Women's Spring Poetry and Yoga Woodland Weekend with
Vanessa Lampert and Cae Ellison
‘Find your inner life and protect it. Protect it at all odds’: Mary Ruefle
Nurture yourself in this poetry writing and yoga retreat, practices of renewal designed to elevate the meditative qualities of each other. Indulge in forest bathing, an eco-spa, optional body work and massage, and fully-catered menu of delicious vegetarian food.
3rd - 5th May 2024
Relax, restore, and unwind.
Women's Spring Poetry and Yoga Woodland Weekend
An In-Person Poetry and Yoga Retreat with Vanessa Lampert
and Cae Ellison,
3rd - 5th May, 2024
Fancy taking off into the woods for a while? Unwind, nurture yourself, and reconnect with your mind, body and spirit in this women only, eco-retreat set among the restorative woodland, paddocks and streams of the Wye Valley, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
We offer a programme of workshops designed to enhance the body-mind connection and elevate the meditative qualities of each other: expert-led yoga, poetry writing and forest bathing workshops with all tuition suitable for complete beginners to intermediate levels.
Expect time in the wood fired eco-spa, including hot tub, plunge pool, and sauna, a session of forest bathing, a fully-catered, delicious menu of vegetarian foods, campfire evenings sharing readings, and affirmations (or time for quiet, solo contemplation if you prefer) to help you relax, renew and integrate your whole body-mind.
There are also additional, optional luxury spa therapy treatments on offer, including Thai or Swedish full-body massage, facial uplift massage, foot massage, and acupressure from a qualified practitioner to make your weekend even more uplifting and, dare we say it, more indulgent?
Accommodation will mainly be in the great outdoors (but don’t worry if you’re not a seasoned camper – we have more luxurious glamping options!). You can choose to stay in a yurt shared with one other, a bell tent you’ll have all to yourself, your own campervan, or keep it simple and enjoy nights under canvas in your own trusty tent. There is one, shared, twin room-with-a-view as an option for those who prefer to sleep inside.
Places will be capped at thirteen women. You’ll leave blissfully reconnected with nature and with yourself, body and spirit.
Join us for this exciting weekend retreat. Group poetry-writing workshops and yoga each day (designed for beginner to intermediate levels) will inspire your creativity and teach you some new techniques to renew both practices.
Saturday evening is set aside for a wood-fire eco-spa experience. You will also be treated to campfire circles each evening and a short poetry reading and Q&A by Vanessa Lampert. Additional treatments and body work will be available from Cae Ellison.
The retreat will draw to a close on Sunday mid-afternoon with a celebration of the work you have created during your week with us. Whatever stage you're at with your yoga or poetry-writing practices, this will be an inspiring week to recharge the imagination and to fuel a host of new poems. New and emerging poets are encouraged!
The fully catered weekend includes: 6 workshops (including a forest bathing session), an eco-spa evening, a poetry reading, campfire evening events.
Prices vary from £375 - £595 depending on the accommodation you choose and places on the retreat will be capped at twelve (plus one bursary place with 25% off for a poet either on a limited income and/or on means-tested state benefits).
On all bookings, a non-refundable deposit of £125 is required to secure your place. An installation plan is available for ease of payment.
Contact cae@yogabliss.co.uk to book. We're delighted to help with queries or requests, including further information about the accommodation and how to apply for the bursary place.
Our Practitioners:
Vanessa Lampert’s work is most recently published in Magma, The Moth, The Oxford Times, Finished Creatures, Five Dials (Hamish Hamilton), Poetry Wales, The London Magazine, Under the Radar, Oxford Poetry and Strix. She runs workshops nationwide for adults and as a volunteer in schools. During the pandemic she taught poetry to schoolchildren in India via Zoom.
In 2023 she was commissioned to write the lyrics for an Unthanks song dedicated to the NHS and performed on their winter tour.
Since 2020 Vanessa has won the Café Writers prize, the Edward Thomas prize, the Sentinel prize and the Ver Poetry prize (twice). She has been placed in many other prizes including
being commended in the Troubadour, Magma, Bridport, Verve, and National Poetry Competitions.
Vanessa’s full collection ‘Say It With Me’ was published by Seren in 2023. Poems from the collection have been published in the Daily Telegraph poem of the week and the Forward Prizes anthology 2024.
Cae Ellison discovered her love of yoga regularly attending a buzzing Ashtanga Yoga class, led by a creative teacher with lots of enthusiastic students. The discipline yet moving meditation of this dynamic practice incorporating breath with movement, helped her to re-focus on her health and de-stress after busy days running her own interior decoration company. Her passion for yoga grew as she explored classes in Kundalini, Hatha, Vinyasa Flow, Yin, Partner and Iyengar Yoga. She has 450 hours Royal Yoga Alliance teacher training. Cae has travelled extensively and continued her yoga training in India and Thailand, where she also qualified in Thai Massage, loving its connection of yoga with bodywork as a healing system. In Costa Rica in 2008, she became a certified RYA Yoga Instructor at the Nosara Yoga Institute. This is something she had never realised was in her destiny, but has been one of the most special & liberating experiences of her life. Now guiding her students through a flow of postures, she teaches us to listen to our bodies, noticing how we feel in the moment, tuning in & moving with the breath to feel good.
Cae's love for massage grew from her understanding of yoga, the power of touch and its beneficial healing properties. She has helped coordinate yoga & wellness holidays in several different countries, especially Ibiza where she worked as a professional Yoga Teacher & Massage Therapist (in Spanish & English) for participants on the island. Her formation of Yoga Body Flow Ibiza blossomed from her love of healthy living, the sun, the sea, wellness & Spanish vitality for life! https://www.yogabodybliss.co.uk/
