Summer Vibe Retreat 2023
Spend a full day relaxing and re-connecting to your body and voice with restorative practices that will energize and help you to let go and free the voice. This retreat is a delightful indulgence in creative expression and communication skills. It promises to leave you happy and chilled out with a deeper understanding of your own voice. Marianne Samuels will be your host for this thoroughly relaxing and inspirational day.
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This year we will be in Matlock in the heart of England in the Peak District National Park. We are blessed to be based at The Flowmotion Studios on Olde English Road just minutes away from Dale Road and Hall Leys park. This beautiful rustic studio is an easy walk from Matlock train station. So if you want to make a weekend of it why not jump on the train and explore the wonders of Matlock and the nearby spa town of Matlock Bath.
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Take a look at last year's event to see what to expect.
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Vocal Yoga
During the retreat you will indulge in invigorating vocal yoga to warm up the voice and expand your range. This delightful healing voice practice uses gentle releasing yoga asanas with sounds and chants to undo any physical tensions that affect the voice.
Poetry and Storytelling
Discover your voice in text delivery with poetry and stories. This session explores the expressive voice to find colour and texture in your connection to words that can really move the listener.
Humming and Chanting
Release your voice with meditating humming and chanting to explore harmonics and resonance that boosts your vocal power and uplifts the soul.
Schedule of the Day
10.00am Arrive and refreshments
10.30am Vocal Yoga Workshop - gently wake up and energise your body with simple sounds and movement for fun, happiness and vocal development too.
This workshop is based on the Heather Lyle Vocal Yoga Method which is popular in LA where it was founded. Marianne is a certified Vocal Yoga teacher and voice coach. Vocal yoga is a fun and rewarding way of releasing your body into gentle yoga poses with easy sounds that help to get a deeper access to the mind and body connection. It leaves you with a freer more versatile voice and a better yoga practice. The light hearted style gets you feeling warm and happy, a great way to start the day.
12.00pm Yoga Nidra - relax, let go and transform yourself by de-cluttering the mind and focussing on what matters to you.
Yoga nidra is a guided meditation to promote deep relaxation. It is also referred to as ‘yogic sleep’ as your consciousness drifts from awareness to subconscious semi sleep state. During the session you lay still in comfort and follow the voice of the instructor as they take your mind’s focus to parts of the body. This in-depth visualisation focusses the mind in the moment with the body for complete serenity. Yoga nidra can be transformational as you set a resolution or ‘sankalpa’ which sets the goal or statement deep in the subconscious mind to make a positive suggestion for change. You come away with a blissful feeling of release and positivity.
12.30pm Mediterranean Lunch - nourish your body with delicious Egyptian vegan and gluten free food.
1.30pm Humming and Chanting - balance body with healing vibrations and allow creative expression through your voice.
This soothing session is all about the healing sounds of the human voice. According to “The Humming Effect” by Jonathan Goldman, Andi Goldman and John Beaulieu; “Research has shown humming to be much more than a self-soothing sound: it affects us on a physical level, reducing stress, inducing calmness, and enhancing sleep as well as lowering heart rate and blood pressure and producing powerful neurochemicals such as oxytocin, the “love” hormone.” We will hum and chant together with sounds overlapping and intoned to make natural harmonies. A truly magical experience.
2.00pm Poetry Workshop – connect to poetic words and inspire your audience.
Explore iconic poems by inspirational writers and discover ways to embody the word and move your listeners. We will look at how the breath and thought are combined to deliver an idea that is full of expression and meaning. Useful tips will be given for speaking in public and addressing an audience. This session will help you to find your voice and boost vocal confidence. Bring a poem of your choice if you wish to practice your spoken word with guidance and helpful feedback.
3.00pm Talk and Walk with Tea - take a break from the studio to refresh listen to some inspirational stories and take a walk in the park.
4.00pm Gong Bath - rebalance the body and heal the mind immersed in the soothing vibrations of the gongs.
We are delighted to have Julia Freer from Gongs by Julia to lead this awesome session. Every Gong Bath is a unique experience, a time just for you, an opportunity to just be. While lying on the floor, wrapped safely in a blanket, head resting comfortably on a pillow, the body begins to relax and the mind slips into a deep stillness. The sounds created by the Gong wash over you, enveloping you, creating vibrational ripples. Calming, soothing, vibrational sound. Slowing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure, steadying the breath…When bathed in sound, the body naturally relaxes and begins to rebalance. A well played gong will resonate with all parts of a persons being - mental, physical and spiritual. Raising the lower frequencies to their higher optimum level resulting in harmony and healing.
