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Detailed List of Retreats

Creative Intuition

Teacher: Theresa Hardman
Cost: 2 days + R400 surcharge
Dates: Friday 02 February 2024 - Sunday 04 February 2024

theresa hardmanThe great [artist]…. moves effortlessly… from some unknown centre
which is certainly not the brain centre but which is definitely a centre,
a centre connected with the rhythm of the whole universe, and consequently
as sound, unshakable, as defiant, anarchic, purposeless, as the universe itself - Henry Miller

Theresa will re-introduce you to the world of intuition, which was your primal and most natural way of knowing the world as a child. We will withdraw from the world of busyness and hustle and slow down. The intuitive way of being has been the focus of Theresa’s attention over the last fifteen years during which she has tried to understand the fleeting and fragile experience of intuition during the creative process which occurs when we surrender and let go of the thinking mind. The experience of creative intuition is characterised by moments of mysterious potentiality and open-ended suggestiveness which generate new and original thoughts, sounds, images and actions. It is to these original and highly personal points of potential that you, a creative person, will constantly return for inspiration as you attempt to express in the medium of your choice (words, paint, music) your original contribution to the world. We will begin with a discussion about what exactly intuition is, and more specifically how it functions during the creative process. Ways of nurturing creative intuition will be suggested, and it is these ways of being which we will be nurturing during the retreat. We will start every day with some gentle qigong to bring ourselves into our bodies, and then - 
we will talk
we will walk
we will observe
we will write
we will draw
we will paint
and we will move…

View teacher details
Theresa Hardman is an artist, designer, dancer and architect who is curious, complex and playful. She runs a small art and design studio with her husband, Mark (also an architect) in Port Elizabeth. Having taught design and drawing at university for twenty-six years, she is passionate about nurturing creativity in all forms and facilitates art classes and retreats for adults, as well as creativity workshops. Her work and her teaching methods have mostly been influenced by Zen and Taoism and their interface with Western philosophy, psychology and creativity. She has immersed herself for decades in research on intuition and creativity, culminating in a PhD entitled “Creative Intuition: Perspectives from Eastern and Western Philosophy”. She is passionate about sharing her findings with others and works in various visual art mediums, preferring the fluidity and spontaneity of ink and other water-based mediums. She loves to dance on paper and through space.