Pilgrimage to the innermost, Summer Retreat 2024
Pilgrimage to the innermost is a six-day small scale, intensive retreat.
A journey or a pilgrimage where we try to get in contact with the deepest source within oneself and explore how profound changes can subtly and naturally emerge from within, without trying to force any change to come.
A process pointing both towards a richer and more awake everyday life and towards daring to take the next step in the development process of your private and professional life. It’s not a quick fix, it’s part of the long-term, maybe lifelong process it is to grow as a person and a professional. We hope you’ll get tools, methods and insights that can help on the way towards a sustainable direction.
Meditation and the embodied awareness practice Social Presencing Theater (SPT) will be the main practice during the retreat. The two methods are intertwined into a very powerful awareness training. We use the training to explore and dive into the inner capacities and life skills that you can acquire from practicing embodiment and presence. We will refine our capacity of getting and staying in touch with ourselves, others, and nature.
With our routines of practices over the 6 days we strengthen our sense of being present in the surrounding nature, in the social field of participants and facilitators, in our own bodies. To sense deeper into the balance of doing and non-doing we take the two days in the middle of the retreat to take excursions into remote natural environments on a mountain and by the water, thus diving into the yang qualities of taking initiative, stepping forward, persevering in going ahead, and the yin qualities of letting go, persevering in following, letting things happen.
THE RETREAT
You will receive process questions and instructions before you leave home, so that the journey can become an integral part of the process, the journey to the retreat is not just a transport route, but an important part of the retreat/pilgrimage process.
The basic frames will be similar to a meditation retreat. That means that we limit our contacts with the outside world in order to deepen our individual and collective journey. We also structure the day in a way that will support a deepening process. The retreat format is offering an intense and expanded experience of a safe space, where vulnerability, subtility, and complexity can unfold.
The overall structure of the retreat follows the five phases of a change process, as described in the awareness based learning and leadership method Theory U. Theory U will also serve as one of our main theoretical frameworks to navigate the retreat process.
We will be spending time in group as well as having solo time. There will be time for both reflection, dialogue, feedback, and silence.
It will also be an integrated part of the retreat for participants to help with daily duties such as preparing food, making the tables and similar.
Retreat day 1 and 2: we arrive and start the journey down the left side of the U
Retreat day 3 and 4: at the retreat, will be in silence in nature, a yang-day where we weave the practice into walking and a yin-day where we stay in the same place and examine what ”not doing” can offer.
Retreat day 5 and 6: the journey goes up the right side of the U, how can insights be harvested and implemented in everyday life on the other side of the retreat.
We use SPT as we have learned it from Arawana Hayashi, in terms of meditation, Anders will introduce the bidirectional practice which is the main practice in the Dzogchen training, Anders has learned from Jes Bertelsen.
PARTICIPATION
The retreat design allows every participant to work from where they are in their own process and life, right now. The program will deepen and develop individual skills, independent of previous experience with SPT and meditation.
We welcome both previous participants from SPT summer retreats and SPT Deep Dive retreats and even new participants . If you are new, you should either have previous SPT and/or meditation experience. It is an intensive retreat process, therefore it is not suitable if you do not have previous experience, if you are in doubt contact us for a dialogue.
Retreat Team
Your hosts at the retreat will be Anders Fabricius, Andrea Chlopczik and Vivian Fabricius. All three of us have long experience as well as advanced training in SPT and meditation. We also have a lot of personal experience with retreats as well as guiding others in retreat
processes. All of us have a background studying and / or using Theory U and we have practiced different kind of embodied awareness practices.
Anders Fabricius; SPT teacher, teacher on meditation courses and retreats, body worker and gardener. He has more than 45 years of meditation practice and embodied awareness training—Tai Chi and Qigong. Nature has always been an integrated part of his practice. For the past 22 years, Anders has been training Dzogchen meditation with the Danish meditation teacher Jes Bertelsen and is approved as a meditation teacher by Jes Bertelsen. As a teacher, Anders’ main interest is to carry out training in a simple and effective way, without compromising on depth and complexity.
Andrea Chlopczik; SPT teacher. She holds a Master of Arts in literature and language and a Master of Science in applied psychology (earned with a thesis on Theory U, published in 2015). She has a background in theater and a natural interest in observing and cultivating aesthetic phenomena. As a coach and facilitator, she works with individuals, teams, and organizations. A practitioner of Daoist meditation and Qi Kung since 1999, she qualified as an Associate Instructure of the Universal Dao Basics (Manak Chia) in 2007.
Vivian Fabricius; advances SPT practitioner with more than 45 years of meditation practice. She is educated reflexology therapist and have been teaching Qigong and Tai Chi. She is the hostess of the retreat place and will be responsible for practical things like food and accommodation during the SPT Summer Retreat.
INFORMATION & PRACTICALITIES
DATES ● July 30th to August 4th
Starts: July 30th, at 09:00 (9 am). End: August 4th, at 16:00 (4 pm).
Optional: arrive early and/or stay after the retreat.
If you want to spend a few days here before and/or after the retreat, you can do so by agreement and at
Bed and Breakfast prices. Contact us for further information.
LOCATION ● Ulriksfors, Strömsund ● SWEDEN
Nearest airport: Östersund-Åre (OSD) or train to Östersund with connecting bus to Strömsund.
We can help with pick up at the airport or the train station, at cost price (90 minutes drive).
PARTICIPATION in the retreat
Maximum 14 participants.
Please write a few words about your previous experience of meditation, SPT and Theory U in
the application.
Participants will join different practical tasks, such as cooking, to integrate the training into everyday
situations this will also keep the participation fee low.
PARTICIPATION FEE ● €600
The price includes food, accommodation in shared twin bedrooms, Note that the participation fee includes dinner and accommodation from July 29st
A few spots will be available for a reduced price (€500).
When you send your application for the retreat you can apply for one of those spots if needed.
Payment is to be made upon letter of approval.
SIGN UP ● before June 25th 2024 ● info@fabriciusresurs.se
THE RETREAT PLACE
The retreat will take place in northern Jämtland, a sparsely populated forest and mountain district in
Sweden. The houses are traditional Swedish wooden houses and they are surrounded by a big flower and kitchen garden that provides organic food as well as space for contemplation.
The property is not isolated from the outside world, as it is close to the road and there are neighbors around, however the large garden creates a feeling of protection and peace. Within a stone’s throw away you will find wild nature; forest, rivers and lakes. Anders and Vivian Fabricius own and live at the property since 1994, and have worked ever since to cultivate the special qualities of calm and care that permeates the retreat place.
