We call this retreat, The Big Listen because we believe that to really listen has magic; listening for the call of the forest and for the myths of our lives, giving our full attention to ourselves and then not forgetting each other.
PROGRAMME
This programme weaves together Wilderness Practices including The Fours Shields nature-based four directions map, Way of Council and solo time in nature, with meditative, ritual and heart-based practices from the Buddhist tradition.
At the heart of this programme lies an invitation to spend time alone with Nature, and listen. This ‘solo’ will take the form of a Threshold Walk. Inspired by our place within the cycles of nature, traditional vision quests and ‘nature solos’ have been practiced by many people and cultures across time. Whilst immersed in nature, ‘listening’ you may receive a gift; the beauty of an insight or the “rapture” of reconnecting with the most authentic and unique currents in your life.
“ People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
— Joseph Campbell
THIS RETREAT AIMS TO HELP YOU:
– Develop the ability to make deep, authentic contact with yourself and others
– Track the obstacles that keep you ‘refusing your own flowering’
– Be present to the sensing and feeling body, beyond the limitations of the rational mind
– Find a deeper sense of your own belonging.
A WINDOW ON OUR TIME TOGETHER
We’ll begin each morning with mindful practices. Mid-mornings will be set aside for soulful storytelling, making time to listen to what has purchase on our hearts, using the Way of Council model.
The afternoons will involve nature-based practices that support contemplative self-reflection, inviting a deeper conversation between our most authentic selves and the wisdom found in nature.
The evenings will be set aside for integrating the threads of our days through creative exercises that might include dancing, walking with the full moon and sitting around a fire under the stars..
Guides: Natasha Lythgoe and Werner Pilz
