READING THE BODY - UMBRIA RETREAT

Providing space and material for thought and play towards greater connection to the world we inhabit through expansion of the mind and body.

Jackie and Toby have both developed approaches to understanding the self in the world. Jackie’s work uses the body as a space of exploration and understanding, while Toby employs literature as a platform for discovery.

Each day will include two sessions of yoga and one or two sessions of literature study. This will leave hours across the day for down time: exploring the local area, rest and recreation, reading, swimming, hiking, stretching.

Fees:

• £1,200 single
• £875 shared double
• £785 triple shared
• £750 for non-participating partners

N.B. Travel to the retreat (flights to Rome) and insurance are NOT included.

For further queries and reservation instructions, please contact jackie@seigler.co.uk.

Opening notes will be sent after registration.

THE PLACE

La locanda della Quercia Calante

In Castel Giorgio, in the heart of verdant Umbria, only hills and nature surround the Locanda della Quercia Calante, an old farmhouse, renovated according to natural architectural principles. Eighteen kilometres from Orvieto, in the province of Terni, it is the ideal spot for those who want a fully natural vacation in an environmentally friendly atmosphere. Energizing water pool, holistic spa centre with yoga room, restaurant with local and vegetarian cuisine, fourteen rooms without electromagnetic fields . . .

• Full board in single or double/twin rooms /triple rooms/ quadruple (family)rooms with services and private veranda.
• Two breaks for coffee, tea, herbal teas and fruit each day.
• Use of one of the large yoga studios.
• Free use of the large complex of two swimming pools (300 m2) and one large spa in the park (during summer). Salt filtering systems without chlorine.
• Delicious fresh food, mostly organic with vegetarian and vegan options.
• All rooms are heated in winter and cooled during summer.

Opportunities to visit the beautiful local surroundings, Etruscan and medieval sites, Orvieto, Siena, Todi, Bolsena Lake and thermal springs.

THE YOGA

Jackie Seigler – Yoga teacher

Jackie’s teaching style is drawn from Ashtanga yoga.  Her practice is continually evolving; she describes her style of yoga as modern postural yoga with an emphasis on core stability as well as flexibility. Her goal in teaching is for students across all ages and body types to establish a more regular and fulfilling practice.

Jackie continually reviews, investigates and modifies her self-practice to make her teaching practice more accessible to everyone.

“When one becomes a yoga practitioner you become an eternal student.”

The idea of our retreat together is ‘Reading The Body’: our yoga and meditation practice in the morning will be a great place to begin that work.

The afternoon class will be a combination of Restorative Yoga, Yoga Nidra and technical alignment-based sessions so we can work and build on a specific pose.

Restorative Yoga is all about slowing down and opening your body through passive stretching, the centring of your breath and body, and aligning the physical and mental by practising stillness or gentle movement for extended periods of time. The props assist in helping you to hold poses longer. During the long holds of restorative yoga your muscles can relax deeply. It’s a unique feeling because props, rather than your muscles, are used to support your body. Restorative classes are very mellow, making them a good complement to more active practices and an excellent antidote to stress.

Yoga Nidra, a state of conscious deep sleep, is a simple yet profound technique that unwinds the nervous system and induces complete physical and mental relaxation with inner awareness.

THE LITERARY SALON

Toby Brothers – London Literary Salon Director

The London Literary Salon builds community around the study of great literature. The Salon offers unique and inclusive discussion-based studies of literature – weaving the ideas of participants with questions the books raise about what it is to be human. Carefully facilitated, each study is dynamic and expansive in scope.

Drawing on the success of the LLS, we are expanding the studies by offering retreats that place participants in locales that reflect and open up the literature. The LLS retreat offers a more intensive immersion in the books, while opening the mind to a part of the world illuminated through the beauty of language.

I have selected The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James for this study. It considers Italy as both setting and cultural idea, and explores the struggle for an independent mind to be authentic in the face of stifling cultural roles and relationships.

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

The book is a painted portrait or even a kaleidoscope.  We watch and guess what Isabel will do. But like a portrait, she is (perhaps) caught in a frame and frozen by the artistry – or the terms of her world.

Previous studies have included considerations of gender roles, the negotiated space between self and other, the corruption or freedom offered by privilege, the challenge of looking at nationalities in generalisations (and the tempting ease of doing so), the ways in which humans reveal themselves . . . these Salon discussions are full of wonder: the meeting of the gathered minds and the provoking text form a powerful combination.

Ralph Waldo Emerson seems to echo in the lines and characters of Henry James, Isabel in particular.

“You think of me the child of my circumstances: I make my circumstance . . . I – this thought which is called I, – is the mould into which the world is poured like melted wax. The mould is invisible, but the world betrays the shape of the mould. You call it the power of circumstance, but it is the power of me.”

from Emerson’s essay The Transcendentalist 

Our study may include a consideration of this quote in light of Isabel’s life and choices: how much do we make ourselves? How does the world impose itself on the individual in the act of self-creation?

If you have any questions about this study, please contact us.