Moving into Gentleness

7- Day Retreat for Rejuvenation in Donoussa Island, Greece
27.06.2024 - 03.07.2024

At Phisis Nature Retreat

with Georgia Aroni

The Retreat will take place at Phisis Nature Retreat in Donoussa island, in the small Cyclades. Phisis is an ecologically open-source project, following a balanced and fulfilled way of living in harmony and focused on sustainability.

Each morning, we will begin at the Yoga shala, take time for mindful breathing and then start our movement practice integrating concepts from Dance/Movement Therapy and Authentic Movement. This will allow us to cultivate the ability to witness oneself while witnessing another and develop the capacity to stay present with open, receptive attention. The intention will be to start from a place of connection, joy and exploration.

In the evening, we will meet for restorative somatic exercises, rejuvenate the nervous system through vibrations with tuning forks. Tuning forks align the physical structure of the body, combine vibration with pressure, as they restore and soften the fascia to its nature way of being. The capacity to come gently into stillness, will allow participants to open an inner space to receive support.

Self- Care practices will offer a powerful resource of trusting the intelligence of emotions, refining the intuition, and recognizing the necessity of ceremony and rituals in life. When practicing at yielding to the rhythms of our bodies, we can invite moments of pleasure, contentment, and periods of grace. By leaning into restorative practices, we can more easily germinate our creative seeds in life. During our stay together, we will have time for walking meditations and moving in nature.

All practices are designed in such a way to allow participants, to widen the sense of the self and the sense of the community, to relate the body and the Earth with greater compassion and care.


Path maker, there is no path

You make the path by walking (Antonio Machado)

"When we feel good and talk about well-being, we have a sense of vitality and life rooted in our tissues.

D.H. Lawrence found words to describe it:

"I believe that blood and flesh are wiser than intellect. The unconscious of the body is where our soul boils.

It is the way we perceive that we are alive, alive to the depths of our souls and in touch somewhere with the living beyond the world."

Well-being does not necessarily mean living without discomfort, or pain. Well-being means having the necessary resources to be able to respond to the strenghts and stimuli with which we come into contact, to be present in the 'here' and 'now'."

Excerpt from the article by Anna Fiona Keogh & Joan Davis, Cultivating an Experienced Sense of Wellbeing, in The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Wellbeing,V. Karkou, S. Oliver, S. Lycouris, 2020

Sources and Photo Credits:

https://www.instagram.com/phisis_donoussa/?fbclid=IwAR3JQrkQl1R7rJDMC1bzzPXWW8ZmYA8tc-cD8G1R3LYkmJTlImNePzWU

https://www.digital-nomad-couple.com/greece/island-of-donoussa/

https://www.btd-tanztherapie.de/

https://unsplash.com/de/@tobolenkoph

https://www.mysteriousgreece.com/travel-guides/islands/cyclades/donousa/