Art credit: Makenzi Jones
Nurturing softness for women is one of our most important feminine qualities.
When we step into our softness we are opening our doors to love, acceptance, openness and caring. We then can get to feel our full power and strength, and to feel at peace.
Our feminine yin energy stands for softness, flow, surrender, patience, feeling, caring, compassion and ‘being’.
When that energy is out of balance, it can express itself in focusing on domination and competition, operating alone, being hard, in fear, uncertainty, harshness, false modesty, being busy, being in rush all the time, not standing in your own power, trying to have control over everything, pushing yourself to exhaustion, putting productivity over quality of life, not feeling feminine…
In our society we have learned very early on that being soft ( feminine ) means being weak. Because of that, so many of us have abandoned our softness and replaced it with being cool, strong and independent.
Emotional trauma has caused us to protect ourselves from the pain by trying to be tough.
Unfortunately our efforts to shield ourselves from pain and avoid to expose ourselves causes more harm than good by hardening our hearts and making us harsh.
In our seven day retreat we will re-learn and practice to just Be, to slow down, to get back to our natural intuition, our receptive, emotionally balanced gentle loving energy, our tender power, cultivating softness, gentleness, ease, openness, trust, love and compassion towards ourselves and others.
We’ll examine and heal our resistance to being female on the spiritual, mental, physical and societal level.
We’ll be sharing our stories, experiences and our lessons.
We’ll be diving deep into our core wounds which have stolen so much of our natural feminine softness and tenderness.
We’ll practice to receive, letting go of control and showing our vulnerability.
We will allow ourselves to create, connect and collaborate with other women.
We’ll explore our sensualities, embrace our bodies, listen to our emotions and get in touch with our intuition.
We’ll be questioning, challenging, exploring and healing our thoughts, actions, ideas,( limiting ) beliefs and feelings towards womanhood and also towards other prominent female figures in our family and our culture.
We will be accessing, allowing, expressing, releasing and healing our negative emotions and limiting beliefs relative to anything we identify as female.
We’ll do tailor made meditations aimed specifically to help us reconnect with our softness, gentleness and tenderness.
Organiser, facilitator and host of the retreat is Angelica Horvatić .
GUESTS FACILITATORS:
Ane Paška
Mia Malenica
Shelly Phillips
ANGELICA HORVATIĆ
Angelica is experienced emotional trauma recovery practitioner, inner child practitioner, relationship counsellor, hypnotherapist, completion process facilitator, shadow work and parts work practitioner.
Beside her formal training and education, being an adult orphan & foster care survivor herself, gives her a great understanding and passion to help people heal and overcome their childhood wounds.
Born and raised in Croatia, in last 20+ years she has lived and worked in many different countries all over Europe, UK, Middle East, Australia and travelled even more extensively.
She has worked with thousands of people from all walks of life and from all over the world, in one to one sessions and in the group workshops and retreats.
Her mission is to help people get up and move in the direction they want to go, connected to themselves and others.
”Free your Shadow. LIVE your Truth.” is her motto.
ANE PAŠKA
An artist born in Pag, Croatia, performer and musician, she graduated in dramaturgy at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb (2010) and MA Film and Video at the Academy of Arts in Split (2019). Thanks to her exceptional curiosity and the need to explore different media, she completed numerous performances, acting and vocal workshops, and since 2014 has devoted herself completely to authorial creation and work, combining theatre, music, text, video into new performance forms, creating her own recognizable and authentic style. In addition to the books she wrote which are accompanied by musical performances of the, since 2018 Ane has been performing her now iconic musical performance IMPROVISATION across Croatia, which the audience accepted with great enthusiasm. The founder of the Croatian ‘extrade’, as the producer Marijana Radoš called it, from June 2022 called her musical and stage ritual simply – a concArt.
In our performance workshop we will explore the ways in which we can express our Game – our Performance. Whether it’s drawing, singing, dancing, standing still, whispering, whatever you once or now have felt as your way of communicating that frees you or in which you feel comfortable, so maybe over time it became uncomfortable because you didn’t give yourself a chance to express yourself, you are more than welcome to remember what it’s like to live in your full potential. It is not something that is outside of you or in someone else, it is yours to release the brakes. And at the workshop we will release them with great pleasure, and very often, with a great deal of laughter. You won’t be alone, there are many of us who want to get to know you, further and more than your name, surname and profession.
In the society that we are, you are all invited, regardless of age, gender, experience. Nature is equal in everyone and is waiting to be touched in the Sameness in different ways.
MIA MALENICA
I have been trying to deconstruct the need for identity, but, if I have to identify myself as something in this world that would be an artist.
