Transitions - A 6-Day Retreat (5R - Art - Meditation)

Life, when examined closely, is a series of ongoing transitions. This is a retreat about learning to have a love affair with the unknown and living with aliveness. When transitioning between the known and unknown, you might forget to breathe and compassionately move through the twist and turns obstructing your path. What happens when that gentle inner voice of compassion and clarity is buried in an avalanche of personal and global confusion?

When seasons transition, it is a call to “shake out” - an unfurling that summons you out of one energy field into another and initiates new growth. Glide from one season to another by fortifying your heart, mind and body with all the healing goodness that arises when you retreat from the demands of a frantic world. Resource yourself and enter the upcoming holiday season, new year and family obligations with stability and calm by cultivating solitude and stillness - silence and spaciousness. 

WHEN: 12 -17 December 2024

WHERE: Lago D’orta - Italy 

Transitioning is happening constantly whether you notice or not. Seasons change, the day turns into night, you transition from one room to the other, you change lovers and relationships, you might go from being young and optimistic to older and afraid. Through all these transitions, one thing remains constant. Your radiant true nature. It’s what some call the inner light guiding you home.  

To ignore the universe’s call to transition is to create an unnecessary struggle with your own self. Couldn’t you use a little more ease and fluidity in your life? This requires an inner education. Learn the ancient secrets of embracing change with gentleness, awareness and awe. Untie the knots that keep you from facing and wholeheartedly accepting the beauty of impermanence. Imagine what a world without change would look like? 

Join us on this multi-day journey where you will train to be present, confident and creative through changing circumstances. 

You will practice a one-day period of silence to deeply empty yourself from the noise of the outside world.

This is a beneficial retreat for anyone going through transition (career, relationship, community, health, age), trying to cope with the ups and downs of work and home life or simply wanting to transition from being in a mediocre state to embodying a more vibrant and blissful state of existence. Are you ready to re-write some of the challenging habitual scripts of your life?

To book this retreat click here

You will have a profound catharsis and deep understanding in five areas: 

Impermanence - The art of understanding that nothing lasts forever and all of life is constantly changing, creating and dissolving. If this is deeply understood and accepted, peace is the natural outcome.

Composure in the eye of the storm - Learning to face difficulties with a calm and stable center core. You will learn to mindfully move through the modern dis-ease of burnout and overwhelm. 

Embrace your let go! - Practicing non-attachment is the key to freedom. You can’t hold on to the past or even the present. Just like you can’t can’t hold on to a cloud as it transitions to reveal the glowing sun. That’s your true nature. Your inner world is full of light. Struggle arises from attachment - Imagine making peace with your personal history? 

Heart-centric Transformation - Your heart is always open but it is buried under a blanket of wounding. Living life with a closed heart is exhausting. Expand the power of your heart wisdom. 

Trust - You trust that you will wake up in the morning, that your heart will keep beating, that your lungs will draw in air, that your feet will take you on a walk. The universe is built on trust. You probably trust that the sun will shine, that gravity will keep you grounded, that spring will arrive…eventually…You get the point. You trust in a world that keeps ticking and evolving and is external to you. The real question is, do you trust yourself? If not, why not? Because you have been hurt many times, you start to live life as if it is conspiring against you. Without trust, life is miserable and bland. Remember - 99% of what you worry about never comes true.

Warning: You may be so inspired and empowered to let go of what no longer serves you that you may not recognize your own calm face. You might actually start living the peaceful, balanced life you always imagined.

WHO IS THIS FOR?

Anyone who needs to shake up the status quo of their life.

Professionals or couch potatoes looking for a practice that is more easily integrated in the modern world.

Curious seekers wanting to deepen their understanding of how one’s inner world works.

Visionaries, leaders, and cultural creatives wanting to recalibrate and fortify.

Adventurous types who want to try something innovative.

Ideal for those in life transitions or lacking in direction of what’s next.

HOW WE WORK:

Meditation and Dharma (Wisdom) Dialogues / Talks with Q & A.

Guided embodiment practices - Mindful movement, somatic explorations, mindful walking & nature immersions, 2 optional yoga classes during the week.

Inquiry, insight, dyads, contemplative writing and creative healing arts.

Silent sitting - mindful breathing - cultivating inner witnessing.

Periods of social silence and digital detox.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

Increased self-awareness and peace of mind.

A greater ability to infuse meditation into simple daily actions.

Return to daily life with a resourced and integrated center body.

Access the spacious, effortless, openness of your authentic self.

Increased skill and ability to interrupt the habitual grasping mind.

Cultivate compassionate communication through group - relational development.

Radically reduce tension and anxiety.

Increase vitality & creativity.

Sleep without interruption or body stress.

Eradicate inaction and sluggishness.

Become the actor, director and producer of your life without the fear of failure or allowing supporting actors to control your authentic destiny.

WHAT IS INCLUDED:

Accommodation for 5 nights varied rooms types

Teaching & Workshop Fee + supplies 

Coffee/tea/snack service daily at 5pm

All meals (vegetarian & organic)

Herbal teas, coffee, and fresh fruit throughout the day

Filtered water + in-room tea service

Spa facilities (swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna)

NOT INCLUDED:

Flights to/from Malpensa International Airport

Transfers to/from Mandali Retreat Centre

Massage and Therapies at the Body Care Center

NEW YEAR DANCE 2024/2025

 A 5 day 5Rhythms residential workshop with live music. 

The main focus is to let go of what has been, to appreciate the teachings received in the last year(s) and to awaken in us the qualities that can help us to realise dreams and desires for the new year that is arriving.

The invitation for the evening of the 31st is to bring something to wear different than usual. To experiment with a bit of dressing up.

The choice is yours, the main reason for wearing something unusual is the simplest but most powerful: for fun, for the enjoyment of the experience. Letting go!

Each year we set aside time for an important exercise to close the year. Each participant creates his own “vision board” with a collage. It creates a recap of the significant events of the past year that we are leaving in the past and images that invoke our visions and intentions that we want to achieve in the coming new year. Sometimes someone brings their vision board made the previous year or something else and we burn it on the bonfire outside on the evening of the 31st while singing and playing music together.

This workshop will be in both Italian & English.

For more information: https://oliviaollapalmer.com/new-year-dance-2022-23/

To reserve you place: https://www.oliviaollapalmer.com/shop/home/