Restoration retreat for women in dentistry

Bridget Auchmuty Feldenkrais Practitioner

There's an ancient Chinese proverb: If you receive a gift of great value, it is your obligation to share it many times over. That's how I feel about Feldenkrais, and am looking forward to sharing it with you. After benefitting from Awareness Through Movement classes for about twenty years, and receiving hands-on 1:1 work, I finally decided to do the four-year Feldenkrais Practitioner training, which I completed in 2019. It's a very gentle practice, but can also have profound effects on the way you sit, move, speak, work, and on your very being. Feldenkrais Most of the movements are done lying on the floor, so please wear comfortable, easy-to-move-in clothing. I'll provide mats, but please bring a towel/blanket/sarong to lie on. If you want to know more about the Feldenkrais Method, have a look at www.feldenkrais.org.nz or www.feldenkrais.com.

Jillian Sullivan Masters in Creative Writing

Jillian Sullivan lives in the Ida Valley, writing, teaching writing (in New Zealand and previously America), and working with natural building materials. A mother of five and grandmother of thirteen, she’s published in many genres, from poetry and creative non-fiction to novels. Her awards include the NZSA Beatson Fellowship, the Highlights Fiction Award in America, and the Kathleen Grattan, and Takahe Prize for poetry. Her latest book, Map for the Heart (Otago University Press) is a book of creative non-fiction essays centered around the Ida Valley. www.jilliansullivan.co.nz Writing as a place of connection We will spend time outdoors, walking in silence, awake in all possible senses. After the walk we will settle to write. This is a workshop to help you engage with curiosity in the world around you and through this sustained attention, to expand your field of empathy to yourselves and beyond your bodies to include the living world around you. Current neurological research has shown that focusing our attention on curiously exploring the world ‘can increase the neurological connections in our brains,’ leading to greater wisdom, creativity, ability to concentrate and resilience of memory. Attentive noticing then using imagination to reflect on this experience makes it possible to experience the richness, depth and diversity of life around us and our place as connected into this whole. We’ll write from this place of connection. Understanding the natural world is one of connection and transformation, we realize, too, our lives are connected, and we can transform. We learn that we can use writing and attentive seeing to balance our professional lives, grow a sense of wellness and empathy for ourselves and those around us, and as a refuge when we need it.

Jillian Sullivan 

Janie Shaw Postgraduate diploma in Arts Therapy, Bachelors degree in Education and Psychology

Janie is a Musician and Artist based in Christchurch, and from St Bathans, Central Otago. She has a postgraduate diploma in Arts Therapy, and with a Bachelors degree in Education and Psychology. In her job, Janie supports individuals with their mental wellbeing through creativity. Being diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) at the age of twelve and the negative stigma, and difficulty finding support in rural communities was a driving force that motivated her desire to work in this field. As well as her day job, Janie’s writes and performs her own music, has several singles on Spotify, and finds music as well as art to be a creative coping mechanism; she will share and promote these creative tools for our wellbeing in this retreat. Creativity Workshop This workshop will take place in the mountains overlooking the beautiful Māniatoto. We will focus on creativity as a form of self-care and a creative outlet, and nourish the idea of creative play for adults. The focus is on the process rather than the final product, finding creative flow and positive energy. We will work with pastels, with optional participation in live music. The techniques we learn can be taken away and used to enhance our wellbeing at home and in the workplace. In Shaun McNiff's work 'Imagination in Action: secrets for unleashing creative expression' (2015) he discusses two aspects that suppress creativity; the first is overthinking, which hinders our ability to let go of our minds and bodies, and the second is our self-doubt which shackles our imagination. As children, we play. We experiment and explore. We get paint on our hands and smear them across the canvas. This is art. As adults, we lose our sense of creative play because there is always work to do. Art is deemed indulgent. But art is a form of wellbeing, just like going for a walk or reading a book and we deserve creative play. Mark Geard (Arts Therapist and co founder of ‘Alamandria- The Art of Self Mastery, Mindfulness and Meditation) facilitated a colour and mindfulness workshop with my cohort at Whitecliffe Collage during our Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Therapy. Art Therapy and mindfulness go hand in hand. Through creative art making individuals can find a sense of flow, becoming immersed in their process and allowing engagement with the present (Rapport, et.al, 2014). References McNiff, S. (2015). Imagination in action: secrets for unleashing creative expression. Boston & London: Shambala. Rappaport, L & Kalmanowitz, D. (2014). Mindfulness, Psychotherapy and the Arts Therapies. In L. Rappaport (Ed.) Mindfulness and the arts therapies. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Dr Dorothy Boyd BDS, MDS, FDSRCS(Eng), PhD

Having experienced a work-related crisis to my wellness in 2016, I realised that the journey to recovery involved lots of little steps for healing the heart and mind. Healing alone, however, was not all that I needed – I also wanted to feel restored. That is, to have that which was lost in my spirit (my sparkle) returned. After sharing my experiences with a few trusted colleagues and friends, I could see that I was not alone, and that I could use my experiences, and my love for the beautiful Ida Valley, to help others. And so, the idea of running a “restoration retreat” was born, and the first one ran for a group of wonderful women in 2017. I wanted to keep the retreats grounded, local, nurturing, and the costs low, so they would be accessible as a necessity, not a luxury, for people like me. Dorothy organizes and facilitates the retreat, and warmly welcomes you to her crib in Oturehua.