity icons such as Jerry Seinfield, Ellen Degeneres, David Lynch and Howard Stern.Reflecting on the unique retreat, Joanne aid: ‘You rock up and there’s a group of people there and there’s Ayurvedic food for you. It was either couples of single people and you don’t know anyone. You just spend this very intense but calm two and a half days together.’It was such an incredible experience – not only learning the meditation technique, because I found that really powerful. Did I keep it up? No. I did for a while and it’s a great tool to go back to and I wish I kept it up more.’But what was so incredible about it was the setting was stunning, all of that just completely lived up to expectation – and some. The property boasts a geodesic dome (pictured) an outdoor cinema, and a swimming pool Joanne was inspired to book into the transcendental meditation retreat after seeing the location on Nine Perfect Strangers (pictured) just after her marriage ended The actress now has a six-month-old daughter with her new partner, Mark Turner (pictured) Joanne spoke about the retreat on the Travel Secrets podcast (pictured) ‘But it was just having that experience of being a solo traveller with a group of people that you didn’t know and how we bonded and shared stories and went through this experience together and shared so much of our lives in conversation. ‘And that to me is the magic of travelling anywhere.’You could be on a bus in wherever it may be, you could be in a lovely meditation retreat in Byron Bay, but really what makes it is the people you meet and the people you’re thrown in with and that you have these experiences with.’It really brought it home. It was just such a magical couple of days away from the world. We saw a koala that lives in the forestry around there and there were just these really special quiet moments that felt really magical.’
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