at Buchov Retreat Centre (https://www.centrum-buchov.cz/) – 1.2.24 – 4.2.24
Why come to this retreat?
If you need a reset in 2024, you can treat yourself to this post-Christmas event that combines individual and group sessions in Psychological Life Skills with Somatic Yoga and Self-Massage practices by expert facilitators.
Understanding and practising skills from these different approaches will prepare and empower you to establish and maintain your own daily practice for greater balance, healing, health, self-discovery, self-development, and fulfillment.
In the evenings we will gather in a circle to share and integrate the day and to stimulate our playfulness and bonding with others. The whole program will be delivered in English and interpreted into Czech, if needed.
This intensive and interactive 3-day Life-Enhancing retreat, which will take place in Buchov (1 hour away from Prague) between 1st and 4th February will allow you to go deep and feel a “before” and an “after” the experience.
Facilitators:
Désirée Gonzalo will offer training in practical Life Skills originating from various psychological approaches, including tools to (1) raise our internal and external awareness through Mindfulness, (2) understand how the nervous system contributes to different bodily, emotional, and mental states, (3) connect and find safety in the body through breathing and relaxation techniques, (4) understand and manage our mental patterns and contents, (5) build a vocabulary of emotions, get in touch with and regulate our emotions (6) identify and modify our unhelpful behavioural habits, (7) explore our interpersonal effectiveness, develop assertiveness, and empower ourselves through presence, (8) educate about human universal needs and how to meet them. These sessions aim to create a dynamic and interactive environment where you can feel safe, accepted, free, and encouraged to experiment with the new skills in your everyday life. During individual session you will be able to consult with Désirée about any mental health matters and receive practical advice from a psychological perspective.
Désirée Gonzalo is a Clinical Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Educator, and Neuroscientist. She is trained and certified in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Schema Therapy (ST), and in Good Enough Parenting (GEP). She also works with the Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) and the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) models. She has worked for over 22 years in public mental health, at various universities, and in private practice in Prague.
Born (1973) and raised in African Spain she has lived in various countries and worked with people from all around the globe. Life’s frequent challenges have helped her to develop a wider vision on human potential and the paths to growth. She is currently based in Prague. She is a mother, daughter, and sister. She likes to spend time in connection with others and with nature, writing, meditating, dancing, practising yoga, and immersed in music.
URL: www.multilingualpsychologicalservices.com; Facebook: Désirée Gonzalo
Iara Lamat will facilitate the Somatic Yoga and Self-massage (Acupressure and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Meridians system) sessions focusing on the principles, procedures and applications while actively practising them, so that you can embody her teachings. During individual sessions you will be able to consult with Iara about any somatic ailments and receive advice from the Yoga, Acupressure and TCM Meridians perspectives. During her individual sessions she will focus on massage for your individual issues and show you personalised remedies. You will then have the knowledge and the practice to be able to listen to your body and respond to your needs more effectively and autonomously.
Somatics is a field of study and practice in the overlapping realms of bodywork, movement, and psychotherapy, focusing on our internal experience. “Soma” means “body” in Greek. In Somatics, we use Mindfulness to bring awareness and understanding to where and how we anchor tension, trauma, and emotions in our body through our personal physical, mental, and emotional habits. In this fashion we move towards releasing old memories and patterns, balancing your body and mind, getting in touch with gut feelings and intuition, and ultimately moving toward a felt sense of being empowered and whole.
Somatics as a movement system and philosophy was originally codified in the West in the 1970s by educator and researcher Thomas Hanna. He designed the practice to promote physical healing and pain reduction through mind-body connection, movement, and touch. The work of Hanna—as well as that of some of his predecessors, including Moshé Feldenkrais—could be considered Western interpretations of Eastern philosophies and practices that work on the subtle energy level, including Tai Chi and Yoga. Rolfing, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, Laban movement analysis, and Body-Mind Centering are all considered Somatic Methods.
Somatic Yoga is an offshoot of these therapies. A Somatic Yoga practice is more intuitive than a standard yoga class, which often asks you to move mechanically—flex this way, extend that way, stretch, hold, push. As we have a very powerful intelligence living inside our guts, our fluids, our bones, etc. we will be working with the “felt sense”. The practice of Yoga Asanas during the Somatic Yoga sessions will be adapted to all levels and will demonstrate ways for you to release tension, pain and difficult emotions from different parts of the body. Each day we will be focus on one pair of organs and one emotion following the TCM Meridians system. The organs work in pairs of Yin and Yang and each pair is associated with a different emotion. If these emotions are “held” for long periods they can manifest as disease. We will also learn about the Meridians, the channels that direct the flow of energy through specific pathways in the body. The early morning Self-Massage sessions will be based on Acupressure techniques and the Meridians system. We will get a glimpse of the emotions connected with the organs based on TCM, build confidence in your inner sensations and voice, and cultivate the quality of touch by sensing and listening.
