yoga and writing retreat

Are you yearning for some time out to nurture your writing dreams? Have you started a story from your life but don’t know how to finish it? Are the stories rolling round and round in your head starting to drive you bonkers? Is it your turn to be nurtured at last and spend some time playing with the stories of your life?

Come and join us on retreat in beautiful Springbrook in the Gold Coast hinterland, high in the hills surrounded by giant trees, rainforest and pure mountain streams. Write up a storm with the guidance of 4 craft workshops, relax with yoga and meditation, feast on delicious home cooked meals, connect with other writers in a beautiful location and have a whole weekend where all you do is write and dream and sleep and wander and perhaps have a swim or a massage. Sound like heaven? It is!

Come along and regain your love of writing and life at the next Relax and Write Retreat From midday FRIDAY 4 April – 3 pm SUNDAY 6 April 2025

Join like-minded writers in a fun and supportive environment discovering just how much some deep relaxation can ignite your imagination and get you writing again. Relax and unwind with gentle morning yoga sessions and be inspired by innovative workshops to help move those stories out of your head and onto the page.

“I feel transformed, as a writer and as a human being.” Bianca Millroy – writer and retreater.

The program includes two yoga sessions, four workshops to get you writing, plus advice on submitting your work. Included in the cost is two nights comfortable single accommodation with bathrooms shared between two, plus delicious vegetarian meals and snacks and a special readings night around the fire.

“The fully-catered retreat environment was comfortable and stress-free. An atmosphere that encourages, motivates and inspires.” Gay Liddington – writer and retreater

Connect with other creative people in a beautiful, peaceful location and remember your creative self. No more putting your dreams on hold. Treat yourself to this special weekend nurturing your writing spirit. You deserve it! The program includes two yoga sessions, readings night and four creative writing workshops.

RETREAT PROGRAM: All activities are optional

FRIDAY 4 April 2024

ARRIVAL from midday

4 pm – Meet and Greet

4:30 – 6:30 WORKSHOP 1– Your Stories – out of your head and onto the page

6:30 DINNER

SATURDAY 5 April

7:15 am – 8:30 – Gentle morning yoga and breathing

8:30 – BREAKFAST

10:00 am – 12:30 pm – WORKSHOP 2 – Character and Dialogue in memoir

12.30 pm – LUNCH

1 – 4:00 – FREETIME and FEEDBACK SESSIONS

4 – 6:00 pm – WORKSHOP 3 – Writing from start to finish – developing a plot and a plan

6:00 pm – DINNER

6:45 – 7:30 pm – Readings around the fire

SUNDAY 6 April

7:15 – 8:30 – Gentle morning yoga and breathing

8:30 – BREAKFAST

10:00 – 12:30 – WORKSHOP 4 – Where and how to submit work, goal setting, questions and collage

12:30 – LUNCH

3 pm DEPARTURES

Bodywork treatments are also available at extra cost with our wonderful, wise and gifted healer, Monique Do Goey.

Sound like the perfect way to get you writing again? Reboot that writing mojo and join us in April!

BOOK IN by PAYING YOUR DEPOSIT HERE.

Drop me a line first to make sure there are still places available. Prices start at only $600 (unwaged) for the fully inclusive weekend! $750 for those working or comfortably off. This includes your accommodation and all meals! Plus a weekend of memoir workshops tailored to suit your needs and yoga sessions to unwind and relax.

Any questions just drop me a line. I so hope you can come along and connect with our ever-growing supportive and loving gang of writing folk. Writing can be a lonely business, but it doesn’t have to be. Come along, write up a storm and find your tribe!

Hope you can come. We always have a wonderful time! Don’t wait too long, places are filling fast with repeat retreaters.

Lots of love

Ed 🙂 xx

Due to popular demand, we are now offering a FOUR NIGHT, FIVE DAY retreat high in the Gold Coast Hinterland at the beautiful and quite magical Theosophical Society Education and Retreat Centre in Springbrook from Thursday 4^th April until Monday 8^th April 2024.

For days now the old Dragon song (vale Marc Hunter) “Take me to the April Sun in Cuba” has been playing non-stop in my head, with a few words changed to take us all to the April Retreat in Springbrook! Who wants to come?! Me! (Dragon will not be joining us!)

Are you desperate for some time out from real life to focus on your writing? Whether you’re just getting started or working on book ten, this retreat is all about YOU and YOUR WRITING PROJECT. Time for you to write. Time for you to relax and just think. Time to daydream, lie on a blanket in the sun and gaze up into the tall trees imagining the next steps of your book, or your life.

Sound like just what the doctor ordered? I know I’m really looking forward to some time out from all the madness and frantic busyness, to focus solely on my new book (just finished the first draft :)). Even better, doing so in a group of women writers all doing the same thing!

