The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.  Joseph Campbell

10 – 16 June 2022 in An Sanctoir, Ballydehob, Co. Cork 

The Nature of Awareness Retreat provides an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the beauty of the natural world, to live simply, to rest, to connect with the mountains, the sea and the morning light. The retreat offers an opportunity to delight and dwell in interconnection.

This retreat includes meditation, movement, hill walking and wild swimming. There will be opportunities to rest and come together around an outdoor fire. The retreat requires a minimum level of fitness. If you need more information please contact us

The Venue
An Sanctoir is a multicultural community situated in 30 acres of beautiful nature reserve, with many walks ideal for contemplative strolls and walking meditation. There are several open spaces that can be used for camping and an open-air communal kitchen and fire.

Food
There will be a delicious vegan evening meal provided and we’ll cook lunch and breakfast together.

Accommodation
Camping and camper vans.

Cost
€585

Retreat Leaders

Colette Power

My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there.” Rumi

I cant remember a time when I didn’t find solace in nature. Being in wild places has been a life-long meditation for me and has supported my determination to be untamable. In my mid twenties I found a rural community in West Wales and lived there for 20 or more years. Living conditions were rudimentary, I lived without running water or electricity and experienced a deep sense of happiness and freedom. I continue to live basically in small cabin surrounded by woods and a talkative river. I am happiest and sanest when outdoors, walking, running, cycling or swimming. I trained as a Work That Reconnects facilitator (2007) and a mindfulness trainer (2010). I’ve spent the last decade facilitating mindfulness and compassion-based trainings and retreats in the UK and Europe.

My practice for the last 4-5 years has been strongly influenced by non-dual approaches (10 Fetters, Rupert Spira) which have supported explorations of how I’ve maintained the illusion of self and separation from others and the world around me. My interest in exploring and exposing how splitting and othering is expressed collectively, resulting in social, environmental and economic injustice and suffering is long standing.

Paola Vais

Pay attention, be astonished, tell about it  Mary Oliver

I grew up in a city, and as far as I can remember I always imagined myself as an adult living in close contact with nature, which is how I live now in the South West of Ireland. As a child you could find me either reading a book or playing outdoors under the green tree cover of the city square where we lived, at my grandparents on the coast or hiking in the mountains.

In my 20’s I started spending a lot of time at sea, on small sailing boats that had none of the comfort of yachts, and where the sense of being one with the elements was incredibly strong, bringing me in a contented and peaceful place. When in my mid 30’s I started practicing meditation that connection with the world around me became stronger and more intense. I’ve been strongly influenced by Joanna Macy’s writings, re-igniting in me the teenage passion for the urgency to address environmental issues.

I think that the love and need for nature, for being outdoors and for movement has been part of me from the moment I took my first breath , and I believe it is the same for every single living being: we are nature, and cannot get disconnected from it without experiencing some sort of distress.

I trained as a Mindfulness Based Intervention teacher in 2011 and have been teaching courses and retreats for the past 9 years, and my practice is always shifting, bringing new questions – and new quests.