High Heathercombe Centre

For me, the landscape of being a person of mixed heritage is complex, especially when that is visible through my brown body within a white-body-supremacy landscape. And each time I am in space with others of mixed heritage I feel such a deep relief in my body, especially if we are talking about it.

An emergent space for people of mixed and global-majority heritage to come together, speak our truth and embody our prayers.

In the wilds of Dartmoor, at full moon, enter the magic of sacred mbira music, connecting us to the spirits of our ancestors. This retreat will centre around a ceremonial mbira night with traditional Zimbabwean food, community prayers, and music, song and dance for the spirits into the night.

If you are looking to make significant positive changes in your life, then the permaculture design course will almost certainly help you. This practical course provides you with a broad introduction to the applications of permaculture in a number of different situations, from food production to community structures, and alternative currencies to eco-housing. The course culminates in the main design activity that helps to consolidate all of the learning and empower you to take permaculture back into your home, life and community. This course is for anyone who believes that we need to find ways to better care for ourselves, for each other and for the Earth.

This five day silent retreat will weave together insight meditation practices of loving kindness (metta) and qigong. Using guided practices to bring mindfulness to body, heart and mind in movement and stillness, we will explore how we might meet life with more steadiness, open-heartedness and compassion, and work skilfully with some of the obstacles that get in our way. Qigong is a gentle form of mindful movement which many find very supportive of insight meditation practice. It does not require particular levels of fitness and can be adapted for those with restricted mobility.

Beginners and experienced practitioners are welcome.

The weekend will be limited to 8 participants. It is open to everyone, whether you are completely new to this type of work, or have loads of experience of diving deep into self development.

Each participant will have the opportunity to do their own in-depth piece of facilitated 'process work'. The weekend will also include various individual, pair and group exercises to build trust and safety, prior to the process work. Participants find they gain a great deal from being part of the circle, from the initial 'container building' exercises and self reflection, and from witnessing and supporting others in doing their work.

Life events and our changing lives require of us to be different. This asks us to step into the unknown, in order to do, be and feel these differences. To bring a now fuller version of ourselves into our families, our communities and the world. Old ways and stories need to be seen and heard in order for them to be let go. To allow space for a new way to emerge. These stories and a new vision of change is experienced when we place ourselves in nature in an intentional way. Removing distractions and being ’empty’, we meet ourselves ‘out there’ and nature provisions an opportunity to greet our potential.

The weekend will be limited to 8 participants. It is open to everyone, whether you are completely new to this type of work, or have loads of experience of diving deep into self development.

Each participant will have the opportunity to do their own in-depth piece of facilitated 'process work'. The weekend will also include various individual, pair and group exercises to build trust and safety, prior to the process work. Participants find they gain a great deal from being part of the circle, from the initial 'container building' exercises and self reflection, and from witnessing and supporting others in doing their work.

An immersive journey for people wanting to deepen their relationship with grief, and strengthen their capacity to hold grief spaces for others.
We explore the journey of grief, the way in, exploring the landscape of grief in ceremony and other forms, and the paths to return. We share different views of grief, and traditions about how to welcome it. We look at questions of safety and ethics in holding grief spaces, and the relationship between grief, trauma and the wider systems of harm and times of disruption we are living in.
Our intention is to share what we have learnt in more than a decade of holding collective grief spaces, and to support others to take their next step towards working with grief as a teacher, an ally and force for healing.

All grief is welcome at all these workshops. Whether you are with personal loss or bereavement, healing from past wounds, disturbed by world or local events, or acknowledging the pain of those who went before still reverberating in your family or community, your grief is deserving of tending, and is welcome. Residential grief tending workshops allow us to go deeper and transform more. In the spaciousness of having a series of processes, grief can be expressed and witnessed in different ways, working with the body, words, sound, images, song and more.