Yin yoga provides the balance to our hectic Yang lifestyle. In today’s busy world we are inundated with the pressure to do more, take on yet more and push ourselves even further. This 3-day mid-week retreat provides a balance to our often frenetic, stressful lives and will restore harmony, health and calmness. In relaxing our muscles and surrendering into our yoga postures, we are able to work deeply into the joints, ligaments, fascia and bones of the body - releasing tension and detoxifying normally inaccessible parts of our bodies. The retreat is centred around releasing, relaxing and restoring our bodies, our minds and our energy and is suitable for everyone. Please bring your own yoga mats.

I want to share an approach to poetry
that’s taught me how to play
with rhythm and meaning, following words
and traces of feeling to make new tracks.
Acts of poetry link the tides of my body
and the world with new ways of thinking, moving
across from life to the page, and back

This course will help you to connect with themes and images that need expression and exploration. Learning to condense or distil your inquiry can help with insight and clarity. Working with rhythm and rhyme, off-and-half-rhymes, and with antonyms and synonyms, can break open meaning in new and unexpected ways. Please bring a thesaurus and a rhyming dictionary if you have one. I will bring mine to share.

What story were you born into? What story will you pass on to future generations? We are all born into circumstances that are not of our choosing – historical, political, cultural, spiritual, geographical, mythological, genetic, epigenetic. This writing course is an invitation to explore what you have inherited from those who came before you, and how this affects your life, often in ways that are just below consciousness. We will investigate whether these attributes and attitudes are helpful or harmful to ourselves, others and the earth. We will also write our way into what attributes and attitudes we wish to pass down to future generations, and what we should rather examine and deal with ourselves in this life, so that we do not unwittingly pass old wounds and outmoded ideas on to those who come after us. Beginner writers are welcome.

If you feel worn out, stressed and depleted in these challenging times, then this nurturing Yin Yoga retreat is just what you need. This restorative retreat will replenish and  heal you physically, mentally and emotionally. Yin yoga is a  more meditative type of yoga where the postures are held  while your body is supported with props, allowing you to relax,  to  breathe into the stretching and  gravity to do its work. The slower, meditative pace gives you the opportunity to turn inwards, to breathe mindfully and  to be at ease within your yourself.

Qigong is an ancient Chinese practice that boosts one’s health and longevity. Through gentle, slow and flowing movements, it integrates and harmonises one’s bodily functions and states of mind by eliminating static and toxic energy patterns. Qigong strengthens the internal organs and skeletal structure and encourages good posture. In this retreat Paul will teach the Healing Sounds Short Form - a set of gentle exercises that also uses sounds to cleanse and heal our major organs, and which is a lot of fun to practise. He will also teach the ancient Taoist qigong meditation for inner peace and tranquillity.

This retreat will provide an opportunity to explore two aspects of Buddhist meditation practice - the gradual development of calmness and peacefulness in our mind; and the practise of awareness, in order to live with more clarity and more centredness in the present moment. This foundation of calmness helps us to meet our confused thoughts and emotions with more acceptance and kindness and leads to a deeper understanding of the nature of our minds. The retreat will create a gentle and relaxed space in which to explore the benefits of spending time quietly with ourselves, to allow the qualities of calmness and clarity to develop in a natural way and to enjoy the nurturing effect of being silent in a beautiful environment.

Based on the Chinese philosophy of Taoism, tai chi is rooted in balance and flow, stillness within movement, and reflection during action. Just like the shape of the Taijitu - the symbol of yin and yang - every movement is based on circles. Al Huang, in Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain, suggests: “Stop the words and start the doing.” With gentle movements and focused mind, we will teach a short sequence of yang-style tai chi, complemented with simple qigong  exercises and movement-within-stillness meditation. Tai chi has been described as “learning to move with the wind and water in the course of everyday life”.

In a series of talks and Mindfulness meditation sessions, we will explore the chemistry which mediates the effects of mind states on the body: psychoneuroimmunology or PNI. The talks and demonstrations will show that we can attain optimal wellness and performance by getting to know our temperament and personality traits; by being more present-minded; and through sensible, informed ways of living and behaving.

Shibuie - When Beauty Happens Accidentally: Sumie and Raku - Japanese brush painting and pottery

Shibuie is the ancient Japanese concept of Accidental Beauty in which the artist is just one ingredient in a number of dynamic interacting natural processes, the outcome of which is delightfully unpredictable, but strangely beautiful - not ego-driven or deliberate. Ingrid will teach the classical Japanese brush painting techniques (Sumie) as these are applied to traditional subjects, such as landscape, bamboo and flower studies - as well as contemporary subjects. We will use the genuine, traditional materials: solid pine-soot ink, a hollowed-out slate to liquefy it, a deer-hair bamboo-stemmed brush and absorbent mulberry paper. Tools will be provided, but sets can be purchased (R850) from the BRC. Each retreatant will receive a bisque-fired tea bowl to sumie-decorate and glaze. Jess will then fire up the kiln after which we will watch the magic as the pots emerge from their ordeal of having been subjected to 1000ºC heat, smothered in sawdust and immersed in cold water. The pots will emerge triumphantly from the scorching heat!

This annual “Open the Heart and Still the Mind” 7-day intensive silent retreat is an integration of Buddhist wisdom and practices with psychology.
Through mindfulness and compassion practices we will establish a calm and grounded embodied presence, creating a reliable foundation from which to cultivate a brave, compassionate and joyful heart and mind. These qualities of consciousness allow our thoughts, speech and actions to move beyond habitual fear, self-doubt and anticipatory dread, so that our choices become informed by open-hearted, appreciative awareness and compassionate wisdom.
The extended time in silence will provide an opportunity to process the year and to discover new perspectives and more courageous and joyful ways of being. This will equip us for this world which is characterised not only by change and uncertainty, but also by beauty, joy and wonder. In addition to the guided meditations in all postures, our embodied experience will be enhanced by daily sessions of qigong and mindful movement, as well as time to walk in nature and explore the stunning beauty of the Centre. Short, individual sessions with Sue are included and will provide additional emotional containment and healing.
A pre-retreat 30-50 minute individual session with Sue, either in person in Cape Town or via Zoom/Whatsapp is required if you have not attended one of her residential retreats before and is fully covered by medical aid. The fee will be reduced if you are not on medical aid or have financial constraints.
CPD accreditation for psychologists and other HPCSA registered professionals: to be confirmed and carrying an admin fee.
Please contact Sue on sue.stillmind@gmail.com or see www.stillmindretreats.com for cost of course and further details.