I left the Retreat with inspiration for my writing, as well as goals with a clear and achievable action plan. And the best part is I now have the support of 16 new writing buddies!

COURTNEY MASTERS – retreat participant

This retreat is all about WRITING TIME.

We have an initial workshop to help clarify goals for the retreat, making realistic plans about what we’d like to achieve, connecting with others and figuring out which method works best for you. During the days we’ll run a supervised writing room with timed “Pomodoro” style sessions, writing in twenty-minute bursts, followed by five minutes to rest, chat and grab a cup of tea or coffee and some of Gay’s delicious home-baked treats (GF options always available). Or, if you’re a solo writer like me, then every room has its own desk, or you can find a spot in the beautiful gardens and rest your back against one of the giant gums or wander off to the waterfall and write in blissful solitude in nature.

Edwina Shaw’s Writers Retreat at Springbrook was sensational. Working with other experienced writers and learning new ways of doing things as well as new ways to think, is always mind expanding. Then there were the deep dive conversations with other writers and the sacred walk to the waterfall. It was an extraordinary way to learn and grow.

VICKI BENNETT – repeat retreater

We’ll have Q & A sessions after lunch every day where you can ask as many craft-related questions as you like, and every evening we’ll have guided deep breathing and relaxation to help our busy writers’ minds to slow down and relax. After a delicious dinner you’ll have the chance to share your writing with the group. We’ll finish off the retreat with a final workshop, checking on progress and plotting our way forward, setting goals and making plans for our projects, and ourselves, moving forward.

To be held in a space of such love and respect, through both solitude and interacting with other amazing women, was a real blessing. I found Edwina to be enlightening, welcoming and an amazing source of inspiration and knowledge regarding all aspects of writing, including publishing. I came away knowing that I truly have potential and feeling very excited about my writing journey. I want to share my gift with the world, and now I feel like I can. Wow.

KYLIE DEAN – retreat participant

These retreats do more than just get you writing, they provide much needed time out from the world to reassess what you want from your life and nurture your creative self, so that by the time you return to the big smoke, you’ll be feeling refreshed, renewed and ready to shine!

Come along and you will be treated to a memorable, supportive and nurturing space with laughter and creativity aplenty. These retreats offer the perfect balance of relaxing and writing. From the collective energies of the group as a whole to the care-filled little touches that Ed brings, your inner-goddess and writing muse will thank you! A warning though… once you’ve gone on one, you’ll want to come back again and again! Spoken by a true repeat retreater!

BIANCA MILLROY – repeat retreater

PRICE INCLUDES:

4 nights comfortable single accommodation with bathrooms shared between two.

ALL MEALS – healthy homemade organic vegetarian meals, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, plus morning and afternoon teas. (All sensitivities catered for on request)

2 Writing workshops

3 Guided breathing and deep relaxation sessions

4 Q & A sessions

A supervised Pomodoro room to keep you on track,

As much solitary writing time as you like!

Plus: a chance to share your stories on readings nights.

Transport not included.

I have been inspired to work on my writing but also to work on my health. Not only am I motivated but I made so many new friends.

PEG MACLEOD – retreat participant

COST for this special ALL INCLUSIVE 4 NIGHT RETREAT of writing, fun and feasting?

Pay your deposit by February 15 for EARLY BIRD PRICES

UNWAGED/ CONCESSION:

EARLY BIRD $750, Normal $790

WAGED: EARLY BIRD $850, Normal $900

All inclusive!

PAY YOUR DEPOSIT HERE

OR by Direct Deposit PREFERED: CONTACT EDWINA FOR AVAILABILITY AND BANK DETAILS.

If you have more dash than cash but would still LOVE to come, just email Edwina and we’ll work it out.

ALTERNATIVE EXTRAS ALSO AVAILABLE AT EXTRA COST:

One on one sessions with Edwina to give direction or advice on your project.

Body work treatments with the deeply knowledgeable and gifted healer, Monique DeGoey of Reconnect BodyWork.

If you’ve been promising yourself some time out for your writing and would love to connect with like-minded writing women in a stunningly beautiful location, far from the madding crowds, then this is the retreat for you!

Come along and be nurtured and supported by a kind and gentle group of women and leave all your worries behind as you immerse yourself in the beautiful natural environment, lovingly cared for by the Yugambeh people for millennia.

GET ALL THE INFO HERE

If you’re looking for more workshops to guide your writing and to get your head around aspects of teh writing craft, then check out all the other retreats available in 2024! Really looking to escape? Join me and my dear friend, the wise and witty Kerstin Pilz author of Loving my Lying Dying Cheating Husband, in Bali for our Relax and Write Your Journey BLISSFUL BALI RETREAT July 11 – 17 2024.