To Retreat

For me, to retreat is to move out of engagement with what is expected of us. To retreat is to step out of the buzz of trend and withdraw into a place that, as far as I know is a deep listening with the creative spirit as a friend. It's a place of wonder and boundaries.

I remember the first time I first took a retreat in this way. I was 18, it was the Easter holidays and I was on my foundation course at Jacob Kramer Art Collage in Leeds. All of the people in my flat had gone home for the holidays. I had the house to myself. I was in the middle of portfolio building to apply for a BA in Fine Art. I wanted to go to Cardiff. I spent two weeks locked away with note books, oil paints, boards and canvases and a pile of books on the St Ive's painters. I went deep into form, line, emotion and colour and experienced the most deeply satisfying productive flow. I didn't really want to return to the world as we know it. But I did and the echo and power of these two weeks gave me confidence that took me to Cardiff and has subsequently set up a chime of common sense that has led me into regular retreats to listen to the muse.

So this January I will be going to the Isle of Arran to lead a winter retreat workshop in a big house with lots of creative space. On this wonderful island that has so much to share we will turn on the seasonal tap that leads directly to the muse of winter awakening to the flow of something bold, radical and new. At Imbolc time, the power of the snowdrop as the plant that births spring out of winter is symbolic and absolute. As Winter and the eve of Christmas draws in as I am writing this, it is the knowing that the promise of the end of January in the subtle turning of the wheel is there that gives me hope and memory of what follows the wasteland of early winter and what makes the patience of January so worthwhile.

To retreat is to move out of engagement with what is expected of us and withdraw into a place where listening occurs through many realms. Creative spirit is a friend and a guide. This place of wonder and boundaries requires us to claim our right to put creativity first.

This is the second time I have retreated with a group - the last time was on the Isle of Lewis last March. It was incredible to meet with the creative knowing of each site and alignment and bear witness to what came through each person. At the end of January, on Arran I am confident that we will go even deeper and share something extraordinary that will bring even more wonderful changes and openings into life.