Bush Retreat: Embodying your Inner Wild

Dearly beloveds

WHAT IS A WILD MAN OR WOMAN?

Wild & untamed does not mean crazy, out-of-control, or irresponsible: this is a patriarchal lens & is intended to keep us caged, tamed, placid, & pliable. A wild human being is an unconditioned person, who unfalteringly follows the deep wisdom of the body & heart, connected to the source of all life, & to great spirit.

To be wild means to be led by the body's felt intelligence, which includes the mind, heart & soul in alignment, moving from that place with congruency & fluency. And what's meant by the whole body is the passion that ignites a person's true purpose in the core of his or her being. Wild people are neither good nor bad; they simply pioneer their own path, balancing the great forces of both life and death with sublime bliss.

This sacred journey of re-wilding is about returning back - fully embodied - to our true power, devoid of conditioned ego or manipulative strategies driven by fear.

But how to undo centuries of unconscious conditioning, habits of focus - and the resulting patterns that play - which cause so much discomfort & suffering in our lives?

One way is to do what the great shamans, gurus and martial arts masters have been doing for centuries: observe nature in her natural habitat, watch how she creates & destroys, ebbs & flows. Every single creature, elemental, tree, flower, grass & shrub has an intelligence we can benefit from, if we take the time to slow down and observe.

For example, did you know elephants listen through their feet? Elephants exchange information by emitting low-frequency sounds that travel for dozens of kilometers underground. The sound waves come from the animals' huge vocal chords and elephants far off 'hear' the signals with their highly sensitive feet. Now imagine if we learned to listen not only with our ears, but with our whole bodies? How much more intelligence might be available to us in any given moment? We've developed movements & meditations to enable us to deeply listen with the whole of our bodies, opening us up to an infinite field of powerful intelligence. And that's just one of the many, many ways we can learn from observing creatures in the wild - from the humblest dung beetle to the majestic lion.

Amy Attenborough & I are overjoyed to be realising this long-held dream to facilitate a deep meeting in truth within the primordial wilderness of Mama Afrika, supported by the bones of our ancient ancestors beneath our feet. Through a deep immersion into, & close observation of, the natural world, we can remember the universal ways of Pachamama, as well as our own true natures.

A wild being is rare, and he or she might just save the world.

RETREAT CONTENT

- Daily dawn or dusk game drives: wisdom gathering in the wild with Amy

- Meditative satsangs integrating what we've observed in the bush with Amy & Kali

- Optional gentle yin yoga & grounding techniques to open our bodies to receptive presencing with Amy

- Guided shamanic dance journeys exploring and embodying our inner landscapes, and connecting to spirit of place - the ancestral, elemental & animal guides - with Kali

- Sacred cacao ceremonies to gently support the heart's opening to more with Amy & Jacqueline

- Around the bonfire, sharing our stories under the Milky Way with Amy, Kali, & Ridwana

- Visit to the rhino orphanage with Amy

ABOUT MANYONI PRIVATE GAME RESERVE

Manyoni Private Game Reserve is set in the rolling bushveld of KwaZulu-Natal, & we are blessed to be based in one of its exclusive, private game lodges, surrounded by 26 000 hectares of breathtaking wilderness, in which the big 5 roam freely. It also has a critically important rhino orphanage for the conservation of these precious creatures

INVESTMENT

- Includes shared luxury accommodation, 3 wholesome vegetarian meals prepared especially for you per day, game drives, sundowners at sunset on the first day (thereafter no alcohol), sacred cacao ceremonies, conscious dance journeys, yin yoga, meditation satsangs, a visit to the rhino orphanage, and team facilitation: R18,495.00

- Excludes transportation to the game lodge, a 3 hour drive from King Shaka Airport. Accommodation in Durban prior to & after the retreat can be arranged, as well as a minibus, if necessary

YOUR TEAM

AMY ATTENBOROUGH, FACILITATOR

Being born the daughter of David Attenborough (it’s true, but he’s probably not the one you’re thinking of, however he's a distant relation) I don’t believe I really had much choice about what direction my life would take. For as long as I can remember the wild has beckoned to me & whenever I could, I'd escape to the forests around my home town, Durban, barefoot & in search of chameleons & red duiker to befriend.

In 2010, after completing my Journalism & Media Studies degree, I followed my childhood calling to become a game ranger. I planned to stay a year, but it turned into 8.

