Becoming Animal - rest your thinking mind and learn how to use your body-mind

You use them every day to gather information about the world around you. Your senses that is.

There's sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing... and your body is chock full of 'extra' senses that you may not even be aware you're using.

Humans have amazing powers of consciousness, reason, and creativity.

You also have some of the mysterious powers that other animals possess.

So come and explore the limits of your senses and try out some animal powers of perception that you probably didn’t realise you have.

We are animals after all, and maybe you've just forgotten how to use them?

In our busy lives it's easy to ignore what our body wisdom is telling us, but how much more would we discover about ourselves and what's going on around us, if we paid as much attention to what we feel in our bodies, and in our hearts and our guts, as we do to what we see and what we think.

We don’t often get the chance to explore our ‘felt-sense’ of the world, and what we can become aware of through using it.

So as nature starts to stir this Spring, this is a workshop where you can explore and develop more of your inner and outer senses.

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See how much you can detect, learn, and sense about nature and yourself, without thinking, and without words.

This is a chance to explore and develop your awareness in the softer natural world, and become both 'more you', and more in connection with nature.

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On this workshop, which will be held in woods in Stanmer Park near Brighton, you’ll learn a range of exercises and techniques to explore your senses in a slow state of high awareness.

The morning will be fun, surprising and you will be encouraged to be curious about discovering more about what you're capable of.

This is a hands-on, experiential, outdoors workshop, and will include:

• Relaxed centring and grounding exercises to still body and mind

• Playing with your awareness skills, using blindfolds and other techniques

• Expanding your felt-sense using other ways of seeing

• Time for reflection and sharing on what you have discovered about yourself, and the world around you

• Guidance on how to apply what you've discovered in everyday life

The cost of this workshop is £24.99.

(Limited to a max of 15 places. RSVP essential as we need to know numbers, thanks.)

Suitable for beginners and those with experience.

Book now to secure your place!

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Landscapes of the Earth, Landscapes of the Body

This workshop is one of a unique and highly innovative series of four workshops which together form an integrated whole that will significantly deepen your awareness of both yourself and the land you are a part of. However you can choose to do just one and it will feel totally self-contained and you’ll have a great experience too.

They're designed to work at multiple levels:

1. You'll have a great morning out with an interesting, friendly group of people, enjoying the landscape and discovering new things about nature, the land and its history with someone who knows the area well.

2. The workshops are highly experiential and you'll learn principles and practices that will deepen your relationship and experience of the natural world around you, and surprise you with discoveries about the powers and possibilities of your own body and mind.

3. You'll gain insights about yourself – your sense of who you are and your purpose in life, and you'll discover ways of living with greater peace, well-being and fruitfulness. The land will be your guide!

The workshops draw on multiple fields of knowledge: NLP, eastern body practices (Chi Gung, Aikido), the wisdom of indigenous peoples, Jungian psychology and phenomenology – all invisibly woven together in a highly accessible, curious and playful manner. Absolutely no previous knowledge, cleverness or experience is needed!

Each workshop will focus on a specific aspect of engaging with the natural world to expand your powers of awareness, perception and experience.

Topics:

Workshop One – Becoming Animal (Sun May 8) You'll explore the limits of your senses and try out animal powers of perception that you probably don’t realise you have.

Workshop Two – Poetry of the Land (Tue Jun 21) – In a highly sensory way, you'll be introduced to an understanding of the history and geology of the land. You will use this as a gateway to awaken and deepen your understanding of, and relationship with, everything around you.

Workshop Three – Archetypes of the Earth (Sun Jul 21) – Explore the relationship between your inner, maybe unconscious, world and the outer landscape, using exercises based on Jungian psychology and indigenous practices to discover universal archetypes and symbols that can add meaning to your life.

Workshop Four – Walking with your Ancestors (Sun Aug 7) – Explore the impact that what you believe has on how you experience the world. You'll learn some of the key elements of the worldview and beliefs of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors and try them on to see how it changes how you experience everything around you.

We'll be led by Alistair Duncan who has a keen interest in our psychological and sensory connection to the land and has lived all his life in Brighton between the Downs and the sea.

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About Alistair Duncan

Alistair is a hard-to-pin-down mix of trainer, therapist and coach with a restless curiosity into the way things are. The focus of his work is helping people to live life richly and deeply - the most fabulous versions of themselves imaginable. Supporting folk in enjoying a deep relationship with nature is a vital part of this passion. His approach is distinctive as he seamlessly merges a range of modern personal development approaches, eastern body-based practices, ancient nature-based wisdom and a smattering of neuroscience in his workshops. He holds the space in every session with warmth, understanding and an infectious energy. He has a Masters degree in Phenomenology and is a Master Practitioner of a highly embodied, artistic form of Neuro-Linguistic-Programming (NLP).

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