Joyful Loving Retreat June 22-24, 2024

This is a Joyful Loving invitation to travel deeper into being and loving. Do you long to go deeper in your relating life ? Do you wonder how you can expand your capacity to give & receive more love every day? Do you wish for nourishment, holding and authenticity? Do you wish your body to be a beautiful instrument of love?

Deepen your intimate connections, empower your aliveness, soften into self-love. Discover the mystery of reveal and receive Discover how energetic exchange with a partner becomes rejuvenating, healing , empowering.

If you are not fully able to celebrate all your choices and every day living in your body, living your s-ual energy, living free of repression, denial, blame and resentments, opening to the pleasure and pain of your life fully, fully honest to yourself and others, then your natural-ness, the sweet gift and wonder of your life is compromised.

Come join us if you wish to enjoy sustained sensual aliveness and learn how to re-connect with it every day. (rich no-shared-touch options always available) Come join us if you wish to learn to choose heart, consciousness and care in your relating life. If you value conscious relating and being happy, whether you are single or in loose or committed connection, book your place now on this all – new exploration of what your relating and sensual life is urging you to wake up into now.

Your relating shows you exactly where you limit your life. Enquiry & exploration in this arena is the quickest, surest way for you to heal into wholeness.

Enjoy happy relating & conscious lovemaking. Heart-opening vulnerable relating is the gateway. Boundlessness is, always, anyway.

To whatever degree it is realised, this work deepens friendship & harmony between you & your lovers, partners, spouses, children, parents & friends, & all you meet. You will more deeply embody the love that is, at the core of all existence, and beyond it.

Come live an expanded celebration of your humanity, the unique gifts of being you, the man or woman you are, with the stories you have lived & the life you are wishing to co-create.

Join us – Meet men and women who are as passionate as you about authenticity, living love, and releasing the conditioned trances and more obvious distortions our wounded culture has created.

The big circle and the men’s circle or the women’s circle are your beautiful anchors and exploratory ground for this beautiful work of self-realisation. 

There will also be initiation and ritual. This retreat can at times involve physical contact, if desired. Your own chosen boundaries are fully respected & supported in any situation. Sensual aliveness and consciously boundaried, sometimes playful encounters, short same gender circles, Circle, deep sharing, Meditation, silent alone time, bodywork, laughter, dance and more in great company. A gorgeous fusion.

You find safe harbour to lovingly embrace any worries, confusion, helplessness or dilemma, any holdbacks to full sensual and sexual aliveness, and inspiration arising from the depth, to find, live, your natural joy and pleasure, your nature, again.

This is vulnerable space to bring the whole of your being. Do you value freedom, living alive and awake, beingness, depth? Do you value the conscious relating these make possible?

We humans, we men and women, are all things – unlimited, powerful and yet vulnerable, sometimes fragile. You cannot live an awake life of presence and love unless your relationship with all the colours of being human, of being man, of being woman – in self and other – is resolved.

I saw this as more than experiential healing in ‘being my woman’ but also the opportunity to safely play with the contrast between Masculine and Feminine energy, which scares me. I gained clarity when I finally linked my lack of desire/passion with my wish to feel innocent in my body and its desire Amy R., Stroud area I was blown away by the level of connection, intimacy, courage, honesty and presence that I experienced – not to mention openings and healings that happened. It was powerful, and truly specialRachel Irvine-Fortescue, Minchinhampton 

Love is all there is. Love is what ‘we’ are. This is the direct experience of awakeness. Once glimpsed, there can be a yes to aligning every aspect of life with that unknowable. How can you embody empty, impersonal, unconditional wholeness, in awake relating and sexuality? Simple, yet not always easy for one who lives in a separate self.

‘Your’ relating life can be seen & explored as a clear mirror which reflects where you are living the falsehoods of personality. Living freedom and the natural joy of being and heart can replace this. Enquiry & exploration in this arena, in a held, safe, intentional space, is the quickest, surest way for you to align with unconditional wholeness. It’s easy to get lost in your everyday demands & challenges, but research repeatedly shows that loving, true relationships are the absolute key to a life well lived. If you know this & yet have found out that your good intentions & trying are not enough to create what you choose now, then Joyful Loving explorations are for you. Love is always a risk. It brings loss. So it can feel easier to avoid utter opening to ‘another’.

Better relationships with others begin with a better relationship with your being &, crucially, with life, otherwise you are continually unconsciously projecting your own wounds outside & getting a clear reflection of our unsorted problems – in relating that does not fulfil your hearts’ desires! Avoid serious mistakes that can sabotage your life & which most men & women almost inevitably suffer from. Listening to life, with Joy’s expert guidance & safe holding, allows you to move beyond patterns into beingness, which brings you freshness, clarity & love. Problems & conditioned patterns take hold in the fear-based, illusory separate self. Yet, through its challenges, and its joys, love’s deepest pull initiates us into largeness. Discover how to co-operate with this evolutionary opportunity built into relating and sexuality.

