Embodied Ecology Retreat: Engage & Connect

The Embodied Ecology retreats provide an opportunity to explore relationship - your relationship to yourself and your own body, your relationship to others and your relationship to earth. We invite you into an exploration of connection, belonging, play, tenderness, vulnerability, curiosity, love, grief and, as the holding element to all of these, presence.

We will soak in the healing goodness and create space for the challenges that come with a return home into our feeling bodies and into relationship with that which we are: nature. We will be drawing from permaculture, ecological principles, biomimicry, biophilia and other nature based practices to tap into the restorative and regulating patterns of the natural world and our own being. We’ll meet the edge of what it truly means, this being human in an individual body, yet part of a collective, an ecosystem, and ecology itself. What is it that’s common to us all and where do we find freedom within the natural boundaries of our existence?

For this upcoming summer retreat ‘Engage & Connect’, we will be exploring the nature of our engagement and our intrinsic embodied connection to life. Through our actions in the world we create relationships and affirm our ecological belonging. We will cultivate presence to ourselves and meet the land and people from there. The venue in Tuscany gives us the opportunity to bring the embodied principles and practices into engagement with the land and the local people through volunteering activities in the community.

The venue is an old monastery from the 11th century, about 7 minutes drive from Siena at the border of the Chianti area. After restoration of the ancient buildings, the owners have decided to offer the resource in service of promoting accessible education by hosting national and international universities and not-for-profit organisations for free. To prevent it from losing its magic the owners would like to keep this space as secret and private as possible, hence details will be shared upon registration.

The week will include workshops, relational practices and a variety of somatic practices such as sound, movement, resourcing, etc.

Joining our retreat you can expect to embark on a journey that involves sharing, enquiring, contemplating, crafting and connecting with other humans and the more-than-human. We endeavour to create space that allows you to bring all of yourself into relationship with what we are exploring.

While trauma-informed, the retreat is not a replacement for therapy and if you see it as that, please talk to us before signing up.

Please note:

You can also register your interest in the retreat and Dre or Mich will be in touch within a week to complete registration with you.

We will initially require a deposit of £100 which becomes non-refundable by March 31st. The full fee will need to be paid by May 3rd 2025, a month before the start of the retreat. You can pay in instalments leading up to May 3rd, in which case we recommend 4 regular payments.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Monasterino, Centre, Siena, Italy