Groups

Groups can play a vital role in developing soul resilience. As daily life gets more bumpy, we need a deeper sense of fellowship and support, and a group can help everyone in it to find deeper insights, creative ideas, fresh understanding. Whilst in-person groups can go deeper, online groups are more accessible, so both are possibilities.

Monthly online group – A Sufi Garden: This is a monthly group, free to join, on a Wednesday evening 7.30-9.00pm UK time, led by Alan Heeks and Karim Hadden. It offers soul nourishment with chants, body prayer (devotional movement) and meditation, drawn from the Sufi tradition. Limited numbers: if you’d like to join us, contact Alan or see www.karimandsusanne.co.uk/calendar. Next group: January 2024 – exact date TBA.

Tailored Retreats in the Welsh Mountains: A tailored retreat means that an individual or small group choose their own dates for exclusive use of a magical small retreat centre in Wales. Alan will run a couple of sessions each day, drawing on his unique Soul Resilience model, and tailoring the retreat to your issues and questions. You will have most of each day free for walks in the extraordinary surrounding landscapes, or just to rest and reflect.

These retreats will be held at the Trwyn Tal mountain retreat centre where you can cultivate wellbeing and resilience through parallels with nature, drawing deep inspiration and insights from the beautiful setting. The retreat offers you the chance to relax, immerse yourself in nature, and slow down the pace of life in a spectacular setting. The retreat centre was founded by Sarah Maliphant who writes: ‘Trwyn Tal is a peaceful mountain farm set in a gently curving valley on the Welsh Borders. It’s the ideal place to slow down – frankly, the views kind of do that for you.’ The location is Capel-y-ffin in the peaceful Llanthony valley on the eastern edge of the Brecon Beacons, with the Honddu river running below, Gospel Pass to the North, and the Vale of Ewyas on the doorstep. Easily reached by train to Abergavenny.

For further information on the venue, follow this link.

If you would like to explore this possibility, please contact Alan.

Past Events

Hope and Resilience in the Climate and Ecological Emergency: A retreat led by Alan Heeks and Jonathan Herbert, Friday Feb 3 – Sunday Feb 5, 2023 at Hilfield Friary, Dorset: Using material from the Christian contemplative tradition, from Joanna Macy – a Buddhist and deep ecologist,  and from Jem Bendell’s Deep Adaptation approach, the group will explore ways to grow through emergency. We will move from a place of gratitude to a place of lament, to a place of learning to see differently and seek inspiration to act for the common good. There will be time for listening deeply to each other, meditation, walks and space for silence. Read more.

Soul Resilience Weekend Retreat, Feb 25-27, 2022: How your core self can help you grow through storms, with Alan Heeks and Jane Sanders. This retreat is a chance to explore how the deep wisdom of your soul can help you to stay centred and positive, and clarify your purpose: why your soul has chosen to be here in a time of huge change. Venue: Hazel Hill Wood near Salisbury. For details of content and how to book, see here. If you’d like to book a place, contact Alan.