The Park, Findhorn Rd, Findhorn, Forres IV36 3TE, UK
Up to 16 in group
December 13 - 18, 2026
About this Retreat
Christine Lines grew up in England and felt an early call to community, living on a kibbutz in Israel. She later emigrated to Australia where she first heard about Findhorn. With a career in travel and tourism she travelled extensively. Over time her focus turned toward the inner journey and she began organising yoga and meditation retreats. After attending Experience Week at Findhorn, Christine walked the Camino de Santiago as a pilgrim. A year later she woke up with the words ‘Findhorn Life Purpose’ on her mind, an inner prompting that eventually led her to make Findhorn home.
Christine has lived at the Park Ecovillage Findhorn for over fifteen years and has been deeply engaged in its educational life. She describes Findhorn as her ‘University of the Soul’ and helps shape the learning pathway of the Findhorn Foundation. Trained as a life coach, she is passionate about following the inner call, growing into our potential, and honouring the wisdom inherent in different traditions. Endlessly curious, she delights in creating spaces where people can slow down, listen more deeply, and rediscover the quiet wisdom within their own lives.
Bridget O'Donnell is an internationally certified trainer in Nonviolent Communication, an accredited Coach, and a former double certificate registered nurse (GN, RPN). She has been sharing the work of Dr. Marshall B Rosenberg for the past 10 years, facilitating public and private trainings with families, community groups, businesses, volunteer groups, couples, and individuals. She has been coaching individuals and couples for the last 7 years.
Her experience living in an intentional community and working as a nurse contributed to Bridget's compassion for the human condition; and through her yoga and meditation practices, she has developed a deep connection with herself and an authentic presence with others. She's been told that she brings creativity, emotional intelligence and a natural empathy to her work. Her love of colour and playfulness influences the programmes she offers. Bridget moved from an Ecovillage in Australia, to the Ecovillage in Findhorn last year. Bridget has been married for 30 years and is a mother of a gorgeous son. Website –
www.restoreconnect.com.au
Details of this retreat
Experience Week: From I to We
A foundational journey into inner listening, community living and relational awarenessGrounded in the spiritual community of the Park Ecovillage, Findhorn
There are moments in life when we sense that something in us wants to change. Often this comes with a quiet longing for a new way of being – learning how to listen more deeply and live more relationally.
This December Experience Week: From I to We is for people who feel curious about conscious communication at this time of year - with ourselves, each other and with all dimensions of life.
Rather than offering a set of techniques or answers, you are invited into a lived experience. An experience of slowing down, noticing and exploring what happens when awareness moves from the individual ‘I’ into the relational ‘We’.
What Experience Week offers
As the week unfolds, you are invited into the rhythms of community life. Through shared meals, reflective practices, group activities, nature connection, moments of silence and time together, we explore:
Inner listening as a way of orienting to life
Relational awareness in everyday interactions
Compassionate communication and deeper listening
The needs and patterns that can emerge within relationship
What it means to live, even briefly, in a shared field of care and presence
How ‘We’ emerges naturally when attention softens and deepens.
Much of the learning happens in ordinary moments: walking together, listening to one another, sitting quietly and noticing what moves inside when we are in a shared space.
A December exploration into Conscious Communication
Alongside the foundations of Experience Week, this December programme will draw particularly on relational awareness and Nonviolent Communication (NVC). Enjoy a supportive community setting to explore this time of year with curiosity and compassion.
Through facilitated exploration, reflection and community life, we will have opportunities to notice the patterns we carry into relationship: our needs and expectations, the ways we communicate when things become challenging, and what helps us remain connected to ourselves while meeting others with greater understanding. The festive season provides a living backdrop for this exploration.
We might find ourselves asking:
What habitual patterns do I notice arising when I share spaces with others?
How do I stay connected to myself when relationships become difficult?
Can I listen to what lies beneath my own reactions and those of others?
How might I bring greater compassion, choice and authenticity into my relationships?
What kind of ‘We’ do I want to help create?
The Park Ecovillage, Findhorn
Experience Week is rooted in the spiritual soil of the Park Ecovillage at Findhorn, a place with a long history of exploring the inner dimensions of life, conscious relationship and regenerative ways of living.
The Park offers a unique combination of natural beauty and simplicity. Surrounded by dunes, forest paths, the beach and bay, and the wide skies of the Moray Firth, it provides a supportive environment to slow down, reconnect and listen more closely – both inwardly and outwardly.
Accommodation
You will stay in simple, comfortable accommodation within or close to the Park Ecovillage. Rooms are shared, supporting the sense of togetherness and community life that is central to the experience.
Meals
We share nourishing, predominantly vegetarian meals prepared with care, using seasonal and locally sourced ingredients where possible. Eating together is treated as a practice in itself: a moment to arrive, connect and experience community through sharing a meal.
Most dietary requirements can be accommodated; please let us know in advance.
At the turning of the year
December at Findhorn invites a different rhythm.
The days are short, the landscape becomes quieter and the approach of the Winter Solstice offers a natural opportunity for reflection: honouring what has been, listening for what wants to emerge, and experiencing the warmth of community during the darkest part of the year.
For those who would like to extend their experience, there will be the option to stay on at Findhorn following Experience Week and to be here for the Winter Solstice and Crossing the Threshold at New Year.
This can offer a gentle continuation of the journey - moving from the facilitated container of Experience Week into the everyday experience of being part of a living community at this festive time of year.
Who this week is for
People join a Experience Week for many different reasons:
To reconnect with themselves
To explore new ways of relating
To experience community life
To immerse themselves in nature
To slow down and listen more deeply
To be in a reflective environment and feel a sense of renewal
Or a different way to experience the festive season
No prior experience with meditation, community living. Nonviolent Communication (NVC) or spiritual practice is required. What matters most is a willingness to participate, reflect and stay curious.
What you take home
The experience you take home will be uniquely your own.
It emerges through engaged participation, reflection, curiosity and lived experience. Many people leave with a renewed sense of connection, subtle shifts in how they listen and relate, a deeper trust in their own inner guidance and new possibilities for meeting relationships with compassion and choice - qualities that continue to unfold long after returning home.
Experience Week: From I to We is an invitation to slow down, listen and remember what becomes possible when we meet life together.
While the week centres on the movement from I to We, it also gestures toward a wider horizon, recognising that how we live and relate together shapes the world around us.
Travel plans
Please arrange your travel plans to arrive between 1 and 2pm on the Sunday so you have time to settle in before the welcome circle begins at 3pm. Depending on the group size the integration circle and next steps will complete by 1pm on the Friday. Please arrange your onward travels after this time so you can make the most of the whole experience. Once you have booked your place the pre-arrival information will include how you can arrange additional night stays if needed.
Verified
2 Spaces Remaining