DevotionalArtsRetreat

Mayumi Nakabayashi is a land artist and mandala maker. Her mission is to bring awareness to the symbiotic connections all lives on earth and to promote unity within human and more-than-human diversity by creating ephemeral geometric patterns (mandalas) using natural materials. Her media include plants, stones, vacated wasp hives, cobwebs, and frost. She studied art book binding under Sandy Sexton and is a certified therapist for various alternative health practices. Mayumi leads flower mandala making workshops in yoga studios, schools, and art festivals and has been the artistic director for Womandala na hEireann project (flower mandala & nude female body mandala) since 2020. She is currently working on a project with libraries in Ireland and environmental organizations to promote native woodlands.

Swan Alyon, PhD, is an art director and psychotherapist specializing in expanded states of consciousness.Working at the intersection of art and spirituality, Swan wrote their thesis on self-transformation and transcendence at St John's College, University of Cambridge, and has published several articles on moral philosophy andcomparative religion. They are also an accredited yoga, tantra, and pranayama instructor and trained at the Jacques Lecoq school of physical theatre. Swan has been guiding individuals and groups for more than 10 years and has led seminars, retreats, and festivals in 13 countries on three continents. They founded the Institute of Devotional Arts to study and spread the power of consciousness-expanding practices that enhance creativity, well-being, and self-awareness.

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Annalisa is an Italian Contemporary Artist based in Ibiza known for her oriental style of working. Painting, Performing and facilitating collecting Leaving Art experiences for groups or individuals

Lichigraphy “way of art” is the result of years of multidisciplinary study and practice, education in art, and oriental philosophy. Her work absorbs the explicitly and the grace of Japanese and Chinese influence, providing a raw strength that allows honesty which is how she strives to be as a person, the expression of integrity of mind to mouth to movement.  The seeking of balance and of functionality enriches the story of her work even more as a minimalist everything serves a purpose, making room for emptiness gives freedom and space for ideas. The manipulation of organic mediums and natural material, it’s a conscious daily choice and so is the accurate study of the color, blending natural pigment, clay, and a vast selection of organic matter transformed in powder. Art it’s the invisible line in between everything I do, and the way I move about my day. It is an absolute force I am part of.

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Olga Lidia Kozłowska is a licensed psychologist, singer, and voice coach. She is certified in Core Energetics Body Psychotherapist, Process training (A&A Mindell), and holds an MA in education. Drawing inspiration from Alexander Technique and Polyvagal Theory, Olga approaches voice work in a holistic and embodied way. She specializes in traditional Slavic and Georgian singing, choral music, and improvisation. Her masters include Franke Kane, Natalia Polovynka, Emma Bonnici, Amit Carmeli, Kristin Linklater, and Lane Aryne. She is the founder of Authentic Voice and has been leading workshops since 2011,

Marta Carvalho is a visual artist and a creative healer. She has been creating sacred spaces of transformative and healing arts since 2012. Marta holds degrees in Graphic Design and Visual Arts Theory. Her approach merges intuitive painting with vocal improvisation, somatic awareness, and performative practices. For the past four years, she has been developing numerous collaborative, interdisciplinary, and participatory art projects in Portugal. She guides personal and artistic development processes through individual mentoring, art therapy courses, and art residencies.

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Jorge N. Ferrer, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, author, and educator. Jorge was a professor for more than 20 years at California Institute of Integral Studies, where he also served as chair of the Department of East–West Psychology. He is the author many articles and books on transpersonal psychology, integral education, religious studies, and intimate relationships, including Espiritualidad Creativa: Una Vision Participativa de lo Transpersonal (Kairos, 2004), Participation and the Mystery: Transpersonal Essays in Psychology, Education, and Religion (SUNY Press, 2017), Love and Freedom: Transcending Monogamy and Polyamory (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), and Novogamia: Más Allá de la Monogamia y el Poliamor (Anaya/Oberon, 2022). Jorge was a member of the Esalen Institute’s Center for Theory and Research and advisor to the Religions for Peace organization at the United Nations.

