Each spring we offer "Sowing, Growing & Nurturing: A Women's Retreat Day". This event brings together women from all walks of life for a day of reflection, connection and renewal. Participants are treated to a lovely continental breakfast, an opening activity where we form a community for the day, several morning and afternoon workshops with topics focused on women's needs and issues, a served lunch and a closing activity. The women's retreat is always a highlight of the year for us and for those who attend. Many women make new connections, set a new path for their lives, and/or feel validated and nurtured for who they are.

The Brandywine Center's Third Annual Women's Retreat, "The Adventure of Being Alive!" took place on April 28, 2001 at Harry's Savoy Ballroom/ Conference Center. By all accounts it was a huge success with almost 100 women attending. The day began with a continental breakfast followed by an opening presentation "Tell Me What It Is That Makes You Feel Alive" by Robin Sesan. Morning workshops were enthusiastically received, lunch was delicious and the afternoon workshops enlightening. According to most of the retreat participants the closing activity, a movement workshop by Fern Meierding, was the just the right way to end the day on an uplifting note.

Through the sale of "wild women" pins and a matching contribution from The Brandywine Center we were pleased to be able to donate $500.00 to Martha's Carriage House, a battered women's shelter in Wilmington.

Here are some of the comments from attendees:

So, mark your calendars now for next year's Women's Retreat, April 20, 2002. We are already actively involved in planning yet another day of reflection, connection and renewal.

Here are some of the highlights from the 2001 workshops...

The energy in the room was wonderful as I looked around and saw almost 100 women from many walks of life eager to spend a day focused on themselves and connecting with others. The opening set the tone for the day with encouragement to DO ONE THING DIFFERENT, to take a risk to feel more alive in your life. We discussed barriers to being alive which include; fears of being selfish, our day-to-day schedules not reflecting our priorities, allowing ourselves to be drained by relationships, feeling trapped by money (not enough or too much), running on adrenaline, looking away from what lingers in our hearts, not speaking to our own truths and loss of connection to something larger than ourselves. Listening to our hearts and allowing the experience of connection, compassion and contribution to be there helps us feel alive. We were all moved by the integration of music into the opening. Dar William's song After All from her Green World album taught us about moving from not feeling alive to feeling more alive and Tracy Chapman challenged us in her song If not now, then when to do something now to make our lives different. Laughter, tears, hugs and sharing what makes us feel most alive brought us together for a day of reflection and connection.

Body Image: The Adventure of Being Female 

In this workshop the following ideas we highlighted a new "Declaration of Independence" which includes: no more dieting, no more self condemnation, no more making our bodies over in another's image. We challenged the notion that self esteem/positive body partnership is about renovating your body and discussed feeling better by thinking better to cultivate an appreciation of your body. When we think more positively about our bodies the negative become less important. Some things we can do to create a more positive body image are to create a praise journal and flood negative body thoughts with an army of positive body thoughts. We also talked about taking time out to get centered in your body with breathing exercises, using breathing as a pathway to discharge emotions and identified tools to get more connected to our body's organic needs and the wisdom of our bodies.

The most powerful aspect of the workshop this year were the risks woman took in sharing experiences, feelings and thoughts about their bodies. There was a powerful feeling in the room and a strong sense of connection around the pain and isolation most woman have felt with these issues. Many in the group made a commitment to begin sharing these issues more in safe places in the world. The ending ritual was powerful and evoked joy and laughter. Participants were asked to give up one bad body thought or behavior. As women in the room gave voice to what they were relinquishing there was wonderful resonance and shared energy in the room. Some things woman chose to give up were: wearing a girdle, comparing her body with others and bad body talk. Many spoke of cultivating a positive connection with their bodies and making peace with the bodies they had vs. staying in the struggle to change their bodies. Another made a promise to herself to be more alive in her life and relish the everyday beauty in life.

Mindfulness in Relationships: Nourishing Ourselves, Growing Others
 

What does it mean to be mindful, or fully present in any given relationship? Through discussion, experiential exercise, and thoughtful introspection, thirty eight women helped each other begin to answer this question. First, it is clear we all feel our lives move too fast and that we expect too much of ourselves. Thus, re-examining our priorities and expectations of ourselves and others is crucial to our being fully present in our relationship with others as well as ourselves. We also talked about the effects of gender, roles, race, etc. in our relationships with others. Furthermore, through some medium of stillness or stopping, (meditation, prayer, counseling , yoga, quiet alone time) regular self introspection is required for mindfulness in relationships. Finally, it was felt that being present doesn't necessarily mean responding at that moment. Sometimes, being mindful means sorting through how we wish to respond to really connect with another and not react out of our own insecurities. We saw this workshop as a first step in an ongoing process of living a more emotionally connected life.

Making Change Irresistible

Imagine a lively conversation about how and why you get stuck in your life, with a group of supportive and funny women. Imagine others not only understanding how you feel, but letting you know that they too get stuck, whether it's unpacking boxes from a 2-year-old move, building exercise into their busy lives, or making plans for summer camps for the kids. We looked at how change REALLY happens (hint: it's a process, not an event); the different ways we get stuck (is it perfectionism, worry, rebellion or some other reason that gets in your way?); and we focused on our internal decision-making and how to make it more effective. This workshop was both poignant and fun-loving.

Journey to Yourself: Self-Esteem Enhancement for Women

The room was warm, the energy was high. Participants were overwhelmingly positive about our "meaningful questions" activity--they were intrigued by the deeper questions that we don't take time to ask ourselves, that help us to know ourselves better. We focused on self-knowledge, self-acceptance and self-care as avenues to greater self-esteem. And, the women loved talking (with a capital T) with each other. As usual, people wished there was more time! 

Images from the Soul: The Art of Collage

This was a fairly unstructured workshop with a large variety of materials available for collaging. Participants were encouraged to let go of their nervousness about the creative process and tune in to whatever images or messages were asking to be expressed visually. Participants were welcome to explore the various materials (handmade paper, magazines, stickers, fabric, lace, wire, artwork, buttons...) assembled around the room for inspiration We were amazed at the way people used a wide variety of materials to represent different aspects of their lives with such a short period of time to think and plan... Maps, chains, keys, music, lace, fabric, stamp art, pictures of various favorite objects and animals and people and places. As a result, each participant created a beautiful and truly one-of-a-kind piece of original art.

Workshop participants: had fun, practiced creative self-expression, for at least a brief period, let go of the tendency to criticize one's creative process and nurtured their creative side. This workshop proved to us that within each person there is a creative being longing to express herself. We unfortunately did not have time for workshop participants to talk about their collages and what all the symbols meant to hem but we hope the women will spend some time reflecting on what their collages mean to them. 

It was wonderful to see so many woman exclaim with pride "Look what I made"!

Sex in the Suburbs

Women in this workshop really talked a lot about their frustrations with tuning into their sexuality and desire, and being "in sync" with their partner. Participants offered each other the space to open up and talk with other women about sex, and some women very movingly revealed
painful and worrisome aspects of their sexuality/sex life. Thoughts offered in the workshop to connect with our sexuality included: taking time for yourself and tuning into sexual feelings individually communicating with your partner about what works for you in terms of sexual turn-ons feeling entitled to say "no"--or pleasing your partner without feeling obligated to have mutual sexual contact sexual feelings are enhanced when a relationship feels caring, trusting, connected reading books about fantasy/erotica can help women tune into their sexuality
 

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You can review the details of previous Annual Retreats from 2001 to the most recent:

2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007