Soul Festivals & Healing Retreats

What happens at a soul festival?

A soul festival is the lighter end of what we do. A day of sound, movement, shared food and practices done together rather than alone — closer to a celebration than to therapy, and a good first experience of the community.

People come for the atmosphere and often leave with something they were not expecting. Doing this work alongside other people, and seeing that everybody there is carrying something, is its own kind of relief.

What happens on a retreat?

A retreat is quieter, smaller and goes considerably deeper. Two or three days away from the city, with a structure that usually runs something like: mornings for grounding and meditation, afternoons for the more demanding work — inner child sessions, cold immersion, sound — and evenings for rest, food and unstructured time.

There is deliberately less on the schedule than a first glance suggests. The gaps are not filler. Most of what actually changes on a retreat happens in the hour after a session, not during it.

Why does a residential format work when weekly sessions do not?

Two reasons.

The first is continuity. Weekly work is repeatedly interrupted by ordinary life, and each session spends some of its time re-establishing where you had got to. Over three days nothing gets interrupted, and things surface that would take months to reach otherwise.

The second is distance. Your patterns are held in place partly by your environment — the same rooms, the same phone, the same demands. Step out of it for three days and the pattern loosens on its own, before anyone does any work at all.

Who comes on these?

A wide mix, and mostly people arriving alone. Professionals who have hit a wall, people going through a separation or a bereavement, and people who simply noticed they had not stopped in several years.

You do not need prior experience of meditation or healing work. A meaningful share of every group has never done anything like it before.

What is included, and what should you bring?

Accommodation, all meals, and every session and practice are included; travel is usually your own. Full details go out with each announcement, since locations vary.

Bring comfortable clothing, something warm for the evenings, and a willingness to leave your phone in your room for large parts of the day. That last one is optional, and it is the thing people most often say they were glad of.

When is the next one?

Dates are announced a few weeks ahead on Instagram and by email to anyone who has enquired. Groups are kept small and retreats usually fill, so it is worth putting your name down early — doing so commits you to nothing.