I deliver wellbeing workshops and retreats.
These can take place for a few hours around the kitchen table in a small group or in a village hall or retreat centre over one or two days with a larger group. Participants could be mixed gender and age or women only.
The aim is to engage participants in interactive and practical ways, to see what health balance can look like on a personal level by observing plants and foods that nourish and heal as well as looking at the negative and depleting effects of our modern lifestyle. The interactive style of the workshop helps us all to learn from each other. We all bring our own experience to share at each workshop as well as take away suggestions and improvements for our own health journey. The practical and sensory elements of the workshops help us to process the information on a more instinctual level using our five senses.
Depending on the season, you may find yourself foraging herbs in a nearby hedgerow, picking berries, digging up roots, grinding spices, munching on leaves, fermenting vegetables, sniffing flowers, or tasting herbal vinegars and oils. Simple food dishes can be prepared and tasted during the workshop.
There is always discussion around the theme using relevant handouts offering helpful advice from the time-tested wisdom found in the health tradition of Unani Tibb. The workshops also include some attention and grounding practices and when appropriate; personal reflection, gentle movement, poetry and music.
Past workshop themes
‘Detoxing for Spring’ – foods and herbs that support the body with its natural detoxification processes.
‘Autumn Health’ – preparing for winter and boost the immune system
‘Eat Well & Stay Well’ – eating naturally and seasonally, tips for a busy lifestyle, controlling weight gain.
‘Women’s Health’ – balancing mood and hormone cycles with food and herbs, natural ways to enhance our feminine energy while learning what depletes it.
Bespoke workshops can be on anything health related for your group. Possible themes include healthy lifestyle on a low carbon footprint, a sustainable approach to herbal medicine, weight loss; anxiety and depression, gut health, heart health, fatigue, stress management.
‘Around the kitchen table’ workshops
Good health starts with a good diet and that all starts at the kitchen table (we also include the allotment, garden or patio and windowsill).
These workshops are centred around a few recipes that we make together from scratch using foraged herbs & home grown food. We also make herbal infusions to support the theme and discuss the benefits of the herbs used.
Whole-day wellbeing retreats
These can be are held in larger venues like village halls, church halls, school classrooms with access to a small kitchen and where possible a garden for foraging wild herbs.
They include learning sessions & discussion, food preparation, eating together and learning from a buffet of fresh food.
We take time to observe plants growing either in the vegetable bed or herbs in a hedgerow and what we can learn from them and how we can prepare them and consume them confidently.
Collaborators…
Using locally grown or foraged food and herbs is at the heart of these workshops, so I often including advice from other experts if they can be present especially my partner Dani Pattuzzi, organic grower, permacultarulist, and forest school educator.
Workshops can include advice and content from other practitioners who I regularly collaborate with:
- Catherine Ling Qin, cranial osteopathy & acupuncture (qost.co.uk)
- Fiona Hallas, kundalini yoga & mindfulness (www.facebook.com/joyoflight.co.uk)
- Dani Pattuzzi, Tai Chi & Qigong
- Katie Wood, reflexologist
- Ruth Mwenya, spiritual director & blogger (wordsandmusingsruth-mblogspot.com)
I look forward to future collaborations with our local foraging expert Joanna Richart (charnwoodforaging.co.uk)
What our participants say…
“Today was informative and inspiring. Fun and fabulous food”
“It was amazing to learn all about the food that we eat and how you can make your own instead of buying it in the shops”
“This is just what I needed today. Very informative and inspiring.”
“Today was a great balance of lots of different things- gave me lots to think about”
“I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was surprised that I liked the taste of the different leaves that went into the salad. A really interesting afternoon.”
“Thank you for a wonderful time, I really felt the love and attention you put into today. Really enjoyed the company and the experience. I’m going home to grow more and let it grow wildly too.”
“I really enjoyed walking outside and finding herbs growing and then tasting all the different foods that were recommended.”