Heart Awakening New Year's Retreat

You are warmly welcome to join this unique New Year's Retreat, a time of shared stillness, movement and relatedness. We invite you to lean back and rest, allowing the body and mind to unwind from the demands of everyday life. Come to rejuvenate your energy by enjoying the winter landscape, meeting yourself and others from a space of heart-felt presence, exploring different types of group-based awareness and relational work, meditation, yoga and movement practises and eating absolutely delicious vegan & gluten free food. Together we celebrate the end of another cycle and support each other in orienting towards an integrated and sustainable new year. DAILY PRACTICES The retreat offers a unique combination of different approaches through which we can tune in with deeper layers of our being, joyfully reconnect with our moving bodies and remember the beauty and depth of belonging in genuine human connections. These include relational awareness work, different body/movement practices, yoga, tantric practices, meditation, breath-work and singing circles. We celebrate the end of the year with a transitional ritual, cacao ceremony and ecstatic dance! Sauna is also available every night! In between the offered practices, there will be plenty of free time for your needs and wishes. VENUE We will stay in a beautiful retreat centre in the quiet countryside of southern Finland. An old village school building situated in the middle of fields and forests will offer generous space to practice and rest. The venue provides an atmosphere of calm and simplicity with beautiful surroundings that invite for walks and contemplation. There are different options for accommodation that will be chosen during the registration. For more details, please visit: http://lammiretreat.com/home/ FOOD We will have three meals per day including breakfast, lunch and dinner. in the end of the evening program there will also be evening snack. Our catering is taken care of by an amazing culinary crafter. She will cook us delicious vegetarian and gluten free food during the whole retreat. Water boilers, tea and coffee will be supplied all day. TIME The retreat begins 28.12.2023 and participants can arrive from 16:00 onwards. The official program begins at 18:00. The retreat ends 2.1.2024 after lunch and clean up. PRICE AND REGISTRATION *Contribution: 660€/ 560€ (students, unemployed) The price includes the retreat program for 5 days, accommodation, three meals + snack every day and sauna every night (payment plans available for those with low income). To reserve your place please send an email to: [email protected] tai [email protected] After receiving your email, we will send you payment info and some questions for you to answer like food allergies, accommodation preferences etc. Your place at the retreat will be secured after your registration and payment. TRAVELLING TO THE VENUE By flight: Destination is Helsinki-Vantaa airport. From there continue with car or public transport. By car: Map link to the center: https://goo.gl/maps/HBMSY8b8JhR2. By train/bus: Check www.vr.fi and www.matkahuolto.fi for the most recent info. With a train you first have to go to Hämeenlinna or Lahti and then with the bus to “Lammi (Hämeenlinna)”. Busses go to Lammi from all major cities via Hämeenlinna or Lahti. Ridesharing (Google Doc): In the registration email we will send you a link to a doc where people can share car rides and to synchronise their arrival in Lammi with public transport for a shared taxi (10km) from the venue. You are warmly welcome! Samuli & Gloria DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRACTICES Morning Yoga and Movement Practice We will begin the mornings with varied and gentle movement, allowing the body to warm up and wake up for the new day. Yoga practices are designed to allow free circulation of prana, life force, throughout the energetic body bringing a state of overall balance. The movement practices prepare us for stillness and meditation. For those struggling with sitting meditation, the movement practice offers a wonderful foundation to ground in the body with ease. Morning Meditation Each morning we will sit together for 20-30 min in silence with and without verbal guidance. Throughout the retreat we will follow up on the development of the meditation practice and introduce a methods of direct meditation and contemplation. Restorative Yoga and Breath Work In the evenings we center back to ourselves, calm down the nervous system and take time to contemplate the experiences of the day. Restorative yoga is gentle, slow paced practice combining easy movements, loving awareness and deep relaxation. Breath work will further balance and deepen the effects of the yoga practice, deep rest and overall balance. Embodied Presencing Embodied presencing is a form of personal and interpersonal awareness work developed by Samuli, that is based on Gestalt therapy, Vipassana meditation and sharing circles. It's a direct and simple way to engage with transparent and moment-to-moment human relatedness and communication. The method is based on reconnecting with the wealth of the body sensations/ experiences that most of us have learned to disconnect from. This supports deeper self-awareness, self-other awareness and clearer communication as we become more sensitive and receptive to our own experience and the experience of others in relational settings. For people who have attended our retreats before, Embodied Presencing will be applied in novel ways. Somatic work, movement and creative expression These sessions are built from a diverse range of different somatic, movement and theatre based methods. Here the focus is on creative, dynamic, restorative, meditative, interactional and solo work. We will take time to travel inside the body supported by our breath and subtle movements, experience the support of witnesses, play with sound, language and movement and have fun! New Year’s Eve For the new year’s eve we have designed a transitional ritual where we intentionally let go of the old and create space for the new. This is fused with a cacao ceremony and ecstatic dance. The rest of the evening is spent in a cosy atmosphere socialising, singing, sauna and for those who wish, there is the opportunity to meditate over the moment of the midnight. The cooks may also have something special in store for us FACILITATORS Samuli Lehesaari "In the last 20 years Samuli has been studying, researching, practicing and teaching in the field of movement and personal development. He has completed a training in Integral psychotherapy and at the moment he's working in occupational health care as a psychologist. He is also a school teacher, dancer and a dance teacher. Samuli offers private therapy and awareness work for individuals and groups, organises and teaches at contact improvisation festivals worldwide and more recently has been holding workshops and longer retreats on numerous different topics. He’s deep passion and interest lies in the broad avenues of human potential and in grounding spiritual principles into the fabric of everyday life, especially to the many facets of human relatedness." Gloria Salo "Olen harjoittanut joogaa ja läsnäolotaitoja viimeiset 25 vuotta, ja toiminut jooga- tantra ja meditaatio-ohjaajana koko aikuisikäni. Olen opiskellut useampaa jooga- ja tantraperinnettä, ja ollut aina kiinnostunut traditionaalisista ja syvällisistä klassisen tantran ja joogan suuntauksista, ja elävästä harjoituksesta. Itselleni läheisimpiä traditioita ovat nondualistinen, klassinen shaiva tantra ja Living Compassion. Olen valmistunut sosiaalipsykologian maisteriksi Helsingin Yliopistosta ja opiskellut kognitiivisen lyhytterapian erityispätevyyden Integrumissa. Olen valmistunut myös rakentavan vuorovaikutuksen ohjaajaksi (RVO/NVC). Toimin työkseni integratiivisena terapeuttina. Kehotietoisuus, traumasensitiivisyys ja empatiataidot ovat keskeisiä tekemässäni ohjaus- ja terapiatyössä. Toimin myös tapahtumatuottajana, ja tuotan muun muassa Helsingin Joogafestivaalia (2023 ->) ja Entheos - Divine Inspiration - festivaalia. Festivaalit ovat alustoja luoda kohtaavaa, avointa ja hyvinvointia tukevaa yhteisöllisyyttä Suomeen. Edellä mainittujen kiinnostuksen kohteiden lisäksi sydäntäni ovat lähellä elämän pyhyys, rituaalisuus (seremonioiden ja siirtymäriittien palauttaminen osaksi modernia arkea), tanssi, musiikki, treeni, avanto ja kaksi pientä chihu perheenjäsentäni Lumi ja Kaneli, jotka tunnetaan myös nimillä Peto & Bambi." gloriasalo.fi/about