02 Jan ANCESTRAL MOVEMENT RETREATS – APRIL 2023
Yes it’s happening! After a couple of quiet years due to bushfires, plagues, floods, and having our first baby, our regular retreats in Araluen are back up and running. Once again, we will spend a week camping together with no clocks and no phones, in the lush forest by the beautiful Deua river, just across from the national park, nestled amongst the trees with the goannas and kangaroos, wombats crawling around at night, eels swimming in the pools.
Ancestral Movement, meditation, qigong, breathing and awareness practices multiple times a day in the forest, in the riverbed and on the rocks. Exploring patterns of movement and awareness innate in the human body, evolved over hundreds of millions of years and adapted to the environments, shapes and patterns of the natural world, which form the basis of all human movement and connect us to the rest of our living family on the Earth.
Wrestling and Brazilian jujitsu, Capoeira Angola, Filipino martial arts, tai chi and internal martial arts foundations, contact improvisation, fighting monkey games, bodywork of various sorts, climbing balancing and natural parkour on the forest jungle gym playground.
Time every day to learn ancestral craft skills and work on craft projects: weaving, wood carving, firemaking, tracking, bush tucker, primitive ceramics, and so on.
We do a beautiful mix of internal and external, hard and soft training, developing movement skills and sensitivity, working through every part of the anatomy and mind-body connection from the deepest mysterious hidden areas of the central axis to the tips of our fingers and toes, discovering our inner primates, our inner reptiles, fish and worms, awakening and attuning our senses to the forest, the soil, the sky, the water and the soil. And at the same time, everyone is encouraged to rest! To take as much time as they need, to train as much or as little as they want, to walk quietly in the forest, take naps, laze in the hammocks and read books, chill and chat by the fire.
We have several amazing guest teachers lined up including Dave Wardman (Physical Alchemy), Djulz Singawa (West African percussion) and Claire Dunn (rewilding, nature connection) and are just awaiting confirmation and fine-tuning the combination of elements.
DATES: The first one will be from April 8th-14th, and the second one will be from April 17th-23rd.
COST: $1200 full, $1000 concession or returnee (coming back for the first time), or $800 for regulars (anyone who has come to multiple retreats in the past). We will also have a very limited number of half-price volunteer spots for each camp, available only to returnees.
The last two or three camps have all filled up within a week of the first email, without any public announcement, so even though it’s still some time away these are likely to fill up fast. Hopefully by running two camps we will have enough room for everyone! Deposits of $400 are required to reserve a spot.
This is a fairly minimalist camping experience. We are absolutely not “elite”, “hardcore” or any other such term, the setting is beautiful and gentle but it is a deep immersion and the practices are powerful and transformative, so applications are by request.
For more information or to book a spot please contact simon.thakur@gmail.com
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