Wild Edges Wilderness Gathering: Sentience, Stillness & Awe

WILD EDGES: Sentience, Stillness & Awe

Little River Wilderness Property, Lot 32, Glen Chee Rd, Ganbenang. 

May 12th-14th, 2023

Everything is ceremony in the wild garden of childhood

- Pablo Neruda

Hello friend, 

Welcome to the Wild Edge.

We invite you to join us on Dharug country this May, in the place of healing, dreaming and community called Little River.  This is part of a series of small-group programs that we are offering to people who are called to do the work.  We invite you into the circle with us, to take your seat at the fire, to feel into the truth of who you are.  We invite you in to the majesty and mystery of what it is to be alive in the web of life in this wild turning of the wheel.  We invite you into a weekend of healing, reflection, community and wanders on the land.  We invite you to gather with us around this jewel of an offering about sentience, stillness and awe.   

So, what is that?  

Here’s a little on how we understand it.  How about you?  

Sentience

Rob says: Sentience is the ground of our being.  More than consciousness, it is the central organising principle that flows through life itself. It shapes our wounds and our gifts and animates the fabric of energies that live in us and the world around.  It also constantly seeks to return us to our deepest wholeness, through the doorway of our wounds; our grief, shame, depression, or sense of being deficient.  If we can learn to tune into the wisdom in our suffering, we connect with the vast resources of being on a profound journey of growth, healing and transformation.  

Christie says: Sentience is what makes life worth living. It is our sensations that vividly represent what our perceptions mean to us and have allowed our species to enter a new landscape of possibility,  'the soul niche', where we use our sensations to better understand ourselves, one another, and the world. 

On this Wild Edges retreat we will be cultivating our relationship with the sentient dimension of being by cultivating sensory awareness, through somatic practice and meditation that deepens connection by, listening and attending to the world within and without. 

Stillness

Rob says:If sentience is the conductor, stillness is the medium.  The silence between breaths, the fertile darkness of the space between the stars.  All things arise out of silence and return to it.  But it is not inert.  It is a living, generative, radiant medium, and we are bathed in it.  Beneath the cacophony of daily life, stillness blooms, calling us back into its midnight fold.  This quiet space of healing, contemplation, insight and deep creativity.  

Christie says: It is in stillness that we exist by being rather than by doing. It is stillness that we can detach from the demands of striving and achieving. It is in stillness that the busy mind will quiet and we will once more hear the voice of our deepest longings and knowings. It is in the stillness that we find ourselves and we will know that we are enough. 

This Wild Edges program will invite you deeper into the stillness at your centre, out of which new possibility unfurls and takes form. We will stop and be still and drink in each moment and lovingly tend to the quiet. Come find a clearing in the dense forest of your life. 

Awe

Rob says: When was the last time you were claimed by awe?  Perhaps emptied out by the magnitude of a three hundred million year old view, silenced by the vaulted spires of a gathering storm, or enchanted by the slow, spiralling poetry of a wedge-tailed eagle adrift in the wild blue firmament. Perhaps forever changed by the mercy of a lone light that flickered in darkness.  Now we are in a land that lies beyond words, in the rapture of being, enfolded by mystery, born to dream and to wander this one wild and precious life.  

Christie says: When life feels truly dark and awful it takes just a single moment of awe to remind us that life can be good again, that it will not feel this way forever. That we can experience joy and play and something other than grief, depression or discomfort. It was in my own darkest moment that an awe experience in nature showed me the way out. 

On this Wild Edges retreat we will be cultivating awe through praise walks on the wild land, by way of ceremony and circle, by offering gratitude where we are called to offer it, by taking our place beneath the majesty of a sky on fire with stars.  

Sometimes, when the light strikes at odd angles

and pulls you back into childhood

and you are passing a crumbling mansion

completely hidden behind old willows

or an empty convent guarded by hemlocks

and giant firs standing hip to hip,

you know again that behind that wall,

under the uncut hair of the willows

something secret is going on,

so marvelous and dangerous

that if you crawled through and saw,

you would die, or be happy forever.