You will open where you have been stuck, un-nourished or fearful & in embracing the one solution, (there is only one), find a joy that doesn’t depend on anything outside of you, yet magnetises what is right for you.

Are you ready to do the inner work to deepen your availability to love?

Are you looking for an intimate connection beyond deals, pacts and comfort zones?

Would you like your relating life, whatever your lifestyle, to be one of consciousness, tenderness, passion, pleasure, beauty & freedom?

What if you can discover how your relating life, whatever your lifestyle, can serve the highest potential of your humanity – embodied freedom?

Do you wonder how you can expand your capacity to give & receive more love every day?

Do you wish the healing power of truth, depth & presence to replace ambivalence, compromise & disappointment?

Do you long to learn how you can live awakened intimacy with your own being, with others, with existence? If so, this all-new Retreat is for you!

Dismantle false veils of trance, apparent separation & old myths about love which limit intimacy. Depth, vulnerability, playfulness, transparency, powerful intentionality, clarity, self-love & naturalness grow in you, naturally, as intimacy with What Is grows.

Go deep, then light, with Joy Hicklin-Bailey. Joy is a highly experienced psychotherapist. Joy’s approach is radical, it goes direct to the root, to essential nature – this is the core beyond story, thought & feeling, this energetic transmission invites you to return to over & over again. All problems dissolve then. Being and Loving are one.

What you can discover is that who ‘you’ are is What Is, already, beyond your story. The story of relating, what was or what might be, naturally changes as you let go into Only This

This is for you if you are single, in a couple, or with a partner and choose to attend alone. Your preferences and chosen lifetyle LGBTQ fuly welcome. This is for ALL, for you, who want more emotional & physical intimacy with themselves, with beingness, with future partners or their current partner. Ultimately, this is about the relationship to ‘your’ self, to being. Heart-opening, vulnerable relating is the gateway to the Boundlessness beyond knowing. That is, always, anyway.

Come join us and create your space for these areas of exploration, via careful, safely held structures whole circle, small circles, pairs, dialogue, Q and A, and individual practice •

  • Exploring life-enhancing unconscious, archetypal energies
  • Exploring and accepting the shadows of wounded masculine and wounded feminine – learn how to recognise and be free of these in your life & relating
  • Attachment patterns and dissolving them
  • The Essentials of Intimacy
  • How to embrace your partner’s perceived limitations
  • Know if it’s time to leave a relationship and be clear about what is ‘right’ for the future
  • Prioriitise truth
  • Parent your child or children healthily
  • Men’s* and Women’s Circles (* Facilitated by Tim Langford)
  • Untangling co-dependency
  • Holding safe space for shadow energy so your relating is healing
  • Recognising, de-escalating & opening beyond defence mechanisms and triggers
  • Dissolve judgement and emotion
  • Learn discernment about your current boundaries in different situations, and how to communicate them clearly
  • Discover and energise masculine and feminine gifts, beyond gender
  • Stillness & silence
  • Presence and increased sensitivity in physical touch
  • Making love wide open, without holdback
  • Opening into What Is, depth, authenticity, freedom, community, celebration

Cutting edge explorations, light-filled transmission of awakeness. & world class facilitation. Deepen intimacy Empower aliveness Soften into the unconditional love of Life Embody formless being.

Imagine what would happen if you renewed your passion for life, your love of being. What that might lead to…… Do you long to learn how you can live awakened intimacy with your own being, with others, with existence?… then join us at the Joyful Loving Retreat!  Limited places, book your place now

This profound exploration catalyses the natural evolutionary unfolding built into your physical & energetic bodies. The ultimate expression is inner marriage – dissolution of all opposites into beingness, unity consciousness. 

Are you ready to deeply live the truth that all that is real is the love that you are?

Step more fully your own life; and release what is no longer needed. 

Join the men and women who choose to sit in circles of healing and awakening because you, like them, value heart over mind.

