A four-day residential retreat exploring creative practices to connect with nature and Expressive Arts for enhanced well-being. This experience is designed to help nurture your creative expression and help you to gain a deeper understanding of yourself and the world. No special artistic skills required, just a willingness to connect to our innate human capacity to create.
Overview
Program type: Residential retreat
Topic: Expressive arts, connecting with nature, creativity and more
Dates: 22 - 25 April, 2024
Language: English
Facilitator: Kanika Singh
Philosophy:
We humans are a part of nature, too. This is a profound yet commonly forgotten truth. When we connect to nature, we also connect to ourselves and vice-versa.
By learning about nature — caring for it and receiving care from it — not only can we become inspired to live in harmony with nature, but we can also apply these learnings to our relationships with ourselves and others. We can learn to hold an accepting, compassionate and harmonious stance towards ourselves at the individual and collective levels.
In a world confronted by growing challenges to peace, health and environment, wouldn't this be amazing?
The question is, where and how can one begin? Expressive Arts can be a beautiful starting point. Creativity and creative expression are an innate qualities that all humans possess. Art can be a powerful tool for bringing awareness to our relationship with nature, allowing us to explore it more deeply. It can open us up to a new world of colours, patterns, cycles, interconnectedness, and transience in nature as well as how we ourselves fit into all of it.
Approach
The retreat brings together the following modalities, to offer the possibility of a holistic healing experience to the participants.
1. Expressive Arts: At times, expressing using only words isn't easy or effective. Art can offer an alternative mode of expression. Humans have an innate desire and ability to create, and the creative process can offer a way to get in touch with one's authentic inner experience and express thoughts and emotions more freely.
Expressive Arts involves different forms of creative processes, such as visual art, movement, drama, poetry and music. Art as a means of expression helps nurture a healthy mind-body connection and offers an opportunity to uncover emotions that might be unconscious. This can bring new awareness and inspire helpful reflection, which in turn can support enhanced well-being.
2. Nature connection: Spending time in a natural environment can help us engage fully with our senses and become mindful of the present moment. This opens up an inner space where we can introspect, listen to our body, gain clarity, and experience joy. Observing the natural world around us can lead to deep insights about our inner world. Becoming aware of our relationship with other living beings can build a sense of belonging, and inspire compassion and a feeling of safety.
Moreover, nature offers us many treasures to inspire creativity. Diverse colours, shapes, patterns and textures are abundant all around us. Making art with natural materials can lead to a new journey of creativity and self-exploration.
Value to the participants
The experience is designed to support participants to:
Cultivate a deeper understanding of themselves and nurture self-compassion, creativity and self- expression
Experience grounding and joyous ways of creating art with nature, which can be applied in daily life and creative practice
Learn ways to regulate their nervous systems, for improved physical and mental well-being
Develop gratitude and care for nature by becoming aware of interconnectedness in the natural world
Build a community of like-minded people and engage in collective learning
‘Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.
She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless—
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.’
— William Wordsworth, The Tables Turner
Overview of the main themes and activities we will explore:
The programme will offer participants a unique mix of activities to allow them to connect with nature and with themselves. These would involve:
Expressive arts activities to cultivate mindfulness and self-awareness through nature-based imagery and meditations
Learning new ways of creative expression that are aligned to nature, such as paint-making and fabric dyeing using kitchen waste and found treasures from nature
Daily time for reflection and/or volunteering at Dharmalaya
In addition to the scheduled offerings, there will be the opportunity for participants to further deepen their experience by attending daily meditation sessions with Ajahn Jivako, who is an inspiring and respected monk and teacher in the Thai Forest Tradition. Currently in residence at Dharmalaya, Ajahn Jivako will be offering group sessions suitable for participants with all degrees of meditation experience.
Who is this programme for?
This programme is open to anyone wishing to:
Explore creative practices in harmony with nature
Reflect on their outer and inner life, with the intention to learn and grow
Experience well-being through simple, healthy living and daily creative practices in a natural environment
We welcome participants who are:
Curious and open to exploration and learnings about oneself, and the world around them
Compassionate, respectful and non-judgemental towards the experience and needs of other participants
Caring and respectful towards the natural environment in and around the Dharmalaya campus
Please note:
Prior art experience is not essential. While the programme would involve a series of creative processes aimed at mindfulness and reflection, one doesn't need to have any art experience in order to participate.
Process > Outcome: We will use the art process as a tool for explorations, so don't worry about the aesthetics of the final output. It is all about the process!