- Lisel Mueller

What to expect 

• Hosted by PACFA registered Holistic Psychotherapists Christie Little and Rob Engels. 
• A small group of no more than 10 like minded individuals gathering together in the wild Australian bush. 
• Opportunity to participate in a range of healing activities including circle sharing, meditation, yoga (beginner level), dream work, shadow work, nature connection, dance, deep silence. There are no compulsory activities. 
• Sleeping wild under the stars in your own tent or swag
• A bell tent and small cabin offering wet weather spaces in the case of rain 
• Preparing meals together around a fire
• The gift of like-minded community and the salve of immersive time in nature

About Rob and Christie 

There are many different kinds of psychotherapy and counselling. We are PACFA registered Psychotherapists and Counsellors trained in the person-centred Process-Oriented Psychology (process work) approach. We combine our experience and qualifications in Meditation, Inquiry, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Grief Work, Somatic Coaching, Embodied Flow Yoga, Positive Neuroplasticity Training, Biofeedback for Stress and Recovery, Wellness and Nutrition Coaching and Nature Therapy, Wild Mind and Soul Craft to offer a holistic approach to healing.

Our combined approach is based on a deep belief of your own inner wisdom, which is harnessed by offering a safe space where you are deeply respected and listened to with open non-judgmental awareness; where insightful questions provoke thinking and deepen understanding and expand consciousness; where we work together to heal old wounds and discover an abiding sense of wholeness. 

Our own journeys have been light and dark, wild, beautiful and gnarly. Together we will be guided by the innate wisdom of being on a path of self-discovery, healing and an honouring of life’s deep mystery. 

We welcome you to connect with us at any time during the week between the hours of 9am and 6pm. 

Our contact details: 

Christie : M 0466 831 517 E: christie@frontierwellbeing.com.au

Rob : M 0423 300 971 E: hello@wildreverence.com.au

Now for the practical stuff: 

Address and Arrival Instructions

Little River Wilderness Camp is a 100 acre privately owned property. There is a small cabin with a compost toilet and rain water tank. 

The camp is located at the halfway point of the Six foot Track hike between Katoomba and Jenolan Caves. Alum Creek Campground is located on the property and is a useful point to enter into your GPS. 

You can drive or hike to the camp. 

• You can hike from Katoomba, a 22 km hike, approx 8 hours. 
• Driving to the camp requires a 4WD. The last 2km requires a 4WD with clearance as the Six Foot Track as suffered from the floods and year of rain. 
• If you have a 2WD you can arrange to carpool with other guests or with Rob or Christie (from Blackheath) 

Arrival Times: 

Friday 12th May: 3pm

Departure Times

Sunday 14th May : 3pm onwards 

Camping: 

Little River is a beautiful site of hills and valleys with views to the Black Mountain and Mittagong. 

You are welcome to pitch your tent or swag anywhere on the property noting that this property is not at all flat. 

There is a timber platform that you could also pitch your tent on if you are bringing a larger tent and sharing with others. .

You are welcome to sleep in your car if that is your preferred set up. 

Meals 

This event is self catered. Please bring meals to cook over a fire or on the Butane Gas Cookers. 

Please bring enough water to drink for the duration of your stay. 

There is tank water that can be used for cooking and washing. 

What to bring

• Tent, pillow and sleeping gear
• Food for your meals
• Drinking water 
• Yoga Mat
• Notebook and pen 
• Torch 
• Appropriate footwear and clothing (for rain, cold weather, warm weather and swimming) 
• Sunscreen, hat, insect repellent
• Towel (for wild swimming and bucket showering). 
• Your own relevant insurances (we recommend you have ambulance cover that includes helicopter evacuations). 
• Emergency wilderness whistle (available in outdoor stores)

The camp kitchen provides cups, cutlery, plates and some cooking pots and pans. 

A few other points to note:

• This is a drug and alcohol free event. 
• There is no mobile service at the property. You can drive or walk 1km away if you need to check in with your family. 
• This is a bush location. There are snakes, goannas, spiders, kangaroos, koalas and abundant bird life. 

Cancellation policy: 

Your investment is 100% refundable up until 7 days before the program starts

In the case of an extreme weather event we may need to cancel or postpone the gathering and you will be fully refunded. 

In the event that the hosts are unable to make the gathering we will also give you as much notice as possible and refund you the full amount of your investment.