Woodland Retreat: Deepening nature connection (5 nights)

Brigit-Anna McNeill

Brigit’s fondest childhood memories are of being with her grandmothers who were both eccentric artists and storytellers with a deep love for the natural world. Heavily inspired by their presence, Brigit grew up with a passion for exploring the wild and expressing the love of it through writing and art. Nature and creative expression have always been Brigit’s refuge and love, and they were her ally through her own journey of recovery. 

She achieved a BA in fine art and photography from Brighton university and went on to do an MA in Art psychotherapy at Goldsmiths, London. 

Brigit always enjoyed bringing nature, the seasons and elements of the wild into her work with people whether through art, writing or therapy and has loved using art and writing as a way to connect to both inner and outer nature. 

She went on to train in wilderness psychotherapy and ecotherapy, exploring such things as re-wilding and restoration of the land and the human condition along with vision quests and solo work. Through her life she has always had a deep love of plants, trees and fungi and apprenticed in foraging and herbalism for many years.

She is currently writing a book about nature, recovery and re-wilding the human psyche which will be published in spring 2024.

Lindsay Alderton

Lindsay has been practising meditation since 2003, studying with teachers from the Tibetan and Insight Meditation traditions.

She lived and worked at the Ecodharma centre in the Spanish Pyrenees, and helped launch the Ulex Project in 2016, a European training programme which supports activists to navigate burnout and build impact across social movements. Prior to this she was involved in full-time climate activism.

Trained in Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living, Lindsay is passionate about how meditation can open up views of identity to support greater intimacy with all life, and how compassion can be a vital resource for navigating ecological anxiety and grief.

Currently completing her clinical placement hours as an integrative counsellor, since 2021 Lindsay has been a part of the Barn Retreat team, helping design, develop and deliver their LGBTQIA+ strand of retreats. What motivates her is a deep commitment to a culture of awakening and care for all beings.

Rupert Marques

Rupert has practiced in the insight meditation tradition for nearly 25 years in Europe, America and Asia. His primary teachers have been Christina Feldman and Joseph Goldstein. The work of Toni Packer and John Tarrant have also been influential in his practice and teaching. He teaches at various retreat centres in Europe and beyond. For the past 4 years Rupert has lived and worked at Ecodharma, a contemplative retreat community in the Spanish Pyrenees dedicated to exploring the role of the Dharma in the movements for social justice and ecological sustainability. At Ecodharma he directed the Nature based Practice strand of their work that marries contemplative practice with a range of approaches within the field of experiential ecopsychology in a wilderness setting.

Steve Banks

Steve trained as a mindfulness teacher with Mindfulness UK. He started practising meditation in 1990 within the Buddhist tradition, and has attended retreats, mostly at Gaia House, with many different teachers. He first came to Sharpham in 1997 for a Barn retreat, and fell in love with the beautiful setting, with the Dart winding its way through the green hills. Steve is a qualified Psychosynthesis counsellor and has engaged in many forms of personal development and menswork, including co-leading transformative Rites Of Passages retreats for men. He is a musician and composer - his sacred choral work, ‘Blue Pearl: A One World Oratorio’, had its world premiere in 2022 (the film is on YouTube). He has attended the one-week Mindful Self-Compassion retreat with Chris Germer and Kristin Neff. Steve lives just down the river from Sharpham, and loves boating and swimming in the Dart, and hiking and camping in the beautiful Devon hills and coast. Steve is passionate about passing on the gifts of mindfulness, meditation, and deepening our connection with nature.