“TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE”
A Yoga, Writing, Creation and Transformation Retreat in the Flinders Ranges
With Sally Riddell (ruby 9 yoga) and (Dr) Verity Laughton
WHEN: May 2 - 7th 2022
SOLD OUT
WHERE: Alpana Station, Blinman
Central Flinders Ranges
South Australia
COMMITMENT: $2700 single
$2400 share
BOOKINGS & INFORMATION:
Contact SallyThis sublime retreat offers you time and space to immerse yourself in a remote and extraordinary landscape, to connect with the elements, to explore nature, and to experience the calm and harmony of a supported personal journey.
Join Sally and Verity for 6 days and 5 nights of yoga, art, writing, walking, and creating amidst the wonders of the amazing Flinders Ranges in South Australia. The retreat provides the opportunity to engage your body and mind through yoga, chant, and meditation, to explore your creative self through writing, to expand your imagination through story, and to nourish yourself through walking this sacred country.
By immersion in and engagement with the natural rhythms of this unique world you will be inspired and transformed. This is a soulful, intimate adventure (8 participants only)
Your booking is confirmed when we have received both your $200 deposit and your signed indemnity forms. Final payment for this retreat is required by March 10th, 2022.
BOOKINGS & INFORMATION:
The Flinders Ranges is a region of astonishing beauty, a landscape of primal magnitude. The day starts crisp and cool with the dawn light. The earth pulses red and gold, and the songs of the land hum through ground, trees, bushes, and grasses, echoed by the large and small creatures of place. At day’s end, the fiery sun descends, and the night sky reveals the brightest of stars filling layer upon layer of dark, endless space.
Here the earth holds her own stories – stories in the rocks themselves, stories of ancient creatures, stories of the peoples of this land. Through local custodian Kristian Coulthard, we aim to bring those stories to you, and for you to evolve your own.
Alpana Station, near the tiny township of Blinman in the Central Flinders Ranges will be our home – the inspiring base from which we will venture and to which we’ll return. On some days we will walk and explore the surrounding region, our own steps following those of generations of others. On other days, we will base ourselves closer to ‘home’ connecting with features of the immediate environment.
Each day will start with a morning yoga practice with Sally to prepare you for your daily activities. Later, Verity will guide you through writing and story-making experiences and writing exercises.
Each day will also hold an adventure in landscape exploration, art, chant, song, (a little!) dance and (much) imagining.
These will be mostly prepared activities but there will be room for spontaneous creative impulses too.
At the end of the day there will be a meditative practice. And under the stars, before bed, Sally or Verity will tell you a story.
Photo: Ian Hoben
ABOUT YOUR HOSTS, TEACHERS AND GUIDES:
Sally Riddell (Ruby 9 Yoga) is a Yoga Teacher, Yoga Therapist and teacher of Vedic Chant from Perth, Western Australia who has trained in the tradition of T. Krishnamacharya. Her inspirational and inclusive practices stem from the teachings of T. Krishnamacharya, following the guidance of her personal teachers T.K.V. Desikachar, his family and the teachers from the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram.
Sally uses all the tools of yoga in a way that includes each person in a manner appropriate for them. Her personal style of teaching is inspired by the resonance of chant, the wonder of storytelling and the relevance of metaphor. She is passionate about the power of yoga, Vedic Chant, and meditation to guide and inform our daily life and the ways in which our lives intertwine with the rhythms of the natural world. Sally has led walking and yoga retreats in Western Australia, Spain, and India.
“Thank you for an amazing weekend of yoga and healing. The Metamorphosis Retreat was very enjoyable, nourishing my mind, body and soul. Sally is a fabulous yoga teacher and catered to all levels of experience. Walking the labyrinth and the amazing food were my highlights.” Toni Limmer
“This was an awesome experience. A retreat created and presented with such love and professionalism” Robyn Melican.
