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Deep Nature Retreat with Advaya Initiative and &Sister
21 September, 2018 @ 4:00 pm - 23 September, 2018 @ 4:00 pm
Join us in the beautiful surroundings of Poundon House in Oxford for a long weekend of deeply healing nature-based practices, delicious food and Yoga. Immerse yourself in your practice and be supported by Alicia Roscoe from &Sister and Ruby Reed from Advaya Initiative as we celebrate the Autumn Equinox and the movement towards the next stage of the year.
“Night and day are again of equal length and in perfect equilibrium – dark and light, masculine and feminine, inner and outer, in balance. The cycle of the natural world is moving towards completion, the Sun’s power is waning and from now on the nights grow longer and the days are are shorter and cooler. The sap of trees returns back to their roots deep in the earth, changing the green of summer to the fire of autumn, to the flaming reds, oranges and golds.”
Who are Advaya Initiative?
Advaya initiative is an environmental and holistic wellbeing platform created by Ruby Reed and Christabel Reed, two sisters, activists and yoga teachers who see the ecological, social, political and personal crises of civilization as interconnected and as an opportunity to evolve, to come together and co-create.
Advaya Initiative seeks to inspire activism and healing in our relationships with ourselves and the natural world through editorial, video and events based content seeking to inspire, empower and educate. Advaya is bringing together an ever-increasing community of people who care with groundbreaking speakers, thinkers and writers, as well as the world’s best healers and teachers, to embark on full day immersions of workshops and talks, retreats, screenings, supper clubs, panel discussions, pilgrimages, parties and gatherings.
Two yoga classes will be taught each day by Alicia Roscoe, Yoga teacher and co-founder of &Sister Retreats, and Ruby Reed, co-founder of Advaya Initiative. These classes will be open to all levels. While building strength and flexibility over the 3 days, we will prioritise the development of breath and incorporate elements of movement, chanting, pranayama and meditation.
Delicious and healthy breakfasts, lunch & dinners will be cooked and prepared by our incredibly talented and healing chef. Recipes will be inspired by balancing Ayurvedic traditions using locally sources and organic ingredients wherever possible.
We will lead walks in the magical surroundings and forests each day, and host optional nature workshops, from sit-spots to deep awareness practices that connect us deeply with our environments. We will set up an art station too, and throughout the weekend we invite you to paint, draw and read, engaging with your natural creativity whenever you can.
There will of course be plenty of opportunity to relax go on in the beautiful and luxurious home and it’s gardens and take all the time you need to rest for the most important thing of all, your self-care.
More about Ruby
Ruby is a yoga teacher, activist and co-founder of the environmental and holistic wellbeing platform Advaya Initiative. She is interested in embodiment and nature connection as sources of healing and empowerment and believes in the power of Yoga to create social change.
Ruby is influenced by the progressive approach and breath-led fluidity of the Ashtanga practice, and the energetic attention and adaptability of Viniyoga. Her classes prioritise the breath as a tool for awareness, connection and healing, and integrate strong postures to build energy, resilience and vitality.
Ruby works to build community around a renewed sense of awe and wonder in life so that we may connect with our most authentic selves and thrive as we should in harmony with nature. Advaya have hosted over 50 events exploring topics from spiritual activism to plastic pollution, always exploring awareness as the means for evolution to empower individuals to realise their power to create positive change.
Ruby is happiest when in water and has spent a lot of time beneath sea level over the years, whether teaching scuba diving in the Andaman Islands or training as a Free-diver. Before becoming a yoga teacher and activist, Ruby worked in the art world at auction houses, with private collectors and galleries. She has an MA with Distinction from the Courtauld Institute, looking at countercultural artistic practices during the dictatorships of South America and Eastern Europe from the death of Stalin to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and another from Edinburgh University looking at ideas around the body and ideal beauty in Renaissance Italy. She was part of the 2014 Teacher Training at Triyoga and is currently completing a 4 year advanced teacher training with Colin Dunsmuir working towards becoming a Yoga Therapist.
Read more: www.advayainitiative.com // www.rubyreedyoga.com // ruby@advayainitiative.com