Exploring Intuition: Softening to the Self and Others

This workshop has been facilitated at “Spiti ton Kentavron” for twelve consecutive years, with the support, respect and love of the fellow members of Kalikalos community.

We have the great pleasure and honour to collaborate with Stella Topalidou in co-creating this year’s workshop!

Join us for a transformative week-long retreat in the heart of Pelion, where we will explore intuition, embodiment and connection in a nurturing communal setting. This retreat offers a unique opportunity to deepen your self-awareness, cultivate presence and enhance your relationship with yourself and others.

What to Expect

During this retreat, we will create a safe space to listen deeply to our needs and desires, fostering a supportive environment for personal growth. We will explore the intrinsic connection between emotions, thoughts, body and movement, enriching our modes of expression and communication while nurturing meaningful relationships.

This retreat is for those who:

• Seek deeper body awareness and connection with nature

• Are interested in creative movement and expressive arts

• Want to engage in a supportive community experience

• Feel called to personal growth, transformation and co-regulation

• Desire to strengthen personal and collective resilience

What is Intuition?

Can you recall a time when you felt uneasy about a situation or a person but ignored the discomfort or dismissed it as irrational? What were the subtle somatic cues that were there to give you all the necessary information but the conscious mind overlooked?

Intuition is the embodied ability to perceive and trust information or knowledge that is already present within us, often beyond the reach of conscious reasoning. It is a subtle guiding force, manifesting as sensations, insights and instincts that can help us navigate our lives and make decisions faster and usually (but not always) more accurately.

During this week together we will get curious about our connection to our intuition:

• How do we access this source of information and knowledge?

• How do we become sensitive to cues from the body and the senses?

• If intuition is related to our body, how can we cultivate it through movement, breathing and awareness?

• How can we trust intuition as a valid source of knowledge rather than dismiss it as irrational or unreliable?

• How might our lives unfold if we allowed this information to inform our decisions?

• How can we give words and meaning to our inner experience to allow for greater clarity and integration?

Approach & Methods

Our approach is rooted in:

• Non-Directive Intervening Therapy (NDI) as developed by M. Lobrot

• Dance/Movement Psychotherapy principles

• The Feldenkrais method

• Neurobiologically informed approaches working with trauma and the nervous system (Somatic Experiencing, Narm – NeuroAffective Relational Model, Polyvagal Theory)

• Expressive arts, including movement, sound and crafts

The facilitators will respect the unique needs and pace of each participant in the here and now, accompanying emerging needs and desires and allowing the group’s dynamics to shape our exploration.

We will work in a space where a sense of safety allows us to explore new possibilities for presence, connection and action. Together, we will examine ways and conditions for creating positive experiences that enrich our inner resources and facilitate the emergence of desire for learning, communication, creativity, change and integration.

Through the Feldenkrais Method we will awaken the body’s intelligence and cultivate awareness of body sensations, incorporating movement, creative arts and mindful body practices in individual, duet and group settings to foster a space for discovery, play, and deep listening.

Daily Rhythm

• 7:00 Yoga, meditation or other practice (depends on availability of facilitators)

• 8:00 Buffet Breakfast

• 9:30 Daily Staff Operational Meeting (Community Circle on first full day of each workshop week)

• 9:30 – 13:30 Exploring Intuition: Softening to the Self and Others, usually with a coffee/tea break midway

• 13:30 Buffet lunch and picnic boxes for the beach

• 14:30 – 17:30 Beach / free time

• 18:00 Evening work shift (those who take the shift for help in dinner preparation)

• 18:00-20:00 Ad-hoc offerings depend on availability of facilitators in the community at that time

• 20:00 Dinner (once during the week we eat out at a local taverna)

• 21:30 Free time and ad-hoc offerings (closing circle / fireside sharing on last evening of the workshop)

• 23:00 Quiet time till the breakfast bell at 08:00 the next day

About the Community

More than just a retreat centre, Kalikalos is a seasonal international community for living, working and playing together. Grounded in the practice of the Sharing Circle, collaborates in the rhythms of a healthy, holistic, vegetarian lifestyle. In this way, the whole community becomes the container for the transformational learning experience of our workshops.

Practical Information

• Location: Kalikalos Holistic Community, Anilio, Pelion

• Dates: August 2 – 9, 2025

• Languages: Greek & English (translation available as needed)

• No prior experience in dance, somatic therapy, or group work is required

• Participation is limited – early registration is recommended

Cost & Registration

• Participation fee: 550 euros

• Early bird offer: 495 euros until 31st of May 2025

• Fee includes the workshop, full board and accommodation for the entire retreat

• There is a questionnaire for anyone who wants to register that needs to be answered. The selection of participants will be assessed on the basis of their compatibility with the framework. That is, whether this intervention can be safe and caring for the person concerned.

• As the number of group members is limited, priority in order of interest expression will be respected.

• For more information about the workshop contact: Angeliki Bitzaraki at +30 6972131847 // tosohoro@gmail.com