Loading Events

« All Events

  • This event has passed.

Alchemy & Activism: turn your wounds into something beautiful

September 2, 2018 @ 10:00 am - 8:45 pm

Book Tickets Here

Alchemy & Activism: turn your wounds into something beautiful

How lucky are we to be alive in the 21st Century?  

We have access to all the greatest, most magical, potent spiritual practices and teachings from across time and space. And in the last century, we have had incredible knowledge literally pouring into every orifice from schools of Western psychology and the human sciences.

 

Our biggest challenge now is this:

How can we take this kaleidoscope of wisdom and knowledge, and use it in a practical, playful and grounded way to build a more beautiful future?

How can we alchemise our individual and collective wounds into the gold of compassionate action?

 

We feel this is a pretty important question in a world obsessed with SELF-help. We want to build a sturdy, inspiring bridge between ‘self’ and ‘other’.

We want to move from blame culture to empowered, creative, and hopeful action. We want to transform our grief and shame at the state of the world into a super-inspiring, practical vision.

We want to move beyond spiritual bypassing, narcissism, tourism and materialism – and instead really embody our values, starting with the community we find ourself in.

This is not easy work, it’s the road less travelled. If you are looking for escapism, this isn’t for you. We ain’t getting high. But we are showing up with rolled up sleeves and a sense of humour as we unlearn what we think we know and explore these questions together.

‘We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.’ (Hopi Elders)

Book Tickets Here

 

Day Retreat – 10am til 5pm

Our backdrop is the stunningly beautiful, deeply sacred chapel in Fitzrovia, London – the perfect place to spend a Sunday.

The day is split into two halves: inner and outer. We will start and finish the day with a circle where we’ll each have the opportunity to share what is present for us, and explore the question together with open hearts and minds.

We begin going inside. Amisha will lead an alchemical yoga session guiding us to bring love to our personal and collective wounds as they present themselves in our bodies. Louis will then guide an extended transpersonal meditation which will allow us to connect with the deep healing intelligence of Life, and kindle our fiery activist hearts. We’ll then hold a grief ritual that will allow us to release our wounds – both personal and collective.  

In the afternoon, we will build a golden bridge from the inner to the outer, tapping into the creativity and compassion of our activist hearts. We’ll be taking our personal insights and revelations from the morning and using them to create practical, beautiful tools that we can use to make a radical difference in the world around us.

 

This day is for you if you at times get fed up by the state of the world, if you feel that the time is ripe to translate our spiritual work into practical, compassionate action, and if you want to find a more empowered way to contribute, connecting with an amazing bunch of people who can support and hold you in this process.

 

“It is always from our deepest wound, from the thing that breaks our heart the most, that our yearning, our calling, our purpose in life emerges.” ~Vera de Chalambert

 

Rough programme: (this might evolve & change on the day)

10-11am: Opening Circle

11-12pm: Yoga with Amisha

12-12.45pm: Meditation with Louis

12.45-1.15pm: Grief Ritual

1.15-2.15pm: Lunch

2.15-4.30pm: Sacred Activism Workshop

4.30-5pm: Closing Circle

 

Evening Event – 6.15pm til 8.45pm

Bring your songs and words of hope, freedom and grief. For the evening we are opening up the chapel to a bigger group to share music, poetry, and our activist creations from the day. This will be a co-created participatory event open mic style, so bring anything you would like to share as we jam together on the theme of Alchemy & Activism.

 

Tickets:

Full Day: Beautiful Day Retreat (£100 per person including a healthy delicious lunch and evening event)

£80 for members of Radical Alchemists or Patrons of The Future Is Beautiful (email for discount code) 

We have a few places available that are subsidised, if you would like one of these, write to us at takeamoment(@)amisha.co.uk

(Come in comfortable clothing for the morning that you can move in. Yoga mats will be provided. But bring a blanket and a water bottle).

Evening Event: £12

We are very excited about this event. There has already been a lot of interest so we recommend booking very soon to avoid disappointment.

Book Tickets Here

 

About us:

Alchemy & Activism is hosted by Amisha Ghadiali (The Future is Beautiful) and Louis Weinstock (Radical Alchemy).

Amisha is the founder of The Future Is Beautiful, a community that weaves together politics, spirituality, creativity and sustainability through the collaborative book and the podcast she hosts – to inspire us each to rise up, move beyond silos and create a beautiful future. Fascinated by the connection between our inner and outer worlds, she facilitates retreats, workshops and one to one sessions. Her “Presence Mentoring” leadership programme uses intuitive therapy to clear subconscious patterning and awaken new qualities within, as well as focusing on integration and maintaining a daily practice. Her retreats and workshops are deep and playful dives into the practices, intimacy and the self – with mantra, yoga asana, meditation, mudra, energy healing, contemplation, pranayama, ritual, dance and activism. Amisha’s words have appeared in publications including The Huffington Post, Rebelle Society & Ecouterre and she has spoken at events and festivals around the world such as TEDx Oxbridge, Sunday Papers Live & UnBox.

In addition she has been part of pioneering projects and social enterprises including: Ethical Fashion Forum, Impact Hub, Provenance, Fashion Revolution and Compass. Amisha brings activism into everything she does, and through her project Think Act Vote (which became The Future Is Beautiful) coined the term Creative Activism. Her background is in politics where she worked in parliament and the US congress – working on many campaigns including Make Poverty History, The Yes Campaign (for AV), Fashion Revolution. She has volunteered on projects all over the world including facilitating UNA-Exchange projects working with kids in valleys of Wales, to working with teenage orphans in Bulgaria to hosting retreats in India that combine service with spiritual practices. In fact she is taking a group to an orphanage and farm in India next year if you wish to join.

www.amisha.co.uk

Louis Weinstock is a Transpersonal Psychotherapist, Meditation Teacher, and Social Entrepreneur. He runs an inclusive spiritual community called Radical Alchemy, and is cofounder of Bounce Works, a social enterprise that uses playful design and digital technology to resolve the growing crisis in young people’s mental health.

Louis first discovered meditation aged 10, when he sat cross-legged on his spiderman duvet and realised that by focusing on his breath he could exert mind over matter. In his early 20s, after reaching a crisis point, he dedicated his life to service. His mission has been to empower people trapped on the edges of society, from homeless young people, to drug addicts in the criminal justice system. For four years, he ran a therapeutic education provision for some of London’s most troubled teens. He went on to develop a mindfulness programme for kids with complex trauma, was invited to consult Headspace on their mindfulness for kids offering, and has in the last few years specialised in working with grief and people at the end of life.

Louis has travelled extensively, studying wisdom traditions from around the world, including both personal and academic studies of Postcolonial Political Psychology, Surrealist philosophy, indigenous wisdom traditions, and studying with meditation masters, yogis and indigenous wisdom-keepers in Asia, South America and Europe. However, he has learned the most from the clients he has worked with, those human beings that found the courage to transform their suffering into compassionate action-in-the-world, often in spite of extreme, traumatising, soul-restricting environments.

Louis’ work and writings have featured in the BBC, The Guardian, You Magazine, ITV News, Evening Standard. He co-wrote a bestselling book about rituals with his wife called The Inner Beauty Bible, published by Harper Collins, and now translated into 3 languages.

www.louisweinstock.com

 

Fitzrovia Chapel:

Book Tickets Here

Details

Date:
September 2, 2018
Time:
10:00 am - 8:45 pm
Event Categories:
, , , ,
Event Tags:
, ,

Venue

Fitzrovia Chapel
London, W1T 3BF + Google Map

Organizer

The Future Is Beautiful
Email
connect@thefutureisbeautiful.co
View Organizer Website