The Dance of Connection with Chris and Isabel Clarke Loser Shaw Farm, Swindon September 1st - 3rd, 2006

This weekend will be an opportunity to explore the radical insight that sees people in constant flow between individuality and connection – the dance of life.

This insight is well grounded in science. Chris Clarke will be explaining the insights of contemporary physics into the web of connection, while Isabel Clarke will be sharing her understanding of this Dance in terms of the psychological organisation of the mind. These concepts can't just be talked about: they have to be embraced, lived, breathed - and danced. So circle dances led by Chris will be integral to our journey.

The aim is for you to become alive to your own story and its connections, and to offer as much of it as you choose, in whatever form, into the group process, as we all seek to make sense of what is essentially a mystery.

What will we actually be doing?

• Talking, listening, circle dancing, perhaps writing or drawing ...
• making connections with the natural world as represented by Lower Shaw Farm with its plants and animals
• enjoying good locally grown food and the company of a group of like-minded people and enjoying the simple hospitality of the farm.

The price for the weekend, including all meals (and bed linen but not towels) is £100.

Accommodation

Lower Shaw Farm was once a dairy farm, and is now a three-acre oasis in an area of 1980s development. There is a large welcoming room for group living and an attractive upper room for dance and meditation. A range of sleeping accommodation will be available, on a “first come, first served basis”: there are a couple of rooms in the main house with a bathroom nearby, some single rooms available in chalets with adjacent shared washing facilities, and some shared chalets. As accommodation is basic (and the price of the course reflects this) we hope that those who require a higher standard (e.g en suite) will be happy to bear the extra cost of local Bed-and-Breakfast.

Facilitators

Chris Clarke

I was Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Southampton, publishing on astrophysics, quantum mechanics and the physics of the brain. I left in order to work freelance on writing and teaching about the connections between science and spirituality (most recently having produced the edited book Ways of Knowing: Science and Mysticism Today, published by Imprint Academic). For many years I have served on the Council of GreenSpirit (the Association for Creation Spirituality). I have a long involvement with circle dancing and have been co-leader of the Lee-on-the-Solent circle dance group as well as leader of individual events.  See www.scispirit.com

Isabel Clarke

I am currently a clinical psychologist, working in the NHS, setting up a therapy service in a psychiatric hospital   I have edited a pioneering book on Psychosis and Spirituality, which is part of a wider way of understanding people in the context of relationship with the environment, with other humans, with their own bodies and with a wider spiritual whole.  I have developed these ideas into ways of healing and developing these relationships and working with different ways of experiencing.
See Isabel Clarke's website

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