Passion for music and movement have been dominating my life since I remember having a sense of self. My creative soul, longing for experience and knowledge has made me make some hard choices very early in life. Following my intuition, I have 4 different cities behind me, many goodbyes and beginnings, challenges, lessons, mistakes, success, and failure as a dancer, choreographer, teacher and human being. My body has been exploring itself, I have been exploring my body, and together we have built my strongest and hardest relationship. The one I have with dance.
Dance is kind of a partner that is selfless, patient, and acceptive. It doesn’t have to learn how to love unconditionally. It is capable of it by its nature. It is my safe place and yet the biggest challenger. It makes no difference if I am in my dark or light, its heart is open for me to express myself and ready to communicate, connect and grow. Our love enriches my whole existence.
Dance is my teacher, one that is surprising, creative, fair, and respectful. How to surrender, come back to now, let go of expectations and perfectionism, and enjoy ecstasy of freedom are some of the biggest lessons it teaches me.
I have been lucky to find my purpose in dance and creating art. But I also seem to find my purpose in spreading awareness of a power of dance, that has somehow been forgotten. If trauma is stored in the body, then dance is a healer. This world needs nothing more than it needs healing. This world needs to dance .
In our workshop we will approach dance as a somatic, emotional, and spiritual experience, letting go off the idea that we should reach esthetically pleasing shape. Our focus will be body awareness exercises, with which we will start communication with our body parts and body as a whole, actively listening to stories they have to say. Through individual improvisation and contact improvisation exercises, we will observe where is the tension in our bodies hiding. We will spend time with our tension, play with it, love it, not judge it and finally invite and allow softness to take place.
SHELLY PHILLIPS
A singer, songwriter, musician and producer. Born and raised in a small German village, as a child of a white mother and a black father, from young age left her questioning her belonging in this world. Looking for answers , she had moved to Berlin, following her mother’s roots, where she spent 10 years. This time has strongly shaped her as an artist and human being. Being a female, queer, black artist confronted her with many different experiences, perspectives, communities and challenges, that have transformed the feeling of being lost and “in between” in a strong sense of compassion for herself and others. Working in the Berlin underground pop culture, theatre, collaborating with multiple artists, being a leader of her own band, two EPs, vocal coaching of adults and children are experiences she now has behind her thanks to her hard work and quality.
After having a deep insight in music businesses, she understood that music is not only there to be constructed, but can also be a reflecting and healing space. Expanding time has always been her strongest value for making music. Sounds she creates, are based on frequencies that need time and space. Aware of the rushed world we live in, she is now at a turning point in her career, where she is focusing more on being the person creating the space that music needs to heal in its full power, for expansion and transformation to happen in people that decide to walk that path.
In our workshop we will explore what sound means. This also includes developing a feeling for time and space because thats what sound relies on. We will develop a feeling what the own voice means. Because making sound or singing includes each single muscle in our body we will make our way to the own voice through concious body exercises, group chanting and working with singing bowls.
WHEN?
We start the program on Thursday, June 1st and we end on Wednesday, June 7th 2023
Day by day program will be sent by email to those interested.
VENUE:
Bale, Istria, Croatia
One of the most beautiful Istrian jewels is the small town of Bale, located on the west coast of Istria, 5 km from the unspoiled beaches. The town is only 13 km from Rovinj and 20 km from Pula. This medieval stone town is built on a hill surrounded by endless olive groves and vineyards, and is full of breathtaking views, hidden treasures, art and culture.
Exact venue location will be sent to everyone after the registration.
ACCOMMODATION:
Camping with your own tent at the location of the retreat
or
Accommodation in your own arrangement
PRICE FOR THE WHOLE RETREAT WITH 6 NIGHTS IN A CAMPING ARRANGEMENT AT THE LOCATION OF THE RETREAT
Early Bird: 275 euros per person until 1st of May 2023
Sleepy Bird: 320 euros per person after 1st of May 2023
PRICE FOR THE WHOLE RETREAT WITH FOOD, WITH 6 NIGHTS ACCOMMODATION IN YOUR OWN ARRANGEMENT
Early Bird: 227 euros per person until 1st of May 2023
Sleepy Bird: 272 euros per person after 1st of May 2023
In both arrangements, transportation is not included in the price.
If you would like to volunteer and help out with the retreat, please get in touch, spaces for the work team are limited.
This workshop is non-refundable from the date of purchase, unless in case some new ‘exceptional circumstances’ in these crazy times we are living in since 2020.
REGISTRATION:
Listen to your heart. Come if this feels like the right thing for you. Let it be an Absolute Yes!