Easter Weekend Getaway

A Long Easter Weekend Get Away in Restorative Nature with Trish Swift, Sharon Benatar, and Pippa Cope

This weekend is open to all – families, individuals, friends, teens, and kids are welcome. There will be separate activities for adults and children/teens in the mornings, and combined activities or free time in the afternoons and evenings. The retreat will be based on the Tara Rokpa Therapy approach to healing, maturing the mind, and compassion.  You have the option of arriving on Thursday afternoon in time for supper at 6 pm (4-nights), or to join in from Friday morning (3 nights).

Programme:

Kids and Teens Morning Programme

This will be guided by Pippa Cope and will include a variety of activities in nature, exploring and playing with natural elements, art materials, painting, and clay. There will also be some physical activities such as swimming and ball games.
The children/teens are welcome to bring some of their activities or games from home to share.
Sharon will offer a simple puppet/doll-making workshop.
There will be our traditional Easter Egg hunt and games on Easter Sunday.
If there are enough children and teens, separate age-related activities may be offered (with some assistance from parents).
In the afternoons and evenings, the parent/s will be responsible for their children/teens.

Babies and toddlers will need to be cared for by their parents/caregivers. Please ask us about discounted rates for caregivers not taking part in the facilitated activities.

Adults Morning Workshops

Facilitated by Trish Swift, Sharon Benatar, and Pippa Cope. During these workshops, we will be exploring our community and/or family of inner selves, and our outer family/relationships using our creativity and ingenuity. Trish and Sharon will guide us in looking into how they interact together and influence each other, using the analogy of the multi-layered Japanese or Russian dolls, where the dolls nest into each other, waiting to be discovered.
Family can be seen in the context of the traditional nuclear, as well as extended families, friends, urban tribe members, community and group members.
Activities will include reflections, visualisations, playing and exploring with art materials and natural objects, and deep guided relaxations. There will also be some discussions.
This a personal explorative journey, with some group interaction in a safe space.

Afternoon and Evening Activities

This will be your own free time! Walk in the beautiful Tara valleys and hills to the Waterfall, swim in the Groot Marico Eye “Die Oog” (a natural wonder), practice mindful movement with Pippa, star-gaze, bird-watch, or join in with singing, music (bring your instruments if you have), and story-telling around the campfire. Or feel free to just relax and do nothing, or to sleep or read, if you have been busy, exhausted, or stressed out in your daily life.

Some additional activities may be offered by participants.

Facilitators:

Trish Swift B.Soc.Sc., MSS, M.Sc. Trish is a registered clinical social work therapist and is currently working in private practice in Harare. She has lectured at the University of Zimbabwe and is currently the Senior Tara Rokpa Therapist representing Africa. Traveling extensively throughout Southern Africa and Europe, she is a widely sought after and much-loved facilitator and therapist.

Sharon Benatar is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice. She has facilitated life skills training and personal development through workshops and individual therapy for over 25 years. Sharon is a senior helper /certified facilitator of “Learning to Relax”, and “The 5 Elements” courses (Tara Rokpa Therapy/ Back to Beginnings, a therapeutic approach developed by Ven. Akong Rinpoche). She has run residential workshops at Emoyeni retreat Centre (Magaliesburg) for over 20 years. She facilitated the first UJ Honours Art Therapy studio work in 2020. She has facilitated mentor workshops in The More To Life programme. Sharon draws inspiration from Eastern/Western approaches to healing, personal growth, and finding inner and outer balance. This is supported by the creative arts (art materials, image/symbol and poetry), deep relaxation and mindfulness/meditation.

Pippa Cope offers mindful movement, including somatics and Donna Farhi-inspired yoga. She has been involved with the Tara Rokpa Therapy process for 20 years as a senior helper in South Africa and Zimbabwe and has offered workshops in Canada. Pippa has been resident at TRC for over 20 years as jack of all trades. She previously spent her professional life working as an Occupational Therapist, Social Worker and Community Development manager.

Cost:

We try to keep the costs as low as possible to allow families as well as individuals to attend. Accommodation is allocated according to confirmed bookings, and preference.
The costs include all meals from supper on Thursday (4-night stay) or lunch on Friday (3-night stay) to lunch on Monday. The fees include a contribution to the facilitators and an optional R60 environmental fee for adults but exclude staff tips.

Contact us for more options including work exchange – don’t let a lack of finances stop you from participating.

To Book:

Please click here to fill in our online booking form for each adult attending. Let us also know the names and ages of any children attending.

A 50% deposit will confirm your booking.