In-To-Me-See Day Retreat

A Transformative Day of Somatic Practices and Deep Healing

Our In-To-Me See Day Retreat is an opportunity for you to drop into your body, and explore your emotions, feelings and body sensations, and the meaning you make them mean about your life in a safe and nurturing environment with other people on a similar journey to you.  

Sharing experiences like this with others makes us feel less alone on our healing journey. We all need connection to thrive. This day retreat is an opportunity for us to come together and heal by sharing so we feel less alone.  

We learn that our present moment is not separate from memory and that our bodies store trauma as patterns of sensations, not just as stories. 

These unhealed childhood memories and traumas get stored in our bodies as patterns of sensation, posture, breath, and autonomic arousal (body memory) rather than as a narrative of events that happened.  

Trauma is stored in the body when the intense physical energy mobilised for survival “fight or flight” is not fully discharged after the traumatic event. This leaves the nervous system “stuck” in a chronic state of high alert, unable to return to a state of safety. 

When this happens, the body continues to operate as if the threat is still present, leading to physical symptoms, chronic tension and hyperarousal.  

This is why we start the day with a Kundalini Yoga Kriya to help clear the chakras and balance the nervous system. The unique combination of repetitive movements followed by periods of stillness in Kundalini Yoga serves to re-educate the nervous system, helping the body come out of a state of fight flight and into a state of rest and digest where healing can begin.  

We then move into our first workshop Re-Root with Movement and Breath this is where we learn to drop deeper into the body and become the quiet observer of our thoughts, feelings and emotions. As we use breath and movement to explore what is going on in our bodies, we get a deeper understanding of ourselves. This slowing down also allows us to become aware of the subtle shifts that happen in us that we often miss in the busyness of our day-to-day lives.  

We then break for an Organic Plant-Based Lunch as nourishing the body also nourishes the mind. As a nutritional therapist, I started my journey into health by looking at food and nutrition first. I now believe that if we want to heal fully, what we put into our bodies is as important in calming the nervous system as the somatic practices we are learning in today’s workshops. My motto is that a healthy body equals a healthy mind.  

After lunch our second workshop Re-Connect with Your Disowned and Hidden Parts helps us to unpack some of these thoughts, feelings, emotions and bodily sensations, by listening to the messages they have for us. Through meditation, we quiet the mind allowing us to pay attention to what our bodies are trying to tell us. From this meditation we can discover the age at which we were when we first started to feel the way we do and what protective parts have stepped in to keep us safe. 

Our third workshop Re-Wire - Tap and Talk allows us to use the Emotional Freedom Technique, tapping on meridian points to clear these body-based memories so that we are no longer triggered by the same situations. Using borrowing benefits, we tap together as a group while we focus on the personal issues that have come up for us today. 

We then move into a 45-minute Breathwork Session led by John, as you breathe in rhythm, you will feel the tension melt away, leaving you feeling grounded, lighter and clearer. 

Finally, we end the day with a 15-minute Sharing Circle that allows you to share anything that came up for you during the day. 

We hope you end the day feeling calm, recharged and peaceful with a new set of tools that you can start applying to your day-to-day life so that you can keep bringing your life back into balance.  

We can’t escape stress in our modern day to day life, however we can integrate tools that help us come back into balance when we derail and that’s what we hope to bring you with our day retreat.  

Kundalini Yoga Kriya and Meditation

We start our day retreat with a beautiful Kundalini Kriya to clear and balance the chakras; by removing energetic blocks we improve physical health and increase emotional stability and mental clarity.

In Kundalini Yoga, the body is only one aspect of who we are and just as our physical body has a structure with limbs, organs, and cells, our energy also has aspects that we see as structural.

We each have eight chakras, which are known as energy centers which resonate with a frequency of energy that flow through our body. This energy is moved through our body by a network of channels called Nadis, which carry prana (life energy) throughout our system.

The word chakra means “wheel” or “circle”, named so by the ancient yogis to depict a wheel shaped vibration of pranic energy.

A chakra is pure and continuous energy. It is our prana in motion, a wavelength of vibration in our electromagnetic field that contains our values, feelings, thoughts, and childhood imprints.

As each of these chakras become energised, the physical and emotional attributes corresponding to that frequency are also energised, as is our consciousness.

We work with the physical body in Kundalini Yoga to release physical tension so that we can also release the movement of energy.

The body holds our emotions. When we have a blocked emotion, the chakra that corresponds to that part of the body holding that emotion is also blocked.  When energy starts flowing, the blocks dissolve and the emotion opens. 

Kundalini Yoga Kriyas work with the body to release tension and free energy, helping to restore balance. Benefits often include increased vitality, reduced stress and anxiety, a stronger immune system, and a deeper sense of self, joy, and purpose. 

Starting the day with this Kriya and a short meditation prepares us physically and mentally for the workshops that follow. 

Workshop One - Re-Root with Movement and Breath

This Trauma Informed Yoga taster stabilisation class is designed to help you re-root into your body. Trauma Informed Yoga is an individualised practice that works at a slower pace than typical yoga classes to allow you the opportunity to rebuild a connection with yourself and to feel safe in your body again.

Trauma Informed Yoga uses invitational language instead of strict instructions and commands to allow you to listen to your own body and forge a more self-aware relationship with yourself. This also allows you to make choices about how you move your body so you can regain a sense of control over it.

In trauma informed yoga the focus is on connection to one's body and not on achieving the right pose or getting to a certain level of flexibility/ strength etc. it is a grounding practice with less emphasis on the poses themselves. 

We invite you to move at your own pace and offer modifications for each pose. The full expression of a pose is not the goal, we want to offer options, so that you have the opportunity to practice making empowered choices. 

There is also a greater focus on breathwork to help regulate the nervous system. It is scientifically proven that gentle movement, and a focus on the breath activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps to reduce the fight flight response, and allows you to be more present and aware of your body. 

Responding instead of reacting is the key to emotional regulation, and we know from research that yoga and meditation help people to access that pause that will allow you to respond, in any given moment, rather than react.

Trauma Informed Yoga The Stabilisation Phase

There are three phases to a trauma informed yoga programme. The first phase is the stabilisation phase, the second phase is the processing phase, and the final stage is the integration phase.

The main purpose of the stabilisation phase of trauma informed yoga is to build your capacity to feel safe. 

In today’s fast past world a lot of our bodies get stuck in fight/flight, the amber zone, or in freeze, the red zone and we are rarely able to access the green sattvic state of social engagement, connection and safety. We often move from a hyperaroused state (fight/flight) to a hypoaroused state (freeze)and back into a hyperaroused state (fight/flight). 

When we get stuck in the amber/red zone, our body is continually flooded with cortisol and adrenaline. Our bodies need to be in a state of rest and digest to heal. If we cannot access this state, over time the continuous activation of the systematic nervous system can lead to serious health problems and a weakened immune system. 

This off-balance state in the nervous system is called a dysregulated nervous system.

In the stabilisation phase of trauma informed yoga, we want to help you learn how to regulate your nervous system so that balance can be restored. 

A healthy autonomic nervous system is fluid, bouncing between the green and amber/red zone.

The aim of the stabilisation phase is to help you reconnect with your body and move from a state of survival into a state where you can heal. 

By teaching you how to slow down and pay attention, you can start to recognise what is going on inside and learn how to map your own nervous system so you can identify when you are in ‘safe mode’ and when you are in ‘survival mode’. 

By understanding your nervous system, you can learn to select appropriate tools for self-regulation, so when you are being triggered, you are able to bring yourself back to a safe, grounded place. 

The stabilisation phase helps you develop:

• Awareness of current state – embodiment
• Ability to recognise where you are on the autonomic nervous system hierarchy.
• Yoga tools to help you regulate your nervous system
• Opportunity to reflect on your own values
• Develop a wider window of tolerance therefore increase resilience
• Learn how to be in or bring yourself back to a ‘safe mode’

The Principles Covered in a Trauma Informed Yoga Class   

• Orientation to help you become orientated in the here and now (outward focus). 
• Embodiment which safely brings awareness into the body (inward focus). 
• Befriending the nervous system which helps you understand your nervous system. 
• Self-regulation which helps you identify where you are on the ANS map and choose an appropriate practice to help increase or return you to the green zone. 
• Balancing the Koshas which helps you recognise underused Koshas and develop them. 

Usually in the stabilisation phase we work on the first building block with brief visits to the next until it is mastered.  

Typically, the first stage of stabilisation will focus mainly on orientation, the second on befriending the nervous system, the third on the self-regulation and the fourth on balancing the koshas.  

As this is a taster session, we will briefly work on each building block of a stabilisation phase so you can see how it calms and regulates a nervous system. If you wish to work with me after the day retreat, I offer one-to-one sessions and group trauma informed sessions where we work through each building block of the stabilisation phase and then through the processing and integration phase. 

Workshop Two - Re-Connect With Your Disowned And Hidden Parts

As psychotherapists trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO). In this taster 45 minute parts work, workshop we use meditation to guide you to explore and discover inner parts, disowned or hidden aspects of self to build trust and inner harmony. This process enhances self-awareness, reduces internal conflicts, and makes genuine self-love and self-acceptance more accessible.

Parts work therapy is a mindfulness-based therapy model that views the mind as made up of multiple parts, each with its own voice, role, and memory. It also believes that we all have Self energy, which is our core, compassionate observer. Listening to and validating these parts helps reduce internal conflict and restores harmony.

Most of us have experienced some form of trauma at some point in our lives, and we carry these wounds deep within ourselves, wounds that we often work hard to keep hidden from others.

Parts manifest in a developmental sequence throughout life, with their own personalities, temperaments and a full range of feelings.

As we drop into our bodies we can start to notice the feelings, thoughts, and sensations of our parts, as we listen to them and hear their motives, we realise that regardless of their behaviours, our parts want for us what we want, connection, validation and love.

The goal of parts work therapy is to get to know our core Self and heal our injured parts so that we can live with confidence, curiosity and compassion.

When we embody more Self energy and listen to our parts rather than try to ignore them we gain clearer insight into our problems as we can trace the trajectory of our own feelings and emotional histories with more clarity and understanding.

We will provide you with a workbook that you will use in the session and can take home with you to help you better understand this therapy model.

We also offer one-to-one sessions if you want to dive deeper into parts work therapy after the day retreat.

Workshop Three - Re-Wire Your Brain And Transform Limiting Beliefs

As psychotherapists trained in Emotional Freedom Technique, in this 45 minute EFT taster workshop we use tapping on acupressure points to help you process triggers, release emotional blocks, and transform limiting beliefs.

EFT has its roots in Eastern philosophies, particularly acupuncture and has a profound effect on calming the nervous system and lowering cortisol the stress hormone.

EFT is a very simple practice and is based on two principles Tap on certain meridian points, while you Talk (or think) about the issue you are wanting to work through.

Tapping on certain meridian points has been shown to have a powerful impact on the way the brain responds to stress and the way it processes emotions.

As we tap on specific acupressure points on the face and upper body while we recall a traumatic memory or triggering situation, we provide a soothing physical cue that helps calm the nervous system.

This pairing of a traumatic memory with a soothing physical stimulus often breaks the power of that memory, reducing its emotional intensity.

This allows us to change the distressing memory or self-limiting belief or behaviour.

Tapping signals to the body that we are safe, and so the conditioned loop is broken. After tapping on a specific problem, the nervous system no longer associates the memory with stress and the emotional intensity of that memory is released.

We often have surface emotions like frustration, stress and overwhelm, that are covering up deeper emotions like rage, anger, fear, and sadness.

In this 45 minute EFT session we will use borrowing benefits, a strategy that involves setting an intention to work on our own specific issue before turning our complete focus towards assisting someone else to tap through their issue. Using a volunteer to demonstrate we tap along working on our own issue and usually find a reduction in emotional intensity at the end of the tapping session. 

If at the end of the day retreat you wish to dive deeper into your personal story, we offer one-to-one online therapy sessions to help you heal these deeper emotions and bring more peace and clarity to your life.

Calming And Grounding Breathwork Session

In this powerful 45-minute breathwork session we reduce stress and deepen relaxation by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest mode) to help decrease heart rate, lower blood pressure and reduce cortisol levels (the stress hormone). 

In this shared supportive environment, it makes it easier to release deeply held tension, trauma and emotional blockages. Participants often report experiencing a “somatic trauma release” allowing for emotional healing.  

As we use conscious connected breathing, we release all the tension from the day, leaving you feeling rejuvenated, with greater mental clarity, focus and alertness.  

Plant-Based Organic Lunch

I grew up in the South of France in a small village in the countryside where all my neighbours grew their own vegetables and had fruit tree's. In our own garden we had apples, pears, cherries, grapes, plums and hazelnuts and in the summer months we would just eat fruit straight off the tree's. I think my passion for good organic, homegrown food started here. 

As a nutritional therapist and passionate cook I wanted to bring you a selection of nourishing salads and sweet treats that are full of the good stuff. I even want to show you that pizza's can be tasty and nourishing.

I believe that if we really want to heal we have to also care about what we put into our bodies, so as much as we are working with the mind (and somatically with the body) during our workshops it is also important that we nourish our bodies with good food. 

All of the dishes are naturally vegan and gluten free

Menu

MAIN COURSE

Almond Base Pizza's

Sweetcorn, onion, mushroom, fresh chilli, red pepper, tomato, oregano and vegan cheese

Black olives, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, red onion and vegan mozzarella 

Salads

Tenderstem broccoli, spinach, avocado salad with a basil and pistachio pesto

Chickpea, butternut squash, rocket and sun-dried tomato salad

New potato, crushed garlic, chive and spring onion salad

Green leaf salad

DESSERT

Medjool dates, homemade marzipan and walnut

Chocolate coconut truffles

Match pistachio bliss balls

Peanut butter cookie dough balls

Raw homemade mylk chocolate

 Fresh fruit platter

In-To-Me-See Day Retreat Facilitators 

Fiona Manning

An Integrative Psychotherapist, Kundalini and Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher and Co-Founder of Re-Younify.

My fascination with how trauma affects the body began during my training as a Kundalini yoga teacher. Kundalini, often called the Yoga of Awakening, blends kriyas, breathwork, mantra, mudra, meditation, and mindful movement to awaken dormant energy at the base of the spine. Unlike other styles of yoga that emphasise postures alone, Kundalini Yoga aims to activate and circulate energy through the chakras, expanding awareness, calming the nervous system, and shifting consciousness. During this time, I became aware of how trauma stays stuck in the body and wanted to learn and understand more about how trauma is both psychological and somatic. 

In my work as a trauma‑informed yoga teacher, I learned that responses to trauma stay stuck in the body long after the initial traumatic event. Our bodies and minds often continue to react as if the threat is still there. I came to see that healing involves more than recounting the story—it requires addressing how the body holds onto and expresses trauma.  

This understanding deepened with my study of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), which suggests that present‑day triggers are linked to past unhealed memories stored in the body. By tapping on acupressure points while recalling traumatic memories, we can calm physical responses and reduce reactivity. 

As an integrative psychotherapist, I also become fascinated by parts work—the awareness that different aspects of ourselves show up at different times. I realised these parts often reflect childhood trauma and recognising them helps us return to self‑energy and respond more calmly to current life situations.  

This led me to understand that we all use adaptive strategies to protect us from past pain and that these strategies are not always helpful and often keep us stuck. 

In our In-To-Me-See Day Retreat, we use the Integrated Self Framework to address these past wounds and adaptive strategies so that you can heal past pain and free yourself from these protective patterns of behaviour. Over time, by working with the Integrated Self Framework you will experience a more connected, intimate, authentic relationship with yourself and others. 

John Mulcrone

An Integrative Psychotherapist, Breathwork Coach and Co-Founder of Re-Younify

I trained as an integrative psychotherapist in 2012, but over the years I realised that talk therapy alone wasn’t enough to truly support my clients. I began to see that how the body responds to life experiences can be just as important as the story being told. This insight led me to deepen my study of somatic approaches. 

In 2023, alongside Fiona, I pursued further training, including a Level 2 Certification in Emotional Freedom Technique, a six-month programme applying Internal Family Systems (IFS) to relationships (Intimacy from the Inside Out), a comprehensive IFS course and most recently, I trained as a breathwork coach so that I could incorporate these modalities into my therapy practice. 

In our In,To-Me-See Day Retreat, I use breathwork, parts work therapy, and EFT to help individuals regulate their nervous systems, enhance their emotional awareness, heal past pain, and process emotional triggers.