Event: 2-Day Retreat: Mindfulness - Creative Embodiment.
Facilitators: Fay Adams and Gareth Williams.
Venue: Skye Room, Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1BB.
Dates: Saturday 17 – Sunday 18 October 2015.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Retreat Days: 10am-5pm.
Event Description: ‘What is it you wish to do with this one wild and precious life?’ Mary Oliver
This weekend is an opportunity to explore how mindfulness can open up our world and become a celebration of our precious life – its joys, sorrows and wonder. In particular we’ll be asking how our body can be our teacher in this respect.
Using the principle of Beginner’s Mind – the mind that is fresh in each moment, we’ll meditate, create, inquire, play and explore.
Each thought, feeling and attitude we hold is subtly reflected in the body. Through mindfulness we'll explore the wisdom of the body, which is a well-spring of insight about our limiting tendencies, our potential and our relationship with the world.
Many of us feel that there is unrealised potential and creativity within us. Sometimes it can feel like our lives have become closed in or deadened. Feelings like this can lead to depression, stress, workaholism, addiction and loss of meaning and energy. The body is a key to compassionately working with these blocks so that we can flourish more fully.
We’ll work with classic mindfulness practice as well as self-compassion and visualisation practices, reflection and interactive inquiry, creative activities, mindful movement and practices to cultivate joy and gratitude.
Fay Adams found herself living on the tiny retreat island, Holy Isle, off the west coast of Scotland, after having to give up her life in London due to suffering from chronic pain. She lived there for six years immersing herself in mindfulness practice under the guidance of Rob Nairn. During many hours of practice in her wooden hut, she learned how to understand the patterning that was causing her pain. Through body awareness and self-compassion she was able to restore her wellbeing. Fay now lives in Edinburgh and spends her time teaching for the Mindfulness Association around the UK and in Europe and running courses in Edinburgh. She is a tutor on the University of Aberdeen’s Studies in Mindfulness MSc.
Gareth Williams has been studying transpersonal psychologies since 1995 and has Masters degrees in psychology and in ethnomusicology. He has been a counsellor and senior practitioner for Rethink, Vision, and Mind, and is now a teacher on the University of Manchester doctorate course in counselling psychology. He initiated the Creative Space project - an expressive arts-based alternative to traditional counselling for young people, and is now developing and facilitating ecotherapy projects in and around Staffordshire. He has also been leading mindfulness training courses for several years. As well as having a deep joy in being in Nature, he loves writing songs, raps, and producing music.
Cost: £100/£80 (Concessions).
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.