Coming Home
Knowing our Belonging to the Earth
Saturday 11 May 2024
11am-4:30pm
Church Farm Meadow
Private Nature Reserve
Bramfield, Suffolk
“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.” – Mary Oliver
You are invited to pause and gather in creative community, to take your place as part of the meadow and sink into its ecosystems. We can soften, let go, and delight in the wonders of the season. We will meet nature within and without, in the hope of knowing ourselves and the natural world more deeply.
On this day of outdoor mindfulness and ecotherapy practice we will explore and embody our strand in the web, invoking receptivity, reciprocity, and reverence. The practices encourage us to allow all of our senses to ease into the natural world, filling us up with the aliveness and beauty of spring. Our intimate connection with nature changes us and opens our curiosity to what needs attention within us.
The day will include:
Meditation and reflection
Embodiment and Mindful walking
Sensory and imaginal practices
Creativity to digest our experiences
Sharing in a supportive community
No previous experience necessary, just a willingness to sit quietly.
All are welcome.
Facilities: We will be on the nature reserve therefore facilities are very simple to minimise impact on the wildlife. We have a large yurt in case of showers but we will spend most of the time outdoors. There is a compost loo and water.
Contribution to Ecotherapy East: £60, £50, £40- choose what you can afford. If this is too high for you and you would like to join us, please get in touch.
Spaces limited to allow for a small, connected group.
Tea and coffee and biscuits provided.
To book, click here to email: ecotherapyeast@gmail.com
Travel: We encourage car sharing, use of public transport or bicycles.
Parking: Parking is available at Bramfield Village Hall for a small charge of £3 per vehicle.
We have 4 spaces by the meadow for people with limited mobility.
Buses: The workshop is timed to work around when buses arrive and leave Halesworth. The Charcoal Line 40, 41, X41 runs from Norwich to Halesworth once an hour, and Bus 521 goes from Halesworth to Bramfield. All Suffolk buses timetables can be found here: https://www.suffolkonboard.com/ways-to-travel/bus/bus-timetables/
Address and directions will be provided after booking.
Facilitators:
Robert Black is an integrative counsellor, supervisor, ecotherapist and expressive arts therapist, working in private practice. He worked at Norfolk Mind as a trainer of Mental Health First Aid, Mindfulness, Self-Compassion and Active Hope courses for over a decade and has been running workshops in the natural world since 2016.
Sebastiana Black is an Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist, ecotherapist and Mindful Self-Compassion teacher. She practises Buddhism, which helps her work with climate distress. She is a co-founder and director of Ecotherapy East, which actively contributes towards ecosystem regeneration and building a community around the meadow that they steward. She is passionate about deepening our sensitivity to our inner world, Earth wisdom and the larger ecosystems in which we belong. She enjoys writing songs and poetry inspired by the more-than-human world.