The retreat helped me focus and feel into where I  am  current lifestyle situation and what is important for me what I love and what is possible/ dare to dream  and what I wish to preserve / include going forwards. .I came away despite illness feeling positive and energised. I mapped out / revised my life mission statement , hearts desires and values ..working on goals and that now sits on my desktop … to be energised and made real. It’s Ok to be vulnerable and sometimes unsure of my ‘art’ my working life and private life . Its ok to re-evaluate take time out and reconnect with self.  Through circle sharing comfort in realising the same obstacles are in the way for most people / shared insecurities doubts etc. Secret Garden allows and encourages / guides people to get clear on what they desire, where they are and where they would like to be ~ Mike Robinson, Notts

Best few days of 2022 by far! Stephen H., Buxton

It was inspiring to hear the feelings and experiences of the women in our separate women’s circle, and then deeply moving to witness the men being so surrendered and open. I loved all the various structures, which I found very freeing, encouraging me to move beyond convention and restriction into a place of joyful expression and connection. How beautiful! I want to say thankyou to both of you for being such loving, insightful and supportive facilitators ~ Anne Fearon, Cardiff

Dive into authentic community. In times of uncertainty and conflict on the planet, we need community and connection more than ever. If you have been drawn and wish to discover what Secret Garden is, or wish to meet old friends and replenish what you have received and learned from the circle in the past, join us. All are welcome. This is very beautiful work. You will benefit from deep immersion in that which is beyond you, a dive into stillness and silence. You emerge back into ‘ordinary’ life inspired, nourished and fuller from new insights and ways of being, so that you radiate presence and tenderness to all around.

Fundamental to all Joy’s retreats is the core principle that life is energetic and unconditional. Life has its natural laws and also simply responds to the signals you give out, whether those signals are conscious or unconscious.

Join us because you intuit that every human conditioned response or so-called problem dissolves in the heart’s silence and that any intelligent action, when needed, comes from that freedom and stillness.

Come join us if you are ready for what lies beyond the personal, if you value freedom to be over personality and defensiveness, if you are ready to drop your most precious old stories, trances and ideals for the sake of What Is. 

the beginnings of having a closer connection to (my wife) and also being a little bit more present with others including my work colleagues and family…time in the circle (individually) and as part of a wider connected group to experience what is happening…. a chance to be more real. It is inspiring to see how other people have insights and understanding about themselves ~ Chris H., Surrey

Thank you so much for such a rich retreat, it feels extraordinary what you have created. What Joy creates means that transformation can happen in an instant when and if people are willing and step into the potential that is there. The circles are full of love, deep insights and potent learnings, laughter and humanity. ‘Me’ and my life have changed immeasurably since beginning work with Joy. For much of my life, I have doubted love existed, now I feel I want to dedicate my life to growing it Hettie, Stroud

a catalyst for fundamental change in how I look at life; I have found time to love myself more, have placed greater priority towards strengthening relationships within my family & other friendships and am pursuing a pathway which is heartfelt than mind felt. I also saw huge benefit in how circles are successful when well facilitated and held with love. It was also useful to see some individuals further along the awakening journey “fine-tuning” themselves vulnerably, while also modelling “best practice” for others…the importance of being present; dropping judgements; being aware of our own shadow/triggers and their impact on others & embracing the pure beauty of being truly intimate with others ~ Paul Collins, Glocs.

Are you ready to resolve your inner & outer conflicts, face current challenges and create more pleasure as love, doing what love would do?

Would you love to have an authentic spiritual community, supporting you in learning how you can be authentically, happily you and allow that to support you to live awakened intimacy?

Are you ready to create real & profound change by working deeply with that which isn’t love within your being, and discover the awesome power & joy of compassion, tenderness & joy as you embody your pristine and unfettered soul?

Are you ready to get more real, simple & vulnerable in your communications so that you can receive less of what you don’t want & more of what you choose? 

… then this retreat is for you! Suitable for all who wish to live an easeful, chosen life, rather than a conditioned one. We recommend you book early – numbers are strictly limited for this event. Book Your Place Below, Now.

Early booking til midnight on day of deadline, unless the very limited places have gone.

Being around a pretty conscious bunch of good men & women should provide a fertile zone of learning, listening & applying lessons. And so it was ! ….I feel more at home in my life & am taking responsibility for my part in making it work well.  My shiatsu practice has gained … & I have more clients now. Warmth..inspiring…richness…real intimacy…an adventure I have valued and gained deeply from. I thank you, Tim & Joy ~ Kalandar Warren, Stroud

Top quality healing & growth for the separate self, whilst all around the whisper that the separate self is not real. This Love-infused combination is pretty special. Joy: profoundly loving, profoundly insightful, funny, earthy. Penetrating insight combined with unconditional love. Tim: wonderfully human, wonderfully encouraging, funny, clean; a beautiful – road-tested – masculine light, full of love. The down-to-earth humour of you both is worth its weight in gold. I feel constantly, quietly, encouraged and celebrated through being part of the Secret Garden community ~ Stephen Hancock, Devon

