On Tomlin Love and Relationships
Name: On Tomlin Love and Relationships
Date: 5 - 9 July 2024
Number of Participants: Minimum 6 participants and up to 12
Duration: 5 days
Location: Abiding Heart Centre, Castle Douglas, Scotland
Fee: £450*
Teachers: Dr Meyrav Mor
* This fee does not include room or meals.
Striving for understanding is, itself, a form of love.
Description:
In this retreat we make ourselves our study, focusing on understanding important patterns of intimate relationships in our life story. Striving for understanding is, itself, a form of love. To aid us, we turn to Scotland's beloved Tomlin Ballad to help us go deeper into the seemingly complex nature of love, as ultimately, true expression of love is not about the other but about becoming whole again within ourselves.
In the retreat we use experiential art to reflect on important relationships we had/have in our lives. We seek to understand the nature of intimate relationships through themes such as, love, bravery, courage, compassion, altruism and the potential for self-transformation. To practice letting go and breathing out, we go out to nature to be nourished and present. Meditation, contemplative practices, art, singing, poetry, storytelling, and being are also an important integral part of this retreat.
Tomlin, a famous old Scottish fairy ballad from the borderlands region tells the story of a woman named Janet who went into the forbidden forest looking for the mysterious Tomlin who is a prisoner of the unkind fairies. In the forest Janet picks up a rose. Tomlin appears and asks her why she is picking his roses. She replies, "My father left me this forest so it belongs to me." Janet returns back home only to find out she is pregnant with Tomlin's baby.
She goes back again to the forest to look for Tomlin, wondering whether he is an elemental being. In her search for him, Janet learns that Tomlin is a mortal human being and that he has been captured by the unkind fairies. She also finds out that the unkind queen fairy is about to offer him as a sacrifice to the hell beings.
To rescue Tomlin, Janet understands that she must wait for the fairies at midnight on Halloween and when they pass by her with Tomlin, she must pull him off the horse. Janet knows that once she grabs Tomlin she must keep holding onto to him when he is transformed into different terrifying beasts and other dangers. Janet is brave and she keeps on holding onto him through these dark transformations and with that she rescues him from annihilation. The unkind queen fairy is angry that Tomlin escaped. She screams that she wished she had removed his eyes or heart to prevent him from being rescued by Janet. This ballad offers us may compelling contemplation about motivation or intention and how they impact our actions and life.
The retreat is peppered with Scottish folklore (ballads, fairytales and songs) about relationships, courage, compassion, forgiveness and becoming whole again. Tomlin Ballad will aid us in sharpening our contemplation on the complex nature of relationships. It may help us find the courage to overcome our fears and reconnect with our innate wisdom, and ultimately heal our relationship with ourselves. With the aid of awareness and mindfulness meditations, and practicing loving kindness and compassion for ourselves and others, we can reconnect with our innate goodness on the journey of becoming whole again.
Daily Schedule
9.00am - 11.00am Biography and Contemplation
11.00am - 11.30am Tea Break
11.30am - 12.30am Meditation and Storytelling
12.30pm - 1.30pm Lunch Break
1.30pm - 3.00am Experiential Art
3.00pm - 4.30pm Nature Walk and Heart Awareness.
4:30pm - 5.00pm Tea Break
5.00pm - 5.30pm Poetry, Music and Closing Meditation
Please Note: We begin the first day at 1.30pm and we end the last day at 12.30pm.