During that time I immersed myself in the natural world, learning to track animals with Zulu & Shangaan trackers, watching the intricacies of wild animals’ lives unfolding daily, while interacting with guests from all over the world. I travelled to Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Israel, Jordan, Egypt & India & throughout South America. I also lived in Gabon training local guides for a few months.

Over the years I've only grown more inspired by the enormous beauty & innate wisdom of our planet & her creatures.

Throughout this time mother nature has served as my profoundest teacher. She helped me to remember my own wild wisdom, as well as our connection to the universal mother, the earth. I believe that as we re-wild ourselves & listen to our deep inner knowings, we hear the earth's heartbeat again. It's only then that we can co-create with her healing. When we love the wildness within, we cannot help but return to a deep reverence for the natural world, something that's needed now more than ever.

As a certified life coach and yin and vinyasa yoga teacher, I now support others to discover their inner wildness, where everything is possible. I divide my time between the city & the bush, where I guide specialised wellness safaris designed to restore body, mind & spirit in the most spectacular wilderness locations on the African continent.

I've experienced the most profound joy from allowing & embracing my own true essence. As we remember our interdependence with the land & its untamed inhabitants, & give ourselves over to the mother, we find ourselves integral to all of life itself.

KALI WIDD, FACILITATOR

Like Amy, I grew up just beyond sub-tropical Durban, & loved to explore, barefoot, the Kloof gorge where vervet monkeys, baboons, duiker, cervals, giant legevaans, & even leopard roamed. These early childhood adventures gave me a love of nature, & a taste for freedom.

After graduating with Honours from KZN Universtity, I travelled the world, always gravitating towards places of natural beauty in my leisure time. Then I got caught up in the hurly burly of advertising, rising to the very top of my game in Johannesburg & later London & Cape Town, but all the while longing for the wide open plains of Africa & her blood-red sunsets. Falling pregnant with a child of Africa (my daughter's father is Kenyan), I decided to return to my roots, & a few years later, gave up advertising altogether to follow my twin passions of Tantra (Truth), & rewilding & healing the masculine/feminine split through the body's direct connection to primal energies of masculine & feminine energy.

On my journey of soul reclaimation, I discovered my maternal great great grandmother was Khoi from Rooibank, Namibia, & this went a long way to explaining my deep love of the land, the ability to call up the ancestors, & a shamanic gift for the channelling guides & elementals.

I deep-dived into Advait Tantra, trained in Biodanza & qualified as a BlissDance facilitator, as well as a loving touch workshop practitioner, & over the years have become a respected holder of Red Tent gatherings, a Dakini & conscious dance DJ.

A big part of my journey has been reclaiming the agency of my body's wisdom & sacred sensuality / sexuality through accessing my inner wild woman. It was a process of remembering rather than learning, of sharing rather than teaching, & of letting go, rather than of being in control, of being rather than doing. Finally I've come home to my body, my sensed intelligence, my sexuality, my connection to unity consciousness, & to all that is.

JACQUI WEBB, KITCHEN GODDESS / TENZO

“Handle even a single leaf of a green in such a way that it manifests the body of the Buddha.” How to Cook your Life: from the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment. Dogen

My vision is to anchor spiritual community. All communities & homes are centered around food & the kitchen. As such any retreat is deeply supported & nourished by the spirituality & centeredness of the kitchen & kitchen staff. There is a Zen tradition of the kitchen master (Tenzo) being greatly revered because he facilitates the spiritual awakening of the other monks. Mindfulness in food prep & the quality of food served really supports the spiritual growth & development of the community it’s being served to. I'm taking the mantle of Tenzo, because of the inspiration of, & gratitude to, the people who have fed me at many, many retreats over the years & inspired me to become vegetarian.

As the kitchen goddess in my home with 3 children & frequently a family of 9, I've had all the ups & downs of endless meals, boredom & rushed meal times. As my children leave home I’m finding such delicious, sensuous joy in slowing down & really enjoying flavours & textures. I can find myself lost in the glorious sunshine falling through the window onto a lemon exploding the colour, that smell & the curling juiciness in my mouth as the meeting of joyous sensuality & spirituality within me.

