Tips and Tricks

• Although it may prove difficult at first, don't be too sceptical about trying out a more creative, holistic approach to escape in your own home. Leave your cynicism at the door, and let your childlike side take over.

• Don't allow the one thousand and one daily tasks that need dealing with to cloud your retreat. Calmly but firmly, tell yourself you will deal with them when the escape time is open.

• Learn to breathe. Breathing deeply has so many beneficial effects. Every part of our body needs oxygen to live and thrive, and in addition, deep breathing can help slow you down and help you face the world with equanimity.

• Drink enough water. We are all around 70% water, and it's absolutely essential to all of our functions, including our ability to think, and therefore, our ability to dream and escape our daily lives.

• Watch what you eat. Since we are what we eat, it follows that your diet can affect your ability to effectively create an escape. For most of us, grabbing junk food on our way to our place of work has become a habit, and over time it takes its toll. Try a more natural diet, with less processed foods and more fruit and vegetables, for a few days, and monitor the effect it has on your state of mind.

• Use the power of the moon. Have you ever charted how you feel around the time of the full moon? Some nurses and medical staff will comment on increased activity in their wards at this time. And it makes sense that a celestial body that can affect the ocean tides can affect us too, given how much of us is made up of water. If you're planning a retreat or home escape, try to time it close to the Full Moon for extra escapist energy.

Are you still finding that none of the above suggestions are speaking to you? Think back to when you were a kid, capable of losing yourself utterly in your favorite book. Whether it's Harry Potter, the world of Narnia, Spiderwyck or even Enid Blyton, why not revisit your childhood heroes? Reading them as a grown up can help you get back in touch with that childlike sense of wonder that makes the humdrum world utterly magical.