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Preceding Day
Thursday 11 September 2025
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  • How Plants Heal: Medicines, Muthi and Mystery

    Teacher: Jean-Francois Sobiecki
    Cost: 2 days accommodation
    Dates:

    jean francois

    Re-discover the healing and curative power of medicinal plants with herbalist and medicinal plant researcher, Jean-Francois Sobiecki, as he takes us on a journey investigating South Africa's wealth of traditional healing plants. His book African Psychoactive Plants: Journeys in Phytoalchemy is the first comprehensive inventory of psychoactive plants and their uses in Africa. Learn how to identify, use, and prepare indigenous healing plants on guided walks around the BRC and explore the fascinating and intersecting world of ethnobotany, neuroscience, and anthropology around healing plants and medicine. Jean will also introduce you the roots of holistic medicine, key principles of food as medicine, and how plant-based medicine works to help create a healthy body and mind.

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    Jean-Francois Sobiecki is a pioneering South African medicinal plant researcher, a qualified nutritionist, herbalist and research associate with the University of Johannesburg. He has conducted over 20 years of ethnobotanical research on South African medicinal plant use. With a B.Sc.Hons. EthnoBot. (UJ), Dipl Clin Nutr. (Aus) in qualifications, a book and a number of academic publications under his belt, he has been invited to present at international conferences. He is trained and qualified in medical anthropology, permaculture, clinical nutrition, and massage therapy and runs a private herbal and holistic medicine practice in Johannesburg and conducts regular workshops, trainings and tours on medicinal plant use for the public.

  • A Personal Retreat : Rest, Reflect, and Restore – 15% discount mid-week

    Teacher: Shogan Parker
    Cost: Number of days' accommodation
    15% discount offered for mid-week bookings in August
    Dates: 08:00am - 05:00pm 

    will parkerAs autumn approaches, we invite you to take a break and join us for an unstructured personal retreat. During your stay, you can enjoy qigong and meditation - to promote relaxation. Alternatively, you may choose to simply enjoy the tranquillity of the space, embracing the art of doing nothing. Imagine cozying up by a warm fire, savouring delicious vegetarian meals, and immersing yourself in silence. This time out offers a slower rhythm, allowing you to step back from the busyness of life and find peace within.

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    William (Shogan) has been practising meditation for nearly 20 years, cultivating stillness and inquiry. He took precepts with Dae Chong, Osho at Poplar Grove and now leads morning and evening zazen at the BRC, weaving verses from the Dhammapada into meditation for reflection and insight. With a keen interest in how the Dharma might evolve in an AI-driven, multiplanetary future, William embraces both tradition and possibility. He also guides qigong in the mornings and offers tai chi in the afternoons, integrating movement into mindfulness. His practice is an invitation - to sit, to move, and to explore the ever-expanding nature of awareness.