What kind of experience to expect
Full-time presence and engagement: For this immersive residential programme, the point is to be completely focused on the experience of being here. While there will be some time for rest, journaling and personal reflection, there won't be time for pursuing other activities unrelated to the programme.
Emotional work: Being a contemplative programme, it is normal for a range of emotions to come up, and for many this is a necessary part of the process. We encourage all participants to welcome whatever emerges for themselves and for the group; to hold a supportive space to move through it without judgment; and learn all we can from the experience.
Natural simplicity: Rustic accommodations in natural earthen buildings in a beautiful forest setting.
Healthy food: Natural and mostly organic, purely vegetarian meals (100% plant-based, vegan).
Digital detox: There will be no use of mobile phones or internet during the retreat. The intention is to support a deeper presence to one's own experience, and that of the group
Yogic lifestyle: Clean and simple ashram-style lifestyle in which everyone contributes to the group experience by helping with washing dishes, etc.
Dates & times
Start and end dates and times
The programme will begin at 10:30 AM on Day 1.
Participants will be required to arrive sometime between 9.30 AM and 9.45 AM on Day 1 (we will provide detailed timing, instructions, and travel tips after confirming your registration).
The programme will conclude at 4 PM on the last day.
Daily schedule: What will the flow of the days be like?
Although the day-to-day schedule may vary a bit, the schedule for a typical day during this program would more or less as follows:
6:30 Wake
7:00 Morning movement and practice session
8:00 BREAKFAST
9:00 Morning sessions: learning, practice, and/or creative activities
12:30 LUNCH
2:30 Afternoon sessions: learning, practice, and/or creative activities
5:00 Personal time
6:00 DINNER
7:00 Quiet time for reflection
10:00 Lights out
About your facilitator: Kanika Singh
Kanika Singh is an artist and certified Expressive Arts Therapy practitioner. Coming with a social development background, she has worked extensively with rural communities and marginalised groups. She is passionate about arts, caring for nature, mental health, and social justice. She moved to Bir, Himachal Pradesh to live a life more aligned to nature and is on a journey to incorporate earth-friendly practices in her art and daily life.
Kanika founded Infinite HeARTs Therapy, a mental health support initiative involving Expressive Arts, with a feminist and decolonial lens. She facilitates individual and group Art therapy sessions with adults and children.
Cost
Recognizing that our participants come from diverse backgrounds, we are providing a sliding scale with three tiers, to make it possible for everyone to donate according to their means. Total fees for the retreat (including shared accommodation, three meals daily, and tea) are as follows:
Subsidized rate
(For low-income participants who can’t afford the standard rate)
Rs 6,000
For transparency: This subsidized rate is below our break-even rate, which means it is not enough to cover the Institute’s costs in providing the programme, though that shortfall might be covered by participants who choose to pay the ‘Supporter rate’ to the right.
Standard rate
(For most participants)
Rs 8,000
For transparency: This standard rate is essentially a break-even rate, just enough to cover the Institute’s total average monthly costs in providing this service-learning opportunity.
Supporter rate
(For those who can afford to help subsidize lower-income participants)
Rs 10,000
For transparency: This supporter rate is above the break-even rate, and 100% of that surplus will be used to support lower-income applicants to participate at the subsidized rate. We thank you sincerely for your generosity in choosing this rate if you can.
We do not want cost to be a barrier to anyone’s participation, so if you have exceptional financial hardship and cannot afford even the lowest subsidized rate, you can contact us to let us know your situation and your needs and we’ll be happy to discuss options for work-study scholarships (subject to limited availability).
A very limited number of private rooms are available at extra cost. Please contact us for details.
In addition to the base fee, there will be an opportunity to offer dana (an optional, voluntary offering of support), as per tradition, to Dharmalaya Institute.
(Please note that the cost of purchasing the text is not included in the tuition fee above; you would need to do buy the text separately in whichever format you prefer.)
Application & payment
Participation in this programme is by application and subject to acceptance.
STEP 1 — APPLY: Click the button below to complete and submit the application form here on our website and then wait for our reply. We may email you to ask follow-up questions if necessary.
STEP 2 — ACCEPTANCE: If you are accepted for the retreat, then at that time we will send you an acceptance letter by email, which will include more detailed information about the programme and how to prepare.
STEP 3 — DEPOSIT: You will then have one week from the date of acceptance to make your nonrefundable payment to hold your place in the programme. Once we have received your payment, your registration for the programme will be complete.
We look forward to connecting with you!