Iara Lamat was born in Bolivia (1978). Her career started with Contemporary dance in Buenos Aires in the ’90s. She trained with international teachers and started to teach dance. She earned a scholarship to study Choreography in France. After this intense study and dance experience she moved to London, where she was auditioning for big companies. At this time she started feeling disconnected from her purpose. It was at a Yoga studio where she tapped into her “deep, calm waters” for first time and decided to stop dancing to immerse herself in the practice of Yoga and Meditation. After two Vipassana retreats of 10 days each she realised that sitting still was her biggest challenge and her deepest blessing. She started teaching Yoga in 2010 after four years of study. In search of greater internal change and healing, she headed for the Amazon jungle, where she spent 9 months. During this period she became pregnant with her first child, opening up the topic of “trauma stored in the body”. Her next trainings were connected with the understanding the nervous system, Embryology, and educating herself in Somatic movement at the Somatische Akademie in Berlin. Her way of guiding the practice of Yoga is connected with all this knowledge. Iara has been practising Somatic Therapy since 2012. Therapy through touch developed naturally since all the trainings of Somatic movement are connected with deep listening and sensing. Iara has skillful hands and wide awareness.
Facebook: Iara Yoga Nomad
Cost and registration:
The total cost per participant is 8.400 CZK (approx. 342 Euros depending on the exchange rate at the time of transfer). This includes the cost of the program, accommodation for 3 nights and all meals. Please, pay by bank transfer to Czech account number 266018822/0300 latest by 12th January 2024. For international transfers, we recommend using the applications Wise or TransferGo. IBAN: CZ26 0300 0000 0002 6601 8822; BIC (SWIFT): CEKOCZPP; Bank: Československá obecná banka (ČSOB). Registration will close once capacity has been reached. Places will only be guaranteed upon receipt of payment.
Accommodation and Meals
Accommodation is in shared rooms with 2, 3, 4, or 6 beds. If you have a preference for any of these room dispositions or you wish to share a room with other participants, please let us know as early as possible. We will try our best to accommodate your wishes.
Meals will be lovingly prepared by Buchov’s amazing cook. All meals will be vegan.
How to get to Buchov Centrum:
Address: Buchov 2, 257 01 Postupice.
By car (1 hour from Prague): This is located in the Central Bohemian Region, 55 km southeast of Prague, 17 km from the D1 highway (49 km). Attention! There are two Buchovs not far from each other. Choose the one near Postupice. The retreat centre is closest to Čelivo, above which there is a right turn. If your navigation system leads you through Bedřichovice, you will arrive at the wrong place through a difficult dirt road.
By public transport (from Prague): take the S9 train from Prague’s Main Train Station (Praha hlavní nádraží) to Benešov u Prahy, then Bus 455 from Benešov Terminál to Postupice, Čelivo. From there you can take a taxi to Buchov. Otherwise on foot it takes 25 minutes from Postupice to Buchov.
Pre-retreat interview forms
Upon registration you will receive an online interview form via email to assess your personal needs and to gather some information about you as a participant. Any information provided in these interview forms will be kept confidential among the facilitators.
What to bring:
Comfortable clothing, your own yoga mat and a thin blanket to do yoga and to sit on. A notebook to take notes during sessions and to write your own reflections, intentions, plans, etc. There are thin mattresses and cushions available in the seminar room at the retreat centre, which will be used for the sharing circles in the evening.
Timetable of the retreat:
Day 1: Thursday 1st February
17:30: Arrival
18:00: Introduction (program, orientation, scheduling individual sessions): Large Hall in House 2
19:00: Dinner
Day 2: Friday 2nd February
7:00-7:45: Breakfast
8:00-10:30: Iara – Grounding & Landing. Connecting with the inner landscape. Somatic Yoga.
10:30-11:00: Snack
11:15-12:45: Désirée – Life Skills 1: Safe Place, Survival/Coping Strategies, Stress Management
13:00-14:00: Lunch
14:00-15:00: Individual sessions with each facilitator
15:00-17:30: Désirée – Life Skills 2: Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Sleep, Habits, Time Management
17:45-18:45: Individual sessions with each facilitator
19:00-20:00: Dinner
20:15: Sharing Circle
Day 3: Saturday 3rd February
7:15-8:15: Iara – Self massage: Befriending the Body
8:15-9:15: Breakfast
9:30-11:00: Désirée – Life Skills 3: Managing our Thoughts, Identifying and Regulating Emotions
11:15-12:45: Iara – Somatic Yoga: Digestion, processing and metabolizing.
13:00-14:00: Lunch
14:00-15:00: Individual sessions with each facilitator
15:00-17:30: Désirée – Life Skills 4: Expressing Feelings and Needs, Interpersonal Effectiveness
17:45-18:45: Individual sessions with each facilitator
19:00-20:00: Dinner
20:15: Sharing Circle
Day 4: Sunday 4th February
7:15-8:15: Iara – Self massage: Kidneys and Lungs, emotions Fear and Sadness.
8:15-9:15: Breakfast
9:30-11:00: Désirée – Life Skills 5: Guided imagery, Mindfulness (Internal & External Awareness), Mindfulness meditation, Movement meditation
11:15-12:45: Iara – Somatic Yoga, kidneys and fluids
13:00-14:00: Lunch
14:00-14:30: Individual sessions with each facilitator
14:30-16:00 Désirée – Life Skills 6: Universal Emotional Needs, Strengthening our Healthy Adult
16:00-17:00: Sharing Circle
17:15: Departure
Multilingual Psychological Services, Dr Désirée gonzalo 