A Journey with Meditation, Music & Mandalas
with Johann van Greunen, Specialist Wellness Counsellor, Reiki Master & MARI® Practitioner
and Anelle Naudé-Lester Psychologist and Bonny Method Guided Imagery and Music Practitioner
“We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life.”
- Carl Gustav Jung
On this silent retreat we will use the powerful methods of Guided Imagery in Music (GIM) and the Mandala Research Instrument (MARI®) to facilitate connection and integration. This process of working with GIM and MARI® engages inner wisdom, intuition and insight that transcends language in a very powerful way.
This retreat will be structured as follows:
Early morning movement practices
Morning and early evening meditations
Adapted group GIM sessions
Adapted group MARI® sessions
Various adapted GIM sessions
Evening Sound Journeys.
About Guided Imagery in Music (GIM):
Anelle writes: “The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (BMGIM) is a music-centred, consciousness-expanding therapy developed by Helen Bonny. Ever since I was first introduced to this method, I have been passionate about the power of music and as a co-therapist, not only for my clients, but for my own therapeutic growth as well. Classical music sequences stimulate journeys of the imagination, facilitate clients’ integration of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of well-being. Imagery can be seen as a mirror of the inner reality, surfacing through metaphors and symbolic material. Through this creative process access to the unconscious is provided and leads to an opportunity for emotional release, experience, intuitive and archetypal journeys as well as transpersonal experiences. I find this way of working especially helpful when we feel the constraints of language, not being able to adequately express what we feel. In many ways this method has transformed my practice and my clients’ therapeutic progress, sparking creativity, vision, and insight. Various adaptations - referred to as Adapted Imagery and Music (GIM) - with regards to group work and applying this tool in different contexts have been developed and are used with great success. The Association of Music and Imagery (AMI) as well as The Journal of the Association for Music and Imagery are excellent resources to explore if more information is needed.”
About the Mandala Assessment Research Instrument (MARI®):
Finding itself in the domain of Art Therapy, MARI® was developed by American art therapist Joan Kellogg in the 1970’s. It is based on the work of Carl Jung, who pointed out that consciousness is comprised of four aspects: thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting. The MARI® process accesses all of these aspects. Also referred to as The Great Round, MARI® resembles the Cycle of Life’s Journey, from birth (entry) to death (disintegration) and transformation, which starts the whole cycle all over again. The MARI® board reflects 13 life stages which each has unique qualities, challenges, and requirements for growth. It also reflects four quadrants: Forming, Becoming, Manifesting and Dissolving / Re-birthing.
The process of the MARI® reading is intuitive, which involves the client choosing symbols that they are attracted to, which are printed on see-through plastic cards, and these symbol cards are then matched with colour cards. The card choices are then placed on the appropriate stages on the MARI® board that the symbols represent and discussed. On this retreat we will be working with a simplified version of MARI® adapted for group work.
You are invited to join us for this weekend retreat at Temenos Retreat Centre from 29th – 31st July 2022, inclusive of brunch and dinner daily, retreat activities and materials used. Checking in-time will be from 14:00 on Friday 29th July and we will gather 17:00 for the start of the retreat. The retreat will end at around 14:00 after a closing ritual on Sunday 31st July. The fee includes free accommodation for Sunday evening for those that can stay over. Dinner on Sunday evening will be at your own cost. The restaurant at Temenos, Tebaldi’s, is closed on Sunday evenings, but you can order a takeaway at the restaurant before 2pm or book for a dinner in town or choose to self-cater. The cottages at Temenos are fully equipped for self-catering. Please note: Those staying over on the Sunday evening will still have an option to book an individual session with Anelle the Sunday afternoon. We both will be available for discussions during and after the end of the retreat.
The retreat fee is R 5 000.00 single accommodation and R 4 500.00 sharing. An immediate deposit of R1 000.00 secures your booking. The balance is payable on 22nd July. Please book soon as space is limited. For bookings, contact Johann at johann@johannvangreunen.co.za or 083 764 5978. Please Note: A portion of the retreat fee can be claimed back from Medical Aids. The necessary forms will be provided upon booking.
Please note my Cancellation Policy:
• Should you cancel your reservation up to 4 weeks prior a retreat, you will be refunded, but an admin fee of R 100 will be charged. An option would be to keep your deposit, but to transfer it to another retreat at no additional cost.
• For cancellations 2-4 weeks prior the retreat, refunds will only be offered if your place can be re-sold. You will still have the option to transfer your deposit to another retreat at no additional cost.
• Cancellations up to 2 weeks prior the retreat will not be refunded, and no deposits will be transferred.
About your facilitators:
Johann Van Greunen
Johann is a Specialist Wellness Counsellor in private practice with training and background in Pastoral Therapy. In his practice he focuses on counselling, Reiki healing and training, teach ing mindfulness meditation and he runs various workshops focused on mindfulness practices and inner wellbeing Johann has realised the value of Meditation and Mindfulness Practices early in his life and has co me to know Mindfulness Meditation as an invaluable aid in assisting us to develop integrated and coherent life stories.
With an interest in Integral and Complementary Medicine from early on, Johann qualified as Reiki Master to offer a hands on healing pra ctice that complements his counselling practice. Being a Master in Reiki, he teaches courses on Levels 1, 2 and Master Level.
Johann had been training in both ballroom and contemporary dance for years and developed a strong interest in the healing power of creative processes, especially in art, movement and music. He uses these processes working with groups and during his workshops and retreats teaching Mindfulness Practices. He encourages his clients coming for counselling to use creative processes in o rder to develop new narratives for their life stories.
Johann holds an Honours degree in Psychology from the University of Pretoria and a M.Th. (Clinical Pastoral Care) from the University of Stellenbosch. He is registered as Specialist Wellness Counsellor at the Association for Supportive Counsellors & Holistic Practitioners. He is involved with mentoring programmes for the City of Cape Town which involves psycho social support for health clinic staff and clinic managers. His work with these teams includes team building, trauma debriefing and teaching mindfulness practices. Past work in this field includes mentoring programmes for HIV/AIDS counsellors at Lifeline, Wola Nani, Sothemba AIDS Action Group, Positive Muslims and Desmond Tutu TB Centre linked to t he University of Stellenbosch. He was also supervisor for the M.Th. Clinical Pastoral Care (HIV Counselling) programme for 5 years.
Johann is passionate about life, the arts, music, dance, nature, good food, coffee, wine and soulful friendships. He lives with his partner in the leafy suburb of Kenridge in Durbanville and is the servant of a big fluffy ginger cat.
Anelle Naude-Lester
Anelle Naude-Lester is an experienced registered psychologist and BMGIM practitioner in private practice, Northern Suburbs, Cape Town. She has been collaborating with clients from a post-structural, gender sensitive stance for 24 years. She actively employs BMGIM and GIM’s adaptations as meaning-making therapeutic tools, as well as art and music as a means of expression and processing when interacting with clients. Anelle is passionate about group work, the dynamics present within groups and being an active facilitator where the potential for personal growth, transformation and actioning become a reality. Her practice is defined by engaging with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, members of LGBTQI+ communities and related partner work, trauma, anxiety, burnout, and depressed mood. Her practice strives to provide voice and language to those marginalised by systems, abuse, and expectation. She is currently in the process of becoming the second BMGIM trainer in South Africa, which will afford BMGIM to become available to more practitioners as a therapeutic tool.
At Temenos we're always happy to host Retreats and Workshops, for more details contact Margaret