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Healing Fictions Training

Lisbon 3 – 8 June 2026

Tarot · Psychodrama · Narrative Therapy

Many practitioners reach a moment when understanding is no longer enough to reveal what longs to be expressed.

Do you notice that certain wounds, patterns, or narratives persist, even after years of reflection or therapy?

Do you sense the limits of cognitive or talk-based approaches, knowing that real change must be enacted and embodied?

Healing Fictions is for practitioners ready to work with story, symbol, and embodiment at the roots of healing.

This immersive training approaches transformation at the level where identity, meaning, and relational patterns are formed — in embodied experience, lived relationship, and imaginal enactment.

Our work integrates three complementary modalities:


• Tarot
as a symbolic intelligence revealing unconscious and transgenerational patterns

• Psychodrama as embodied inquiry, allowing life themes to be enacted and transformed

• Narrative Therapy as the conscious re-authoring of personal and collective stories

Designed for therapists, artists, and serious depth practitioners seeking to work beyond insight alone, this training offers a structured yet deeply human space for releasing stories that no longer serve and reshaping personal mythologies.

What to Expect

Experiential Learning
Step into lived exploration through symbolic, embodied, and narrative practices that invite insight to move beyond reflection and into transformation.

Symbolic & Embodied Tools

Work with psychodrama as embodied enactment and narrative therapy as a practice of self-re-authoring — engaging the psyche through image, role, and story.

Relational Depth
Participate in carefully held group processes that support trust and meaningful exchange with practitioners committed to depth-oriented artistic and therapeutic work.

Expert Guidance
Receive attentive and experienced guidance from Marianne Costa and Dr Swan Dao, offering precise frameworks and personalised support throughout the training.

Leave with

• Experiential fluency in symbolic healing processes

• Practical tools for working with trauma and life narratives

• Lived experience of change through enactment and story

• Confidence to integrate this work into life and practice.

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Your Guides

Marianne Costa and Dr Swan Dao are internationally recognised experts in symbolic, embodied, and narrative approaches to healing. Both are trained in Physical Theatre and grounded in rigorous Humanities research, with decades of experience in the therapeutic and expressive arts.

Marianne is a globally respected author and guide in Tarot and transgenerational psychology, developed in collaboration with Alejandro Jodorowsky, while Swan is an acclaimed psychotherapist renowned for pioneering work in experiential and expressive psychotherapy.

Together, they offer a rare training environment grounded in symbolic and embodied intelligence, equipping you with the skills and confidence to facilitate profound transformation — within yourself and in those you serve.

Marianne Costa is an author, actor, and globally renowned Tarot master...

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Marianne Costa

Author, Actor, Tarot Master

École Normale Supérieure | École Jacques Lecoq

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Dr Swan Dao is the founder of the Institute of Devotional Arts, which designs learning and healing experiences through the expressive arts...

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Dr Swan Dao

Psychotherapist & Experience Designer

University of Cambridge | École Jacques Lecoq

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Schedule

Each day offers a chance to deepen your practice and explore the fertile terrain where body and imagination meet. Here's what a typical day looks like:

07:30–08:30 Breakfast
09:00–12:00 Morning Session
12:00–13:00 Lunch
13:00–14:30 Rest & Integration
14:30–15:00 Group Reflection
15:00–17:30 Afternoon Session
18:00–19:00 Dinner
19:00–20:00 Rest & Integration
20:00–21:00 Talk or Meditation

07:30–08:30 Breakfast
09:00–12:00 Morning Session
12:00–13:00 Lunch
13:00–14:30 Rest & Integration
14:30–15:00 Group Reflection
15:00–17:30 Afternoon Session
18:00–19:00 Dinner
19:00–20:00 Rest & Integration
20:00–21:00 Talk or Meditation

“Healing comes when we meet ourselves fully, including the wisdom of the body and the expression of creativity.”

— Peter Levine

Venue

A NATURE SANCTUARY NEAR LISBON

How to get there

Where You'll Stay

Set within the softly rolling hills of Sobral de Monte Agraço, our retreat centre unfolds across 16 hectares of quiet countryside, just 30 minutes north of Lisbon. The land includes a natural swimming pond, a wood-fired sauna, and a range of contemplative spaces woven into the landscape. The centre is dedicated to expressive, introspective, and collective practices that support cognitive, emotional, and spiritual development.

A Home-Like Experience

Our hosts cultivate a warm, family-like atmosphere where guests feel immediately at home. Meals are nutritious and lovingly prepared — plant-based, primarily organic, and made with local, seasonal ingredients. Tea and wholesome snacks are available throughout the day, ensuring you feel nourished and cared for at every moment of your stay.

Join Us

Submit Your Application Today

Designed for depth and focus, this all-inclusive training is limited in size and offered by application only. We are selecting participants ready to engage seriously with embodied and symbolic healing work.

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Single Room

FREE

€ 2,850

€ 2,850

TICKET
TICKETS
LEFT
SOLD OUT
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€2,590 Early Bird
(save €260 — until 31 January)


Accommodation for 5 days/4 nights

Private access to the retreat centre

All meals, snacks, and drinks

All materials and classes (33+ hrs)

Shared Room

FREE

€ 2,300

€ 2,300

TICKET
TICKETS
LEFT
SOLD OUT
more info

€1,990 Early Bird
(save €310 — until 31 January)


Accommodation for 5 days/4 nights

Private access to the retreat centre

All meals, snacks, and drinks

All materials and classes (33+ hrs)

schedule A CALL

I discovered creative ways to express sensitive, deeply personal topics, and returned feeling empowered with valuable tools and inspiration gained from both participants and teachers.

Amy Tessler | Trauma Psychotherapist | Canada

My experience was deeply insightful. It offered a refreshing perspective that complemented my background in healthcare, allowing me to reconnect with the true essence of therapy.

Dr Soukeyna Debiens | Medical Doctor | Canada

I felt inspired and supported by incredible artists who make art in a different way. I was reminded of the reason why I create and share my creativity.

SANDRA LEPIK | VISUAL ARTIST | ESTONIA

The techniques were accessible yet powerful, simple yet transformative. The experience was unexpectedly moving, personally enriching, and collectively empowering — I feel really grateful for it.

Dr MIKE SANDEL | Psychiatrist | SPAIN

FAQs

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Ready to step into the work?

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