Previous Retreats
Olivia Crooks and Godfrey Devereux having been teaching retreats together and individually for over 20 years. here are snapshots or past retreats and more details on more recent retreats
Radical Ecology Retreat
PEMBROKESHIRE,
WEST WALES, UK
Summer 2025
“Being human is both a gift and challenge. Your Radical ecology retreat on the lush Welsh coast will give you the rare opportunity to express, enjoy and embody them both."
Radical Ecology is embodiment of Wholeness: the wholeness of your nature, the wholeness of life, the wholeness of existence.
This embodiment will allow you to be authentically more compassionate, generous and supportive, while feeling more safe, abundant and supported.
SCHEDULE
DAY 1
Mornings are led by Godfrey beginning in silence with a meditation
Followed by a resilience training session which
includes somatic movement
Delicious vegan brunch served by
seasoned cooks
Time to enjoy beaches, natural
swimming pool, sauna and
surroundings
Afternoons are led by Olivia, beginning
usually with a a somatic movement intimacy
session
After a second vegan feast, every evening there will be
a gathering in the roundhouse to celebrate together in different
ways the gift of being human
DAY 9
Somatic Resilience Training
This embodiment takes place by way of the three frequencies of Somatic Resilience Training. While Somatic Retuning is a response to your bio-mechanical vulnerability, Somatic Intuning is an opportunity to access your Spiritual Invulnerability, and Somatic Attunement provides you with the opportunity to satisfy and embody your spiritual, biological and social nature, within your need for deep connection.
Somatic:
Retuning | Intuning | Attunement
RETUNING
Somatic Retuning uses soft, rhythmic movement, and sustained accessible stillness to recalibrate your body. This recalibration establishes neuromuscular Pathways of Wholeness in the whole of your body, allowing you to move more freely and easily. Because of the binary nature of the sensory-motor nervous system, this comprehensive recalibration simultaneously changes the way that you move and what you can perceive. As your movements, on and off the mat, become more effortless and fluid, your perception becomes more clear and subtle.
INTUNING
Your Pathways of wholeness will be deepened by way of Somatic Intuning. This takes place in sustained stillness, both lying and sitting. You will be invited deep into your ability to feel so that the fortifying subtleties of your own Presence and Nature become more available. Within this mind becomes more quiet in the moment, while in the long run lets go, more and more, of its need to know and control into the wisdom of your body and of Consciousness.
ATTUNEMENT
Somatic Attunement can be enjoyed alone, or with others. When alone you can attune to any of the following expressions of wholeness:
- the generosity of life
- the circle of life
- the web of your ancestors (the gift of life)
- the richness of nature (when outdoors)
In becoming intimate with the presence of wholeness through these lenses you may enjoy feelings of awe, appreciation, gratitude, support and peace. These experiences will stabilise your pathways of love, pleasure, courage, fearlessness and trust so they inform your life and relationships with solidarity, generosity and compassion.
Resilience Training is an experiential journey requiring dedication, commitment and independent practice. Nobody can do it for you, although you can be given the tools and shown the way. To access and feel the Invulnerability of your Spiritual Nature is not so difficult. To embody it into your daily experience is another matter. This depends upon your deepening and stabilising your own Pathways of Wholeness through ongoing practice. For this to be possible you need not only to be willing to fully embrace your shadows and thorns, but also to let go of looking for external validation. You must become your own light and your own haven, taking responsibility for your own journey, your own experience. Overlooking the Ocean in West Wales we will spend eight days together exploring the delights and possibilities of being human. While you are free to spend time alone in nature should you wish, we encourage you to participate as much as possible in our community of like minded beings. Radical Ecology is an experiential journey of embodiment, within which you can feel more & more at home in the world and in nature, and more in harmony with other beings. It is an invitation to enrich your life by giving rather than getting, sharing rather than accumulating, supporting rather than exploiting. This invitation is extended by experiencing deeply the richness of your own Presence, not least in the mirror of others and Nature.
Meditation Retreat
Jan 2025
MID WALES,
UK
Perhaps now, more than ever, sitting in stillness is a necessity rather than a luxury. The accelerated pace of modern life leaves us little time to digest its slings, arrows and triumphs.
Somatic Meditation is the most accessible way to establish the
meditative mind, by- passing any need to direct or control your mind.
SCHEDULE
DAY 1
Somatic movement and meditation. Followed by a talk from
Godfrey
Organic vegan brunch followed by a guided walk
in the soft welsh countryside
Meditation sits with intervals
Dinner in community
Meditation sits with intervals
You will have access to a sauna , cold plunge pond and spacious woodlands to explore
DAY 9
Drift deep into the nourishing richness of your own nature with us in the soft Welsh countryside. This (silent) retreat will invite you to embody the power of the meditative mind as an easily accessible tool for everyday living. You will be guided daily in a rich palette of Somatic Meditation practices from morning till night.
This is much more than a conventional meditation retreat. It is an opportunity to access the hidden power of your wisdom and spiritual nature
What you'll experience on this retreat
SILENCE
The retreat will take place within the embrace of 'practical silence'. This will give you the opportunity to settle deeply into your own silence, undistracted by social interactions with others, so that your meditation practice is more fruitful. This does not mean that you have to ignore your companions. Feel free to acknowledge others, but silently. Nevertheless, should you have any practical needs that you need to express to any of our team, you are free to do so.
EACH DAY
Each day will begin with a Somatic Yoga praxis led by Olivia, culminating in a Somatic Meditation guided by Godfrey. This will be followed by a talk on the practicalities and implications of meditation for a satisfying and meaningful life. After brunch you will be led by Olivia on a meditative walk in the beautiful Welsh countryside, come rain or shine. On your return you will be guided into a Somatic Meditation session of seated stillness and walking indoors. This will be followed by a nourishing meal. After this there will be a final session of Somatic Meditation, some of which may take place outdoors, weather permitting. Altogether you will spend ten hours in silent meditations, static and active.
Other retreats
