NURTURING HOPE IN A TIME OF FALLING LIGHT
A weekend workshop in Oxford with Nick Totton
May 22nd-23rd 2010
Cost: £130 (£110 if received by March 15th; two cheap places for activists)[/size]
How do we accept the unacceptable? How do we come to terms with the imminence of irreversible change facing our world? Suddenly it feels as if time is running out, and that no one knows what to do – or rather, it’s obvious what to do, but we seem unable to do it.
This workshop, at a brightening time of the year and a darkening time for the planet, is a space to think, feel and talk about these issues that are so close to our hearts. A space to grieve, rage, feel terrified, immobilized; to find creative energy and to move forward. We can expect to explore the following themes and others:
• Our own sense of powerlessness and deep grief about the imperiled state of our planet.
• Reconnecting with our love for the earth and the other-than-human, and gaining sustenance from it.
• Exploring how our own ailments might be a deeply empathic response to the earth.
• Working out individually and collectively what we need to hold on to and what we need to let go.
• Celebrating the Spring and Beltane, supporting ourselves to act skillfully in the face of what comes.
Using inside and outside spaces, ceremony will be an important part of the workshop.
Nick Totton I have been a body psychotherapist for nearly thirty years, and have published a number of books including ‘Body Psychotherapy: An Introduction’, ‘Psychotherapy and Politics’, and ‘Press When Illuminated: New and Selected Poems’. Concerns about the environment have been the backdrop to my adult life, and are increasingly important in my therapy practice. I live with my partner near Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, teaching and practicing Embodied-Relational Therapy and growing vegetables. For more, see http://www.erthworks.co.uk.
Venue The workshop is non-residential at Grove House, Iffley Turn, Oxford, a regency villa previously owned by Graham Greene. It has recently been entirely renovated by Polly McLean and is now a showcase for environmentally sustainable building practice, which participants will be able to inspect if they wish. It has an outdoor hot tub.
Booking and Information To book contact Nick, 31 Nest Estate, Hebden Bridge HX7 5BH, (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 01422 886 525; deposit £40, cheques made out to Nick Totton.