Beltane Workshop - Reconnecting and Embodying

Beltane falls halfway between Spring Equinox and Summer solstice. It is peak spring, life has responded to the increasing light and warmth with growth, and the growth reaches maximum exuberance at this time.

Many plants start to become fertile and reproduce at this time. Many animals timed their reproduction to be already rearing young by now, with longer, warmer days to find more plentiful food. Beltane has cultural roots in fertility and reproduction, it is natural for the young to celebrate and enjoy their sexuality at this time, feeling invigorated and alive. But more than sexuality and youth Beltane is a celebration for celebrations sake, for sheer exuberance, life-force, abundance, joy and the promise and desire for easier times ahead, whilst the year is still young, vibrant and naive.

At this time we can celebrate our bodies and our embodiment, we are naturally activated, engaged, outward focused, sociable, and we give thanks just because it is good to be alive.

If you have been struggling recently to feel alive in your body, connected to yourself and to the world, and the idea of 'celebration' seems alien to you right now, then you're in the perfect place. Through a series of activities, largely inspired by Joanna Macy's Work That Reconnects, we will gently start to reinhabit and love our bodies, engage with the world we're live in (despite all of its pain and suffering) and start to emerge forth into the year ahead.

The Work That Reconnects is a powerful practice that enables us to connect deeply with our innate wisdom and to reawaken to the interconnectedness of all life. You can expect guided meditations, writing prompts, imaginative exercises and powerful conversations.

The Workshop is offered on a sliding scale of 30-70 GBP. It will take place over 3 hours on Sunday, May 1st (with a 10-minute break in the middle).

Please note that this is an interactive workshop - you should only join if you are comfortable sharing, speaking, and will be able to join us with minimal distractions and interruptions. Due to confidentiality, we won't be recording the workshop. 

About the Wheel of the Year Series

The intense love affair between the sun and the earth, between light and life, is a constant drama of change and response, of expansion and contraction. Gwyneth and Matthew are offering a series of 8 workshops over the year, which are designed to calibrate and align inner-being with outward expression.

More than ever the world is changing, and this constant change can seem relentless, unsettling and unwelcome. By more closely observing and celebrating the tremendous energy of the changing seasons, we can better allow change to flow through us and around us, and meet it with constant creativity, renewal and purpose.

The modern disconnect with nature is apparent all around us. One way that this shows up is as a misalignment with the seasons. We are constrained to try and be the same all year round, and especially in winter this can leave us disaffected and depleted. Modernity requires constant growth and progress, but this linear path is unsustainable, and beginning to unravel all around us.

The wheel of the year is a profound and embodied teaching about cyclical time, about expansion, contraction and rebirth, about constant flux and relentless change. By coming into deeper alignment with the seasons over the course of a year, we can deeply resource ourselves for the dark winter to come, and find new ways to embrace and affect change.

Drawing on ancient wisdom adapted for modern sensibilities, and the tremendous power of the Work that Reconnects these workshops will be offered throughout the year. The format will be the same, but the focus and energy will be entirely different each time, as appropriate to the time of year. You can come to one or two, but each workshop offers new tools and insights to help you live life life in greater connection to the seasons.

What others are saying:

"Matthew and Gwyneth beautifully compliment each other creating and holding sacred space across continents in the virtual world we now inhabit. They powerfully facilitated an experience honoring the cycles of nature - mid-winter dreaming and melting the ice of Imbolc - and weaving the seasons artfully into the deep work that reconnects us to the planet and each other. I felt honored, a sense of belonging and held in my grief and my joy of being human at a very difficult time. Gwyneth and Matthew offer a rare authentic experience greatly needed to meet the life challenges of our time. " Cathy, workshop participant

About the facilitators:

Gwyneth Jones writes, facilitates and coaches around deep adaptation, the Work That Reconnects, connection to nature, and emotional intelligence (to name a few things). She lives in the magical city of Prague (Czech Republic), where she tends her small garden and dreams about opening an ecological centre, where she can teach others how to reconnect to their souls, to the earth, to the land.

She originally comes from the beautiful lands of North Wales, and is also a fluent Welsh speaker.

Matthew Painton is a Deep Adaptation Coach and WTR facilitator helping people take the world predicament deeply into their being so as to find ways to respond appropriately, proportionately and with love.

He has an academic background in Philosophy and Science and has practised and taught meditation for many years. He offers Wider Embraces meditation as a part of his coaching practice. His working career involved different ways to immerse and involve people with nature for mental, emotional, spiritual and physical well being. As part of the Deep Adaptation network he has developed and launched a web environment where all kinds of practitioners can offer their services and develop and cross-fertilise their practices.