One week of pure magic.

~

In the Alentejo, they say life flows with the pace of the wind. Escape to this wild and golden landscape of wheat fields, cork oak, olive and orange groves.

Sometimes we learn and we feel more when we first slow down and we rest and reset.

Photos used by permission:

CUCUMBI archive, Sandra Vuckovic, Ana Kerin and Kana retreats archive

This week is dedicated to YOU.

while making new friends, enjoying the dynamic days while finding softens in beautiful stillness, there will be always time for YOU. While evenings will be rounded up with a glass of organic wine, days will be active and peaceful, along side work in the studio, morning yoga and evening meditation we will take you for wild landscape walking , and you can always dive into the salt water pool or natural lake surrounded by stunning landscape.

We make sure there is balance between learning, studio time and activities, days will be shaped around a siesta time ( or You time) while there will be mornings and afternoons enriched with guided drawing, sculpture, still life drawing, life nude drawings, while afternoons will always have breathing time too allow You time , time to stop, breath reflect , daydream..

The region and our residence is rich with beautiful, organic produce. Cucumbi’s undercurrents of deep belonging to community and family, as well as to their landscape and the ebbs and flows of its seasons, makes it the perfect place of warmth and brightness to escape to when more northern skies grow dark. Weaving together locally-sourced organic food with the magic of our gathering, you’ll be nourished every day with shared meals made with organically grown ingredients – sourced directly from the farm where we can.

Beside gathering around food (and local wine), we will work in pace with the sun-baked landscape, exploring the earth through daily clay practices that call you to drop deeply into your body, refine your creative awareness and work with ancient practices of hand building.

You can expect lots of time connecting with your hands and working with clay, always in good company, surrounded with rural life. elevated experience though communal eating all food made with organic and biodynamic ingredients mostly grown on the farm in a landscape surrounding us.

Ana Kerin : With my over 15 years of teaching experiences and hosting retreats of different levels of Art, I create a slow flow of workshops , classes, experiences that slowly dive you into a process and disconnect you from sense of time.

I bring you to the space where you are present, learning, exploring and indulging while we allow plenty of time to rest, rest, also space to think, and breath, journal, swim in the pool, and create mindful new connections.

My teaching technique is focused on supporting , mentoring, guiding and recognising weather you are in needs of encouragement, support, need corrections on technique, introduction to new techniques, weather you need gentle guiding or seeking a challenge.

I teach with focus on each of you indivudaly while guiding the group collectively. This way there is always space for everyone to learn from one another and for the group to grow together.

daily rituals will indulge all fo your senses , with morning meditation, followed with yoga there will be opportunities over the day for salt-water pool swimming, wild lake swimming and as the day will fall into the sunset with evening meditation, you have alway space and opportunity to join and drop in or out and while we will regroup for evening aperitif a glass of local wine and sit together for 3 course dinner, the nights in the wild wind swiped landscape provide us with magical deep restful sleep and there is even more clay the following day.

Ana ; We will work with clay as a tool to observe our surfacing of emotions, characteristics of our being and challenges of our personality. It is a perfect reflection of our sense of who we are right now. Recognising those feelings and emotions, we learn and we meet ourselves. It's a mirror that is so soft that it makes you softer too. It allows you to embrace, it allows you to observe yourself and embrace again. And most importantly it allow us to apply the change, and it teaches us how to change. You can slowly confront your challenges, you can stop and start again. And clay as a forgiving, soft, smooth material will kindly allow you to become who you want to be a little more or a little less. Dropping into the rhythms of this beautiful landscape, we will focus the week around hand-building organic, sensual and unusual shapes. I will guide you into the subtle ways you can develop and refine your own language in the clay – and together we’ll explore clay as an intuitive and spontaneous material the responds to and reflects our inner worlds.

PROGRAM /

Will be emailed to you closer to the time .

a typical day looks like this :

meditation + yoga

breakfast & you time

AM workshop Atelier with Ana

lunch

siesta - you time - reading Time, pool time

PM workshops - Atelier with Ana

6.45 evening sunset meditation

Apperitivo

Dinner

with some days having different structure due to special workshops, events, dinners, beach day or guest creative contributor workshops <3

 Giulia Bazzanella- Is a experienced Yoga and meditation teacher. She guides Ecstatic dance events, host her own Yoga retreats, and its most incredible , talented and intuitive incredible body worker. Her 90 min Thai massages are life-changing.

You will be guided by her magical touch 3 times daily,

7.30 am - 30 min daily morning meditation that joins in a seamless flow in with a yoga that follows

8am - 9 am morning yoga flow - you can choose weather you come in for both or just join in for yoga from 8am.

6.45 - 7.15 daily evening sunset meditation, practicing gentle gratitude, grounding, and always with a beautiful thoughtful intuitive surprise.

She will be offering a limited amount of 1:1 Thai massage, - this will be booked with Giulia directly on arrival - very limited spaces available. ( 80 Euros for 90n min. Limited spaces available / booking on arrival.)

Ana have created an ever evolving close relationship with Giulia as firstly her yoga teacher, later her very close friend. Ana trusts her with her incredible intuitive work, and they are connected while they work together to create an incredible symbioses as a fluid flow through the week.

Ana believed that working with your hands working with clay and in creative space is ultimately always working with and through your body. connecting and sinking deeper into your body will brings you closer to sense of touch, and deeper into practice.