May 19-22, 2011
Yoga & Writing Retreat
Cedarbrake Renewal Center - Belton, TX
(mid-way between Austin & Waco)
Price $685 ($615 prior to March 19)
FACILITIES
Cedarbrake Renewal Center is a non-profit retreat center owned and supported by the Diocese of Austin. It is located about 1 hour North of Austin, in Belton, Texas. The grounds are heavily wooded, with lots of trails, and a beautiful walking labyrynth. Benches are located through out the property for meditation and contemplation.
All rooms are private and include a private bathroomm and access to a shared lounge and porch area. See more photographs of facilities.
YOGA & WRITING
At the heart of this retreat is the combination
of Hatha Yoga, Meditation, and Creative Writing. Patricia, Charles
and their numerous students have found this combination to be very
powerful. The Yoga serves to energize participants and creates a sense
of physical well-being, while bringing them back to their body and
their senses. Each Yoga class ends with a deep guided relaxation which
calms the mind and relaxes students into a creative Alpha brainwave
pattern. After we write, often flow of consciousness, with out editing
or filtering, we gather in small, intimate groups and anyone who wishes
to, reads what they have written.
Beginning and experienced writers alike will find a supportive, encouraging
context in which to write from their deepest selves.
The most important aspect of the schedule is that all yoga, writing workshops, and even meals are optional and should be considered free time. We often have a writer who chooses not to participate in the yoga, or a yoga student who chooses not to participate in the writing component. This retreat is for the participants to customize in order to fulfill their needs and expectations.
YOGA CLASSES
Hatha
Yoga classes will be taught by Charles MacInerney. We will learn a
variety of techniques to engage and deepen awareness of the most subtle
sensations and movements of mind and body - first in stillness, then
through subtle movement, and finally in more challenging and active
asanas.
Students will be encouraged to pay more attention to the sensations and signals of their own bodies than to any external authority figures, including the teachers. One of the effects of this style of class is that students become more self-aware, self-confident, and independent. Charles encourages his students to learn from their own experience, from their own sensations, from their own deep awareness of mind and body, and to trust that awareness over any external authority figures.
The overall atmosphere will be relaxed, with the emphasis on enjoyment rather than effort. This does not mean that we will not work hard at times. Students will find that they can engage in difficult and even strenuous poses joyfully, without experiencing the physical and psychological stresses associated with joyless striving.
Charles MacInerney and Patricia
Lewis have been collaborating to offer Yoga & Creative Writing
retreats since 1995.
Patricia
Lee Lewis has led writing retreats at Patchwork
Farm in western Massachusetts, in her home state of Texas, in Guatemala,
Mexico, Costa Rica and the British Isles. She celebrates our relationship
to the earth as sacred, to writing as a way of finding what is deepest
within us, and to teaching writing as a participatory, supportive endeavor.
She holds an MFA degree in Creative Writing from Vermont College, and
a BA from Smith College, Phi Beta Kappa. A national trainer of workshop
leaders in the Amherst Writers & Artists method, her book of poems,
A Kind of Yellow, won first prize for poetry in Writer’s Digest’s
International Competition of self-published books. It is available at
www.writingretreats.org.
You may reach her at patricia@writingretreats.org.
Charles MacInerney has studied yoga and meditation since 1971 and taught since 1989. He has worked with students from around the world and over 10,000 students from his hometown of Austin, Texas. He teaches classes on Yoga, Meditation, Posture, Visualization, Breathing, Balance, Creativity, Concentration, and Biofeedback for a variety of businesses, corporations and institutions. As a professional public speaker he regularly presents at national conferences.
Charles
has presented two years in a row, been a panelist and was on the board
of advisors for the Southwest Yoga Conference. He also presented at the
International Conference on Yoga for Positive Health. He is also a co-founder
and a regular presenter at the Texas Yoga Retreat. He has been
quoted in several articles in Yoga Journal, on creativity, heart disease,
and yoga & writing. He is also featured in the June 2004 Ask The Expert
Column.
