3 & 7-Day-Programmes For Couples in France
A relationship isn’t just about learning to be with another it’s also about our ability to use the mirror of the relationship to discover and experience levels of our own being. It’s about taking responsibility for whatever issues the other brings up in us. And it’s about learning to see ourselves and the other with clarity and compassion. This week is about exploring the possibility of new and deeper places in ourselves and each other and of facing areas where we feel stuck, sometimes not sure how to go forward.
Relating at the Deep End!
Often I see couples getting to levels of intense frustration and exasperation with each other, finding it more and more difficult to experience closeness and caring. Sometimes we reach what seems to be an insurmountable impasse, become bogged down in repetitive patterns which seem impossible to resolve. What can we do? Leave and live alone, absorb ourselves in other things, find somebody else? We may think it is best to move on – the trouble is that we take ourselves with us! The next frustrating cycle begins…
We all need to be heard, to speak our truth and it is sometimes much easier to do this with someone outside of the relationship tangle. A fair witness or mentor. Time away from our known environment, with someone who has the clarity to facilitate and support us can be enormously liberating for a relationship.
What will we be doing?
This time away is for those who want to move into a deeper level of relating and to explore a new level of commitment and honesty. There will be several hours of therapy a day some of which will be together and some separately to have individual space to look at personal issues.
We will explore childhood issues and the projections we bring from those to our partner. We’ll look at each persons needs for time alone, and the needs we have to be listened to by the other, to be heard. We will explore the fear of intimacy and of allowing vulnerability.
Each day will include time for personal reflection and meditation and for walks in the countryside. Outside of the hours in therapy there will be assignments and exercises to do together and alone.(You will each have been asked to write a 1000 word life history ahead of the retreat) And there will be time to explore this beautiful region of France – to swim and picnic by the Dordogne river, to laze by the nearby lake.
3-day or 7-day Programme for Couples
The three day and seven day programmes follow a similar structure. The main difference is that sometimes we do need more space and that is something we often don’t acknowledge in relationships. So if you are considering giving your relationship the gift of this retreat time it’s worth also really discussing together which would be better for you – three or seven days. There is sometimes in a three day retreat a feeling of having to cram so much into a very brief time, but equally this may be what is possible right now. Choose what is best for you at this time for yourself and for the relationship – and talk about it together…
Accommodation
The Alive Centre, www.alivecentrefrance.com
Lignerac, Dorgodne, France
You will stay in a gite accommodation very close to the medieval village of Collonge La Rouge and we will meet each day for the therapy sessions and to plan the days progamme and assignments.
Costs
7 Day Intensive, individual timing: £400/€475 per person 3 Day Intensive, individual timing: £250/€300 per person
Booking
To inquire about dates and book email Clare or use the form below or +44-7939-060108 (text only)
Book your retreat: