Song of the Soul Workshop and Sweatlodge Ceremony with Ayla Schafer & Joshua Wenzl

Song of the Soul Workshop and Sweatlodge Ceremony with Ayla Schafer

Welcoming you to a very special ‘Song of the Soul’ Workshop on 4^th August and Sweatlodge Ceremony on 5^th August with Ayla Schafer (UK) and Joshua Wenzl (Switzerland). This is to be a powerful, intimate and heart opening ceremonial journey of remembering, opening our voices to our inner soul song, connecting with the spirit of life, and lighting the fires of our hearts prayer and intention.

This is a special opportunity to experience this journey in the sacred space of a Tipi in the stunning nature of the Alps. All ancient traditions have used their voices to communicate with nature and sing with the song of creation. In this intimacy with nature, we are able to connect to the spirit of life and the spirit within us from where our sacred sound is born and allow the elements to sing through us as we open our voice to the song of the earth and return it as our offering of gratitude.

Saturday 4^th August

‘SONG OF THE SOUL’ WORKSHOP with Ayla Schafer
Each one of us carries our unique soul voice, a powerful and beautiful tool of expression gifted to us to connect and communicate with life. Our Song of our soul is our intimate expression of our true nature, our spontaneous sound of our spirit.

This workshop is held as a ceremonial journey with the power of our voice to awaken the expression of our souls song. Our voice is the only instrument created by God, it is our connection to the truth of our being and to the prayer that we carry.

To truly sing is a journey of remembering, getting out of the way and trusting in ourselves as we surrender to the spirit of sound in us.

This space will create an opportunity for a deep discovery and opening of our voice that is born from our connection with our heart, each other and the spirit of life, held by traditional indigenous ritual and teachings that guide us to remember what it truly means to sing. Together we will remember how to use song as tribal people have done for millennia, to connect and speak with the spirit of life, to celebrate, to pray and to give flight to our intentions and dreams.

‘The purpose of music is for you to become who you are, to bring what is inside of you into play, to spin a vibrating thread through you into the world, to spark life…’

We will:
*Learn traditional-global-tribal-Accapella songs and chants
*Play with drum/rattle
*Explore vocal channeling of the elements of nature
*Connect to the Earth energies using our breath, voice and vibration
* Use different exercises to liberate our voice and learn how to use the voice as a tool for healing, communication and free expression.
*Explore harmonies and improvisation
*Work with traditional rituals that support us to ignite our authentic inner connection to the song within our own being and to focus our offering and intentions.

This workshop is beneficial for singers on all stages of the journey.

Please bring with you:
A pen and paper
A drum and/or Rattle
Something comfy to sit on (Sheepskin/cushion) and a backrest if you have one
A stone, a flower and a feather to give as an offering

Schedule

Saturday 4^th August
10.00 – 13.00     Workshop
13.00 – 14.00     Lunch and break
14.00 – 17.30     Workshop

Price 
75  Euros including lunch

Sunday 5^th August

10.00 – 16.00 – Sweat lodge Ceremony
Donation

The ‘Song of the Soul’ Workshop and the Sweat lodge Ceremony can be attended together as a whole journey or people are welcome to join for only one of the days.

Accommodation and Food

For those who would like to stay overnight you are welcome to bring your own tent and bedding and will be able to camp in the beautiful nature of the Alpen Retreat Centre.

If you do not have a tent you are welcome to sleep in the Tipi but you will need to make sure you still bring your own blankets and sleep mat etc.

If you decide to stay over night to participate also in the sweatlodge on the 5th the cost for camping, dinner and breakfast is an additional 25€ per person.
 

Sunday 5^th August

SWEATLODGE CEREMONY – The rite of Purification 

You are warmly invited to join this Sweat lodge ceremony, where we will sing and pray together directly on the earth and with the elements and enter a powerful space of healing.

The Sweat lodge is an ancient, sacred and powerful healing ceremony from the Native Americans of North America.  A purification ritual to cleanse, heal the body and gain strength of spirit through reconnecting us with our hearts, our prayers with the elements and for all our relations.

The lodge represents the womb of the earth where we enter into the darkness and where we find the light within and are reborn. This is a beautiful space where limitations and blockages are released and we find a powerful connection within and to the spirit of life.

The actual lodge itself is a dome constructed of 16 young willow trees placed in a circle with prayers made at each stage of the construction: covered with blankets so no light can penetrate inside. Stones are heated up in a fireplace outside and then placed in the center of the lodge. We sit in circle pouring water upon the hot stones – the Grandmothers and Grandfathers, the ancient wisdom keepers from the earth.  We will work with the four elements and the four directions, offering our sweat, prayers and songs, receiving the spiritual, emotional and physical cleansing and healing from the elements of earth, water, fire, sacred herbs, drum and songs.

When we leave the lodge, all that is impure is left in the sweat lodge and we emerge from dark to light being spiritually reborn.

If for whatever reason you cannot or do not wish to enter the Sweat lodge you are warmly invited to join the ceremony by making your prayers and keeping your presence by the fire and remaining outside the lodge. This can be an equally powerful healing experience.

Women and Menstruation

In the Native American traditions from where this lodge is from, Women who are in the Moon time/Menstruation do not enter the Sweat lodge. They are regarded as being in their own personal Ceremony, a time of potent openness and sensitivity and are seen as being in the most powerful ceremony of all, the ceremony of union with the cycles of life, and the mystery and magic of creation. For this reason they do not enter the Sweat lodge and instead remain in the protection of the ‘Moon Lodge’.

We will be offering Women on their Moon time/ Menstruation a ‘Moon lodge’ space to be that is separate from the Sweat lodge, where they can be nourished and restful and allowed to journey with the medicine of their Moon time.

Please bring with you:
A Towel
A sweatlodge dress/sarong (Women) and shorts/swimming trunks (Men) to wear inside the sweatlodge.
Any sacred objects to place on the altar

Biography

Ayla Schafer is a multi-lingual ‘world folk’ singer-songwriter and a visionary musical artist from the UK, expressing through her music a passionate dedication to earth consciousness and the sacred ancient wisdoms. With a growing international presence she is a powerful voice in the world of ‘ceremonial/medicine music’ and the rising global community of people who are committed to residing in harmony with the Earth.

Ayla is a passionate carrier of traditional songs and indigenous wisdom with a vision to inspire others to find their soul and hearts expression, inner guidance and earth connection using the power of sound and voice. She expresses her passion through her music, spiritual ceremonies, Workshops/Retreats, Women’s ‘Womb initiation’ work, one -to-one voice coaching, Drum Reiki, Sound Healing and Water Ceremonies.

Joshua Wenzl, from Switzerland, has been studying and training with various traditional lineages from a young age and has spent years travelling and learning with teachers from South and North America.  Joshua offers ‘Sweat lodge Ceremonies’ carrying on the lineage that was given to his family of the ‘Universal Lodge’.

He holds the vision to bring the people together to heal and to remember, to pray and to reconnect, returning home to the connection with the elements and the spirit of life.