Retreats
Take time to find ease and renew your energy
Mindful Communication Retreat
Friday 17- Sunday 19 August 2018
“When you are busy judging people, you have no time to love them”
Marshall Rosenberg
When interacting with others, we often find ourselves triggered and communicating in ways that hurts or harms – ourselves, the other, or the relationship between us. We want to communicate honestly, but haven’t been taught to do so. We desire to share our feelings and needs, but fear that our feelings won’t be heard and our needs will remain unmet.
During this retreat at the tranquil Tara Rokpa Centre in North West Province, we will draw on the principles of Non-Violent Communication and Insight Dialogue in order to increase awareness, compassion and ease with ourselves and others.
The retreat will show us a way of being very honest, without any criticism, insults or put-downs. We learn to be aware of our feelings and needs, make requests and stay open and respond to the feelings and needs of others.
The principles and practices you will learn on this retreat, will help you communicate consciously and with compassion. We learn to increase our capacity to communicate in a way that helps us to connect, find what is alive in ourselves and others in order to create relationships built on authenticity and understanding.
If you resonate with any of the sentences below, this retreat may be especially helpful for you:
- I was taught to think and communicate in ways that involved judgment
- I am not aware of my own feelings and needs and those of others
- I am afraid that speaking honestly could be unskillful, leading to harm and hurt within my relationships
- I have been afraid to express anger, or other difficult emotions, without causing harm or feeling ashamed of my own feelings
- I fear connecting and being curious about what is alive in myself, without judgement.
Facilitators
Lucy Draper-Clarke has a PhD in mindfulness and has practised yoga for 20 years. Her light-hearted approach to teaching allows participants to learn through a joyful, yet transformative practice.
Felicity Hart is a life coach, yoga teacher and mindfulness facilitator. She has a PGC in Mindfulness-Based Interventions from Stellenbosch and offers life coaching that is mindful of you as a whole person, facilitating a deep and integrative process.
Bookings
To book with the Tara Rokpa Centre, follow this link:
New Year Intentions Retreats
Every January, I run intentions retreats, at the Tara Rokpa Centre and other South African retreat centres. Each year explores a slightly different theme, such as The Book of Joy – Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu or The Heart is Noble – Karmapa. The retreat allows participants the opportunity to reflect on the year gone by, and set intentions for the future.
In 2019, these will take place at the Buddhist Retreat Centre (11 – 13 January 2019) and at Tara Rokpa Centre (25-28 January 2019).
The Process
We will integrate the body, heart and mind in a gentle, unfolding process of yoga and mindfulness. This provides the opportunity to reflect on what inspires and energizes us. By trusting our ability to tap into our own talents, we can lead our lives in a way that also brings benefit to others.
Once we have touched on the vast potential of what our lives might hold, we can acknowledge our old habit patterns of striving, judgment, or non-acceptance. These often paralyse our ability to create lives of balance and meaning, leaving us feeling despondent about ourselves and limited in our potential.
Mindfulness helps us to tune in to both our supportive and sabotaging habit patterns, while compassion practices provide skilful ways to accept ourselves just as we are, while allowing transformation to take place. Once we can see ourselves clearly, we learn to cultivate ways of bringing more joy and meaning into our daily lives. This, in turn, allows for a strong focus on how this can help others.
New participants find themselves part of a caring community of support, while participants from previous years are able to share their experiences and reconnect with old friends. These are family-friendly weekends where non-participating family members are welcome to explore the beauty of the natural environment.
Bursary Places
Please enquire about bursary places at the Tara Rokpa Centre retreat. Let me know whether you, or a friend, might benefit.
Outdoor Activity Retreats
Yoga and Mountain Biking Retreats
These retreats are co-facilitated by my husband, Mike Draper, who is a guide for Sacred Rides Getaways [weblink]. They are family-friendly and a great chance to get out in nature in the Groot Marico District. Daily yin and yang yoga sessions complement the mountain biking adventures.
Mindful Movement Retreats
Yoga practices are complemented with qigong and walking meditation. There is also an opportunity to spend quiet time in nature.
RETREAT GALLERY
