Bring Them All In

A Four Day Residential Retreat with Colin

 for the 'Exploring Being' Community

Date: 19th - 23rd May 2021

We human beings are usually not as simple and straightforward as we would like to think. We are complex systems of interacting parts with a variety of emotions and motivations. These parts are natural divisions in the psyche, sometimes called subpersonalities. Each has its own perspective, beliefs, feelings, memories, and motivations, and may be viewed as internal ‘characters’, some in pain, others trying to protect us from feeling that pain.

Each part gets activated at certain times. When in a large group of strangers, a part of us may feel shy and want to withdraw. When we feel threatened or intimidated, a headache may come on because a part is clamping down on the muscles in the head or neck to defend against terror. Any feeling reaction, thought sequence, behaviour pattern, or body sensation can indicate that a part has become active. And all this is going on largely outside our awareness. All we know is that often we are anxious, depressed, frustrated, or confused; we don’t know why, and we often feel helpless in the face of it. Relating with this can be difficult because we hold onto a self-image or identity that can’t penetrate to the richness and turmoil within, and can’t bring love into our darkest places.

In this journey of coming home to ourselves, as we are, it is essential that we meet and welcome in these parts – starting to form a trusting relationship with them.

On this retreat we will explore all this by working directly with these parts on a ground of Presence. We will befriend them, ask them questions and listen to their responses (which may be in words, images, body sensations, emotions, or direct knowing). We will be learning experientially about any feelings that we had been protected from internally, and starting to recognize when we have become identified or overwhelmed by parts of ourselves, and find support to come back to Presence. It’s a safe, organic process that unfolds in its own time in a unique way for every individual.

Residential Retreat

Venue:

Fully Residential Retreat usually at Droridge Barn with Colin or Fanny

Dates:

19th - 23rd May 2021
   starts 6 pm on the first day; finishes at 5 pm on the final day

Costs:

Fixed Payment: £200
plus
Suggested Donation: £200    (or something between £120 and £280)

SIGN UP HERE

The Guest House

 by Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

A teaching story translated by Coleman Barks