I’m feeling different, it’s subtle but real. I feel happier with what is, & am noticing so much love & beauty around me every day. My deepest gratitude to you dear Joy for all that I have learned & am learning from youKaren Scott, Narberth 

This is cutting-edge ~ Steve, Isle of Man

Ensures time/space allocated for what really matters, and … a deep connection with my being. Joy’s unique offering is her wisdom, intuition & insight. Tim’s unique offering is his heart and human-ness ~ Kim Rossi, Notts

Course Fees

Add your course place to your basket, below. There is delicious catered supper on Saturday evening & also catered lunch on Sunday and Monday. We work with a local, very experienced caterer who loves to produce gorgeous & nourishing food, using organic ingredients where possible. Please see details in ‘Description’ below.

This is a non-residential course. If you wish to book very good value b & b (with hot tub & beautiful views!)  just select that option below. Please see details in ‘Description’ below.  Note the friend discount is applicable if you bring someone new to Secret Garden.[/vc_column_text]

Early booking course fee

Until June 19th

£349

Full course fee

June 19th onwards booking closed from this date

£367

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    £19 discount if you bring a friend

    Couple / friend discount?

    IMPORTANT: Both people must book separately - or if you wish to book on somebody's behalf, you must log in as them before making their booking

    *Name of attendee

    *Name of partner/friend

    *Catering per person

    • -69 £

    Special Diet Allergy Details (see note below)

    Newsletters - please confirm if you would like to be included

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I was forcibly struck by your generosity in opening up your home 9for) people in circles…the immensity of not only holding such delicate, powerful space for so many over several days and then also to invite us into your home space is almost beyond my comprehension. I hope that I and my peers can receive the gifts you offer and relate to you both with conscious gratitude and love – Hettie P., Stroud

Catered Meals

Eating together is an enjoyable way to relax & meet in a different way than we do in the circle. It supports our explorations to have some meals prepared for us. Your catering payment is mandatory. It covers all refreshments during the day & evenings, plus Saturday supper and Sunday and Monday lunch . There is a meat/fish option, a vegetarian option or a special diet option which you need to choose from in the drop down box above.  The food is nourishing, tasty and plentiful, and organic to a large extent. The desserts are yummy.  Catered lunches consist of vegan soups and vegan or vegetarian salads. The caterer also provides cheeses, perhaps sometimes hummous, eggs, or beef slices, plus salads, ricecakes, oatcakes and bread, fruit and cake.

Special diets

If you have a special diet, you must select that option from the drop down box above AND detail a) What your allergy is, and b) Exactly what you cannot eat as a result. We will then be aware of your dietary needs & will pass these to the centre or non-residential event caterer. Please note your health is always your own responsibility.

Non-catered meals

We bring food to share on Saturday lunchtime, and Sunday supper – for this, bring a baked potato plus toppings or salad or dessert. Everyone contributes to clearing up etc

Bed and breakfast Accommodation

Informal accommodation for this non-residential course, is available, on a friendship basis, for Saturday and Sunday evenings only,  at our beautiful, peaceful home 10 minutes drive from the daytime course venue in England’s largest designated area of outstanding beauty. The Saturday supper followed by evening circle is also held at this location. If you would like to stay overnight with us and many of the group participants, & enjoy self-serve breakfast, & the hot tub with its spectacular views, please select one of the options available in the drop down box above. Please note if you are a couple or 2 friends attending together (one of whom is new to Secret Garden), you must book your course places and your accommodation options separately and pay separately,  and you can both claim the couple discountWe have two cats so do make sure you are happy with that before booking. We need to know well in advance if you want this- first come, first served! You confirm your place (places strictly limited) with your payment. It’s an easy 90 minute drive from London, 40 minutes from Bristol, 20 minutes from Cheltenham. There is a regular train service to Stroud from London , Bristol, Bath and elsewhere and an easy taxi journey from Stroud. Full directions given after booking.

The Valley has never been intensively farmed, sprayed or built on. It is rare limestone grassland habitat and its ancient beechwoods have rich flora & abundant wildlife. The hillsides and the woodlands you can walk are known for many different types of wild orchid and lots of badgers & deer. The Valley is a place of natural abundance & strong, healing energy and is acclaimed for it exceptional beauty.

Each option – shared Dorm accommodation on soft mats, twin room on soft mats, single room with bed or single room with mats, camper van and camping (bring own gear) – is available until fully booked -please select your choice above as they go fast.  That option is fully booked if it isn’t displayed or says out of stock. Unless you have a bed option, you will need to bring your own bedding, sleeping bag or sheets. If travelling by train or bus, let us know and we can lend you a duvet and pillow but please bring sheets and pillow cases if possible. All options include use of hot tub, hot indoor and outdoor showers and all sitting rooms.