Holly Taylor-Zuntz is a singer and choir director. Her mission is to bring the folk music of Georgia to a global audience. She holds a BA (Hons) in European Theatre Arts from Rose Bruford College and studied Natural Voice Leader with Frankie Armstrong as well as Advanced Circle Singing and Vocal Improvisation leader training with Guillermo Rozenthuler. Over the past five years, Holly has been conducting research on Georgian polyphonic music, spending several months a year in Georgia learning from local ethnomusicologists. She created three theatre shows about Georgian music in the UK. She is the founder and co-host of the Voices of the Ancestors podcast and directs the Georgian choir in Oxford. Holly also leads open-access community choirs and offers workshops that encourage everyone to sing, no matter their vocal experience.

Jessica Bockler, PhD, is psychologist, theatre practitionner, and the co-founder of the Alef Trust, an organization working in transpersonal and integrative education. Jessica has extensive experience of expressive arts facilitation, including physical and participatory theatre, and experimental movement and voice work. Jessica’s vision and research interests centre on holistic and creative approaches to social change, bridging embodied ritual and imaginal practices with activism and social change initiatives. She is on the academic advisory board of the Inner Development Goals initiative, and she is also a member of the UN’s Conscious Food Systems Alliance. Jessica serves as Programme Leader for Alef Trust’s Master’s programme in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology. Jessica teaches across a range of modules in integral psychology, creativity & transformation, research design, and applied transformative psychology, relating spiritual perspectives to activism and social change.

Andrea Saito is an artist, art therapist, and researcher. She holds MAs in Cultural Management (International University of Catalonia) and in Artistic and Creative Therapies (ISEP, Barcelona). She also studied engraving (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) and Japanese Woodblock (University of the Arts, London). She published Essencial Tune (2016) and Art Lab vol.1 (2017) in collaboration with Radar Art Lab. Andrea led interdisciplinary art labs in Lima and was in charge of the Cine Olaya Cultural Center. She worked as a cultural manager at Nau Bostik and Acid House in Barcelona. She currently offers Art Therapy sessions for individuals and groups and is a Dance Therapy teacher at Holistic Dansart, Puigcerdà.

Mahara McKay is a tantra teacher and holistic health coach as well as a former model and DJ. Mahara provides sacred spaces to support individuals to connect to their instinctual wisdom, power, freedom, and love, integrating the forgotten and repressed aspects of their being. She brings together the fire and wisdom from her Maori roots (Ngati Toa tribe) with the determination and discipline from her Swiss lineage. Mahara built two studios in New Zealand and worked in Goa for four years before returning to Switzerland where she holds private and group sessions on emotional release, tantra for couples, feminine embodiment, shamanic breathwork, and cacao ceremonies. She is also the organizer and host of the women’s wisdom festival in Zürich and has guided workshops in over 15 festivals in Europe and Asia.

Rafael Duarte-Uriza is a researcher and transdisciplinary artist. He empowers spectators to comprehend that we are nature and part of an interdependent web. Rafael studied Fine Arts at the National University of Colombia where he made his work “Reciprocal compression, a refuge for bees” with the support of Fundación Colombia Biodiversa. His research focuses on radical interdependence, coexistence, and regeneration to create art installations and meeting sessions providing spaces for awareness and exploration of a situation or specific spaces. His performative practice is also informed by Vipassana meditation and Contact Improvisation. Today he provides sensitive strategies as part of the Laboratories of Creation, Art, Culture, and Activism at the National University of Colombia.

Lucinda Edmonds is a performance artist and celebrant. Her vision is to connect with the divine to allow life to move through us unhindered, authentic, and playful. She trained as a celebrant and movement therapist as well as in action theatre and ritual creation. Lucinda worked as a coach for Lacey Haynes, the UK’s leading sexuality coach, led transformational programmes for teenagers, and performed in Walk About and Immersive Theatre internationally. She currently holds one-to-one healing sessions, runs workshops and retreats, and creates Walk About theatre performances.

Marco Balbi Dipalma graduated in theatre studies and socio-cultural education from the University of Bologna. Since 2004 Marco has been working with the Polish actress and paratheater theorist Rena Mirecka. He was her assistant and became the director of the training school and laboratory The Sun with the support of the Grotowski Institute. Marco is now conducting independent research on ritual performance and acting pedagogy in Wroclaw. He is also a photographer and videographer.