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Retreats for a treat... During retreats, there is a kind of sweet intensity that allows us to feel more and share more of our creativity together than we may normally do. Often retreats will have a general theme or focus, but each will explore a wide variety of overlapping subjects & activities.
RETREATS
Diving into your Creative Process
Retreats are an opportunity to go deeply within but also to dive into our personal and collective process with passion and playfulness. During retreats, you get to experience a slice of life with others who have similar interests and desires, through a broad range of 'Ateliers' combined with 'Art of Living' activities.
Whichever retreat you choose to attend and no matter what the theme, you can expect to experience a sample of the following:
Creating & Sharing
In many instances, we will use improvisation as an ally and a powerful creative motor: it will teach us how to access freedom, flexibility, adaptability, resourcefulness, humor, passion, and fun. It will give us the amazing gift of expanding in areas and ways that were previously unknown to us. It will be an opportunity to be totally present for ourselves and each other, by being open to whatever wants to happen in this moment.
During retreats, I am sharing with you, and all who want to join, more of what I deeply enjoy and what I have learned through exercising my numerous passions since I was a little kid. Sharing the process of discovery, creativity and art, by being continuously open to exploring new forms of expression. Sharing joy, love, playfulness, excitement, and all other emotions that may come up in your process - even if it is sadness, frustration, or discouragement. Our time together may be alternatively playful and serious, intense and relaxing, light and deep, and in the end, probably much more than words can describe.
The expansion of awareness and the fullness of living that results from this kind of availability to ourselves and each other, is for me what Life itself is about.
The Art of Allowing
We will be exploring how we can expand our sensitivity and appreciation for new manifestations of beauty by letting go of our judgments about our own creations.
Rejecting nothing: Even if our focus is on the process of creating - more than on the finished product - we do not necessarily reject our desire for a result, for beauty and perfection, or for a certain mastery in technique. We seek to come from the flow of our intuition and inspiration, but we do not necessarily reject the mind. Instead, we use it to guide ourselves through and out of our blocks and limiting beliefs.
While we consciously seek integration rather than "rejection", we also learn not to let ourselves be controlled by any rules and preconceived ideas - be they practical or so called "spiritual". This process may reveal the places where we are stuck, but it also gives us the opportunity to learn how we can choose to move on. And what a metaphor for life that is!
Exploration & Integration of Duality
If we so choose, our creative process can teach us how to start integrating the poles of duality in a very practical way. This is an aspect that I find very rewarding, and I love to play with it as it may open us to a richer experience of life in which effort and struggle are no longer necessary. We start letting go of control and instead move towards intent, self-alignment, receptiveness and flow. We develop true inner-power and naturally start re-connecting to our true self.
Intention & Process
In the new energy of consciousness that is reaching the planet at this time, we are realizing more than ever before that it is not just “what” we do that matters, but “how” we do what we do. The "how" represents our values, while the "what" is the effortless manifestations that derive from it.
This also applies to our highest goals, dreams, and deepest desires to "realize ourselves" fully and "serve" with joy in our hearts.
What are our highest values in this life? The things we would not - and could not - compromise under any circumstances? It seems to me that it is not until we attempt to define, understand and embrace them that we can shape the world of our dreams. This is what I call: "Conscious Creation" vs. creating by default.As we get to experience new levels of energy and creativity, this realization comes to us under many guises, again, and again. It is a spiral of self-knowing evolution. As we grow more into who we really are, we are likely to discover new ways to "serve" and fulfill our "life-mission". In fact, these are simply ways of being that are much more fulfilling to us, more aligned with who we "truly" are. Ways that are easier and more natural - and yet, ways we may not have thought of before.
Tools, Practice & Manifestation
In addition to being fun and nourishing, the process of sharing also helps us to become more aware. As we become more conscious of the aspects involved in our creative process - including what we perceive as potential blocks - we are also better equipped to integrate and transfer this knowledge into designing a daily-life that is more fulfilling, joyous, and peaceful to us.
During the variety of ateliers we experience, I wish to inspire you to design your own practical tools to integrate your own wisdom, knowledge, and preferences into your daily life. We learn how to develop a flowing practice that is adapted to our own energy in every moment instead of one dictated by the demands of our environment.
In ateliers, we do not only learn new tools, but we get to play with them. It is practice that allows us to move into tangible manifestation.
"The highest service we can render to all life is to live in a way that makes our hearts sing and evoke genuine emotions. This is the new form of compassion; To hold on to that which is being repelled from within, or is repelling us from without, serves no one."
The Ring of Truth
Almine