INSPIRING SELF RETREAT

September 2017

Rain, wind, sun, clouds, blue sky, laughs, tears, walks, talks, swims, breath, breeze, dance, sleep, drinks, shiitake, hugs, understanding, misunderstanding, love, fear, love, wisdom, friendship, values, purpose, connection..it was all there..almost life ;-).

We were delighted to have a three day retreat of self care, connection to nature and a journey of self-discovery through values and purpose. This was on the island of Texel in Holland, a place of space and connection where the forest meets the beach, the land meets the sea and where the sea connects with the sky. We created this retreat as a way of exploration to inspire self and bring a combination of focus on body and mind that we know would be powerful.

Georgia Parker and I were hosting the retreat with the intention of creating space for a gathering to come together and take some time out to connect to self and others. We brought the content of a transformational leadership programme into a personal context, offering a deep dive exploration of our values and purpose through which we reconnect to our essence and become more aligned in body, mind and soul.

INTO YOUR NATURE

February 2017

THE WHY OF THIS EVENT

The purpose of this unique event in the beautiful surroundings of 's-Graveland was to have people inspired by: the Earth keepers in the life changing movie Down to Earth, a dialogue on its impact with the maker himself Rolf Winters, getting acquainted with the global goals for sustainable development and by connecting to nature and other fellow human beings...

2016 has been a challenging year in a lot of ways and has tested our ideas of the shape of the world. This has caused many people to take greater responsibility in contributing to taking care of our world. Whether being it from a personal or a business perspective. A lot of people are looking for places where they can be inspired to bring the best out of themselves, at the same time connecting with like-minded others. Across different worlds (corporates, freelancers, startups, GO’s, NGO’s, human beings everywhere), I hear and sense this longing and with my own purpose of ‘serving the world and humanity by connecting’, I loved to facilitate this. I believe the more people become conscious about the importance to the world of connecting to their own nature, however small or big, the more we can make a difference in taking care of the world and each other.  That is why I wanted to organise this ‘INTO YOUR NATURE’ day as the first inspirational event of VivU Buntu. 

THE FLOW OF THE DAY

Down to earth

Unique viewing of this transformational movie about a family with three kids leaving the western ratrace, traveling around the world to learn from the wisdom of earth keepers. This movie has touched so many people already and most of the recent viewings are sold out. I am very grateful we have had the opportunity to show the movie in this unique setting and having a dialogue about it right after with Rolf Winters, the maker himself!

Rolf has his professional roots in the corporate world. His enormous drive to understand and better utilise human capital drove him to start his own company in leadership consulting when he was 30 years old. For 10 years he travelled around Europe as a leadership consultant and coach, gaining lots of deep insights with corporate leaders on the limiting impact of short-term thinking and lack of a holistic vision. Looking for a different perspective on renewal, he got acquainted with the leadership principles and philosophies of the Anishnabe, the first Native Americans. He knew he had found a key. That's when Rolf and his wife Renata Heinen decided to leave their successful cosmopolitan life to go on a life-changing journey with their three kids to seek the keepers of the Earth...

make a difference

What am I here for? A question that is strongly triggered after seeing the movie Down to Earth. This interactive workshop helped a bit connect to people their own inner purpose, goals or focus of what their life is about. In the second part we explored how to make a difference in your own world and the world around you.

"Living your own values, being guided by your own purpose, trying to find the best way to make a difference for a better world has been a life-long-journey for me until today and still going on. The closer I get to really live my authentic self, my own nature, the happier I become and the more added value I can have for the world. That's why I am very pleased to do this interactive workshop with you on your personal focus and connect it to the global goals for sustainable development. To me it is a perfect, pragmatic way to connect your inner goals or values with the outside world helping you to focus on what really matters and what really gets the best out of you. Isn't that what we all want?"      - Vivienne, VivU BuntU

The magic of nature

After the morning in the church building, we went outside for a lovely reflective walk in the beautiful surroundings. Nature providing the perfect opportunity to connect with the other participants as well.

LUNCH AT BRAMBERGEN

Lunch was ready after the walk at this restaurant at the estate of "Natuurmonumenten", prepared with all local biological ingredients. 

The relevance of wellbeing

Time to integrate & embody your insights of the day! Everybody could choose from a range of activities, whatever suited best as a form of relaxation. Whether chosen for Qi Gong, a guided walk with a ranger, some fishing with a local, a transformational breathing session, it facilitated perfectly in embodying all insights of the day! The facilitators were:                             

"I welcome you to experience Transformational Breath® during this beautiful event. Transformational Breath® is an ever expanding life changing method, I have worked with for 14 years. This powerful technique transformed me into a woman who dares to live from the heart and follows her dreams. With my team of experienced breath workers we will take you on an inner journey, into the depths of yourself. Through conscious connected breathing, we will invite freedom, clarity and manifestation of your deepest desires in your every day life. In the workshop we will elaborate shortly on this honest and surprisingly effective breathing technique, followed by a full breathing session."
- TBr Trainer Richa Adegeest, co-trainers Ellen Dekkers & Mariët Bakker

"Qi Gong , to me, is becoming more conscious of life's energy flowing through us and connecting to the power of nature and the universe. Becoming one with the world around us. By giving your full attention to the movements, your body will flow again like water in the sea, thus connecting to the power of mother Earth. By means of movements you merge with all life at the same time opening your heart to deeply experience the strongest Qi in universe is love. Making the movements from that state opens your heart to feel full joy!" - Mirjam Erkelens, www.inbalansoptexel.nl

"For me, fishing is the ultimate way to relax and ease of my mind. Being outside, connected to nature, my thoughts can just wonder off while looking at the movement of the water. While fishing, a lot of times I see great things around, like kingfishers or other beautiful birds. I think it is partly also about our true male nature as hunters; although I always free the fish immediately, it does give a kick to catch and then release again." - Patrick Dorenbos, local fisherman

CLOSURE & DRINKS

At the end of the afternoon we had a joint closure in the church building. After this closure drinks will be served for those who want to. 

The locations

The event was held at two unique locations, the church building of the lovely village of 's Graveland and Brambergen, the estate of Natuurmonumenten, the Dutch organisation for nature conservation.