Dr Verity Laughton is an award-winning Adelaide-based playwright of more than 30 professionally produced works. Her plays have been produced locally, nationally and internationally and include work for mainstage drama, dance, puppets, and radio. She has also worked for television and video production. Her most recent works are the verbatim theatre piece Long Tan, produced by Brink Productions and published by Currency Press, and The Red Cross Letters, produced by the State Theatre Company of South Australia and published by Five Senses Education, alongside prose, poetry, and academic articles. She is currently working on a new commission for the STCSA.
She completed a PhD in political theatre at Flinders University in 2020. In late 2019/2020 she also completed a four-month project to research and write a report on the creative industries in regional South Australia for the Legatus Group. She is a member of the playwrights’ group, 7-ON [http://sevenon.blogspot.com/]. Her works have been published by Currency Press, Phoenix Education, Federation Press, Omnibus Books and others. She has taught creative writing at community, industry, and tertiary level throughout her career.
‘Dr Verity Laughton, who is clearly quite the master of the craft, blowing us away with her deft and fluid ability to create a psychologically thrilling encounter all with the minimal number of brushstrokes.’ Helen Barry Australian Stage
“A rare and pleasurable work that manages technical brilliance, cultural insight and enchantment all in one go.” Stephen Dunne Sydney Morning Herald
Kristian Coultard
Kristian is an Adnymathanha man who was born and grew up in the Flinders Ranges.
From a lineage of artists and guides, Kristian combines his knowledge and skills. Kristian knows his country, he knows the languages and the tales, he knows the mythology and geology, the flora and fauna and he is enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge and love of his place of birth.
Kristian has worked as a guide in the Wilpena and Blinman regions for many years, Has works as a teacher for schools and universities as well as advising government and ecological organisations.
This region is homeland country for the Adnyamathanha people, the Central Flinders Ranges was and is a meeting point for several Aboriginal tribes. The region is rich in songline stories, and the landscape holds and amplifies the physical, mental, cultural, and spiritual narratives of these peoples.
“ A lot of people don’t respect something because they don’t understand it. If they get told the right story, they’ll respect it.”
We are so lucky to have Kristian as our guide and teacher for a day. He will welcome us to country, tell us stories under the stars and take us on a walk of wonder.
BOOKINGS & INFORMATION:
SOLD OUT
ABOUT OUR ACCOMMODATION: ALPANA STATION – BLINMAN
Alpana Station is just a few kilometres out from the small township of Blinman in the remote Northern Flinders Ranges. The Shearer’s Quarters, where we will be staying, look comfortable if functional in the photographs. But they’re much more appealing, as we found to our delight on our reconnaissance and research trip in early 2021.
The quarters are spacious overall, with a great atmosphere, clean and private rooms, a choice of venues for other activities, an excellent kitchen and an outdoor fire pit and barbeque, all overlooking a stretch of tree-studded riverbed, and a long veranda for shared or reflective moments.
The beds are comfortable, and the rooms clean and welcoming. Well-maintained bathrooms and showers complete the offering. If you don’t wish to pay the linen fee* ($25.00), you will need to bring a sleeping bag (and possibly hot water bottle!). The hosts, David and Sally are passionate about their corner of the world, keen to make sure that a visit here is comfortable, inspiring, and filled with wonder and adventure.
FOOD :
We offer nourishing, healthy, wholesome vegetarian food that will support you in all activities. (Please let us know of any personal dietary requirements).
Each day will begin with a plentiful, delicious breakfast.
Most lunches will be on the wide, cool outside tables at Alpana. They will include a variety of soups and salads, frittatas, breads, dips, and fruit. Sometimes we may take a picnic lunch
with us as we explore the landscape around us.
And in the evenings, we will enjoy a well-earned, nutritious, and delightful dinner.
All meals will be provided from a caterer and/or prepared onsite at our own kitchen.
There will be plenty of water and juice, and a little alcohol for the evening meal if you want it.
ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES:
The days are designed to link you with the land, to deepen your appreciation of your own spirit, and to open the doors of your personal creativity. Each day a new adventure and each night as we sit around the fire pit, a new story under the stars. Creativity and the detailed attention that leads to transformation is the theme.
We will start each day with a yoga practice before going on to writing activities and landscape exploration, closing the day with a meditation practice, dinner, and storytelling.
Sally will guide you through yoga, meditation, art, and chant practices. She is an accomplished teacher able to lead students of different levels of ability and experience.
Verity is the writing and story specialist. Through her expertise you will explore and develop your writer self through an understanding of genre and form, and, for those who choose,
Verity will work with you to develop a personal writing project that you can either bring to the retreat or start and develop during the period we spend together. All practices and activities will awaken you to creativity and transformation.
Activities include a group walk to Blinman pools– a walk of discovery of the local flora, fauna, geology to weave with your own stories. Another activity features local Adnyamathanha teacher, Kristian Coulthard who will tell us tales of country and from the dreamtime and paint the night skies with stories from between the stars. On yet another, the extraordinary Blinman Mines will provide the site and backdrop for the exploration of sound, chant, and song – a ‘Sound Bath’ of extraordinary quality where Sally will introduce you to the power and wonder of voice and sound through Vedic Chant.
Some practices will be indoors, others outside. Within the framework of your experience will be times for quiet reflection, occasions for nourishment and transformation for body, mind, and spirit. The sacredness of our environment infuses every aspect of this retreat.
YOUR INVESTMENT INCLUDES: 5 nights and 6 days
Yoga daily
Meditation daily
Writing daily
Storytelling
Art and craft – materials for activities
Walking through countryside
An evening of star gazing and stories
A tour of the Blinman mine and sound bath within
Accommodation
Tour/presentation with Kristian
Meals – breakfast, lunch, morning and afternoon snacks, dinner (special dietary requirements accommodated, please let us know prior to retreat)
Refreshments and limited alcohol
Return to and from Adelaide to Alpana Station and to any sites nearby.
NOT INCLUDED
Optus is the only network available and only in the township of Blinman.
There is no WiFi
Personal Insurance – we recommend that you take out insurance stipulating that you will be hiking in the Flinders Ranges.
Any air fares to and from Adelaide.
Food and drinks in transit between Adelaide and Blinman.
Hiking clothing and boots, walking poles, waterbag, daypack.
BACKUP SUPPORT:
Sally holds a current Senior First Aid Certificate and will be carrying a substantial first aid kit, as well as satellite phone and GPS locator for emergencies.
In the unlikely event of a medical emergency, there is an ambulance in Hawker (60km away), emergency services personnel in Leigh Creek and Hawker, and the Royal Flying Doctor service is available.
WHAT WE REQUIRE FROM YOU:
We require that you have a reasonable level of fitness, and that any medical issues have been discussed and cleared by your doctor. Sally is happy to discuss this element in more detail if you require.
Attached to our agreement is a medical indemnity form that you must fill in and return to us.
We also require that you sign an acknowledgement of expectations. We will send this to you at your time of booking.
We request that you have insurance and that you provide us with insurance details prior to travelling. Banks often provide insurance for credit card holders.
Alternatively you may access an insurance company of your choice.
Your booking is confirmed when we have received both your $200 deposit and your signed indemnity forms. Final payment for this retreat is required by March 10th, 2022.
On booking, we will provide you with a file detailing more information with respect to health, safety, clothing requirements and travel arrangements.
Basically you need to be well prepared with footwear, suitable clothing, and a supply of any medications you may need. A daypack and water container, a hat and rain jacket are also recommended. We are in the outback and you need to be prepared.
“Take a Walk of the Wild Side”
A Retreat of Yoga, Writing, Creativity and Transformation
In the Northern Flinders Ranges
May 2 – 7, 2022
$2700 single
$2400 twin share
BOOKINGS & INFORMATION:
SOLD OUT