The breakfast kitchen at Mayfaire is vegetarian. Your bed and breakfast fee includes a plentiful self-serve informal breakfast. We don’t provide special diet meals but we do provide in addition to the usual breakfast foods, rice and soya milk, soya yoghurt, cornflakes (gluten free), porridge (wheat free), organic baked beans, herb teas, oat & rice cakes. Do please bring any other special diet ‘extras’ you might need in a cool bag. if you need to supplement your diet with meat or tinned fish, please bring that with you.

There is a fridge at Mayfaire & at the day venues we use, but cool bags are helpful to store some items. If you have an allergy, the responsibility for keeping yourself safe & well lies with you.

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A note about personal responsibility – it is an ongoing experiment for us holding a group & living communally at Mayfaire with those who value this way of being. . We ask for your trust and care and flexibility, no complaining is the deal! Take some time quietly to yourself when you need it, let go of personal preferences for the sake of community and all will flow smoothly. We are exploring consciousness together so please remember and live the Hawaiian principle of lokahi -harmony with one’s environment – at all times.

Enjoy a peaceful, rural retreat & the benefits of being fully with the energy of the group. We get fabulous feedback from those who stay here. This is very much community living and guests find it enhances their overall experience to stay with us and many of the group. There is lots of laughter! and it is good and sweet in many ways to hang out in an informal way, enjoy the hot tub and beautiful countryside in free time. We ask you to be mindful that this is our home and to please take care of it as though it were your own.

We cannot be held responsible for any loss, damage or injury whilst you are at Mayfaire. Please take care of your own well being & safety, you learn & stay here informally as friends, at your own risk. We are sorry but we cannot refund b and b payment if you change your mind, or your own childcare arrangements etc go askew as it takes an extraordinary amount of time to organize and set up and once we are full we have to turn others away. In sudden, extreme change of circumstances such as serious family illness only we will set your payment against a future booking with pleasure at our discretion.

You are very welcome to stay with us in this idyllic valley if you can respect & understand the requests & guidelines provided on your arrival, which are similar to those of a retreat centre and designed for the enjoyment of all of us. Assistants are available to clarify any questions.

We love to share our home and the blessings of living here, in this beautiful area, with you all and welcome you!

Wishing you a safe and pleasant journey to the beautiful countryside of Gloucestershire and a peaceful, happy time til then.
Aloha,
Joy, Tim, Honey, Tiger and Beauty

Preliminary details about the Retreat

Here is an example of a non-residential rough plan which shows you how the days behind the scenes of your course will unfold. You will receive a detailed confirmation with start time before your Retreat . You do not need to know any other specifics before that.

*For the asterisked meals (Saturday lunch and Sunday breakfast if you stay at Mayfaire) you need to bring your own plate, bowl, mug, knife, fork, & spoon

Saturday No B&B on Fri pm/Sat am  Day Circle opens at Stroud venue Arrival times in your course confirmation sent a few weeks before Coffee break mid morning Tea break mid afternoon Bring food to share for Lunch * approx 1pm-2 15pm  at Stroud venue which has a kitchen Afternoon break approx 3 45pm Day circle closes approx. 5pm At Mayfaire Dinner 7pm- 8.30pm – Outside Caterer *8 30pm Evening Circle at Mayfaire for all participants Close 9 30pm Mayfaire B&B*  if you have booked to stay at Mayfaire on Sat & Sun night
Mayfaire B&B*  if you have booked to stay at Mayfaire Breakfast at Mayfaire *
7 45am-9.00am if b & b booked
 
 Day Circle starts approx 10 00am in Stroud Coffee break mid morning Tea break mid afternoon  Catered Lunch* Coffee break mid morning Tea break mid afternoon  Shared Baked potato etc supperEvening Circle at Mayfaire for all participants Close 9 30pm Mayfaire B&B*  if you have booked to stay at Mayfaire 
Mayfaire B&B*  if you have booked to stay at Mayfaire Breakfast at Mayfaire *
7 45am-9.00am if b & b booked
 
 Day Circle starts approx 10 00am in Stroud Coffee break mid morning Tea break   Catered Lunch* Coffee break  Tea break mid afternoon Circle closes approx 3;15 pm on Monday.  

 

Additional information

Accommodation per person Mayfaire 2 nights

£0 No Accomodation, £44 Camping, £44 Campervan, £52 Dorm with Mats, £54 Twin with Mats, £66 Single with Mats, £80 Single Bed Attic, £80 Single Bed downstairs, £84 Double with Bed