I’m also a Life Coach & Intimacy Coach with a BA Pyschology & have done a lot of deep somatic work around sexuality & the sacred feminine. Conscious dance, yoga, SCUBA & being in forests or by the sea are gateways to bliss for me. I endeavor to infuse each meal with this bliss, & invite you to deep pleasure & sensory delight with every mouthful.

RIDWANA JOOMA, MARKETING & GUEST LIAISON

I'm a wild woman. For as far back as I can remember I've been hearing the call. I dance & run with the wolves in my dreams. My life’s journey has been an exploration of my soul essence, & this has been mainly about getting the hell out of the matrix & creating my own magic. Living a life of celebration that is Me. I've supported men & women in various ways over the past 20 years, from boardrooms to sitting under marula trees in the most rural parts of our country. Over the past 10 years I've been deeply immersed in a personal journey of awakening to my sexuality, & through this journey I've been supporting people to awaken to theirs, recognizing our sexual energy is our vital life force energy, giving us access to our divinity – which we experience in our bodies. I've connected to this deeply through engaging in the work of the late Dr Shakti Malan, Andrew Barnes & Valentina Leo. I'm an activator & a provocateur, rewilding & awakening seekers with all the tools at my disposal. Come play with me, & let us re-wild!

FACILITATOR TESTIMONIALS

Kali Widd has been an integral part of the annual Learning Clan Festival, since it’s inception in 2015. She has an uncanny ability to add a heightened dimension to the dance experience as a DJ, engaging her unique skills to manifest an uplifting energy among the crowd with her spoken word. Not intrusively at all, just subtly bringing awareness to the power of focussing consciousness throughout the dance. The effect is sublime. Our festival is an off-grid, co-created village of knowledge, skills and performance sharing. This creates a wealth of music, workshops, talks, movement classes, healing and our own money-free trading system. Kali has been a huge contributor to the gathering each year, reminding all of us of the importance of engaging & expressing the masculine & feminine in these changing times. She also hosts the Red Tent as a space for women to come & express their innermost feelings, angst, joy, confusion, pain surrounded by supportive women who understand the need for vulnerability, understanding or solitude. It's a much needed & much appreciated addition to our festival, & we are hugely grateful for Kali’s presence & wisdom.

ANGIE CURTIS, FOUNDER LEARNING CLAN SOUTH AFRICA

I am often asked why I keep going back to Londolozi, South Africa on safari. It’s easy to rattle off the obvious - the animals, the beauty, the food, the accommodation, the people...but that doesn’t do justice to what really brings me back. Each trip, I’ve had the honor of spending time with some amazing people - both staff and fellow retreaters. And the last two times, I found myself volunteering to sit in whatever Land Rover Amy was driving. Amy was our ranger extraordinaire and so much more! She has an amazing way of making you feel incredibly comfortable, entirely safe and looked after, while infusing whatever activity you are doing with a sense of adventure and fun. She is a complete bad-ass and inspires you to let your guard down and your authenticity to shine through. She is a bright spark in a sometimes dark world and I would recommend any retreat or event she’s involved in to anyone looking for a shift in how they show up in the world. I am so excited to follow Amy’s adventures, because between gleaning wisdom from trees, tracking down a rhino or dancing around the evening fire, this woman is switched ON.

EVE EATON, USA

I'm so thankful for the precious experiences during our women's retreat at the Drakensberg. My heart & womb is still drinking from that source in which everything was welcome. I've been to several women's retreats in Germany & India so far, but I have never experienced such a loving field for the feminine, as well as for the masculine systems. Kali, I'm deeply thankful for that space that you created for us. The honouring masculine ritual with Hans-George was so heart opening for me & for him. And thank you, sisters for the love field you created during that ritual & during all times. I bow to the ongoing creative energy within the worldwide sisterhood circles. May the love we share keep on spreading its wings & fly across the earth.

MIRIAM MANN, GERMANY

Amy Attenborough is an abundantly proficient, wise and grounded life coach. She shows unconditional love and non-judgment but in the same breath is pragmatic and deftly honest. Her way of connecting not only points her clients to look deeply within, but allows them to see themselves in a completely new light. Amy helped me establish clear intentions that came from deep within my soul. One of the biggest gifts of my life was working one on one with Amy during her time at Londolozi Game Reserve. She is so connected to the natural world and speaks nature fluently. Her natural born gifts, intuition, incredible tracking skills and life coaching makes her one of the world's best.

ROBIN STEBBINS, USA