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Secular retreats

Future Perfect

14:11 / 01.08.06

I've been feeling recently that it would be good to have a bit of a time-out and give myself the space to work through what feels like a hectic head at the moment away from the relentless pressures of London life (which annoyingly I usually love!).

I kind of feel it would be good to have a bit more than a holiday and think it would be really good to do something with some element of structure, personal reflection and challenge.

So, I quite like the idea of some kind of retreat but when you get googling not much shows up other than things that have a faith-based, spiritual or psyhotherapeutic dimension.

While I'm not disputing that these sorts of retreats are helpful, I don't think they're really going to be for me as I'll probably get sucked into narky 16-year old "but... but... but..." boy mode.

Any 'lithers out there know of anything like this with a more secular or humanistic bent?

Smoothly

15:06 / 01.08.06

Fat Foolish Finger asked something similar recently in the Q&A thread.
I don’t know if he found anything, but it might be worth asking him.

I'm not sure what kind of structure you're looking for. Do you mean activities (I dunno, pottery, basket-weaving or something)? Don't some health farms, Champneys et al, offer packages for stress relief, with meditation, massage, acupunture, that sort of thing?

Put it another way: What would checking in to a nice hotel for a week lack? Do you want a course of some sort?

Future Perfect

15:14 / 01.08.06

Thanks Susan. I don't really mean something activity-ish in the basket weaving, group drumming mold, but some kind of structure that I suppose might involve talking things through, encouraging reflection, that sort of thing. So much as a weekend at Champneys might be lovely, something that was a bit more work, I guess, might be good.

Smoothly

15:23 / 01.08.06

Ahh, I see. I think I was confused by exclusion of a ‘psychotherapeutic dimension’. You do want a bit of that, don’t you – just not if it involves opening your chakra or channelling stuff.

I’ll have a think, ask around, and get back to you.

Saturn's nod

16:48 / 01.08.06

Found an old article from the Guardian, because I had remembered some friends saying good things about the Bradford Dale retreat, & found the contact details there. It's in Derbyshire, it's a small cottage, you can send a shopping list in advance so everything you want is there for you etc. Lots of other places mentioned in the article too, but that's the only one of those I 've had in-person reports about. Bradford Dale might be a lot less structured than you have in mind, but you could phone up and chat to the woman who runs it and find out whether it would suit you.

Future Perfect

07:53 / 02.08.06

That Guardian article is absolutely spot on Saturn's nod, just what I was looking for. You're a star (planet)!

Jub

09:15 / 02.08.06

There's also this old thread which may be of interest.

astrojax69

20:43 / 02.08.06

or take a psychologist on a hiking trip.

and i guess primal therapy might be an extreme solution, huh?

on a more practical note, i used to practice (and even help teach) yoga at a centre with a lineage of gurus, and all that. the yoga, the meditation and the physical sensations of relaxation and self-awareness from the chanting was fabulous - eventually the whole worship bit got to me, but a retreat in an ashram, if you can suspend belief for a short while and experience the bliss of the rest of it, mebbe an option?

but good luck, whatever path you tread...

Future Perfect

11:13 / 03.08.06

Thanks everyone, some really useful stuff there to digest that should definitely help with the head enema!

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