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Images and descriptions of many more workshops can be found at:

beverleyacourt.wordpress.com

 
August 31 - September 7  2019  The Garden of the Heart 

Orgiva, Spain.

 
An immersive week of body & nature-based art-making and meditations in Andalucia.

 

World-wide, cultural traditions abound with images, stories, poems and songs about sacred, secret gardens where special encounters with the 'divine' and alchemical transformations occur.

This is our deep, ancestral ground for a week of beauty and exploration together.

We can regard our whole body-mind as a Sacred Garden, to be patiently tended and nourished with the good compost of the past.

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Please read on for more details. 

Early booking is advised for single rooms & discounts.

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More about the week: 

A late Summer version of this course - to discover new places in the garden & within ourselves.

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What is ripening? What is calling for our attention?

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This is not a conventional art course nor an art psychotherapy group, but an introduction to a range of holistic, ecological, creative-therapeutic processes which you can adapt for yourself in the years to come. 

We practice meeting nature openly and tenderly and find openess and tenderness towards ourselves and others at the same time.  From this, compassionate clarity arises.

Making art inspired by our communion with the garden supports us to relax into feeling how nature and life simultaneously hold and flow through us, and how creativity itself is an expression of nature.

This can help to restore a sense of inner security and trust in life - especially in troubled times.

It also invigorates our art & creativity as we become more aware of what's going on around us in subtle interactions with other beings and within our own body-mind.

Making art from that expanded awareness becomes gently therapeutic.

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What we will do

We engage in daily awareness exercises, some using art, others focusing on subtle presences in the nature of the garden, or on our bodies as sensitive instruments for attuning to the elements within and around us, with mindful walks and other activities, dissolving 'inside-outside' duality & the attitudes that tend to accompany it, to enter a more open, meditative and sensuously alive experience of ourselves and life.

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Using the holistic approaches I offer, you may also have the opportunity to learn how authentic art and gestural movement can alleviate a health condition or persistent symptom or enable you to explore other aspects of embodied life.

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Who is this course suitable for?

I welcome all who feel drawn to this shared exploration, and the rich archetypal Sacred Garden of the Heart theme, with its delights, mysterious alchemy, humour & invitation to quiet inner reflection, to become more alive in body and mind, to appreciate and celebrate your unique gifts and to become more attuned and responsive to nature.

 

I support you to enjoy personally enriching time, discovering in your own way;

 

• How to bring more 'presence' to your life; to let go of absence, of over-thinking, or trying and striving for an ‘artistic’ outcome and soften into a more compassionate meditative process, trusting and enjoying your authentic art as a spontaneous and effortless flow. While this is not an art skills class, you may learn many new techniques.

• How to enrich your art-making with the forms, symbols and cultural images of the sacred, secret garden plus your personal stories.

• How art-making with the whole body - using breath, body awareness and natural gestures to guide us - invites child-like play, an attitude of non-judgemental innocence, allowing the transformation of strong feelings and a spirit of gratitude and celebration.

• How to discover the whole world as your 'Muse', offering inspiration everwhere!

• How imagery, myths and stories within your own culture and ancestry can be a rich source of encouragement and inspiration for therapeutic creativity. 

 

We will create with found materials, both natural and man-made, and you are welcome to bring any special or unwanted small items for bricolage/collage plus your personal journal if you like to keep one. The centre will provide each participant with a sizeable sketch book for the week to keep with you and use as you wish.

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While this is primarily a personal development holiday, 'holy-days' - I welcome participants working in health, education, community arts and social care to attend as part of their professional development, since the processes support sustainability and enrich and deepen your work in all these areas.

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Every Cortijo Romero week is unique and full of wonder - I look forward to days of co-creative adventure with whoever feels called to come

 

Please contact me via Cortijo Romero if you have questions about the suitability of this course for you; if you have experienced recent crisis & are uncertain if these powerful approaches will be beneficial.

I do my best to listen to your needs & advise you

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If you pay a deposit six months ahead, you will receive a £60 reduction on the price,

three months in advance saves you £30. Please book via : www.cortijo-romero.co.uk 

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