Charles has led approximately 60 yoga retreats since 1992, including 12 retreats in Mexico and 4 in Costa Rica. In addition to his experience with Yoga, Charles has also been writing with Patricia for 8 years, and has been published in numerous magazines, including Yoga Journal, and Black & White (National Chess Magazine of India).
Charles
is registered with the Yoga Alliance at the 500 hour level (the highest
registration currently available), and is a co-founder and on the faculty
of the Living Yoga Teacher Training Program. For more information about
Charles Yoga experience, please see his Biography.
Charles is also a professional public speaker with the National Speakers Association and has presented numerous times on Mind Mapping; Stress Management; Meditation; Visualization; Breath Work, and Self-Awareness Tools for Self Transformation; at Regional and National Conferences, including the prestigious National Wellness Conference. For more information about Charles MacInerney's speaking career, please visit his web site at ExpandingParadigms.com
REGISTRATION
Registration is now closed for this retreat!
I hope you will be able to join us for four days and three nights of Hatha Yoga, meditation, and creative writing. Limited registration is accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, so register early to ensure a space at the retreat. (Writing Retreat Alumni receive an additional $30 discount)
To register by credit card: please email charles@yogateacher.com with your contact information and specify which retreat you are registering for. Then click on the "Pay Now" button below. Fill in the amount you are paying in the box marked "Unit Price" and click "Update Totals" before proceeding to pay. If you have any difficulty, please let me know.
To register by check, please make check payable to Charles MacInerney, and return with your:
Name
Work & Home Phone Numbers
E-Mail Address
Mailing Address and Zip Code
and send to
Charles MacInerney
Expanding Paradigms
5803 Westmont
Austin, TX 78731.
If registering for more than one person, please include their contact
information as well.
Fee includes: Lodging, meals, classes, workshops, handouts, and materials/supplies.
Fee does not include: Travel expenses.
Refund Policy: Registrants who have paid in full are entitled to a 75% refund with a minimum of 7 days notice of cancellation. The remaining balance of 25% can be applied towards a future retreat.
Registration is limited so be sure to register ASAP.
To check on space availability or other information, please send e-mail to charles@yogateacher.com
More Info: A complete information package (including map, directions, instructions, lists of what to bring and what to expect, etc.) will be provided a couple of weeks prior to the retreat.
QUOTES FROM PREVIOUS RETREATS
"I realize that I am filled with fear about
how to take steps to move on with my life and take it in a different
direction. Last weekend helped me to recognize that and to get on the
path of facing my fear head on. It will be very difficult but I now
have more confidence that I can find that third path."
Jerri Flatten - Texas
"It has been weeks since I attended Charles MacInerney's yoga and meditation retreat, but I still feel deeply affected by it. Charles always speaks from his heart. And his heart is so wise, so sweet, and so funny! Everything about the retreat was extraordinary."
Terry Masters - Owner/Director of Master School, Texas
"Combining the physical limbering of Yoga genuinely stretched my creativity. I touched parts of my talent I was not able to reach before."
Ron Seybold - Editor of a professional newsletter, Austin Texas
"The mind set that the retreat promoted and created stayed with me during subsequent weeks, making me more open to others and myself..."
Carol Mackay - Professor of English at the University of Texas, Austin
"My self consciousness and inexperience with yoga did not matter a whit. I found a quiet slow pleasure in the movements."
Gayle Miller - Artist & Writer, Austin, Texas
"As an M.D., having practiced medicine for 25 years, I have become acutely aware of the critical importance of integrating body, mind and spirit if one is to achieve wholeness and lasting health. This body-creative mind experience was a wonderful opportunity for me personally to work toward the goal that I have long tried to stimulate in my patients but have often not been able to achieve myself. This workshop was for me a magical experience and indeed a sacred endeavor."
Dr. Don Charles Wukasch - Thoracic Surgeon, Houston Texas.
"Even with no experience, I felt completely at ease in the same room with others who had been involved in yoga for years. I left the weekend with confidence, energy, and a new group of friends!"
Ruth Kline - Austin, Texas
