South West France on the 26th – 29th August 2022
Owners and founders of the French Retreat, husband and wife team Matthew and Emma Pruen, welcome all manner of couples who are looking to reconnect with themselves and with their partners.
For most people, the primary template for our intimate relationships is the example provided by our parents. While this template remains unchallenged, what we witnessed them do (or not do) in their own relationship and the ways they related to others will influence our own relationship choices.
So, when we face relationship struggles in our own lives, we can often get a sense of ‘Groundhog Day’ and feel ill-equipped to deal with them…
This specially developed life changing retreat is designed both for anyone wanting to develop their ability to enjoy life in their current intimate relationship or to work on their skills so the next relationship has the best possible chance. It aims to support attendees in achieving real breakthrough. This course is even good for couples seeking to part well. After all, the skills required to find respectful closure are the very same needed to create a healthy future together – communication, understanding and trust.
Matthew and Emma will draw on their vast experience, as well as a wider range of wisdom traditions, including the teachings of psychotherapist David Richo and Harville Hendrix’ Imago therapy.
A large proportion of this workshop’s content is experiential (rather than theoretical). It provides a unique opportunity to learn and grow by experiencing tools and practices and sharing in a group setting.
- Healthy versus unhealthy relationships – recognising co-dependency and addiction and how to be an adult in relationships
- Setting healthy boundaries in relationships
- Communication skills – learning how to express your needs healthily, and how to really listen and be heard
- Intimacy and commitment – fears we all share and how to overcome them
- How the past is present in relationships – exploring the impact of our past and learning ways to do things differently
- Healing our unmet needs from childhood – learning how to ‘self-parent’
- The introvert/extrovert or ‘maximiser/minimiser’ dimensions of relating
- From Transference to transformation – the role of Transference in relationships and how to work with it
- Developing our spiritual resources to support and guide us.
The French Retreat was developed after many combined years teaching, attending, and writing about residential workshops and retreats.
Matthew and Emma wanted to create a space that would hold the deepest emotional work. They searched for property that was both sufficiently private and open. They found a Manor house that hadn’t been lived in since the 1970s and set about converting the huge barn into a large group room with high spec en-suite accommodation.
The French Retreat is a very special workshop and retreat centre. The vast double height group room with its vaulted ceiling is simply stunning. Each bedroom has a very different feel, from simple French country twin rooms to the Lord of the Manor’s four poster bedroom. The en-suite bathrooms are sleek and modern, with traditional features retained.
The owners run their own courses at The French Retreat and also invite teachers and facilitators to use the venue for their own courses.
ABOUT
Matthew has been a self development facilitator for the last ten years and before that ran award winning restaurants in Bristol, although the original plan was to be an artist. You can read read more about Matthew and his work at www.matthewpruen.com.
Emma’s path has been equally eclectic working as a self-esteem counsellor, founding and running a mind, body spirit magazine and training as a shamanic practitioner whilst working as a spin doctor for the Green Party. She is also a Family Constellations practitioner. She has just completed her first novel. Read more about Emma’s work as a facilitator here.
To Book with Emma and Matthew
French Retreat is a very special holistic retreat centre nestled in the peaceful French Countryside.
About an hour from Bordeaux airport or a train journey from Paris to Chalais, the house is surrounded by sunflower fields, so you can take a wander or borrow a bike, find a sunset to marvel over and drink in the limitless space.
There are also pretty French villages to explore, local markets to potter round and it is close to the beautiful town of Aubeterre-Sur-Drone, one of France’s ‘Plus Beaux Villages.
- The cost for the workshop and board (all days) is £600 per person (early bird discounted to £495 until 31 May) which includes all accommodation, meals and refreshments. It includes transfers from Bordeaux airport or Chalais train station but does not include flights. You can reserve your place by paying a £250 deposit, with the remaining balance to be paid by 1 August.
- Arrival between 2-4pm on 26th August and departing from 2pm on 29th August (for flight leaving Bordeaux after 5pm.)
Breakfast is at 8am and we start work at 9.00am. We break for lunch at 1pm. Afternoons are free to lie by the pool, take a massage, take a walk together or borrow a bike and explore the local vineyards. We will commence at 5.00pm and work until supper at 8pm. The retreat is fully residential. The
- There will be short refreshment breaks and a longer break for meals. All special dietary requirements can be catered for (at an extra charge).
- The fee for this workshop is non-transferable. Last-minute cancellations may be subject to an admin fee. Bookings cancelled within fourteen days of the start of the course will not be refunded.
To benefit fully from your workshop, please do make sure that the course you are booking reflects your current circumstance. Details of other relationship workshops and retreats in London, France and elsewhere can be found here.
