Foundations of Natural Intelligence

Friday, 21st June, 2024 19:00
Saturday, 29th June, 2024 14:00

FNI Courses are back!
Storm Arwen and friends all but destroyed the kitchen shelter. However some of the shelving units were saved and a new Woodland Kitchen has now sprung up, all with volunteer labour. All the new wood has been sawn on the estate from trees brought down in the storm, and others clear felled later. Windows and some additional floorboards have been reclaimed from the Gate Lodge renovation.

Week-long Retreat in the Woods: Foundations of Natural Intelligence 7-day retreat – living in yurts in the woodlands

Could you see yourself spending a week without electricity, phone reception, and contact with the outside world? On this 7-day retreat we will strip ourselves down to the bare essentials: delicious food, fresh water, clean air, warm shelter, wood-fired hot water outdoor showers, and exceptional company.

Who are we when all that is non-essential is stripped away? What do we mean by natural intelligence and what lies at its core?

Each day focuses on a theme for discussion, such as being, unity, wholeness, and our existence in the universe. Can we find out through direct experience what is necessary for human existence? Together we will explore these questions, and more. The course facilitators also partake on this journey, joining in as students on the course: there are no teachers.

The schedule is rigorous, beginning with a guided meditation each day, with the morning dedicated to conversation. The afternoon provides time for respite and physical work (such as cooking, gardening, or chopping wood), followed by further discussion and meditation before supper. In the evenings we go for walks or sit by the fire and study the stars.

All meals are nutritious (with many of the ingredients from the organic garden) and prepared together, cooked on a fire that you have kindled yourself with wood chopped by your own hands.

Although the course is challenging, it is accessible to all. If you have any questions or special requirements please do let us know.

“Never in my life had I been with a group of people who conversed like this. We all opened up to express ourselves and found out little clues as to who we really are.”
Gregory, course participant, 2017

Cost £350 with £50 non-refundable deposit due once your place has been confirmed

To apply
Please write to secretary@chisholme.org / call +44 (01450 880 215

Read here about the experience of doing such a course...

Watch a short video on the course: