Photography and Zen

Steve's going viral, I'm sure of it. His new book 'Photography and Zen' has just been published, so check it out on this Amazon link.

And remember too that our retreat 'Zen and the Art of Photography' with Natasha Lythgoe is in October this year.

A year full of Zen
A blog full of links

And what's more.. Stephen Bray, Colin Tracy and I have our photographic show in Marmaris, Turkey just about the time that the hardcover of he book is ready.

Michael at starstone
michael@starstone.org

The magic of words

Creative Discovery Weekend; Word and image

Word and Image;  May 15 to 18 and September 18 to 21

Ages ago, Colin Pink and I initiated our Word and Image workshops. Could have been a hundred years back but it was just five, or six;  my exaggeration a vain attempt to give weight to our accumulated wisdom. We began them at our famous Tiger Eagles retreats which are held in all sorts of exotic places but also France (slight jest here). And an extra famous one in Italia, that's two of us in this photo of the Gola D'infernacio, 'The Throat of Hell', in the Sibillini mountains, a favourite inspiration venue.
As we play in time, words and images collide together and create something manifestly greater than what they ever were or could be by themselves. Haiku, that marvellous liberator; that poetic device which colours like a paintbrush over a freshly prepared canvas of the imagination; the magic of words; that you can work with them as easily as you can with shapes and colours.
 And then...Playing with words, exploring the joy of liberating words from their everyday use. And storytelling; expressing ourselves as a language opens up within our minds, where words and then images begin to take on lives of their own, part of and apart from ourselves..
You will amaze yourselves with the way you learn to open up an avalanche of creativity; so much magical stuff hidden inside.
This emotive weekend is also, by its very nature, about laughing, daring ; meeting each other on a different plain and sharing thoughts and ideas.
This is what we did, is what we do.
And in Italy, that anarchic country where nothing makes sense, but where the senses run free, liberated from any constricting rationality.
Come along if you can, if you dare.
In the meantime read on my friends, read on

Be Kind to Yourself

 Eleanor Darley writes about her weekend retreat in June

'Be kind to Yourself '

Well, these four days in the warm italian countryside will be a place to breathe and let go. This is TIME OUT FOR YOU. We will create a safe nurturing space full of art, vision and gentle transformations - a space to really listen to the secrets of the soul, the wisdom of our true being, and what nature can tell you. This is a creative journey to encounter the art of communicating with ourselves - come prepared to feel informed, and to discover a good feeling about who you are. read on ...

at Starstone in Italy this summer

Fireflies in June

June is the perfect month. Summer is still young and the sea air drifting up from the Adriatic takes the temperature down at night. But best of all are the fireflies which hover beneath the olive trees at evening time and through our open windows where they dance their magical dance in the darkness of our rooms. It is in June that Maria Banks and I run our annual Creativity Retreats. It is when we subtract past and future from our lives and live for a short while in the Garden of Now, where our true selves dwell and our innate creativity flourishes.

I Cigni (below) is so very Italian. The food is homegrown, the wine and olive oil from the farm and the atmosphere friendly. It is tranquil with no traffic or noises which disturb our sleep and all in all it is conducive to what we come here for; to take off our masks, let our hair down and play. We paint, we write poetry, dance, sing and laugh a lot too. There is time to swim in the large pool any time we feel like it and for beach lovers there are sessions where we go down to the sea which is only 3K away

   Not forgetting a trip to the Sibillini Mountains (above)
                                                                                                                      

Come and join us this summer, and dance and play with the fireflies!

Michael

Visit our starstone site for full summer programme