I first met Helen at a Netwalking event with the Being Freelance community last summer. Less than a year later I found myself heading to Brighton to join Helen’s latest retreat. Before I get into the details of the creative retreat, I want to give Netwalking a shout-out.

If you’ve never heard of Netwalking, in it’s most basic form, its a combination of networking and walking. It’s a great way of connecting with new people over a shared interest. In my case it was walking AND freelancing. Depending on the group size and how far the walk is, you often have time to go deeper than surface-level conversations. It’s a great way of really getting to know people.

Anyway, back to the retreat…

Hanging out with creatives

I stayed in touch with Helen after Netwalking, and when she mentioned running a retreat, my ears pricked up.

When the agenda for the retreat landed in my inbox, I was buzzing. The 2 day retreat would take place in Brighton. Just a short train ride from me. Two days of hanging out with other creatives sounded like a great way to start the new year. I was ready to find my ‘rhythm’ for the year ahead.

Is a creative retreat right for me?

Helen’s retreat was the first ‘creative retreat’ I had been to. I’m therefore not sure if other retreats would be the same or similar. Post-event, I would say that A Retreat For Creative People was aimed at people who were in a creative rut. Even if you’re not in a rut, a creative retreat might open your eyes to getting creative in new ways. I had NEVER had a go at writing anything for comedic purposes until this retreat!

What can I expect from a creative retreat?

Most people on the retreat were writers in some capacity, whether they were poets, content writers, or comedians.

It was a mixed-pronouns group – the first time I’ve been asked to give my pronouns as part of my intro. The size of the group also changed over the two days. Although paying members of the retreat were there throughout, the facilitators joined us for some of the other sessions too. It was nice to get to know the people behind the job title.

There was also a degree of wellbeing woven into both days, including, journaling, movement and a sound bath.

The theme of this particular retreat was ‘Rhythm’.

Here’s an edited version of what the agenda looked like to give you a sense of what the two days looked like:

Day One

Day Two

Each day ran from around 11:30am to 5pm with plenty of breaks throughout the day. The retreat itself was held in the theatre space upstairs in The Actors. We were well catered for across both days, with the venue providing brunch (catering for vegan and gluten-free diets!). Helen did some great work on the snack front too!

My Highlights

I’m fairly sure that everyone took something different away from the retreat, but these are some of the things I’ve taken away with me:

• It was nice to hang out with a different crowd. It’s easy to end up networking in the same circles, but it was inspiring to meet new people!
• Not every session will be for you. I love comedy, and Linz who delivered the Confidence through Comedy workshop was great. But I’m no comedian. It was fun to try something new, whilst also knowing comedy writing probably isn’t for me.
• I was reignited with my inner poet. I was always marked highly for my poetry in school, but it’s not something I’ve touched since. I may never give it another go, but it felt good to play around with it again.
• I loved Anny’s Movement session, and it further confirmed the need for me to get more ‘playful’ this year.
• Ren’s Sound Bath was incredible. I felt naturally drawn to Ren as soon as they entered the room.

Other things to consider:

• Go with an open mind.
• Word of warning – if you ever give a sound bath a try – don’t go if you have earache! The next day, my earache was massively amplified! I figured the vibrations from Ren’s instruments had shifted something in my already poorly ear.
• Know that you may not enjoy every session, and that’s ok.
• But you will leave with some lovely new connections and creative skills you’ll want to go home and practice!

A Retreat for Creatives set me back £300 which is pretty good for a 2 day event of any kind. The £300 included brunch, snacks and hot drinks each day. Travel and overnight accommodation were not included.

It was worth every penny and I can’t wait for the next one!

If you’d like to find out more about any of the facilitators mentioned above, get to know them by clicking on the links below:

Helen Jane Campbell

Movement with Anny

Confidence Through Comedy with Linz

Poetry with Subira Joy

Sound bath with Ren, Flow & Roam

If you’d like to discover more about sound baths, check out my post ‘What is a Sound Bath’.