Eequ · After school. In place of school. Beyond school.

Ecotherapy & Yoga in Nature

Connecting to the inner and outer landscapes

Your mentors

Chiara Santin, Director of Rainbow CommUnity Projects

Dr Rebecca Devereux

Organisation links
Location address: Brighton, BN26DD
Chosen age group:

For ages: 18+ years

Available tickets:
Standard £50Part-time/low income £40 per sessionUnwaged/on benefits £35 per session
Next date: None - message Mentor to express interest
A summary
We invite you to this workshop which is led by two experienced facilitators with expertise in ecotherapy (Chiara) and trauma-sensitive yoga (Rebecca). We will create a space for you to connect with your felt sense and explore your inner landscape in a natural setting and deepen your relationship with self, body and nature. We will start with a trauma-sensitive yoga session in the morning, and after lunch, you will engage in an ecotherapy session through a nature connection activity. The movement facilitation offered is based on an exploration of somatics and will support connecting to your interoceptive awareness (or the felt sense). Shapes, stillness, movement and breath are offered as a means to exploring connecting/reconnecting with body sensation. Although the sessions borrow from the Hatha yoga tradition the focus of sessions is not on the external expression of a shape but rather your subjective experience of sensation as you explore shapes. The EcoTherapy session will use a 6-step model of working in nature called Nat-GaTheRing which will guide you and invite you to be curious and playful in engaging with nature in a meaningful way. This will help you explore your relationship with nature in order to make sense of your inner landscape and life experiences. It will give you a sense of connection, aliveness and wellbeing and experience yourself as part of nature and a wider web of life to nurture active hope. Here's what to expect: 10.30 Meeting @ the Memorial Grounds, West Gate 10.45 Gentle Walk through the ancient woods 11.00 Therapeutic Yoga session 12.30 Picnic 1.00 Ecotherapy Activity 2.15 Reflections on the Day 2.30 Finish
About your mentors
Chiara Santin, Director of Rainbow CommUnity Projects
Bringing out all the rainbow colours in all
I am a nature lover and have developed a bond with nature since an early age. Nature has been my sanctuary, my comfort and companion, my safe place, my spiritual guide, my own therapist throughout my life. I left my beloved Italian Alps 24 years ago and landed in Sussex, where I have come to appreciate beautiful coastlines, chalk lands, white cliffs and the green Downs. We are not only part of nature but we are nature so Nature not only looks after us providing emotional and mental well-being but we also need to look after and protect the environment in return at this time of ecological crisis and climate change affecting us all. I am an academic, a teacher, a writer, an ecotherapist and an experienced systemic and family psychotherapist who is passionate about making therapy accessible to all, particularly ecotherapy as a more friendly way of providing mental health support to individuals, couples and families at times of stress, distress and difficulties. I have been providing support to children and their families for more than 20 years as well as my youth work in Italy for 10 years. I have been developing ecotherapy, particularly since the pandemic as the safest way of offering therapy as well as raising awareness of the benefits of spending time in nature as a source of wellbeing. I have also been offering ecotherapy groups in the community to support adults' mental health and wellbeing through nature during the pandemic. I have developed new ways of working in nature which I wish to share with others. I have published some articles and a podcast on ecotherapy.
Dr Rebecca Devereux
Connecting self with the somatic.
Rebecca Devereux, founder of Somatic Sense Brighton, offers therapeutic movement interventions for people who have experienced complex and single incident trauma. Having trained and worked for 15 years primarily in western based ‘top-down’ approaches to mental distress she was drawn towards the neuroscience supporting movement based practices. Following her initial training in Hatha and Vinyasa flow Rebecca decided to specialise in trauma informed approaches, completing a 300 hour certificate in Trauma Center, Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) with the Centre for Trauma and Embodiment. Rebecca is currently in her intermediate year training as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with SOS Internationale. Somatic Experiencing is a pioneering body oriented approach to relieving the physical, psychological, emotional and physiological effects of acute and chronic stress and PTSD. She specialises in working with people who experience emotional dysregulation, dissociation, derealisation, depersonalisation, body dysmorphia, substance use and self-injurious behaviours. She has been teaching trauma informed yoga since 2019.
Learning aims
Aim 1
To be able to explore your internal landscape and deepen your relationship with nature and self through a nature connection activity and feel restored
Aim 2
Connect with somatic sensations and your felt sense, tune in to your interoceptive awareness to reduce mental and emotional distress and increase feelings of empowerment through choice-based practice.
Pricing information
Ticket nameStandard
Price£50
InformationFor concessionary rates please get in touch
Ticket namePart-time/low income
Price£40
Ticket nameUnwaged/on benefits
Price£35
Where we'll be
Along Warren Road , Warren Road , Brighton, Brighton and Hove, BN26DD
Safety

Please note

Please note, it is the responsibility of the booker to satisfy themselves about the adequacy of the safety measures. This platform is merely an introducer and does not verify the items listed here.

Cancellation Policy
No refunds are given except in the case of a cancellation by the Mentor.

My experience consists of a leisure activity, on a specific date(s), and therefore the 14-day ‘cooling off period’ under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 does not apply.