The Big Listen

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” – John Muir

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. Through ritual, mediation and immersive practices in nature we will open to a sense of ‘self’ that’s also integrated within the richness of the organic world. Here we can meet the deeper aspects which enable us to step into the myth of our lives and of these times.

This programme weaves together Wilderness Practices including The Fours Shields, 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 sunrise to sunset 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 The 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

LONGER VERSION

Some say that what we are currently living through has the potential to be a collective initiatory process or Rite of Passage and some say, ‘we were born for these times’.

A Collective ‘New Story’ needs individuals awakening to their new stories.

We called this Nature 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.

This programme weaves together Wilderness Practices including The Fours Shields, Way of Council and solo time in nature, with Mindfulness and heart-based practices from the Buddhist tradition. All this is held within an emphasis of embodiment, which values the intelligence of the body, and sits at the heart of any meaningful change processes. To be embodied suggests to ‘be at home’, to be present and alive to our sensing and feeling body.

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 sunrise to sunset 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. It’s a unique way of opening up to a bigger perspective and reconnecting with what matters most.

Whilst listening you may receive The Gift. The beauty of an insight or the “rapture” of reconnecting with your most authentic and unique Self.

What is you becomes visible. And alive.

“ 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, open beyond the limitations of the rational mind:

Find a deeper sense of your own be-longing.

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..

Dieses, für alle offene Seminar, ist zugleich Wahlpflicht-Fachthemenseminar im Rahmen der Ausbildung in Initiatischer Prozessbegleitung und kann als solches auch nachträglich angerechnet werden.